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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Sarah Maclean is amazing. This book is so good! I didn't see how she redeemed the hero! But she did. These two characters are amazing!
If you thought Sarah couldn’t take the villain from the first two books and give him an epic comeback, you were wrong and how dare you.
i hope sarah maclean never stops writing greek mythology metaphor tangents into her sex scenes
Eh, fine. Ewan was too obsessive and calculative, and didn't really seem like he should have been as redeemable (and sympathetic) as he was written, especially considering all the stuff he did in the past. Seemed like it was all dismissed too easily.
This was my least favorite in the series; Brazen and the Beast was my most favorite
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
**Spoilers included throughout**
I knew MacLean had an uphill battle to fight to redeem Ewan in this book, and make readers believe in the romance between him and Grace. But I believed she could pull it off - I enjoyed Day of the Duchess in which the villain of that series got his second chance romance. Unfortunately, this book was a spectacular failure on pretty much every as MacLean decided to go for retconning and gaslighting instead of actual character growth.
Instead of a deep redemption arc in which Ewan takes full responsibility for his actions, MacLean decided to retcon the major climactic scenes of the last two books, and then have most of his "growth" and atonement take place off-page. Not only that, but it's repeated several times throughout the book that he only acted that way because the other Bareknuckle Bastards had told him Grace was dead. So, it's their fault he tried to kill them. But wait! He didn't really try to kill them because he's such a criminal mastermind that he knew exactly how they would be saved and had already planned for it! So it was not an issue, was their fault, and the heroines from the first two books forgave him for his off-page apologies so it's unreasonable for the people who went through near death experiences to be mad. This isn't redemption, it's a toxic, abusive relationship. The deaths Ewan did cause were dealt with through money and a single scene of him doing physical labor. This is such a twisted view of reparative justice and does a massive disservice to everyone in this book, including Ewan himself.
Which brings me to my next point. Ewan is portrayed constantly as the smartest, the strongest, the best of them all overall! Meanwhile, although he is literally presented as omniscient in every other regard, he couldn't figure out his brothers were lying about Grace. It doesn't make any sense, and got really tiring, really quickly. Grace, who has been set up in the last two books as the best of them all, suddenly plays second fiddle to Ewan in every way for no reason at all that I could discern except misogyny. We got no scenes at all of her actually excelling at the things we were promised in the first two books, because she couldn't outshine Ewan.
MacLean includes a massive number of flashbacks in which 14 year old Grace and Ewan fall in love, and that provides us with the bulk of both the romance and characterization in the book. While current day Grace and Ewan say it's not the past but their present that they want to live in, their entire relationship is built through those flashbacks. There's nothing the present day scenes have to offer except the explicit sex.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if you enjoyed the other two books in the trilogy, you should absolutely not read this. I'm sorry I suffered through it, and it will be the last MacLean I read.
I knew MacLean had an uphill battle to fight to redeem Ewan in this book, and make readers believe in the romance between him and Grace. But I believed she could pull it off - I enjoyed Day of the Duchess in which the villain of that series got his second chance romance. Unfortunately, this book was a spectacular failure on pretty much every as MacLean decided to go for retconning and gaslighting instead of actual character growth.
Instead of a deep redemption arc in which Ewan takes full responsibility for his actions, MacLean decided to retcon the major climactic scenes of the last two books, and then have most of his "growth" and atonement take place off-page. Not only that, but it's repeated several times throughout the book that he only acted that way because the other Bareknuckle Bastards had told him Grace was dead. So, it's their fault he tried to kill them. But wait! He didn't really try to kill them because he's such a criminal mastermind that he knew exactly how they would be saved and had already planned for it! So it was not an issue, was their fault, and the heroines from the first two books forgave him for his off-page apologies so it's unreasonable for the people who went through near death experiences to be mad. This isn't redemption, it's a toxic, abusive relationship. The deaths Ewan did cause were dealt with through money and a single scene of him doing physical labor. This is such a twisted view of reparative justice and does a massive disservice to everyone in this book, including Ewan himself.
Which brings me to my next point. Ewan is portrayed constantly as the smartest, the strongest, the best of them all overall! Meanwhile, although he is literally presented as omniscient in every other regard, he couldn't figure out his brothers were lying about Grace. It doesn't make any sense, and got really tiring, really quickly. Grace, who has been set up in the last two books as the best of them all, suddenly plays second fiddle to Ewan in every way for no reason at all that I could discern except misogyny. We got no scenes at all of her actually excelling at the things we were promised in the first two books, because she couldn't outshine Ewan.
MacLean includes a massive number of flashbacks in which 14 year old Grace and Ewan fall in love, and that provides us with the bulk of both the romance and characterization in the book. While current day Grace and Ewan say it's not the past but their present that they want to live in, their entire relationship is built through those flashbacks. There's nothing the present day scenes have to offer except the explicit sex.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if you enjoyed the other two books in the trilogy, you should absolutely not read this. I'm sorry I suffered through it, and it will be the last MacLean I read.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes