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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
ALL THE STARS! Sarah MacLean outdid herself with the third and final Bareknuckle Bastards novel. I do recommend reading the series in order to fully appreciate Grace and Ewan's journey to happily-ever-after.
Grace has spent twenty years running from the betrayal of her childhood love only to come face to face with him again. Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has never stopped loving Grace and has spent the better part of his life searching for her. Grace and his half brothers Devil and Whit might not be willing to welcome him back into their lives but Ewan is determined to prove he's worthy enough to win Grace's heart back. Unfortunately for Ewan, Grace isn't one to forget and she's certainly not ready to forgive. She sets out to take revenge on Ewan for the pain he caused her and her brothers, but taking revenge on her first love isn't anywhere near as easy as she thought it would be.
I loved everything about Daring and the Duke! Grace is a total badass and one of my favourite romance heroines. She's cunning, bold and never willing to settle. I also love that no matter how tough she appears on the outside, she still has a big heart. Surprisingly, I really liked Ewan. His behaviour from the first two novels is still awful BUT his love for Grace makes you understand why he was driven mad to attack his half brothers when he thought she was dead.
I thought Sarah MacLean did a wonderful job crafting Ewan's grovel. He did his best to begin making up for the damage he caused Covent Garden as well as the pain he caused his half brothers and Grace. I also really appreciated the time spent exploring the foursome's backstory because it helped me understand each character and their actions better.
The chemistry between Grace and Ewan is off the charts. I found myself whipping through each scene where they were together, desperate to know when Grace would finally give Ewan another chance.
While I'm sad the Bareknuckle Bastards trilogy is over, I'm looking forward to revisiting the amazing series again in the future. I'm also really looking forward to the Hell's Belles series beginning next year.
I highly recommend the entire Bareknuckle Bastards series!
Grace has spent twenty years running from the betrayal of her childhood love only to come face to face with him again. Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has never stopped loving Grace and has spent the better part of his life searching for her. Grace and his half brothers Devil and Whit might not be willing to welcome him back into their lives but Ewan is determined to prove he's worthy enough to win Grace's heart back. Unfortunately for Ewan, Grace isn't one to forget and she's certainly not ready to forgive. She sets out to take revenge on Ewan for the pain he caused her and her brothers, but taking revenge on her first love isn't anywhere near as easy as she thought it would be.
I loved everything about Daring and the Duke! Grace is a total badass and one of my favourite romance heroines. She's cunning, bold and never willing to settle. I also love that no matter how tough she appears on the outside, she still has a big heart. Surprisingly, I really liked Ewan. His behaviour from the first two novels is still awful BUT his love for Grace makes you understand why he was driven mad to attack his half brothers when he thought she was dead.
I thought Sarah MacLean did a wonderful job crafting Ewan's grovel. He did his best to begin making up for the damage he caused Covent Garden as well as the pain he caused his half brothers and Grace. I also really appreciated the time spent exploring the foursome's backstory because it helped me understand each character and their actions better.
The chemistry between Grace and Ewan is off the charts. I found myself whipping through each scene where they were together, desperate to know when Grace would finally give Ewan another chance.
While I'm sad the Bareknuckle Bastards trilogy is over, I'm looking forward to revisiting the amazing series again in the future. I'm also really looking forward to the Hell's Belles series beginning next year.
I highly recommend the entire Bareknuckle Bastards series!
4★
Falei que a autoria tinha escolhido um tema (para a redenção do par romântico) muito delicado.
Não estou com o mesmo desespero para ler esse livro que eu tive com Brazen and the Beast.
Meu primeiro comentário fatalista: vai ser MUITO difícil ela remendar as atrocidades que Ewan fez.
Estou com uma leve, leve mesmo, sensação de que ela dirá que tudo que ele fez foi para afastar o pai deles de perto.
Mas ainda assim. Essa forma de amor não é saudável. Nem nunca será.
O primeiro comentário positivo que tenho é: ela é dona de um Magic Mike XXL. É a Rome que sabe lutar.
Como o Anjo Caído, temos um evento - dominium - para despertar os sonhos de todos, com o tema de circo. Poderia ter mais do Pandemônio da dahlia que eu leria com grande alegria.
E por mais livros fantásticos de Amazonas do submundo, gerentes, assassinas, seguranças, espiãs, tudo que há de mais ousado.
Se passou um ano. Isso é novidade
Quando terminei:
Não foi igual ao volume do Whit.
Porém...
A evolução na escrita da autora é algo notável.
Muitos dos padrões seguem, como ordem de cenas, aquela negação ao óbvio, coisas que podem ser resolvidas facilmente dizendo a verdade, as desmonetizações de amor exasperadas que nos fazem revirar os olhos ou ter um pouco de vergonha alheia.
Embora isso... a escrita deu um LOOPING do sucesso.
As descrições das cenas, ambientes, consistência das personagens. Tudo super vivido e cheio das mais diversas cores.
Outra coisa que deu um up nas expectativas foi a presença real - e não uma sombra da presente nos volumes anteriores - dos irmãos. Como parte do universo, não como volumes passados. Essas coisas de família sempre roubam meu coração. E ela não perdeu isso com eles.
Contudo…
A minha suspeita foi alcançada com sucesso, pensei que acharia ruim e desmedido mas até que... nem por isso. O isolamento pode levar a loucura. A perda pode levar a loucura.
E a loucura de Ewan era Grace.
Senti um pequeno apelo para a parte mais hot e sensual e sexy entre o casal principal, meio que para entendermos o romance obsessivo e histórico entre os dois, e nos apaixonarmos (e absolvermos) o Ewan.
E esse foco, com com cenas de sexo bem mais extensas que não outros volumes, entendo que a autora quis elaborar uma homenagem aos amores desesperados? Primeiro amor? E somou isso ao fato de Grace ser uma pessoa que comercializa prazer (sem usufruir deste), numa espécie de protagonista de muito desejo.
Não é ruim, já que estamos lendo um romance de época bem do erótico.
Sem contar que essa mulher tem um talento em descrever homens com suas melhores descrições, atribuições físicas e descrever o desejo que o “desejo” traz.
Porém esse esquema, ou foco da autora, fez com que outros temas não fossem abordados mais profundamente, como o empodeiramento feminino, a sincronia de Zeva e Veronique, a relação entre os clubes, mais sobre como Grace se tornou Dahlia. Tipo Georgiana explicando porque ela é Chase.
Sei que eles são de esferas diferentes, bem mais distantes, mas MacLean me deve um encontro entre Chase e Dahlia. Duas das mulheres mais zicas trocando figurinhas? Quem não quer? Ela me deve (que provavelmente será solucionado na próxima série Steampunk que ela está trabalhando) o que aconteceu com O Outro Lado (partiu meu coração só de pensar no Anjo passando por abuso). Essas coisas, pra mim, seriam muito melhores do que reviver aquela maldita cantora de ópera grega ou Digger, que cagou tudo com Cross. Lamont e Leighton foram duas menções mais saudáveis nesse volume e mal ela sabe o quanto de gente eles arrastariam pelo parlamento.
E tudo dá certo no final.
The Future merecia mais páginas. Whit e Hattie precisam povoar o mundo com criancinhas - Sophie como a mais velha e meninos robustos com rosto de anjo e olhos violeta. Sim, eles são meu casal favorito. Em tempos. Ponto.
E todos tiveram meninas para provar que por hora, casa pegando fogo ou não, nada de herdeiros do duke?
Falei que a autoria tinha escolhido um tema (para a redenção do par romântico) muito delicado.
Não estou com o mesmo desespero para ler esse livro que eu tive com Brazen and the Beast.
Meu primeiro comentário fatalista: vai ser MUITO difícil ela remendar as atrocidades que Ewan fez.
Estou com uma leve, leve mesmo, sensação de que ela dirá que tudo que ele fez foi para afastar o pai deles de perto.
Mas ainda assim. Essa forma de amor não é saudável. Nem nunca será.
O primeiro comentário positivo que tenho é: ela é dona de um Magic Mike XXL. É a Rome que sabe lutar.
Como o Anjo Caído, temos um evento - dominium - para despertar os sonhos de todos, com o tema de circo. Poderia ter mais do Pandemônio da dahlia que eu leria com grande alegria.
E por mais livros fantásticos de Amazonas do submundo, gerentes, assassinas, seguranças, espiãs, tudo que há de mais ousado.
Se passou um ano. Isso é novidade
Quando terminei:
Não foi igual ao volume do Whit.
Porém...
A evolução na escrita da autora é algo notável.
Muitos dos padrões seguem, como ordem de cenas, aquela negação ao óbvio, coisas que podem ser resolvidas facilmente dizendo a verdade, as desmonetizações de amor exasperadas que nos fazem revirar os olhos ou ter um pouco de vergonha alheia.
Embora isso... a escrita deu um LOOPING do sucesso.
As descrições das cenas, ambientes, consistência das personagens. Tudo super vivido e cheio das mais diversas cores.
Outra coisa que deu um up nas expectativas foi a presença real - e não uma sombra da presente nos volumes anteriores - dos irmãos. Como parte do universo, não como volumes passados. Essas coisas de família sempre roubam meu coração. E ela não perdeu isso com eles.
Contudo…
A minha suspeita foi alcançada com sucesso, pensei que acharia ruim e desmedido mas até que... nem por isso. O isolamento pode levar a loucura. A perda pode levar a loucura.
E a loucura de Ewan era Grace.
Senti um pequeno apelo para a parte mais hot e sensual e sexy entre o casal principal, meio que para entendermos o romance obsessivo e histórico entre os dois, e nos apaixonarmos (e absolvermos) o Ewan.
E esse foco, com com cenas de sexo bem mais extensas que não outros volumes, entendo que a autora quis elaborar uma homenagem aos amores desesperados? Primeiro amor? E somou isso ao fato de Grace ser uma pessoa que comercializa prazer (sem usufruir deste), numa espécie de protagonista de muito desejo.
Não é ruim, já que estamos lendo um romance de época bem do erótico.
Sem contar que essa mulher tem um talento em descrever homens com suas melhores descrições, atribuições físicas e descrever o desejo que o “desejo” traz.
Porém esse esquema, ou foco da autora, fez com que outros temas não fossem abordados mais profundamente, como o empodeiramento feminino, a sincronia de Zeva e Veronique, a relação entre os clubes, mais sobre como Grace se tornou Dahlia. Tipo Georgiana explicando porque ela é Chase.
Sei que eles são de esferas diferentes, bem mais distantes, mas MacLean me deve um encontro entre Chase e Dahlia. Duas das mulheres mais zicas trocando figurinhas? Quem não quer? Ela me deve (que provavelmente será solucionado na próxima série Steampunk que ela está trabalhando) o que aconteceu com O Outro Lado (partiu meu coração só de pensar no Anjo passando por abuso). Essas coisas, pra mim, seriam muito melhores do que reviver aquela maldita cantora de ópera grega ou Digger, que cagou tudo com Cross. Lamont e Leighton foram duas menções mais saudáveis nesse volume e mal ela sabe o quanto de gente eles arrastariam pelo parlamento.
E tudo dá certo no final.
The Future merecia mais páginas. Whit e Hattie precisam povoar o mundo com criancinhas - Sophie como a mais velha e meninos robustos com rosto de anjo e olhos violeta. Sim, eles são meu casal favorito. Em tempos. Ponto.
E todos tiveram meninas para provar que por hora, casa pegando fogo ou não, nada de herdeiros do duke?
4.5 Stars
This, my friends, is what they call a grovel novel. In its purest definition. No one does those like Sarah Mac and I’ve waited for this one since the moment we were introduced to Mad Duke Ewan in the first book, and there seemed no scope for his redemption. But A. Those are my favorite kind of (anti) heroes, and B. Sarah MacLean is a champ of redeeming the so-called irredeemable. And she does it again. So much so that by the end of the book you forget why you thought him beyond redemption in the first place.
Seems it’s the year of the redheaded heroine, and Grace is their trail blazing, trousers wearing, bare knuckle fighting, flame haired queen. She’s the ruler of her domain and of Ewan’s heart and soul. Ewan, on the other hand, is not at all what you’d expect. And I’ll leave it at that. However, seeing him trying to get back in the good graces (ha!) of Grace and the garden, is a swooning, unexpected delight. While he doesn’t keep his badness by the end of the book, he does keep his touch of madness, which took me aback a little, but works surprisingly well for the book.
As always with her breathtaking prose and powerful storytelling, the author weaves a tale full of romance and empowerment and whimsy, all while throwing her trademark punches at the patriarchy and doing it with pretty words and lyrical dialog. I could actually imagine this whole series on screen with its action and larger than life showmanship. This is theoretically, a perfect book, but I may have gone in expecting a touch more angst and darkness, which is clearly my own predisposition.
*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and mine alone*
This, my friends, is what they call a grovel novel. In its purest definition. No one does those like Sarah Mac and I’ve waited for this one since the moment we were introduced to Mad Duke Ewan in the first book, and there seemed no scope for his redemption. But A. Those are my favorite kind of (anti) heroes, and B. Sarah MacLean is a champ of redeeming the so-called irredeemable. And she does it again. So much so that by the end of the book you forget why you thought him beyond redemption in the first place.
Seems it’s the year of the redheaded heroine, and Grace is their trail blazing, trousers wearing, bare knuckle fighting, flame haired queen. She’s the ruler of her domain and of Ewan’s heart and soul. Ewan, on the other hand, is not at all what you’d expect. And I’ll leave it at that. However, seeing him trying to get back in the good graces (ha!) of Grace and the garden, is a swooning, unexpected delight. While he doesn’t keep his badness by the end of the book, he does keep his touch of madness, which took me aback a little, but works surprisingly well for the book.
As always with her breathtaking prose and powerful storytelling, the author weaves a tale full of romance and empowerment and whimsy, all while throwing her trademark punches at the patriarchy and doing it with pretty words and lyrical dialog. I could actually imagine this whole series on screen with its action and larger than life showmanship. This is theoretically, a perfect book, but I may have gone in expecting a touch more angst and darkness, which is clearly my own predisposition.
*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and mine alone*
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
That was some good brain-off fun.
I broke my MacLean ban for this. Wish I hadn't.
This book made me retroactively wonder what I liked about the first two in the series. The angst was so over the top, the hero was built up to be a monster in a way that made him completely irredeemable by this point, but everyone forgave him pretty easily. Also, it might be a minor complaint, but I kind of hate that the heroine wears a corset with nothing underneath. It just felt like a silly book, and everything I’m not into in historical romance.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Judging by the number of people exclaiming over this book, I am going to be in the minority in my opinion of this book because, while I believe that MacLean is an incredibly talented writer who once again wrote wonderfully and developed beautiful characters, I just don't think she was able to redeem Ewan. The man has been the Big Bad in both of the first two books in the series up to and including killing several people because his half-brothers told him that his Twu Lurv was dead. I also wished there had been more of an emotional connection that showed how Grace and Ewan connected "now."
When they were children, Grace and Ewan had an unbreakable bond. Or so she thought. But when Ewan tried to kill her, she fled from their abusive caretaker with his two half-brothers. The three ended up in the slums of London but they made their way bareknuckle fighting. And Grace was the best. It's how she started the empire she has today, including a club for women where they can enjoy the company of a young man for the evening. When Ewan, now a duke, discovers that Grace is not dead as had been reported to him, he decides to risk it all to win her back.
When they were children, Grace and Ewan had an unbreakable bond. Or so she thought. But when Ewan tried to kill her, she fled from their abusive caretaker with his two half-brothers. The three ended up in the slums of London but they made their way bareknuckle fighting. And Grace was the best. It's how she started the empire she has today, including a club for women where they can enjoy the company of a young man for the evening. When Ewan, now a duke, discovers that Grace is not dead as had been reported to him, he decides to risk it all to win her back.
This final pairing was anticipated but was always going to be harder to pull off with the betrayal and the attempted murder and all.
Alas, I didn’t buy into it. As soon as Ewan came to the garden and did his feats of getting beat up and the scenes afterward, it just didn’t feel emotionally credible. So… it lost me.
Alas, I didn’t buy into it. As soon as Ewan came to the garden and did his feats of getting beat up and the scenes afterward, it just didn’t feel emotionally credible. So… it lost me.
4.5⭐️.
Tropes: childhood friends to enemies to lovers; redemption; GROVEL
If you want supreme grovel—supreme—then you probably want to check out Sarah MacLean’s Daring and the Duke, the last in her Bareknuckle Bastard series. This bodacious beauty of a romance focuses on Ewan, the mad duke of Marwick, (remember him?, she asks casually, the man who tried to *kill* the leads in previous books?!) and Grace, a proprietress and warrior-Queen of Covent Garden who uses her scarf as a weapon
Tropes: childhood friends to enemies to lovers; redemption; GROVEL
If you want supreme grovel—supreme—then you probably want to check out Sarah MacLean’s Daring and the Duke, the last in her Bareknuckle Bastard series. This bodacious beauty of a romance focuses on Ewan, the mad duke of Marwick, (remember him?, she asks casually, the man who tried to *kill* the leads in previous books?!) and Grace, a proprietress and warrior-Queen of Covent Garden who uses her scarf as a weapon