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A review by unabridgedchick
Bombshell by Sarah MacLean
4.0
My first MacLean novel and it was a fun romp. I'm relieved to see that it features characters from another series because I kept checking the cover to confirm it was the first -- it had the feel of being about people already established (which is nice, because Sesily's family seems a riot and I'm glad there are a bunch of books about them!).
The one star reviews here all have a nearly identical complaint, which I don't think is accurate or fair (and in fact, their similarity makes me feel like there's something hinky going on!). The blurb makes no pretense that isn't a feminist novel, and MacLean's note in the back cites her historic inspiration for Sesily's girl gang. While our characters have progressive values [that might feel ahistoric for some people], we know there were people who believed in equality in all eras and acted on it. And this book matches the styling of contemporary historicals that acknowledge people of color lived in the UK for centuries. None of these one-star reviews are complaining about the abundance of dukes walking around, so historical "accuracy" isn't really the issue.
ANYWAY
The I-won't-date-my-friend's-sibling trope is not a favorite of mine so that wasn't catnip for me, but the sexytimes were delicious and sexy and I really wish this novel could have been double in length because I wanted more Caleb and Sesily. I'm not a huge fan of external threats as the crisis for the couple, but it made sense here (especially with the girl gang theme for the series) and involved one of the cutest reconciliations I've read. I'm bummed the next book seems to be setting up a Scotland Yard officer as the next love interest because I'm just not excited about law enforcement these days.
The one star reviews here all have a nearly identical complaint, which I don't think is accurate or fair (and in fact, their similarity makes me feel like there's something hinky going on!). The blurb makes no pretense that isn't a feminist novel, and MacLean's note in the back cites her historic inspiration for Sesily's girl gang. While our characters have progressive values [that might feel ahistoric for some people], we know there were people who believed in equality in all eras and acted on it. And this book matches the styling of contemporary historicals that acknowledge people of color lived in the UK for centuries. None of these one-star reviews are complaining about the abundance of dukes walking around, so historical "accuracy" isn't really the issue.
ANYWAY
The I-won't-date-my-friend's-sibling trope is not a favorite of mine so that wasn't catnip for me, but the sexytimes were delicious and sexy and I really wish this novel could have been double in length because I wanted more Caleb and Sesily. I'm not a huge fan of external threats as the crisis for the couple, but it made sense here (especially with the girl gang theme for the series) and involved one of the cutest reconciliations I've read. I'm bummed the next book seems to be setting up a Scotland Yard officer as the next love interest because I'm just not excited about law enforcement these days.