A review by jelkebooks
The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy by Julia Quinn

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Honestly, this book started fine enough. I feel like it started on the same level as the rest of the books in the series for me. They all have felt extremely mid to me. This was just like that for the most part. I immediately fell in love with Iris, but Richard's inner monologue constantly hinting towards him doing something bad that we don't know about kept me from fully getting invested in him. I also think the romance was extremely underdeveloped. I truly think these two barely spend any time together on page, quite a lot of it is also spend fighting, so I truly do not know why they even like each other let alone LOVE each other. I feel like this whole series lacks a bit of depth, but this couple I truly did not understand at all.
However, then we get into the second half of this book, and Richard became a piece of shit. He treated Iris so horribly, and even though he has his reasons I hated how absolutely insecure he made her feel. Reading from her POV and seeing him go from hot to cold for seemingly no reason just was extremely painful. Then we get the reveal of what Richard has been keeping from both Iris as well as the reader, and I probably even hated him even more. What he was asking of her was absolutely abysmal, but could still be forgiveable. However, how he treats both of his sisters and Iris during all of this really isn't. He is such an ass, that truly treats the women in his life like puppets to be manipulated. It was absolutely vile to read about. The only reason he even comes around is because he "loves" Iris and therefore feels bad about hurting her. You know, after Iris got them out of this bullshit already. Yeah, that's right he does absolutely NOTHING to redeem himself in this book. Fuck him! Truly. Like I understand a romance needs to have a happily ever after but sometimes the couple ending up together isn't a happy ending. Iris deserved so much better. So yeah, this book is trash. 
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