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Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit

(These are all personal preference on a scale of 1-5 (yours ratings may vary depending what gives you feels and how you prefer you sex scenes written, etc) except the Steam Scale which follows our chart from )

Should I read in order?
This book does feel like it stands alone in the series really well. But, it is a second generation story, so I would at least read Barbarous, which is the hero’s parents story. (Start with Dangerous and read the whole Outcasts series, followed by the entire series if you want the full timeline of events)

Basic plot
This is a dual story line between two twin brothers finding love. Lucien was pushed into marriage years ago when he was compromised with Phil. Their story is a second chance romance. Celia, the driving catalyst for Lucien’s marriage, has been shamed out of society for ten years. She returns to Lucien and his brother Richard’s circle when her companion she works for is invited to their younger siblings wedding. The second (and main) love story in the book is between Richard and Celia.

Give this a try if you want:
- Lower to mid steam �� Lucien and Phil have one scene, Richard and Celia have 2 but they are fairly close together.
- Antiheroine story �� Celia was a mean girl, a bully, and this story shows her downfall and recovery
- Late regency time period (1828)
- The beginning of the book takes place in London, but the majority of it is at Lucien and Richard’s country home
- Multiple POV �� you’ll have at least 4 between the 2 couples

My thoughts:
So I’ll admit I struggled with this one. It took me over a month to finish it. It was probably just me and my head place at the time. (I also got sick with covid at the end of the month and that’s when I finished it so that could totally have affected how I felt about the story). This has been my least favorite Minerva Spencer.

Part of it is that I do tend to struggle when there’s focus on more than one couple. I’m always wanting more from some of them, and I found that here with Lucien and Phil. They weren’t the main focus, but I found myself really loving their story and I didn’t get a ton of time with them and that made me sad.

The pacing was a bit frustrating for me. The first half the book I just wanted to know more and everyone was still kind of at a standstill �� relationships hadn’t progressed and I wasn’t in love with any character. Celia you are of course made to struggle with �� she had ruined quite a few character’s lives. But the glimpses into her life I could have done with a bit more sooner. You kind of know what happened, but I wanted solid facts! The second half was much better and did turn to the book to 4 stars for me.

I also felt like the steam and emotional aspect to the sex was lacking a bit in this one compared to the others I’ve read by her. Maybe it’s because I still didn’t know Celia and Richard extremely well by the time they were intimate. I’m not sure.

Content Warnings:
(view spoiler)[
Implication that villain raped a boy servant (It’s never really resolved in detail)
Attempted sexual assault on page
Remembered rape/assault/abuse (not in detail)
Dubious consent sex with villain �� he manipulated heroine
Bullying
Abandoned during pregnancy
Parental neglect
Loss of a parent
(hide spoiler)]
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes �� I had the large print version so pages might be weird
(view spoiler)[
Pg 21 �� scenes of Richard with his mistress
Pg 164 �� kisses between Richard and Celia
Pg 179 �� Lucien and Phil kisses
Pg 253 �� Richard and Celia fingering o for her, followed by sex
Pg 271 �� Richard and Celia kisses, her on top
Pg 298 �� Lucien and Phil sex scene
(Can’t recall total pages, maybe around 330)
(hide spoiler)]