Harrison Metcalf, the newly appointed Earl of Everly, has only ever been in love with Margaret Reedy, his uncle’s widow. When she marries another, and he is once again alone, he decides the cost of love is far too steep to hazard again. Alas, duty calls, and he is required to procure a wife and secure the line. He will fulfill his obligation, but he could never knowingly marry someone who requires love.
Phoebe Kent would happily trade beekeeping for the uncomfortable noise and the press of bodies the social season requires. But with her parents’ fear of spinsterhood, she knows marriage is a must. If only she could approach her inevitable union in the straightforward way one does a business deal.
With an agreement made, and a contract written, Harrison and Phee embark on the beneficial bargain that is to be their marriage. They never fathomed that nightly card games and pesky kittens would be a surefire path to flirting. Contract modifications are made as a touch becomes a kiss, and a kiss becomes a night, and the two settle into their new life as husband and wife. But can their burgeoning love prevail when it was never part of the plan?
Award-winning author Emmaline Warden lives in Colorado with her four kids and an ungodly number of animals and plants. Her love of romance began with an accidental copy of Susan Elizabeth Phillips and a trip to D.C. She's been reading and writing romance ever since.
Note: Some of my goodreads shelves can be spoilers
Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Readability: 📖📖📖📖 Feels: 🦋🦋🦋 Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔 Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡ Romance: 💞💞💞💞 (Harrison is VERY sweet and romantic, at least to me) Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋 Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑 Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Humor: Yes Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine More character focused or plot focused? character How did the speed of the story feel? maybe a touch slow When mains are first on page together: Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after for the couple Epilogue: Yes, doesn’t state how much after but maybe a few months? Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy from the author in e-book form (Descriptions found at end of my review)
Should I read in order? You could, because this hero was in love with the heroine from book in the series. You should because book 1 is fucking delightful. But I cannot say you must...it’s very readable alone.
Basic plot: Harrison must marry to appease the title of Earl, Phoebe would love to beekeep in the country instead of attend balls and a marriage of convenience is struck.
Give this a try if you want: - late Regency – 1822 - demisexual hero - autistic rep – heroine - potter hero – at least he attempts! - beekeeping heroine - the sweetest hero – very gentle, caring, and thoughtful with our heroine - pets in the story – they adopt a kitten (and she is their princess!) - hero isn’t afraid of apologizing - child free HEA - strip snap (a game) - mid to higher steam – 4 full scenes
Ages: - hero is around 30, heroine is 21
First line: “Phoebe, you simply cannot ask a gentleman if they are aware of the mating habits of bees.”
My thoughts: This novel is SO SWEET. So, sooooo sweet. It’s like having the best cup of tea with biscotti. The warmest hot cocoa with fluffy marshmallows. Melting into a bubble bath of deliciousness. Sweet yet steamy perfection.
Harrison has loved and watched his love get married to someone else. And he decides if he marries, love won’t be in the picture. So this leads to a fun marriage of convenience, where both have minimal expectations of the other, but fall more in love every time they are together anyway.
I adored Phee in this novel. Phee quickly became one of my favorite neurodivergent mains I have read. There was something about her I just connected with, and I just want her to soar. I thought the beekeeping was a fun pursuit she had.
For me, I love my angst in my books. It’s what I live for. And this novel is very, very low angst. So I did find myself wanting so much more of that, especially because I felt it in her first book and I thought her first book was perfection. I did like that one more than this one. This one is more of a solid 4 star for me, but as I reread through my notes there were sooo many cute scenes and just so much sweetness that I decided to bump it up. Yes, I want my heart kicked around all the time, but you know what, I kinda needed something like this too. This is such a cozy, warm read and it’s turning out to be such a great series. I cannot wait for the next!
Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:Any mistakes/typos are my own
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Extra stuff like what my review breakdown means, where to find me, and book clubs
Full break down on what my ratings above mean here: Overall: How I felt about it everything considered! Readability: How ‘readable’ was the book? Did I fly through it? Did I have to tell myself to pick it back up repeatedly? Were any passages confusing? (I will probably score like (1) is literally unreadable due to formatting/typing errors, etc (2) There were lots of errors that made it difficult to read OR It was extremely confusing and I had to reread passages to make sense of it OR I disliked it so much I had to bribe myself to keep reading (3) I didn’t really want to keep reading and would have preferred to abandon the read and start something else OR some minor continuity issues/confusion (4) I liked it fine, maybe a minor error or 2. I was happy to pick it up when I had time. (5) I never wanted to put this down. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it. I hid in the bathroom from my kids to read. I threw inappropriate food at my children for dinner so I could read instead.) Feels: Totally subjective to each person but did the book give me any tingles? Any butterflies? Did it rip my heart out (in a good way?) Emotional depth: How well do I feel I know the characters at the end? How much did I feel their emotions throughout the story? Sexual tension: Again, subjective, but how strong was the wanting and longing to me between the characters? A book might have strong sexual tension without a single touch. Romance: Was there romance? Did romantic things happen? This can be actions/words/thoughts of the characters and again is subjective. Sensuality: This is how the intimate scenes are written. Kisses and sexual scenes – how sensual were they? Were they on the mechanical side? Was there emotional pull tied in? Were the details explicit or flowery? These are subjective but generally (1) too short to get a good judgement (2) not all what I'm looking for - very vague or flowery prose (3) either not explicit enough or not enough emotional pull (too mechanical/physically descriptive without the emotions) (4) what I love in a scene (5) absolute perfection - perfect balance of emotional longing and explicit descriptions Sex Scene Length: How long the bedroom scenes are (generally (1) is 1-3 sentences (2) is a few paragraphs to a page-ish (3) is about average, a few pages (4) more well developed scenes, quite a few pages with descriptions (4) the majority of the book takes place in the bedroom. This is always hard to tell for me on audio! Steam Scale: Generally, each flame is a scene. If scenes are super close together I sometimes combine them. If a scene is super short or so vague I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t count it. There’s some levels of grey but generally the number of flames is how many sex scenes there are (I max out at 5 so I’ll put a + after if there’s more than that)
This is hands down one of the sweetest low-angst marriage of convenience love stories I have read in such a long time. Boy - I needed this right now. 🥹💕swooning.
You have a sweetheart neurodivergent heroine and a hero who adores everything about her AND their kitten.🐱Something so rare about a man loving on cats makes me 🫠
Just one of those stories that makes your cheeks hurt from smiling too much.
Dunque, meno angst di quel che poteva essere, un libro molto dolce su in pratica due conoscenti che in fretta diventano amici sposati, che poi diventano qualcosa di più. Il libro scorre leggero, la parte steamy inizia abbastanza presto e la ex tizia di lui non è affatto parte centrale della storia d'amore (anche se indubbiamente presente). Piacevole, cozy da pomeriggio con te sotto la copertine, ma non memorabile degno di rilettura periodica.
FMC Neurodivergente ma tinteggiata in maniera un poco meno on point di un libro con una stessa protagonista di Felicity Niven (per me, quello da 4 stelle infatti).
MMC Il fidanzato e marito ideale, inspiegabile come fosse ancora sul mercato essendo figo, gentile e intelligente. Soprattutto, comprensivo e caring.
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Una trama promettente *_* scusate il masochismo, ma a me piacciono le storie dove il lui è (pensa di) essere innamorato di una tizia che in realtà è un abbaglio, mentre la protagonista è una che si farebbe volentieri una valangata di casi suoi dati sue passioni ma si deve adeguare ai dettami della società!
Mi piacciono anche separatamente (caso uno: come un duca di c caldwell; caso due: una settimana per innamorarsi di t. dare). Due su due è un sogno che diventa realtà! Fingers crossed che non sia lui a lovelustare prima (ma dati i presupposti è improbabile, negherebbe a se stesso anche se fosse).
Title : “Seasonal Habits of Husbands and Honeybees” (A Genus of Gentlemen #2) Author: #EmmalineWarden July 15-16, 2024
Harrison Metcalf, the new Earl of Everly, has always had feelings for his late uncle’s widow, Margaret Reedy. When she remarries, he decides love is too painful to pursue again. However, duty requires him to marry and continue the family line—a bit odd considering he was ready to pass the title to his cousin, when his prospective bride, Lady Phoebe said she doesn't want children. He reluctantly agrees to marry as long as love isn't involved. Enter Lady Phoebe Kent, a beekeeper who prefers her bees over the chaos of the social season. Pushed by her parents to avoid spinsterhood, she views marriage as a business deal. Bound by a mutual agreement and a contract, Harrison and Phoebe begin their marriage of convenience, never expecting that simple activities like playing cards and dealing with mischievous kittens would lead to flirtation. As their relationship evolves from innocent touches to kisses, they find unexpected comfort in their new roles as husband and wife. But can their newfound affection survive when it wasn't part of the plan, especially since Harrison doesn't believe he deserves love unless he's perfect?
This novel tells the story of a heroine with unique quirks and a hero scarred by past heartbreak. The unconventional nature of their arrangement might make readers question its believability within the historical romance genre, as it seems only the heroine benefits from the contract, which feels somewhat selfish. While the author aims to create a nonconformist heroine, she may come across as lacking depth beyond her quirks. The hero's motivation, driven by emotional wounds, feels unconvincing. In a historical romance context, it's hard to believe a heroine would refuse children and companionship while offering only eccentric conversations and solitude. Additionally, the book's pacing might not appeal to all readers, with a slow first half followed by an overly explicit second half. Overall, the novel may not fully satisfy readers due to its unconvincing characters and pacing issues.
This book involves an ASD-coded FMC Who wants a contract marriage that involves no children, no sex, one ball a month, and free reign to pursue any of her hobbies. The MMC agrees to the seemingly ridiculous criteria after being heartbroken in the previous book. Normally a marriage of convenience trope involves both sides, benefiting in some way or the other. This book fails to follow the conventions of the trope due to the fact that only the FMC is benefiting from the contract marriage, the razor-thin justification of the MMC agreeing to this is because he seemingly doesn’t want any emotional or physical connection after being heartbroken. Frankly, the author does not make this believable enough, and I was fully unable to suspend my disbelief, as this is a historical romance novel, where the FMC refuses to give kids to a peer or any type of companionship, either. Either way, neither characters are compelling as MC of a romance novel, especially the FMC. I get the author wanted to write an interesting, unconventional FMC but she has to be able to offer something besides oddball conversations and being by herself 24/7 as this isn’t an heiress trope either.
Frankly a disappointment compared to how amazing love and other perennial habits was, but still overall decent writing. I think the writer has an affinity to golden retriever MMC, but some more backbone would be appreciated. Maybe I’m just extra frustrated because her previous work is probably one of my few 5/5 books and probably my fave of the year.
What a lovely follow up. A low angst but compulsively readable historical.
Harrison was introduced in the first book and he definitely deserved his own happy ending. It was great how the book got straight to him and Phoebe meeting and the fast pace was kept up throughout the book. It’s definitely a character driven book with less plot but if you are looking for a joyful low angst marriage of convenience this is a must.
The neurodivergent representation was wonderful, refreshing to see a female character this time as all previous historical’s with rep have had male characters with neurodivergence. It was never over the top but there was enough insight to see how Phoebe’s mind worked differently to those around her. I also loved how sympathetic and understanding Harrison was about her differences and was always quick to make changes for her.
Mildred (the kitten) stole the show though. She was a wonderful addition and a great way to bring to two leads closer. The epilogue was a funny moment with Mildred that was refreshing to read in a historical romance.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
DNF for 2 main reasons that were an issue with me but ik for some ppl will be what they like about it.
FMC is Autistic ™. She has no personality except being Autistic ™. She has no other conflict, no character growth, nothing else in her life except getting overstimulated from balls and fruit and silverware. Oh wait no, she also likes chocolate and her cat and she doesn’t want kids. It’s like the character is an empty puppet stuffed with like all the stereotypical neurodivergent TikToks. All the characters and plot also honestly felt like they were just there as props for the Autism ™.
My second issue was that it felt too modern. Some ppl like historical fiction that’s basically contemporary except for some veneer of antiquity (like the brigerton show) but I personally don’t like getting pulled out of the historical vibe by random phrases or actions. For example the TikTok behaviors mentioned above. Or at one point the FMC goes “that’s just the same word in a different font” when the MMC was using synonyms? Or when the MMC went “it is your body and only you have a right to it” when they were discussing BC.
Oh my, oh my… this book!!!! So much sweetness…so much love…it’s the reading equivalent of a warm hug from your favorite person! It’s also sexy and steamy and full of 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥! Miles, our MMC, has been unlucky in love his whole life and is swimming in a sea of loneliness. Phee, our MFC, has been living a life of solitude, having had difficulty with the neurotypical world around her. They meet and decide to a contractual marriage of convenience. It seems simple enough. Phee will have the opportunity to raise her bees without having to navigate the marriage mart anymore. And Miles will fulfill his obligation to marry without the burden of love and will have a built in companion. As they build their friendship…love blooms. There is no outside drama or plot twists…no villian or intrigue…just two sweet, lovely people finding their “person”, learning their worth and finally receiving the love and passion they deserve. Emmaline Warden is a new favorite now! I can’t wait to read more of her work!
We’ve got a marriage of convenience story here between Harrison, who is a heartbroken earl, and Phoebe who just wants a business arrangement that is clearly spelled out. Phoebe would rather avoid all of the anxiety-filled social obligations of the marriage mart and stay home and tend to her bees. Harrison is pretty quick to catch on to Phoebe's desires and gives her pretty much everything she wants. He has his own hangups about rejection due to his upbringing and is very much a people pleaser. Lucky for him it doesn't take much to impress Phoebe, especially when she realizes that he understands her better than anyone else in her life. This was a really charming slow burn romance and I enjoyed seeing these two get to know each other.
Well written, with gorgeous steamy scenes. Pity that I found the plot quite boring… I understand it’s a slow burn and I loved that part, but I want something more to happen, some jealousy, some angst, something. In this book they marry, they become friends, then lovers, then they fall in love. And that’s it. I’m happy that the hero solved his problems, that he found someone who loved him after having struggled all his life, I really felt for him, but I wanted more… And I really appreciated the heroine’s characterization and the fact that he was immediately supportive of her. This book had potential, but in my opinion it didn’t fulfilled it. And I’m really sorry, because I love this author.
This delightfully written romantic story has some of the most unique hobbies of that time; that of bee keeping and pottery. These are skillfully woven into the telling of the marriage of convenience between Harrison Metcalf, the Earl of Everly and Phoebe Kent. These two characters had hang-ups gallore and these also made this tale all the more interesting. In addition, we have a cute little kitten which gave the two main characters something to care and worry about giving them a much needed common interest. All of this gave me many hours of enjoyable reading and interesting entertainment.
This author was new to me. Book was recommended by a friend. I like that plot was different than most other historical novels I’ve read. Two unique characters decide to make a contract & marry. Love will have no part in the marriage. They will play a card game nightly. The fun part is watching them fall for each other. And a cat plays a significant part in the story.
Harrison you make me want to kneel and kiss you with gusto, just to show how much I want you in my life. Will it be too much to ask if you and Oliver should also be mine alone? 😩
This author put my standards in men at the roof, which also means non-existence. How can I live this life knowing there is no wonderful and perfect guys like Oliver and Harry ever set foot in this world? I'm gonna cry.
I love low angst story, very cute. Although it makes me feel so very single.