His Favorite Mistake

His #1

by Aydra Richards

James Bradford, Duke of Rushton, is a man obsessed with revenge. When his sister’s lover, the Earl of Westwood, refuses to wed her to save her from disgrace and give her child a name, he latches onto a nefarious scheme of his own: an eye for an eye. Or, more appropriately, a sister’s dishonor for a sister’s dishonor.

Lady Jillian Kittridge has been crossed in love before, with absolutely no inclination to set herself up for disaster yet again. At twenty-two, she is very nearly on the shelf and is simply awaiting the day that the funds set aside for her dowry will fall under her control. But when the handsome Duke of Rushton begins to court her, she finds herself unwillingly tempted.

The fact that James finds himself actually liking Jillian is an unwelcome complication. As his scheme draws ever closer to fruition, he wonders: Can he truly destroy the life of an innocent woman, a woman he admires and respects? Or has he been caught in his own trap?

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical, Romance, Regency, Historical Fiction, Enemies To Lovers, Slow Burn

262 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 2019

Reviews

[Merry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feeling on this book. I usually like this trope....here it just didn't work for me. It had good bones, but I ended up not caring about anyone other than, Nick, a secondary character. I never warmed up to Jilly who had a breakup with a real jerk, then has started hiding her emotions. James actually seemed like too nice of a guy to carry out the revenge plot. Plus, I found some of the couples alone time set up by everyone around them too modern. I admit I skimmed a bit in the book. I will read another book by the author as I did enjoy a lot of the book. 3.5*

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings: death of parents recounted, abandonment, ex cheating (he leaves FMC for someone else, left her on the altar), sexism, slut-shaming (women are seen as ruined if they have sex, kiss, etc), carriage accident recounted, manipulation (FMC is manipulated by MMC)

Man, this is disappointing, I thought I would enjoy this more but it turned out to be a very meh read. I read this because I heard that it has grovel, but I didn’t like the way the grovel was done. The MMC respects the FMC's wishes but that would mean they literally spend months where they don’t talk. It was just so disappointing, it was the main thing I was looking forward to and when I read it I kept stopping because I didn’t feel motivated to read and felt bored. I felt really bad for the FMC, Jilly, she’s been through a lot of shit and what the MMC, James, does is stupid. James’s reasoning for manipulating Jilly was stupid. Throughout the story, you see his conflicted emotions because he doesn’t think he’s doing the right thing but constantly finds excuses to continue with his plan. I adored his friend Nick, he was the voice of reason. Nick and David have their own book and I definitely wanna check it out sometime.


James’s sister Gloriana tells him that she is pregnant with David’s child. Since this is a book taking place in the historical period, Gloriana’s life will be ruined if David doesn’t marry her. She will be labelled as ruined and everyone would gossip about her while insulting her. James is furious and confronts David, telling him he has to marry his sister. David refuses and James wants to get revenge. What better way to get revenge than to treat David the way he’s being treated? James decides to seduce David’s sister Jilly, impregnate her and leave her, just as David has done to his sister.


Yes James’s logic is stupid, Jilly is completely innocent but she’s dragged into a mess she was never a part of. But I was excited, this guy was gonna majorly fuck up and would need to grovel to make up for it. If you know me well, you know I love grovel and good grovel is honestly hard to find. But I was just really bored. When James was courting Jilly throughout the book, it’s like watching an accident that’s about to happen. You wanna look away but you can’t, and you’re watching everything. Jilly didn’t deserve any of what had happened to her in this book, she was super funny, smart and sweet. But she was easily forgettable, same with James. Despite him having this anti-hero persona, he was the generic, sweet hero that denies he has a heart. I liked the idea of this book but stuff was missing. The grovelling was even more boring and didn’t deliver IMO and the ending was so abrupt.


Now for spoilers


The book gets straight to the point, James confronts David for sleeping with his sister and insists he marries his sister. David says no he didn’t and that his sister is lying. James is furious and threatens David. So this whole time I thought David was an asshole and he was ignorant and got Gloriana pregnant or whatever but boy was I wrong. I thought David wouldn’t care once he found out James tricked Jilly but again, I was wrong. I’m so excited to read his book now that we know more about him. I liked how we started off right with the problem, especially since Gloriana is 17, I freaked out, I felt so bad for her. Especially cuz in the historical setting, it’s very sexist and women are always the bad guys. Jilly often says this to James and he knows that but he still takes advantage of that.


James tells Nick his plan and I loved Nick so much in this. Nick immediately tells James what we’re all thinking. Jilly did nothing wrong, she is not part of this issue and it wouldn’t make sense to do this. But nah, James was like he has no heart because people approach him for his title and how no one is genuine. He mentions how he’s done and doesn’t care and he needs David to feel how he feels. So he sees Jilly in the ballroom and starts with his plan.


James tries to approach Jilly while she’s talking to her friend Nora but this girl doesn’t even think he wants to talk to her. She moved outta his way and was all “Sorry Your Grace” and this guy is like bruh I’m tryna talk to you why are you ignoring me? When he asks to dance, she says no and he’s even more surprised, assuming that it would be easy to court Jilly. Nora pushes Jilly to dance and James drags her and they kinda have a funny conversation. James slowly makes moves to seduce Jilly, she starts tryna be a matchmaker by showing him women who would be more willing to be with him and he is like nah I don’t like her I want you. Their banter was a little funny but I can’t lie, I was bored.


So we find out the reason why Jilly is reluctant to let James in is cuz her ex-fiance left her on the altar on their wedding day and ran away with someone else. That is already a fucked up thing to do but to do it in the historical setting is even worse. People don’t feel bad for the girl, they think something is wrong with her enough to make a guy run away. Anyway, James finds out about this and Nick is like please bro just stop with this revenge, she’s been through so much shit already. I liked how Nick continued to beg James to stop, he didn’t stop at warning him once. Throughout the whole story, he kept telling James he would regret this. And he did in the end and rather than saying “I told you so,” Nick did everything he could to help James. Jilly finally managed to move on from the scandal after 3 bloody years. And James is ready to fuck that all up.


When Jilly goes to the bookstore, James shows up and they bond about books. And what do you know? They have similar book tastes and think the same things about certain books. Throughout the whole book, James would have so many nice moments with Jilly and wish that he didn’t have to go through with his plan. Like homeboy, no one is forcing you. But he’s like I made it this far. I might as well continue. Or that he doesn’t have a heart and keeps saying “Good thing I don’t have a heart.” Homeboy, come on.


Jilly continues to avoid James while he continues to stare at her in different settings. When they’re in a different ballroom, Jilly’s ex, Adrian, shows up. In order to protect herself, she runs to James and asks him for help. Slowly, Jilly starts to trust James, she relies on him and even likes his company. Her friend Nora encourages her to give James a chance. They made out in the garden, he made a deal with her. He tells her to be his company and he will continue to keep Adrian away. And behind her back, he even threatens Adrian to stay away. Adrian was such a scumbag, apparently, he had a first love and he was on and off with her. Apparently, his first love wasn’t someone who wanted to settle I think? He meets Jilly and he finally is ready to settle in but his first love comes in and is like fine I’ll be with you. So he leaves Jilly and then his married life with his first love sucked, and she died in a carriage accident and the man didn’t even give a fuck, he was fucking relieved, the fuck? And now he’s back hoping to win Jilly over so that they can start from where they left off cuz he “loves” her. What a scumbag.


Adrian shows up again anyway and James gets pissed and punches him. When he goes on his date with Jilly, he keeps paying Nora’s husband with horses so that he can have Jilly to himself. And they would make out in another room during intermissions, he even fingered her. He continues to tell Jilly he plans on marrying her and influencing her to marry him while she says she doesn't think she wants that. So this whole time I thought he would just trick her into having sex and then have someone walk in. But nah. Nick finally meets Jilly, he doesn’t hide his disgust with James, and literally begs Jilly to forgive James once he does something and Jilly is so confused. They go to some party and James convinces Jilly to leave her room open. They run outside and make out. Jilly realizes she loves James and asks him to elope right then and James was like damn she’s making this so easy.


Again, James is constantly talking about how guilty he is but constantly finds excuses to go through with his plan. They leave and they get married, but, it was a fake contract, they were never married and Jilly thinks they are. James finds different sweet things about Jilly, she gets to know the names of the staff members, she doesn’t care for the title of the duchess and likes James for him. He starts to fall for her and starts to panic. They finally have sex and of course, James is experienced while she’s a virgin cuz if she wasn’t she would be scandalized by society, so stupid I know but it’s a given in historical romances. I loved the staff so much, they purposefully made James’s food horrible because they hated him for what he was doing. James falls in love with Jilly and panics and contacts Nick, tryna find a way to reverse what he did or fix what he did behind Jilly’s back. Nick legit did not even hesitate, he helped get an actual marriage license and was tryna do everything so quickly when it was his friend who fucked up. When it was his friend who didn’t take his advice when he literally said this would happen. I love Nick, he's awesome.


Then we find out Jilly is pregnant, James’s plan worked, but all he felt was guilt and dread. He regrets everything but it’s too late. Jilly is kinda suspicious the entire time cuz James wouldn’t come to bed early since he was tryna sort out what to do. She is worried he doesn’t want the kid but he’s freaking out because he ruined Jilly’s reputation and she doesn’t even know. I thought it was dumb how quick Jilly was to marry him, she didn’t tell anyone, not even her best friend. Nora, her aunt and her brother find out later on and it’s like girl why are you rushing? It was so sad cuz Jilly dealt with so much shit, some girl even had the audacity to insult her in some game thing they were playing. The same girl even slapped Jilly later on but I loved how everyone stood up for her including James, saying she’s his wife. It was nice that James stood up for her and he even saw the reparations she was dealing with from the other scandal. He knew it affected her because she cried in his arms. But he continued on with his plan anyway like someone was forcing him to continue even though he didn’t really want to. With this revenge what would he have gotten? Jilly’s life would’ve been ruined, James would feel like a piece of shit and David would be miserable. I know James’s end goal was to make David miserable but goddamn, is it worth it? I also was disappointed in Jilly, she’s close friends with Nora but the second she’s married, she shuts everyone out and kinda just spends all her time with James. I get that they just got married but bruh, if my friend just ghosted me once she got married, it just shows our friendship didn’t mean much. Like at least give a girl a heads up, yes it’s your personal life but Nora and Jilly were so close.


So while Jilly was out on her walk, Nick and David show up and yell at James. We find out that Gloriana was never pregnant, I was SO SHOOK, so in the end, James did this all for no reason. I loved David, Jilly said they weren’t close but he didn’t hesitate to come and help her. He didn’t hesitate to stand up for her and yell at James, and James became this pathetic drunk bum. I knew when they mentioned that the marriage was fake that Jilly must’ve heard. And she did, the butler tried to keep her away from the door but she heard. She found the forged marriage and it was heartbreaking. But she didn’t give James the satisfaction of yelling at him, she apologized to her brother and just felt ashamed, I felt so bad for her.


So we finally hit the grovel part, and it was just so disappointing and boring. I stopped multiple times which I never do once the grovel hits. Jilly and James get married for real since everyone believes that is the best way to lessen the impact of gossip in their society. David gives Jilly her dowry money so she buys a house and lives there, after the wedding James doesn’t see Jilly for months. During those months, the only thing he did was visit her once, but her butler, HIS PREVIOUS BUTLER, answered and said James should avoid coming over. I LOVED how the butler and Mary quit working for James and came to Jilly. James doesn’t really fight for Jilly, he kinda just accepts that she hates him and won’t accept him. He tried to come to talk to her once and once he was refused, he left and respected her wishes. It’s nice that he respected her wishes but bruh, I was looking for a scene where James would have to deal with Jilly’s confrontation. Rather than that, we got James, staying at home, drunk as a bum, not even taking baths. He feels terrible and is wallowing in his own misery. Meanwhile, Jilly doesn’t even contact Nora, I get that she’s embarrassed and feels alone but she didn’t even tell Nora much about the marriage, and now she’s just avoiding her. No wonder the girl has no friends. It felt like Nick, Nora and Robert were the ones doing the grovelling for James, which was so disappointing.


Nick comes over, barges in because he knows that Jilly wouldn’t let him in, and waits three bloody hours for her to come and meet him. He even flatters the cook ugh I love him. My guy even brought a book because he knew that she wouldn’t come for a while. When she finally meets him, he continues to speak for his friend and tells her all the things you would have wished to hear from James himself. While all of this is happening, James is at home being miserable, like my guy why aren’t you grovelling? James gave her his carriage and made sure to follow what Jilly’s butler said and made others do the deliveries for things for him. Nick gave Jilly the letters James sent him when he was panicking and she didn’t read them until later it was nice seeing her reaction. Gloriana also sent a letter which Jilly never opened but I’m assuming it was an apology. She finally goes to a ballroom and someone gives her lemonade and it’s because James knows it will help her with her pregnancy. For the majority of the pregnancy, James wasn’t there because he wanted to respect Jilly’s wishes and leave her alone. This is not what I wanted, I wanted a more physical grovel. I liked how James told Nora and Robert exactly what happened without making himself seem like a good guy. And I liked how Robert knew that James loved Jilly and they both tried to help him. But people had to tell him to fight for Jilly, he just gave up too easily and in my eyes, that’s just pathetic.


Finally, at the ballroom, she sees James outside for the first time and they have the most awkward conversation. And she tells him to stop, leave her alone, stop helping her and to stop with the lemonade and all. And I get that James understands what he did was fucked up but the guy doesn’t even fight for her, he’s like I’m sorry I will. When she tells him she’s afraid he will take her baby, he assures her he won’t and was even willing to let her walk away. After any time she went to balls, James would watch her but the second she met his eyes, he would leave. It was sweet how he respected her words but my god this was so boring. I liked how he said he would rather her be alive and walk away rather than dead. I wanted more words, I wanted conversations where she said she felt betrayed and him having to face her. I wanted her to break down and him feeling so broken because he knows he can’t touch her or comfort her because he fucked up. I guess this is more realistic, he avoids her and stays outta her way. Nora finally talks to Jilly and says she respects whatever she was gonna do. I loved how Nora didn’t hold a grudge that her friend literally avoided her for months. Robert and Nora looked out for Jilly and made sure they would be around to help with the pregnancy and it was sweet how James asked them to as well and he offered all his horses. When Nick told Jilly she was his friend too, it was so sweet. I loved how she read the letters and how James sent her flowers rather than letters because she said she didn’t want anything and he found a loophole. When she invited him to come for the pregnancy, she saw what a mess he was at home. I liked that but again, there wasn’t enough conversation between them about the actual problem which left little opportunity for verbal grovelling. He sends a carriage with a buncha food and heating stuff and lemonade for Jilly. It was so sweet, and he wasn’t willing to give David any lemonade when he asked since it was all for Jilly. I loved how Gloriana apologized and stayed away from David. When Jilly struggled to get into bed and asked for James to help her, I loved how cautious he was. He never wanted to step outta the boundaries. When he offered her a massage but was scared and chickened out, I liked how she said yes. And I was happy they finally talked it out a little, but they made up so damn quickly. It was cute how he held her the whole night and they said I love you and stuff. The ending was really abrupt because once they confessed it just jumped to the epilogue where she gave birth to a baby girl. I expected so much more, to be honest, I will definitely forget this book but it helped pass time.



Stay safe folks.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful, horrible, tragic, awesome story

I have no words for how wonderful this story was. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it totally made me sigh! That's the sign of a good romance. This guy is definitely the kind of guy that many reviewers call their 'book boyfriend'! But he also had a nasty side. The side that said I still need to get revenge for my sister's ruination. But he was wavering even in the beginning. You could see him falling in love with her at every turn. Even when his Machiavellian plans were starting to blow up in his face, his resolve would falter. At the denouement my heart hurt for the heroine. So badly. I even cried. I understood her pain and the immoral plan he devised was the death of her love. Or was it? I am glad we had his thoughts throughout the book. It would have been a very hard tale to read without them. Because we knew he loved her and was very remorseful over his actions. I loved that he had a friend lick Nick to help him get through to Jilly. All the characters in this novel are fleshed out and became so real to me. The author said this was to be The first novel but There were issues that had to be taken care of, and she did. This was extremely good and a pleasant surprise. I am off to of purchase her other novels and I can't wait to read them.

[emelie 𝜗𝜚⋆₊˚ (exams!!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

જ⁀➴ 𝟒.𝟎𝟎₊˚⊹👑 𝟘𝟠/𝟘𝟡/𝟚𝟝—𝟘𝟠/𝟙𝟘/𝟚𝟝
first try at spicy historical romance and it was fun!! very short and i only read this for a 2 hour road trip but it was angsty and fun!! ✨

could’ve used more angst but overall would recommend if you’re into these kind of books.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a pleasant surprise! The story started out like your typical revenge romance. But 40% into the book the story got very good.

I enjoyed the chemistry between the two MC . The H is using the h for revenge but he was just so loveable, you didn't care.

I highly recommend this read.

[Inna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. This was really painful to read at times. The hero’s revenge plan went too damn far for too damn long. I absolutely hated how far he took his vengeance, even after he realized that he loved the heroine.

I also found the one sex scene to be an uncomfortable read because the heroine was still in the dark about the hero’s intentions regarding her. It felt very much like he was taking advantage of her, like he violated her.

The reconciliation aspect of this story also could have been done better. I didn’t feel that the hero groveled or suffered enough. He kept his distance from the heroine, because that’s what she wanted… but that seemed like such a cop out for not having the hero put in much effort.

The three stars are really for the writing and author in general. She’s a very talented lady and I love her writing style. This book has some good moments… I just think the bad overshadows them. She does however have several books that are excellent.

Safe (for the most part)
-Virgin heroine, never been kissed
-Heroine’s ex fiancé causes some minor drama when he returns to town after jilting her 3 years earlier. Kinda wish he had played a larger role in this story.
-Hero clearly had a manwhore past but wasn’t made out to be too much of a womanizer anymore
-some mild OW drama from OW interested in hero, but he shows no interest in anyone else after meeting the heroine
-No scenes with OM/OW, no cheating

[Jac K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid H out for revenge historical romance that started out slow, but picks up midway. The book opens with James demanding David (h’s bro) to marry his little sister (Gloriana) after knocking her up. He refuses, so James sets out to deflower/ruin his little sister like he has down to Gloriana. **The plot reminded me a lot of HH’s Highland Knight which had the same bones, but that h was aware what the deal was and Gloriana wasn’t as much of a spoiled cow as Katherine.

Like I said, things take a while to get going. Jillian isn’t open to getting married after being humiliated by her ex-fiancé. So… it takes some serious page time to get to any relationship/revenge parts. Revenge aside, James isn’t a bad guy, and he has guilt/second thoughts the entire time.

There’re several chapters dedicated to groveling after the fallout. My only complaint is that most of it was done with them separated (James miserably respecting Jilly’s wish to stay away) while his/her friends aid the mending. I prefer face-to-face groveling and wish she would’ve stayed put.

Bottom Line- I enjoyed it, but was pretty bored the first half. I liked both mc’s and really liked the secondary characters. (Nick & David) I wondered if maybe they might have their own books but I don’t see any attached. It’s free to read with KU. **Edit- David’s book is His Reluctant Lady and I think Nick’s is His Improper Proposal

This one’s safe. The OW drama comes from Lady Beatrice who wanted James for herself (he never did) she’s rude to Jilly a couple of times.

[Topastro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop sleeping on this author and start downloading. I promise you will not be disappointed.

[🐝 Shaz 🐝 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started reading this and thought it was okay. A revenge story. This story definitely got more interesting about 50% in.
James started his pursuit of Jilly as revenge for his sister. He fell into his own trap by falling in love with Jilly. Jilly is a strong woman who made him suffer for his lie’s.

[Chris ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️ I really enjoyed reading this book, but I’m not in the mood to write a super long review.

What you need to know is that Aydra Richards was a new author to me, and she completely surprised me in the best way possible. I already plan to read many more of her other books because I’m obsessed with the way she writes angst and how strong and well-rounded her characters are.

Tropes you’ll find:
• Revenge plot (the MMC wants to take revenge on the FMC’s brother, so he makes her fall in love with him in order to ruin her reputation)
• Obsessed, possessive MMC × sassy, strong FMC
• Intense angst & plenty of groveling

The only downside for me was the ending, it felt a little abrupt, even though we do get to see them happy in the epilogue. The author focused too much on their separation instead of their reconciliation. And don’t get me wrong, I loved the part where they were separated because it was soo angsty…but then she (the author) ended up rushing the ending and it felt very underwhelming.

This was a spontaneous BR with my lovely friends Olga and Lori, and we had such a great time reading this book.

[~839 book boyfriends~]

Note to self: Avoid

“a sister’s dishonour for a sister’s dishonour”
the heroine’s brother was an asshole and abandoned the hero’s sister so instead of holding him accountable for what he did, the hero decides to take revenge by “ruining” the heroine🤢🤢

and how does he ruin her you ask?
he stages a fake marriage, then fucks her, obviously she’s ruined now cause the whole thing was a sham!!!
mission accomplished!

bc apparently thats the best thing one can do in such a situation
make a woman pay for a man’s mistake! a woman who in no way was a part of her brother’s manwhorish actions🙄🙄🙄

why destroy the guy when you can just fuck his sister
ah yes an alpha hero at his best✨

[Zubee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent start to 2021
Incredibly well written and paced very well; I had to suspend belief in one little place but that was ok ... I enjoyed reading this book very much ... sensitive characters and with a good bit of angst
Incidentally, I believe this book has been on quite a few 'Find that book' threads; I only wish I could recall those threads and could answer those requests ...

H befriends h with revenge on mind; his little sister tells him h's brother seduced her and got her pregnant ... h's jerk brother, when confronted, is vague, only saying that H's sister is responsible for her ruination and not him and promptly leaves on some trip
H plans to ruin h by offering marriage; a fake one but he finds h has already been abandoned by her ex-fiancee and has no interest in marriage
H and h become friends until she finally agrees to marry him ... so they leave the house party where they were and get married ... by an actor that H pays so the marriage is not valid

H is an incredibly nice man, kind and tender towards h although he harbors revenge plans ...
h is a strong woman
Yes, there is sufficient grovel, a good bit of it well before h finds out about the fake marriage .. also, H is already looking for ways to have a proper ceremony when h finds out about his revenge plan

All in all, its very well written with some very good side characters as well ... and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it ...

[Sally Jask-eh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duke James and Lady Jilly had a
touching love story. But he was a bit of
a puss and she was a brat. Sometimes love means not having to say you’re sorry JILLY. She had existing issues with flakey friends and an absent brother, grief she did not deal with. Then piled it on Dukie James because he was a man-liar. Well JILLY, he moped all around town chasing your b@7chy a@@ and you would not forgive him till he brought you lemonade and a backrub —-like the giant puss of a Duke he is 😹🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one! Loved the angst. Loved that it was a train wreck the H saw coming and knew he’d regret, but he couldn’t fix it without it all falling down around him. Loved the grovel. Loved the MC’s and supporting characters. Recommend!

[Missy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took a long time to get halfway through the book that I skipped Chapters 17-19 to get to the next phase of the revenge plot. I returned to read those chapters after completing the book, and the only thing I missed is the introduction of the mean girl. She makes one other appearance later.

Will add more if I have the time.

[Bex (Beckie Bookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've indulged in a riveting historical romance and this one hit the spot in every way. It was surprisingly good and I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. James Bradford Duke of Rushton wants recompense he believes that the Earl of Westwood has compromised and ruined his little sister and when the lord in question refuses to put things right he decides to play him at his own game a sister for a sister is only fair.

Lady Jillian Kittridge isn't in the first flush of youth anymore rapidly approaching her 23rd birthday she's considered nearly on the shelf, with a broken engagement in her first season she's put paid to all of her girlish dreams and she's firmly set now against matrimony. She's just waiting to come of age when her dowry will become accessible to her so she gets some independence from all of the many stifling rules of society.

But she didn't count on a determined Duke, one who won't take no for an answer, James makes her heart beat fast and causes all sorts of feelings that she thought she was long immune from. His relentless pursuit turns Jilly inside out and it's not long before she's throwing caution to the wind and walking right into James's dupilous hands. But now he's won his prize James realises that he now stands to lose everything if he can't fix this and Jilly discovers the full truth of his cruel deception.

This was strange as in I loved and hated James equally throughout. He was just so easy to like but then what he was doing was so wrong, but I still wanted him to get his girl and despite his prior actions I couldn't help but want him happy as well, man I was conflicted let me tell you.

Jillian though was class personified, even when she discovers James's deceit she kept her composure and comported herself immaculately. She was a lady through and through and I just felt so sad for her and mad, I was so mad at James. I do think the sister got off far too lightly and should have faced harsher consequences for her manipulations she literally faced zero recriminations, bar a telling-off.

This was extremely well written and despite being a period piece this was sexy, it had all of the passion and chemistry I was after and Jilly and James were such a great couple. Oh, and there was some delicious grovel from James which I'll be honest that's the reason I picked this up as I'm a sucker for a decent grovel which this delivered on. I'm definitely going to be picking up the rest of the series and I'm especially looking forward to reading Nick's story next



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dove into this story just from the description of a woman being manipulated to intentionally cause her devastation. I KNEW this would be an angsty story. It just wasn't as angsty as I had expected. What I got instead was a story full of entertainment. I enjoyed the entire tale and I was drawn in from the very first page until the very ending.

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, H was actually a sweet beta so he was not as cruel as I wanted! Lol

[Lidia's Romance · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3 Stars (rounding up)

Not gonna lie, I skimmed the first part of the book, up until chapter 20 (48%) where the drama really started for me. Sorry, I have no patience anymore. Just get me to the drama quick! The rest, I read completely.

The main characters were likable but the H is 100% beta male and those are not my jam. The angst was decent but could have been better if the h hadn't acted so subdued when she discovered the H's deception. She didn't ask him any questions, not even a simple why. His reaction was also especially restrained but I did at least appreciate him begging her not to leave him. I enjoyed watching him be miserable without her, brownie points for that. Still, this guy was annoyingly beta and that eclipsed the grovel a bit. Towards the end, she was the one that went to him AND practically had to lure him back to her bed. That's how passive he was. I agree with my GR friend Jac K's review (go check it out).

The epilogue was very sweet. I love it when there's babies in the end, and when heroes refuse to be kept away from their wives while they're in labor. This one was willing to fight anyone who stood in his way LOL I guess he had a little alpha in him after all.

[kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars ✿

It took me a while to get into the story and I didn't feel connected to any of the characters either. the book was not as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. such a shame.

[Ainhoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was painful until 50% and then became great.

It took some effort to keep reading but then hañfway through it started flowing perfectly 😍

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 star, the extra .5 is mainly for the good grovel lol

I mean, I've watched enough Bridgerton to understand why James was so hellbent on getting revenge for his sister so yeah it was fine (until you discover more things near the end...). I think with this being only 230 pages I would have liked to have been entertained from the very beginning. The first 80ish pages were kind of slow, but after that I was fully invested reading the messiness of it all. I think James and Jilly were good for each other and there was about 60 pages of angsty groveling at the end so I really can't complain. I'm glad we got James's POV throughout the book because he really did feel guilty the entire time and when he was trying to win her back it was a little painful seeing the life sucked out of him (honestly the most satisfying part to read when the guys are groveling LOL). Anyways, I knew going into this book that it probably wasn't going to knock my socks off, but it was a fun weekend read and I enjoyed it for what it was!

[Maya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good god this was boring

[Ashlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was promised *groveling* and instead the last 30% of the book was just MMC being sad and drunk. I guess this definition of groveling is just sticking around and not moving on and being really sad, but never saying sorry with his words? And all the side characters telling our FMC that he’s sad and loves her and shouldn’t she be the better person and forgive the unforgivable?

I need begging. I need vulnerability. I need him prostrated on the ground. I need her throwing his actions in his face and him taking the righteous anger. This…wasn’t that. FMC goes ice queen and MMC stays a respectful distance away until she decides to forgive him. So unsatisfying.

[Tmstprc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars. Knowing the plot set up, I was still surprised he followed through with the revenge plan, particularly after it was obvious they’d fallen for one another.

So for all the angst, there were moments I laughed out loud.

4 I was entertained by this stars.

[Dominique F · Rating 4 out of 5]

The grovel was epic. I love a good harsh awful deep rooted heart break followed by the clear suffering of the groveler

[Soph · Rating 5 out of 5]

★★★★★. I love a man who follows his wife back to London, lives down the block, visits her everyday, brings her flowers and begs for her forgiveness while crying his eyes out. Plus who literally didn’t leave his house unless it was to see her at the balls. PLUS who says if she never forgave him it would be okay because at least he could see her for tiny moments throughout! ADD IN him knowing what settles her stomach when pregnant and making sure she always has it. DOUBLE him writing letters to his best friend begging for a way to make their marriage real because he’s so desperately down bad he can’t even breathe without her. Let’s triple it; a man who tells a ball room full of socialites that his wife left him and not the other way around so the rumors don’t harm her. Not done AND a man who threatens her ex who ruined her life when he was convincing himself he was with her out of revenge. For the topper, add in a woman who stands her ground until the last chapter and makes her man work for it while taking his butler and maid and best friend and money plus the loser husband in the end? They have all my stars.

[Jes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good but it really lost steam at the end. Like, it got to the point where I couldn't be angry at the hero. Ahat's saying something. For me, the big appeal of grovel romances is being outraged. I just didn't really feel it. I think it's because the hero spends so much time self-flagellating before his big betrayal is revealed. The story has pretty much forgiven him so there's no reason for the narrative to dwell on a real grovel. Idk. I just didn't care much, by the end 😭

[Natalie Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Easy to read and pulls at the heartstrings, but I wish it weren’t so predictable from the very start. Those who like groveling will love this. I like a good grovel, but it lasted waaaay too long in this book. It would’ve been great if the author added something unexpected to the plot.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 77%
So angry with this book. I was keen for an angsty book, and don't have any particular qualms in that area. But the things I didn't like about it were just too much. Felt like the damn book would never end.

What I liked - the FMC was fine, as well as her friend Nora. I thought they were well written and I enjoyed their support of each other.
That's it. That's all I liked.

I hated the MMC. Not even for what he did (see: angst and all that jazz). But him as a character. I hated his POV, hated how often he "not like other woman'd" the FMC. All his thoughts on any woman other than the FMC and her friend were disparaging and needless.
The thing that made me DNF was when Nora and her husband turn up at the MMC's residence to find out what was going on with her friend, and how forgiving her husband was towards the MMC. F*ck that shit. "With the cherry on top being his stupid ass comment after his wife had left the room (after yelling shrilly of course) to the MMC - "Sometimes-just occasionally, mind you-a wife can be a hell of a hassle.

The last little thing was the constant references to the FMC with her nickname Jilly, from the moment he'd met her. I got over it a bit when reading from his POV but it being used in her POV felt ridiculous.

Anyway, just nah. DNF, not for me.