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I really want to DNF this but then I've wasted an Amazon music credit. Maybe I would enjoy this more if I payed attention to the non-romance plot(s?) but I just don't care...

I'm...bored. I think this author might be the same as Katee Roberts for me. The edgy sex isn't all that edgy, the internal monologues get tedious, and I don't really care about the non-romance plot. The first book in this series hooked me. But I want more of the three messy characters and their messy relationship triad and less of...everything else.

Struggling, close to DNF. The romance is slooow. MCs have kissed twice but each is in the dark about the other's baggage. Also the second kissing session was basically "they kissed and kissed; a little while later, they stopped." I did not know until this book that it's possible to wrote a closed door kissing scene. Seems like lazy writing! Also, cannot stand the villainizing of the dead wife.

MCs have *just* met, I do not like slogging through so much backstory, waiting for the romance to *start*. It is a really good meet-cute though. Wish the guy on the cover looked like how he's described in the book.

I know I'm late to the party with this one but wow this is beautiful writing.

Oh, also, the narrators are OTT, not in a good way. They each are not good at the other MC's voice. The narrator for Persephone makes her sound way too posh and precious. I really think the narration may be coloring my view of the book.

I should know better than to expect overhyped books to live up to their buzz. This is fine, I will finish it, but it's kinda boring? I found the sub-dom, voyeurism, etc. elements that are supposed to make this extra hot to be clinical and/or predictable. The world building is rather vague and usually I prefer that to overcomplicated world building, but I need something to keep my interest!

Fun so far, but I experienced secondhand embarrassment and shame for things that happened to the FMC in ch. 2 that were almost too much for me. I don't like it when authors put their characters in situations that feel mean-spirited. The chapter warrants a TW for sexual assault too. But I am powering through, because I want the FMC to get her castle, and if she gets a laird who likes to fish in the nude, even better!

Really enjoying this so far. Very much a slow burn but in the best way. SMH at reviews complaining there's too much baseball. There is a lot, enough that I'm learning stuff I didn't know. But, like, do people read scifi romance and complain there's too much scifi?! Don't read sports romance if you feel that way, authors who want to write a book set in the sports world are not required to dumb down the sports for you.

I've gone from enthralled in season 1 to alternating between bored and annoyed in season 2. These books are too much: too many POVs, too many story lines, too many rounds of trust issues between the MCs, characters put through the ringer too many times, and tbh too many words, despite how lovely I find the author's writing style. And with this book I've moved on from annoyed to mad. Ughhhh.

In my GenX opinion, this book is so very painfully millennial.

The setting saves this one, probably would've DNF'd otherwise.

This is, fine?, I guess, though I'm enjoying the setting a lot more than the romance. Also, lying to grandma seems like it's breaking some unwritten rule of romance.

This might end up being too frothy for me.

Also, random observation, questioning the author's use of the word magmatic to describe an attractive person. I guess he means hot like magma?

Rereading so I can read the rest of the series. Might have to bump this up to 5 stars.

This book is making me hungry for Dutch treats!

But...once again rolling my eyes at a 30yro romance protag who's the *only* one in her friend group not settled on the job and/or relationship front. Like, I'm a generation older than Dani, and most of my friends and I spent our 30s figuring out all that. The idea that an urban professional would be the odd one out among her friends wrt love and career feels contrived.

5 chapters to go, hoping something happens soon! 😂

The sexual tension/lust in this is exquisite amd yet there's not much else. Kinda no vibes/no plot? FTR I *heart* ALL vibes/no plot. A LOT of exposition and internal monologue. MCs have sniped at each other a handful of times. Also weird to have multi-POV in a book this short (audiobook is 8hrs). The romance is barely there but then we waste our time inside the MMC's sister's head?

I had to restart the audiobook at the 25% mark because I realized I'd been only half listening for much of the book. The narrator has a rather stiff delivery that turns into pleasant white noise. Also who thought it was a good idea to use a 60yro (my estimate, he has acting and music credentials dating back to the 80s) for this MM romance with 25yro MCs!! I still might DNF or switch to reading rather than listening.

Haven't started this yet but had to jump in to react to people trashing the cover. Have none of them seen the movie poster for Pretty Woman???

This is OK but probably will not end up being high on my list of Beverly Jenkins romances. Two tropes I don't go for: 1) toxic "other woman" and 2) MMC relentless in his need to have (i.e., sleep with) the FMC from the moment they meet, without knowing anything about her, and initially only wanting her the one time, treating her like a conquest rather than a person.

Christmas in July!

This has been better since around the midpoint but I still think it's mediocre as women's fiction (very much limited series starring Reese or Nicole vibes) and unsatisfying as a romance.

Ok, so this actually is multi-POV, but still not the one POV I'm curious about. It's also almost entirely rich people bickering. I'm not sure I'm enjoying it?

Really enjoying this so far even though messy rich-family drama isn't always my jam. It's leaning more women's fiction than MacLean's usual writing, but I know she will deliver the heat too. I'm dying for dual POV even though I know this story works best as single POV.

I think I’m just not built for 400+ page historical romance. I still have over 9hrs to go in the audiobook! And, like, I appreciate the historical detail but maybe some of it could be eluded to and the rest put in an author’s note? Jury’s still out on whether the author has effectively handled a non-British MC and the artifacts plot line.

Enjoying this so far but annoyed to see that the author did AI covers when the series was reissued. I already own books 1 and 4, and the whole series is free, but I’m not inclined to get and read the ones I don’t already have. Plus the guy on the cover looks like Jesus (the European/Western version). Ugh. My copy of the ebook has the original cover.

This is delivering everything I expected from the blurb (hot and a little dirty), but two of the three love interests are named Jeff and Buckley, why do authors do stuff like this!? 😆

This starts out really good but ugh why so much fade to black/off page sex??

I’ve read books 1-3 (out of order, 2, 3, 1), and all were just 3 stars. Reading this mostly to complete the series but hoping the author pulls off a 4 or 5 star book with the end of the series. Otherwise I’ll probably pass on her books in the future.

Wow this started out great but has turned into a slog. The setting is perfect but I’m having a hard time reading a main character who’s become annoying as the story has progressed, and we only get her POV. Also so far the theme seems to be books are bad and what reader wants that??