Carrington Curphy’s Reviews > A Showgirl's Rules for Falling in Love > Status Update

I appreciate an offer for ending, or potentially ending, a book with heartbreak and walking away, but Phoebe is much stronger than I am. She walks away because she deserves better and I can’t do that.

"Some things just don't make any sense. Sometimes letters don't arrive. Sometimes people fail you. Sometimes hearts get broken. Sometimes people just can't love you the way you want them to.
Fact, unlike fiction, gets messy. And this part of the story is just that. Messy."

“They were two people bound by rules. No contact outside of working hours. No recklessness. No love affairs. Rules, rules, rules.
Perhaps it was time to see how it would feel to finally break them.”

They both want to be undeniable. For Thomas/Tom, he wanted to be too powerful to be denied, much like when a duke’s daughter ran after knowing he really wasn’t Clement

“His life, his agency, his future—not to mention Clement's memory—they had all been sacrificed on the altar of the Ridleys' vanities and ambitions and longings and shames.”

Now this feel more accurate: anger rage demanding “how did this” after policy brutality (also the whole arrest/raid part is probably necessary to the story, then Thomas’ character development too)

The sick “nursing trope” scene feels really forced. He had no idea the extent of the sickness, just got a text and rushed over. It feels like this was added as a box to check. Not something that feels natural in the progression of the relationship

Innuendos galore