Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Forever, Grand Central Publishing (March 5, 2024)
From Goodreads.com: Lady Charlotte Lovett should have never run away upon discovering her betrothal. But when one has been promised to a man who, rumor has it, killed his previous two wives, one does what one must. The only thing that can get her out of this engagement is proving that Viscount Hawley is as sinister as she thinks he is. And the person who would know best is his very own brother.
In many ways, Dr. Matthew Talbot is the exact opposite of his sibling-scholarly, shy, and shunned by society. But like his brother, he has secrets, and he doesn't need Charlotte exposing them in her quest to take down the viscount. It only seems prudent to help her while keeping her from poking her nose in all the wrong places. But as they put their hearts at risk to grow closer to each other, they are also getting closer to a dangerous confrontation with Hawley.
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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5
You know... it says a lot when I was more invested in the romance between Banshee (a capuchin) and Pan (a parrot) than I was in the romance between Matthew and Charlotte.
Now that I have your attention, let me explain. There was just something missing between our (human) couple that I can't quite put my finger on. And to be honest, I'm not sure if it was a lack of chemistry between the two, or the fact that the characters were both just.... odd to me.
Let's start with Charlotte. She was one of those characters who was ahead of her time (in ways not entirely compatible with the time period in which this story took place), and also extremely reckless. Oddly enough, I enjoyed her, probably because she went against everything society wanted her to be.
Matthew however was just a touch too.... well everything. When we first meet him we are told that he is quiet (to the point he doesn't engage with society because he tends to prattle on about things that interest him and no one else). But he's also quite scholarly as in addition to the books he has published (and illustrated) he is also a doctor after all, or was that a surgeon? He is called both at different times throughout the story after all so it's hard to know for sure. Oh, and let's not forget the part where he is able to effortlessly scale walls, jump from roof to roof and do all sorts of other secret hero stuff because of course he has a double life. And I'm not saying what he does isn't admirable, I'm just saying that aside from allowing himself to be bullied by his older brothers, and his inability to successfully navigate within the confines of the ton, he seemed very what is the term? Gary Sue? Is that what we call guy characters who are just too perfect at everything?
And that brings us to the entire plot of this story. Charlotte has been betrothed (without her knowledge and against her will) to Matthew's older brother who is in line to inherit a Dukedom. Only, Charlotte would be said brothers THIRD wife after the prior two died in very mysterious circumstances (to be fair the manner of death for both was different, but they both died of broken necks with the same vertebra broken and NO ONE thought it was odd?). Of course, Hawley is the epitome of over the top, almost cartoonish villain, consorting with the stereotypical "goon/henchman" characters and just being overall insufferable, but without actually showing the reader that he has anything but bad luck on his side. Of course, we want to believe Charlotte and Matthew since both of them are convinced he was responsible for the deaths of his former wives.
But then, the story takes a turn. And okay, yeah. Hawley is up to something. But it has nothing to do with the original storyline and while it WAS satisfying to see him get what was coming to him, I wish the truth would have been revealed about what really did happen to his ex-wives and have him face justice for that.
Now I'm going to touch on something that no one else has. Charlotte RAN AWAY from the modiste while wearing the dress she was supposed to be married in, yet as far as we saw, she faced no repercussions from her mother (who otherwise comes across as some kind of tyrant ruling over her daughter with an iron fist), nor was there any gossip about the incident from either other clients who knew Charlotte had been at the modiste, or people seeing someone make a mad escape from said stop (through a back set of doors nonetheless). If you're going to have a tyrannical mother than in my opinion, they need to have more of a presence than Charlotte's did. Instead, it seemed the only time she showed up was when it was convenient for the author to move something along without her ever really seeming to be an actual threat to Charlotte's happiness.
I will say, that this story ended on a perfect non-related cliff-hanger should this author decide to make a series out of it, and I enjoyed Alexander (Charlotte's twin brother) just enough that I may be tempted to give his story a read.
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.
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