Series: A Logical Man's Guide to Dangerous Women, #1
Tropes: second chance; damaged heroine
Publication Date: 02.25.20
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; England
Rating: 3.5 stars!
Brandon Balfour once engaged in a night of passion with a beautiful actress, Kate Addison, before that mistake saw his heart broken by her infidelity. Ten years later, Bran is a successful and wealthy architect and engineer, lately returned to England from India and serving as guardian for his nephew, Christopher, the Duke of Winderton. Bran has remained a bachelor all this time and is fairly content with his life and his role in the Logical Men's Society, which he runs with his two closest friends. That is, until Kate and her traveling acting troupe breakdown in his idyllic village on their way to London and his nephew declares himself in love with the beautiful Kate and states his intention to marry her, leaving Bran with all sorts of trouble to deal with.
Kate has never forgotten her night with Bran or the shocking betrayal that so swiftly followed. Bran's re-entrance into her life means nothing and she certainly won't be forgiving him, rather she wants a taste of revenge. But as she gets a taste of the comeuppance she longed for, it soon becomes clear that both Bran and Kate were wrong about each other and the fledgling love between them is still very strong, if only they can get their timing right this time.
I enjoyed this book overall, but I've definitely got some mixed feelings. Brandon struck me as much too weak at times and unwilling to stand up to his ludicrous, air-headed sister or to his arrogant, punkish nephew. This weakness didn't come off as beta hero charm or sweetness to me, it just registered as lack of backbone. At times Kate was just spiteful to Bran for no reason, which did make some sense given her past trauma, but the continuance of this behavior after she learned the truth just seemed immature for a 35 year old woman. I think the secrecy between Bran and his nephew went on a bit too long and I would've liked to see some more of a reckoning and development of some maturity or growth in him, but maybe that's for a later book. To be fair, Kate and Brandon did have to deal with some fairly horrid side characters, so I think that also feeds some of my frustration towards them and the book as a whole.
On the whole, I appreciated the originality of this storyline, and the fact that the main characters are older, even if I didn't connect with the characters all that much. This was a new to me author but I liked her writing and will read more of her work.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3023713303
Kate has never forgotten her night with Bran or the shocking betrayal that so swiftly followed. Bran's re-entrance into her life means nothing and she certainly won't be forgiving him, rather she wants a taste of revenge. But as she gets a taste of the comeuppance she longed for, it soon becomes clear that both Bran and Kate were wrong about each other and the fledgling love between them is still very strong, if only they can get their timing right this time.
I enjoyed this book overall, but I've definitely got some mixed feelings. Brandon struck me as much too weak at times and unwilling to stand up to his ludicrous, air-headed sister or to his arrogant, punkish nephew. This weakness didn't come off as beta hero charm or sweetness to me, it just registered as lack of backbone. At times Kate was just spiteful to Bran for no reason, which did make some sense given her past trauma, but the continuance of this behavior after she learned the truth just seemed immature for a 35 year old woman. I think the secrecy between Bran and his nephew went on a bit too long and I would've liked to see some more of a reckoning and development of some maturity or growth in him, but maybe that's for a later book. To be fair, Kate and Brandon did have to deal with some fairly horrid side characters, so I think that also feeds some of my frustration towards them and the book as a whole.
On the whole, I appreciated the originality of this storyline, and the fact that the main characters are older, even if I didn't connect with the characters all that much. This was a new to me author but I liked her writing and will read more of her work.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3023713303
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