Series: First Comes Love, #3
Traits & Tropes: titled hero; widowed heroine; enemies to lovers; reformed rake
Publication Date: 04.27.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London, Eng;and
Heat Level: 1.5
Rating: 2.5/5
Since a tragic shipwreck left Brina Feld a grieving widow, she has dedicated herself to the service of others and has been determined never to remarry. But when the new Earl of Blacknight arrives in Town, he shatters her peace and stirs feelings she never thought to experience again. She knows any contact with him will threaten the walls she’s built around her heart.
Zane Browning, the Earl of Blacknight, was meant to live a life of carefree enjoyment until tragedy saddled him with the responsibility of the earldom. His occupation as a master gamester must now be set aside and he knows the perfect proper lady to help him adjust his behavior to meet high society’s standards. Unfortunately, his method of getting her attention was to very improperly place a bet at White’s that he would secure her agreement to marry him by the end of the season. She’s determined to outwit him and remain single with a counter bet of her own, but he’s equally determined to prove himself to her.
I enjoy a good reformed rake story and had high hopes for this one but sadly it just didn’t quite reach them for me. Zane had potential to be a very charming former rake and exhibited excellent devotion to his heroine. Unfortunately, he sometimes seemed too weak for me and I kept wanting him to finally stand up to his selfish, nosy family, especially as they kept up with the unwarranted derision against him, yet he never really did. Beyond that, Brina was never likable for me. She was rather too sanctimonious in the previous books and that continued here. She butted into others’ affairs to avoid dealing with her own issues while convincing herself she was helping even when that wasn’t always a case, all the while ignoring those who might actually need her. She came off as not that bright to me and there was all this build up as to the reasons, she felt she must atone and how she is really a terrible person, and that revelation was just very anticlimactic for me. Her behavior was disproportionate to this supposed offense and helped seal my dislike of her. Her lack of faith in Zane and her unwillingness to listen to him, especially after he listened to her, were the icing on the cake. He deserved an apology from her, which he never got, and I think that was a missed opportunity to show her character development from holding herself to a miserably impossible standard to finding herself and love again. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and she was always this untouchable paragon harping on about propriety in ways that I found repetitive and tedious, while not giving Zane any credit for the progress he made or the fact that he’d had his life upended. Their time getting to know one another was mostly just Brina criticizing Zane and she still had no faith in him even after he’d proven himself to her. There was a promising slow burn here that sadly only led to one vague and lackluster love scene that left me wondering if it had even really happened at all and which didn’t really register as sensual to me. Beyond the characters, pacing was also an issue for me here. The first half or more of the book went by very slowly and failed to hold my attention. Though some intrigue was established, it’s culmination at the end was handled very rapidly and tied up too quickly to be thoroughly satisfying, especially given the way it affected other aspects of the plot. While I didn’t dislike these two as a couple, I didn’t find myself all that charmed by either character and I wanted Zane to get more recognition for actually being a good man and that never really happened. I’ll read other books from this author, but this one didn’t quite work for me.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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