Series: The Mad Morelands, #8
Traits & Tropes: hero & heroine both have traumatic pasts; mystery solving; enemies to lovers
Publication Date: 06.29.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; London, England
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 4/5
Tom Quick is well on his way to establishing the stable life he’s always wanted now that he’s become a partner at the Moreland and Quick detective agency working alongside his lifelong friend Constantine Moreland. When Tom hears an intruder breaking into the office late at night, he’s instantly on the alert, even more so when the would-be thief turns out to be a beautiful woman.
Desiree Malone was raised by circus performers, learning daring acrobatics and working with not so savory characters at times when money was short. Now she feels inexplicably driven to find her true father. Armed with the knowledge that he was a member of the aristocracy, and that he abandoned her and her two brothers when they were very young, she sets out to uncover the truth at last. When she finds a clue at the offices of Moreland and Quick, she runs with it.
Tom wants to help but can’t help but be wary of Desiree and protective of the Morelands lest her intentions toward them be less than honest. Even as he tries to maintain his distance, Tom can’t help the pull he feels toward Desiree. Tom ends up helping Desiree investigate her past, only for them to stumble upon a much larger secret than they had envisioned and find their lives endangered by it.
It took me quite a while to really get into this book, but once I did, I enjoyed the story very much. The mystery and suspense aspects were lovely, as was the development of the relationship between Tom and Desiree. At first, Desiree was a bit hard to like given her sanctimonious attitude and prickliness toward Tom, who was rightfully suspicious of her after the way they met. Once the communication between these two opened up, especially on her part, I really loved them together. I liked that Desiree and Tom both had strengths they brought to the table, each respected the other’s skills, and they worked as a team to get to the bottom of the mystery. The twists of the plot, especially when things started coming together towards the end, held my attention and the ending wasn’t quite what I had anticipated, but in a good way. Perhaps my most favorite aspect here was the openness between Tom and Desiree with regards to their future together. Neither tried to play games or feign indifference and I loved that honesty.
Parts of this story were a little heavy on descriptions and bogged down the flow a bit, but once the mystery finally picked up, I became invested in the outcome, the strong writing really had a chance to shine, and my rating got bumped up. It was at times easy to lose the threads of the mystery, but once everything picked up, it all fell into place nicely. I enjoyed the scenes with the Morelands and especially those with Desiree’s two brothers. I’m hoping those two get their own stories now and I think Brock has enormous potential to be one of those broody heroes who’s never known love, which is like catnip to me. Overall, things were a bit slow with both the mystery and the romance between Tom and Desiree but once the different aspects of the plot began to come together, this was a very enjoyable story with likable characters.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3513207268
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3742357060
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