Series: Misfits of Mayfair, #3
Traits & Tropes: single mother; secrets; second son; titled hero; navy man; emotional issues to work through; one night stand becomes more
Publication Date: 05.31.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London, England, 1825
Heat Level: 4.5
Rating: 4/5
Since her debut season turned out to be an utter disaster, Lady Emma Hardwick has spent the past few years away from society in her small seaside cottage. Now she’s facing London again along with her young son, entertaining the idea of finding a good man to be a father to him. What she finds is Captain Malachi Harlow, now the Duke of Trenton, a tattooed, dangerous-looking man with whom she had a one night stand several months previously and whom she hasn’t stopped thinking of since.
Mal has no interest in London and is itching to return to his ship. Before he can do that, he has to settle matters with the admiralty that brought him home in the first place. When he reconnects with Emma, he finds he doesn’t mind an extended stay in London so much if it means spending time with her. The more time he spends with Emma, the more he begins to long for something more permanent with her, and that feeling only intensifies when they begin receiving threatening notes from an unknown enemy who wants to destroy them and their friends.
There was so much going on in this story that I’m really not sure where to start. I guess it’s fair to say that I was very skeptical of this one at first simply because of how dreadful Emma was in the previous book. She was utterly self-serving, egocentric, and naïve, with very few redeeming qualities. My dislike of her made me just as nervous as I was keen to read her story since I do tend to enjoy a good redemption story. Emma definitely does show a lot of character growth in this one, but perhaps not as much as she needed. There were still plenty of times that I found her to be utterly insufferable and her behavior toward Mal to be wholly unwarranted.
I liked the fact that due to Emma and Mal’s previous encounter before the beginning of this story, we get on page intimacy early with this setup. I think that was very important here for Emma’s character development as she learned to differentiate love from lust and began to feel comfortable enough to explore her own deeper feelings. This also gave us lots of time to explore that dynamic on page. Unfortunately, despite some newfound maturity and growth, Emma still displays plenty of immature tendencies, most especially that of avoiding honest communication and playing games instead. She is prone to petulant sulking and believing the absolute worst of Mal despite his proving himself to her and her own logic telling her that her theories about him don’t make sense. She talks a good game when it comes to wanting to be honest and not tell lies anymore, only to have much of that go out the window when it comes to Mal. I think she may have had one truly open conversation with him, and it was late in coming and I just wanted more. At the same time, I may never have related so much to a character in terms of fear of opening oneself up to hurt and at times, I felt like Emma could’ve been a younger version of me. I’m pretty sure I’ve said some of the same things she did at some point in my life. I was utterly charmed by Mal’s pouring his heart out to her and I just wish there had been a bit more reciprocation, even if it was delayed. Don’t get me wrong, she had every right to demand an explanation of Mal, she just should’ve given him the opportunity to do so much sooner rather than jumping to conclusions.
Beyond these little annoyances I had with Emma, I loved this story. Mal is pretty close to being the perfect hero himself and after the neglectful childhood he had, his need to be loved and belong was just the thing to absolutely melt me. His utter acceptance of Emma for who she was, and his understanding and forgiveness of her past actions put him a step above the rest. He was teaching Emma just as much about unconditional romantic love as she was teaching him about family and belonging and I loved that. Plus, he has a narwhal tattoo and if that’s not adorable, I’m not sure what is. There’s some mystery and intrigue here, but it definitely takes a backseat for much of the book and I’m glad it was handled fairly quickly in the end. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this story was the bromance between Mal, Ethan, and Cal. Their immediate rapport was just fantastic, and I adored the little family these three couples were able to create, and I especially liked that Mal’s friend Simon and Adelaide were included as well. I’m a sucker for found family and their bond was definitely believable. The final scenes of this book are some of my favorite series ending scenes ever and I couldn’t have thought up a better conclusion for these endearing characters.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/4071353951
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3910645841
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