Series: Miss Primm's Secret School for Budding Bluestockings, #4
Traits & Tropes: former soldier; lovers to enemies to lovers; pregnancy; dirty talk
Publication Date: 04.19.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency, England, 1831
Heat Level: 5
Rating: 4/5
Miss Chloe Fortune has no interest in surrendering her rights as a person to marriage, but she is curious to explore certain other arrangements with a man before she consigns herself to a life of boring spinsterhood.
Captain Sterling Edgeworth has no interest in marriage either, especially not to one so belligerent as Chloe, but that doesn’t stop his attraction to her. Given that their mutual animosity leads to fire in the bedroom, Sterling and Chloe engage in a temporary affair with no expectations on either side.
Soon they’re both wondering if a brief affair is really enough to satisfy them, but they both are too far gone for it to really matter.
I’m not sure I’ve ever read a surprise pregnancy story that I actually liked; the trope is just not my thing, but this book was actually very enjoyable and the trope well-executed. Chloe was a little hard to deal with at times and Sterling wasn’t always likable, but they both felt very real and gritty. Chloe was a bit over the top in her views on marriage and in how vocal she was about them, but she wasn’t wrong. In fact, her fears were all very much valid and Sterling’s grasp of that concept made him more likable for me. I also liked the fact that both Sterling and Chloe realized what they needed to do and made it happen without much fuss, at least after Sterling had learned the truth, and I enjoyed that low angst quality. Overall, I enjoyed this story way more than I thought I would considering the trope and I loved the gradual layering of these two characters as they developed from lust to real love that was likely there all along but that each was afraid to acknowledge. This was a well-written, steamy story from a very talented author.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/4277956358
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4418903971
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