Series: Last Chance Scoundrels, #3
Traits & Tropes: second chance; slow burn; class difference
Publication Date: 04.25.23
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; Inner Hebrides, Scotland, early Spring, 1819
Heat Level: 5
Rating: 3.5/5
Since Dominic Kilburn left Lady Willa Ransom at the altar a year ago, she has done everything possible to hide just how deeply it hurt her. After a year spent traveling the continent, Willa is ready to move on with her life and accepts an invitation to a house party on a remote Scottish island with the hopes of moving on from her embarrassment and the attraction she still holds for the man who left her.
When secrets from Dom’s past reemerged just before he was meant to be married, he knew he couldn’t go through with it given how undeserving he was of Willa, so he ran. Regardless, he still longs for the only woman to have ever found a place in his heart. Hoping to escape the longing plaguing him, Dom agrees to accompany his friends to a house party on an isolated Scottish island. Unfortunately, one of the guests is the woman he can’t stop thinking about and about whom he dreams impossible things.
Forced together by their well-intentioned family and friends, Willa and Dom work to resist the smoldering connection between them, but the line between love and despising blurs and their attraction combusts. But Dom’s past hasn’t changed and Willa fears being hurt again, leaving their happily ever after far from certain.
I have been anticipating this book for such a long time that I was hesitant to even read it now given the terrible slump I’ve fallen into, but I also didn’t want to put it off any longer. I don’t want to say it disappointed me, but I will say it wasn’t quite all I’d hoped for, though my expectations were of course very high. As always when I’m like this, you risk potential spoilers from here. Honestly, this story just felt very repetitive. Dom at least was sure he wanted to be with Willa, just equally sure he didn’t deserve to be, but Willa was just very wishy-washy about everything. Even past 60% we still didn’t get even a kiss between the MCs and I began to really lose patience. There was a ton of pining and longing, but it just grew boring and repetitive to me. I get that running away was Willa’s thing, but it still felt like she hadn’t really shown any development at all by the end of the book. Dom, on the other hand, did do some growing and reflecting. He was honest with her and made it clear that he just wanted to give her everything, but all she’d give him was chaotic mixed signals. Even when they finally did spend time together, nothing was resolved, and I grew bored all over again with her repetitive thoughts on keeping herself from being hurt again. Also, what the heck was with the random bdsm scene? I’m supposed to believe a virgin just randomly decided to tie a man up and use a crop on him? It just felt so random and weird, and I found it wholly unsatisfying. Even after all this emotional outlay from Dom, it was like Willa still hadn’t truly listened to his feelings when he finally confided the source of his shame to her. She just brushed off his feelings and went right back to mulling incessantly over her own fears. I wanted more emotion and less angst. Instead, I was just left feeling that Dom loved Willa much more than she did him and I wasn’t completely satisfied with their relationship. Overall, this book wasn’t quite all the things I’d hoped it would be, but my rating gets rounded up because I did like the way things wrapped up in the end.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4989455624
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1002049574
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