The MCs were delightful but the underlying threat of sexual assault upon others made the reading, for me, unpleasant overall. ( )

I liked Rosalind and Chase, and the supporting characters were great too, especially Liam their urchin friend. They solved a mystery together and finally got to act on their long simmering attraction. The solution to the mystery bothered me partly because many of the characters weren't bothered more by the enslavement and raping of women. ( )

I liked the first 2/3 or so above average, but then the last 1/3 below average, so it ended up 3 stars. The author did such a good job describing their longing for each other. There was sort of a forbidden love situation, and you could just feel them wanting but not having. It was delightful. lol The last part though was more focused on the mystery element, that wasn't particularly that clever, yet somehow they seemed to get comparably worse at solving as they went along. At one point it seemed to be all spelled out beyond any doubt, but then later they acted like it had never even occurred to them as a possibility... I kept thinking 'seriously??'. So, that was a lame ending for me, but probably it was still worth reading for said longing. =) ( )

I don't know if I just read too many of these in a short time, or if I just didn't like this one as much as the 2 previous ones. I think my issue was that you don't really see them falling in love. That happened before the book. You just see them finding each other, but somehow I just wasn't invested in it. Also, I think I prefer less sex more emotion kind of books. I will read more Pennyroyal Green books but I will take a bit of a brake for now... ( )

Read this book for the hero and heroine's tortured romantic backstory and the hero's honorable, affectionate love for the heroine, and an ending so sweet and lovely that I had to read it twice. Try to overlook, as I did, the silly mystery that makes up most of the plotline. It seems Julie Anne Long loves a silly, whimsical mystery, but this one was particularly fraught with nonsense. I think the mystery added absolutely nothing to the story and that the characters would have been better served by a plotline more serious, especially given they were both such good, honorable people. However, I happily read every page, delighted by the story nonetheless.

My only criticism aside from the mystery is that I did not, at all, understand why two people, both possessed of empty houses, and having waited YEARS for the chance to be together, would constantly choose to have rushed sexual encounters in public places. It might have made sense if it was written that either one or both of them was an exhibitionist, but it didn't seem like that was intended. They took no particular thrill from the locations of their trysts . . . and yet, they seemed to ignore opportunities to enjoy longer hours together in privacy. That was . . . very odd.

All that said, I'd happily read it again. A rare, perfect ending for two characters who I genuinely believe could have loved one another. ( )