Arend and Isobel are interesting, and I enjoyed their conflict in regard to trust. ( )

Tortured trust and love!

Arend Aubury as the emotionally fractured Frenchman, gorgeous to behold and trusting no-one is a wonderful hero. Lady Isobel Thompson as the step daughter of the despicable Victoria is a beauty inside and out.
Of course the page sizzles whenever they meet and that sizzling increases in fervour as time goes on. (Almost too much sizzle and not enough story.) Isobel's vengeful stepmother Victoria appears to be trying to engineer an engagement between Isobel and Arente. They enter into a mock engagement in an attempt to entrap Victoria.
For those who don't know, Victoria has been systematically trying to destroy the members of the Libertine Scholars to pay for their father's dreadful sins against her (and given the extent of their depravities one can see why she is so gripped with the need for retribution).
The point is that none of the Libertines have been like their fathers. In fact their fathers disgusted them. But Victoria must take her vengeance somewhere. Isobel has become a weapon Victoria will use against Arente.
The Scholars are highly sceptical about Isobel. Is she a willing pawn of Victoria's? Their wives are more generous.
Arente is tortured by his own secrets about his life prior to returning to England, a wealthy man. Unlike when he left. Those secrets, or rather shames, have left him unable to trust or want to trust women. Isobel must fight almost unto death and then some to unearth that trust. Can she however help him to come to terms with his past? I must admit at times I found Arente a little too tortured and his inability to fully trust Isobel a little to drawn. A little to unforgiving of himself and others. But then maybe that's the point of self loathing as he displays it.
This addition to the Libertine Scholars annals rounds off the series, although there will apparently be two more novels featuring other characters that have emerged over time.

A NetGalley ARC ( )

A Libertine Scholars success, Arend and Isobel's story is off to a tumultuous start, as he believes she is a criminal, perhaps even murderess, plotting against he and his friends. Needless to say, things get heated in more ways than one, as their attraction to one another is nearly as hot as the clues leading to the culprit. How this ends, I will not say, but Evans takes you on many turns throughout this adventurous romance.
*I received an arc from NetGalley for an honest review ( )

I've read a few of the books in the series before this one and they were okay. I'm being very generous with the stars here. This book had so many inconsistencies, it became a struggle just to get through it.
Isobel and Arend had no chemistry as a couple. Their passive-aggressive relationship wasn't engaging to the reader and I mostly wanted to slap both of them.
The story has so many inconsistencies and deus ex machina that I can't list them all.. Here's a few. Isobel's father was so broke that he had to marry Victoria, yet two years later he left her a fabulous heiress. Then he was poor again, then he was rich. Apparently, he was only poor when it was necessary to justify his marriage; otherwise, he was rich.
Tunnels conveniently appear, dead people show up for no reason, soldiers appear to rescue the heroine - all calling for total suspension of belief. These 'scholars' have no real plans, but gallop all over the country along with their wives.. Regency customs and speech are often disregarded by the author.. The villain is unbelievable.
This book was kind of a mess. Maybe some other readers will enjoy it, but it was not for me. ( )