5++ stars I don’t even know where to begin with this one, but I’ll start with this. I received an ARC of this book from the author, and I melted into a puddle while reading it. While I couldn’t put it down, dying to know what would happen next, I was devastated when I finished it and had no more left to read. It’s not only the words used, which are poetic and evocative, but it’s also the characters, who are endearing and relatable. I can’t think of any other author who makes me so desperately wish I could step into the world of her characters and make it my home. Macaulay, Prince of Limehouse (and King of the Underworld) is not at all attracted to Pippa, the younger sister of his close fried Roan, a duke. He can’t be; Roan would kill him. Every thought Macauley has of Pippa is closely followed by an excuse or explanation to justify his actions. When one of his associates questions why he is running to save Pippa from one of her self-assembled predicaments, this is his response: “It isn’t like that,” Macaulay murmured. When it wasn’t. Although it was. A little. Pippa, who is trying so hard to become a lady for the sake of her brother and the rest of their extended family, sees herself as “a half-baked cake, crisped on the edges and gooey inside, unrefined and inelegant.” The banter between Macauley and Pippa is clever and wry, like when Macauley says, “Sorry to rescript your fairy-tale narrative, but…” Or when he finds her studying him and says, “...may I ask that you quit inspecting me like a horse you’re set to purchase?” shortly followed by, “My shoulder feels like it’s being carved from my body…in slow, sure degrees. Your scalding stare is not quite enough to dispel it.” There was one interaction between Macauley and Pippa which cracked me up. At a ball, Macaulay is approached by an old paramour whom he no longer wishes to see (because of Pippa, naturally). Still unwilling to acknowledge his attraction to her, but well aware of her attraction to him, he decides to use it to his advantage. “So when her gaze collided with his over his former lover’s shoulder, he changed his life by mouthing one word: help.” I had such a clear visual of this, I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. Shortly thereafter, Macauley finds it more and more difficult to resist her charms, “A twinkle shimmered in her eyes. Fearsome and frightening. Turning them sea-green and weakening something inside him. As if he needed that.” Closer to her than he should be, “This was glorious. Horrendous. Bewildering. He’d never desired anyone so fiercely—and so fiercely against his will.” So, of course, they kiss, and then, “They stood, staring, words lost. Passion an indescribable shackle linking them and tugging hard.” Macauley makes the mistake of using the word “us” when referring to the two of them and Pippa grasps that with both hands. Even though he claims he made a mistake in kissing her and turns to find her sister, “Most women would take his dismissal as a failure— but there was an us where there had never been before. No woman in London could claim an us with this man. His lips tightened. A light rain had begun to fall, and she stepped beneath the eave to protect what was left of her sad presentation. ‘Don’t fixate on any one pronoun I’m using, luv.’ Oh, he was clever, her rookery scoundrel.” Naturally, he cannot get her out of his mind after that and thinks back to their encounter in the garden at the ball. “When he’d pressed her up against the door, he’d had no notion but to go on kissing her until the end of time. Until they expired on the spot. A romantic, moonlit garden in the middle of Mayfair. The setting infuriated him, it was so maudlin.” At the same time, Pippa is trying to get Macauley out of her mind. “She’d finally given up. Let Macauley stay wedged like a splinter in her brain.” Pippa becomes more and more aware of Macauley’s growing feelings, while he continues to try to deny them to himself. He’s adorable, trying to reason his way out of heading the way of his happily-married friends, attached to wives, children, and cats. “Macauley found a spindle chair and threw himself into it. He didn’t care what, he was not attaching himself to a woman or a feline. He simply wasn’t. Pippa didn’t even seem to particularly like cats.” One has to wonder if even he realized how transparent he was. Truly, Pippa and Mcauley are perfect for one another, not only having much in common, but also balancing the qualities in the other with contrary ones. While she’s prepared to jump into a life with him, he spends too much time torturing himself with what-ifs and putting up roadblocks. Pippa is a skilled chess player, while Mcauley is not. Her advice to him is clearly intended to apply to life as well as chess. “You’re too rigid.” He coughed and straightened from where he rested against the settee. “Excuse me?” She gestured to the chessboard with her glass. “I think three steps ahead and react quickly while you agonize.” She nudged her knight into place. “About the moves. Every single one. Instead of going with the decision, then not worrying.” There’s also one particularly funny scene involving Macauley and two of his friends’ wives, Georgie and Hildy, discussing Pippa, trying to get their advice on winning her to his side (after messing things up badly). “Pip’s not a jewelry kind of girl. Not alone with nothing else to back it, that is. I need to know how to find my way inside the castle if you get my meaning. Pip’s drawn the bridge up over the moat.” Georgie giggled behind her teacup. “We thought your success with that venture was part of the problem.” “Not that castle. Ever heard of a metaphor?” He frowned, his cheeks, unbelievably, going hot. “What a lewd mind you have, Your Grace. I’m stunned to my boots and back. Posh upbringings don’t curb naughty natures, do they?” When Pippa and Macauley finally figured things out, I had a grin on my face. How could I not? Two characters, each unique and wonderful, and perfect for one another, finding their HEA. I loved it! Five stars is not enough. April 8, 2022
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Elizabeth J ConnorWriter. Editor. Proofreader. Archives
September 2022
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