I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is the first time in my life that I have read a book that has been removed from sale after just a couple of weeks of being released. Why? I have no idea. Yes, the book is bad; but that is not enough for such a harsh action. There is nothing ethically wrong with it or so disturbing that we must be protected against its aberration. It is just a book horribly planned, with zero sense most of the time and with a laughable plot.

We travel to the Victorian era to meet, Etta, the only daughter of a military man and a woman whose family name was a big deal until she married the major. In an attempt to regain some of the spotlight, Cassandra (the name of the mother, if I am not msitaken) wants to marry her daughter to a man with many titles. There enters the mysterious Shard, a russian Lieutenent Coronel, Count, Prince… An orgy of titles that makes the poor woman giggle like a child. It is love at first wallet… I mean, sight… But Shard is not just the hottie of the dance floor… he has many secrets. Can Etta deal with them?

It doesn’t look that bad, doesn’t it? It could have been bearable if the author would stick to something. Is this a love story facing some obstacles and a father who dislikes russians? Is this an erotic story with domination, bondage anb pain infliction? Is this a dark story of a Prince with a rotten soul who is a sex predator? Is this a story about an attempted murder and its investigation? Just pick one!! The book changes so many times of direction that nothing feels fulfilling. When something gets interesting, we jump into another train and leave the other one behind. In the end, this book tries to be many things and fails miserably at every one of them.

It is a huge shame, because there are short parts of the book that were very decent and I wish they had a bigger focus on the story. One of them is Etta exploring BDSM for the first time jumping into the B part of the word: bondage. I really enjoyed the scene where she ties Shard to the bed and has her particular feast. It was a well written erotic sex scene that showed some potential, but it was just the flavour of that chapter. I also enjoyed quite a lot the last part of the book, the one where the story is suddenly tranbsformed into a whodunit without breaking a sweat or hinting about it. Is it a well written mystery? Not by a longshot. But at least the unraveling of the culprit’s identity is quite fun.

We have a mess of a plot, but the style also makes the book hard to read. So many titles to present a character. So many adjectives. So many linguistic loops and flourishes to make it look less contemporary, but the only thing that achieves is being way more boring. The pace is horribly slow, with dozens of pages of useless babbling that get us nowhere. There are no twists in the story, no interesting revelations… Nothing to keep us engaged. Thankfully it is a short book. Otherwise, it would have ended in my DNF pile of books.

The characters are a joke, too. At first, Etta looked like she could be an enjoyable one. She wasn’t the spoiled daughter her mother wanted. She had some personality that could have put some spice into the story. As soon as she marries Shard, her behaviour takes a 180 degree shift and becomes a really annoying character. She becomes her mother, actually. Only worried about herself, her place in the world and the opinions of the big fishes. Disappointing. Shard is presented like a very complex indiviudal, with lots of dark corners to explore. We are constantly hinted about his past and how it has molded him. But, except for a couple of chapters, that side of him is barely touched; so I feel cheated of the most important part of the story.

This is so far the worst book I have read this year. Even though this is the first in a saga, I have serious doubts about the following books seeing the light. If by some miracle they get published, I have the feeling I won’t be reading them. This one hasn’t been a good experience.

I tried very hard with this book, but it was too much for me. The prose was very hard to get into, overwritten in most places, the way the author kept using different names for the same characters confusing and from the beginning the characters came over as very one dimensional and not interesting at all.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book was totally crazy sauce. It was all over the place. A historical with bsdm, a murder plot... there was way too much going on and too much to keep up with. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

Prince of Russia with an abusive past has found love in a fresh pure English women. We read what happens when his secrets are revealed and what she will do with her newly found LOVE.
A Copy of this book was provided by author via NetGalley with no requirements for a review. Comments here are my honest opinion. Quick read!

I could not finish this book.

There are too many names and titles and I really tried to read this, but alas I cannot. I just can’t get past all the halls and the social call and again all the names and titles.....you might enjoy I can’t do it

Received a copy from the publisher for a honest review.