A very good romance from Sabrina Jeffries. Her heroine is smart and funny, and stands up for herself. The Duke, her love interest, is flawed, but most romance leading men are. They have good banter. Their first kiss happens quite quickly, so there isn't the usual buildup. The murder mystery plot in the background keeps things interesting, so it's not all about romance or sex. I liked that about it, and we still don't know what happened. The sex scenes are steamy, and there's a lot of talking during them. Well-written, and very readable. Those you are interested in chemistry (the science) will find this especially interesting.

Sabrina Jeffries writes wonderfully immersive stories - especially about large somewhat infamous families. I love the irreverence of her characters and their quirkiness. Both Thorn and Olivia definitely fall in that category. Thorn is a Duke who writes plays in his spare time (very successful ones) and Olivia is a chemist (a very unusual occupation even now).

Thorn and Olivia were caught kissing by Olivia's mother nine years ago. The situation did not end well - Olivia's mother blackmailed Thorn into proposing to Olivia by threatening to release sensitive information about his family. The encounter between them is explosive and changes both of their lives for the next few years.

Now Thorn's family needs Olivia's expertise to help find out more information about the mysterious deaths in their family. But Thorn is bound and determined to challenge Olivia at every turn. They are fiercely attracted to each other - but completely at odds. It was fascinating to watch them together and see them overcome their differences and personal prejudices against each other. I also appreciated that after Thorn came to terms with Olivia as a person of science, he never sought to change her or stop her from doing that type of work. Just to take sensible precautions.

This family is seriously complicated - and the family tree at the beginning should probably show up at the start of every chapter!! But it is worth it!

I enjoyed it immensely!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

I found the idea of a heroine chemist from this period really interesting. And while I don't usually like the whole they have a history thing very appealing (normally I prefer to experience the relationship first hand), the author does a good job of telling their story from the beginning.

To be honest, I just didn't find their story super compelling, though I did enjoy the read.

*I received a review copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*eview.*