Loved this so so much! Julie Anne Long is always go to author for me, because her characters and storylines are always so epic! This is the fourth book in the Palace of Rogues series and it’s an enemies to lovers type of romance. he’s definitely a must read! The whole series is great!

The new addition to the Palace of Rogues series was very good. Julie Anne long is always especially skilled at writing books that wonderfully balance emotionality with humor. I find that many romances tend to be either emotionally deep OR lighthearted humor but somehow JAL always infused both expertly in her books, and that’s why I love them. As usual for JAL, both characters are fully realized unique individuals and the dialogue is clever and layered. My only complaint is that this book, like others from this author (and to be fair it’s a sad staple of the genre) continue to uphold unfair judgement towards women having sexual while not upholding the same judgement for men. I understand that the author can’t change the fact that society held these views but she can start writing make characters who as individuals do not hold these views. This is something I have not seen much from this author but that I would like to. I’m tired of virgin heroines and tired of the woman being forced to feel shame and explain herself if she’s not a virgin. I’d like more male characters who don’t care that she’s not a virgin and who believe she has the right to have had & enjoyed sex with other people just like he has. The hypocrisy of a male character who admits to cheating on his wife having the audacity to judge & shame a (unmarried too!) woman who freely chose sex has no appeal for me anymore. I’d love to see JAL grow away from the standard possessive male, and the standard “it’s ok for men but not for women” storylines and push the envelope a bit more to a feminist lens, as authors like Courtney Milan, Scarlet Peckham, and Evie dunmore do within the genre.

I still very much enjoyed this book and recommend it to others but my feminist heart bleeds a bit at the continued shaming of women. I don’t need women to be redeemed by marriage in my romances.