There was an incident... they were supposed to forget about it. Of course, that doesn't fly. Our heroine is Cassandra, and she needs to get married. Wouldn't it be nice if she could choose her own husband? Dad says ok but if she can't get an acceptable one before his deadline, he'll choose one for her. Yuck. In strolls our hero, Ruark. He's going to help her by pretending he's interested. Psst... he is interested though. The problem is Dad won't approve of him (crime of being part Irish is the basis for rejection-ugh). To top that off, he is insecure about the longevity of his love (previous records of 3 months or less) and a promise to his dying dad. His increasing feelings for Cassandra make the situation intolerable for him. Love watching these 2 figure it out! This is volume 3 of the Phoenix club--a series not to be missed!

Sometimes the best things are found in a dark closet...or what is waiting for you in that dark closet. This is a tale of 2 people who don't want to settle in their lives, who have a plan for themselves, and aren't sure what hits them when it does. A sharp smoldering romance keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next. I'm finding this series highly enjoyable, and I think others will too ;)

This is Book 3 of The Phoenix Club series. While you can read this as a standalone, the series itself is quite enjoyable so I would recommend reading the first two books as well. In this installment, Ruark and Cassandra are struggling to find happiness. Ruark seems to fall in love too easily but has kept his promise to his dying father all those years ago to wait until he is thirty before finding a wife to settle down with . Cassandra is under pressure find a match and she wants to marry for love, but her father is making that difficult as he seems to have a knack for scaring suitors away. Ruark agrees to pretend to court Cassandra to help her gain the attention of suitors, but what starts out as pretend quickly turns into something real. This was a delightfully entertaining story that pulled me in from the start and kept my interest till the end. Ms. Burke did a wonderful job of bringing these characters and their story to life. I enjoyed the book very much and look forward to reading more of this series.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and Ms. Burke for providing a complimentary copy. This is my voluntary and honest review.

This is another fun book to add to “The Phoenix Club” series. Darcy Burke does a wonderful job weaving together this multi-trope story which includes forbidden romance, Falling for your best friends sister, a little bit of the reformed rake aspect, and a touch of friends to lovers — all combined to create a well paced romance. I enjoyed the dual POV aspect as it always helps me to connect more with the story.

This story features Ruark Hannigan, Earl of Wexford, who believes he is truly incapable of falling in love and staying in love. Simply put he believes his heart is fickle and due to a vow he made to his father he is committed to putting off marriage until he is thirty. That was all before he kissed his best friends sister and now she is under his skin and he doesn’t know how to decipher his emotions. Could he really, finally be in love?

Lady Cassandra Westbrook can’t forget the incident between her and Wexford, and she’s having a devil of a time focusing on finding a husband. The fact that her father intimidates every gentleman has made her quest intolerable, and her two brothers who could help are proving completely worthless. But if she doesn’t settle on someone, her father will arrange an “acceptable” marriage by the end of the Season. The problem is her heart has already decided who it wants now she just has to get Ruark on the same page & then get her growly father to agree to the match.

Of course there is added drama, unwanted potential suitors, and sneaking around to have private interludes between our two MCs. The chemistry between Ruark & Cassandra is off the charts and their assignations are quite steamy. Never fear these two do eventually get their deserved HEA … any other option would have been intolerable.

This is a great addition to the series and I am eager for the next book!

4 Stars ⭐️ | 5 Flames 🔥

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was...tolerable?

I really enjoy Darcy Burke's writing style, but the characters and their connection didn't grip me in this one. I think they may have needed more of an emotional connection other than sharing grief over a parent. However, the set up was super cute (and hot) and I did really enjoy most of this story.

I wasn't totally consumed with the conflict and felt like it could have been stronger than the H being a serial romantic and her brother's best friend. I guess the h's total understanding of his concerns about waiting until age 30 to marry just sucked all of the tension out of the conflict and made the latter half drag on a bit. I wasn't sold that either character was actually in love and not infatuation. We were just waiting for the H to have an epiphany of love and when it happened, that was also pretty lackluster.

Overall, I had fun reading this and will keep picking up more of DB's historicals. This one just wasn't my total cup of tea.

(actual rating: 3.5⭐)

Historical romance is the absolute BEST genre to exist. Like, no one did it like the earls, duques and kings of the earlier times. So, this book is the third one in the #Phoenix Club trilogy/series. We follow Cass and Ruark being completely enamoured of each other and Ruark trying to keep the promise of not marrying before 30. If you ask me, his father gives me much Barney Stinson vibes from HIMYM.
For me, this book was a good ending for their story but not exactly the best. However, it was good enough to conclude their story!

Darcy Burke does a fantastic job of making her characters relatable, realistic, and lovable. Lady Cassandra Westbrook isn’t really sure about marriage - she’s on the fence, watching her friends experience love and get married but she just can’t put her one experience with a certain Earl behind her. Ruark Hannigan, the Earl of Wexford, tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. Falling hard and fast before falling out of love, he’s only managed to keep the family reputation unsullied by not marrying one of his questionable lovers thanks to the promise he made to his father on his deathbed that he wouldn’t marry until the age of 30.

This book was good! I enjoyed the tension and the banter between Wexford and Cassandra, and I was anxious to find out what “the incident” was leading up to it! Darcy Burke has a way of writing historical romances in the time frame of Recency England but they almost seem more modern and easier to digest while actually reading them. I enjoyed this book, and I actually read the bulk of it in one sitting.

The only thing that I would have changed is that the ending just wrapped up SO quickly and there was little conflict from outside parties so it just seemed oddly easy for a romance novel. I also wish I had read the other Phoenix Club stories prior to this one so I could have had more information about the supporting characters and their dynamic. All in all, it was an enjoyable read, and I will definitely be revisiting this series!

Yes, another story of the Phoenix club! This one is about Cassandra, the younger sister of Lucien and Con (from Impassioned).

Her father has told her to find herself a husband on the marriage Mart during this season. If not, he will choose a husband for her. Cassandra really doesn’t want to get married yet, but to appease her father, she asks Ruark (Earl of Wexword) to pretend to court her. In Improper she had already met Ruark during her break-in at the Phoenix club with Fiona. Since Ruark has vowed never to marry until he is 30 years old, he can provide the perfect ruse.

However, Lucien, Cassandra’s brother and one of Ruarks best friends is very opposed to him courting his sister. He however, doesn’t tell Cassandra why he is so against a betrothal. When a new possible suitor arrives, however, Ruark has to make a difficult choice: break his vow or let the woman of his dreams be swept off the Marriage Mart. What will it be? Find out for yourself in this wonderful and cozy read. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Net galley for providing there.

And a special request to Darcy: can Lucien have his own story too, please?! He is wonderful and deserves his own happy ending. maybe with Evie? Pretty please?

Intolerable features a delightful romance including a fake courting scheme between a woman who wants to choose her own husband and a man who frequently falls in love.

Lady Cassandra Westbrook's father has made it clear he wants her to marry this season but Cassandra is having trouble finding a suitor as he keeps scaring them all off. To get her father off her back, Cassandra enlists the help of the Earl of Wexford, Ruark Hannigan, to pretend to court her. Now if only Cassandra could forget about the secret kiss they shared, she could put her efforts into finding a true match. Ruark is too quick to fall in love and his best friend's sister is not a woman he should fall for. But as Ruark and Cassandra spend time together, their fake courtship becomes all too real.

As the youngest of her siblings, and the only girl, Cassandra has been relatively sheltered and had her wishes disregarded. I liked that Cass refused to settle and that she had a lot more backbone than one might expect. Her determination to seize control of her destiny was fantastic and I loved the clever schemes she came up with to get her way. Ruark's father died young and made Ruark promise not to marry until he is thirty as his father regretting marrying young. I honestly ended up disliking his father for making his kid make such a promise as it severely messed with Ruark's experiences when it came to love.

Cass and Ruark are fantastic together and I loved how the pair came up with the scheme to buy Cass time to find her own match. Despite it being a ruse, Ruark didn't back down when Cass's father berated him and he stuck up for her which isn't something anyone has really done for Cass before. The chemistry between these two was fantastic and there are some great scenes between the pair when they're hiding in closets. Ruark's promise not to marry for a few more years does throw a few wrenches into their romance. It takes a while for Ruark to come to terms with realizing it's ok to break that promise which is my one complaint as I wish he had worked it all out sooner.

Overall Intolerable was a fantastic read and I would highly recommend this series if you're looking for some great historical romances.

I didn't have high hopes for this story. I couldn't get into the book before this one in the series. I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did. Cassandra is such a well developed person and you can't help but like her. It ended up being a good book! Ready for the next one.

Holy moly!

Cassandra has felt left out and floundering since her mother died. Her father and brothers have been a bother and mostly absent, just being involved enough to pester without having to really engage with her. She is smart, witty, prone to mischief and has a wonderful sense of humor.

Ruark is a closet romantic and has feelings for his best friend's sister. He is the best of friends, has an odd sense of humor and understands why Lucien doesn't want him around his sister, Ruark has sisters of his own.

This story is filled with stolen moments. Moments that make you want to shake something. A special tissue moment where brothers truly stepped up and changed their approach to Cassandra. It was lovely to see more character interaction not directly involving the club, after a preliminary obsession on Cassandra's part. Ruark's sisters and mother are enchanting. I enjoyed seeing Cassandra's father come up to scratch as a dad. This series is wonderful. I am still hoping for Lucien's HEA!

Disclaimer: I received a complementary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in anyway.

Reviewed by Lisa

The third installment in The Phoenix Club series by Darcy Burke is anything but intolerable to read. This book follows the Earl of Wexford, Ruark Hannigan, and Lady Cassandra Westbrook. Wexford, a hopeless romantic, and Cassandra, who’s father is pushing her to marry, can’t get off each other’s minds after an incident in a cupboard at the Phoenix Club. How is Cassandra supposed to focus on finding a suitable husband when Wexford, her brother’s best friend, is constantly on her mind and showing up at functions? Wexford is just as distraught over Cassandra between the vow that he made to his late father and Cassandra’s father’s disdain for him. When other suitors start to show up at Cassandra’s door, it is up to Wexford to decide if he can bear to see her married to someone else or fight for his chance of being with her.

This book might pick up where the last book in the series left off, but readers who have not read the other books in the series don’t have to worry about being lost. However, characters from the other books show up frequently in the story and it would be a benefit to have read the series in order to get a full understanding of the world. Wexford and Cassandra are forced to sneak around, stealing kisses in closets and cupboards until they can finally show their courtship and love in public. The chemistry between the two is strong as they understand each other in ways others could not. While there may be lots of clique romantic moments in this book, like the classic, “maybe if I just kiss them once more, I can finally get them off my mind,” this book keeps the scenes fresh with the fear that they will be caught or the possibility that Cassandra will marry another man. I thoroughly enjoy reading Darcy Burke’s novels and plan on reading many more. If you like to read historical romantic fiction, Burke is definitely an author to check out.

I loved the chemistry between the leads--excellent steamy scenes--but found the main conflict pretty contrived. Overall a fun book but I'm not sure I would read the whole thing again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an early copy of this book! (Yes, I'm late in posting.)

3.5 rounding up as I really enjoyed this slightly steamy historical romance. I adored both Cassandra and Ruark, and enjoyed seeing the characters I met in the previous book. I wish I had read Fiona’s book so I could follow the overlapping timeline. I always enjoy character growth and Ruark experienced a lot of that. I needed a bit more heat and more resolution with the Duke for the other 1/2 star. That said, I am loving this series and really am glad I discovered this author.

Such amazing chemistry between the love interests - it was a very nice change of pace for a historical romance to have a slow build relationship between the two characters. I loved it!!

This is the third book in this series. I did not read the first two books so it made it harder to follow all the characters. This was a light hearted romance but I had problems with the characters actions

DNF at 50%.

In one of the previous books two young women sneak into the Phoenix Club disguised as servants to see what happens (unmarried women can't be members). One of them ended up married to her guardian, the other, Lady Cassandra Westbrook, ended up kissed by Ruark Hannigan, Earl of Wexford in a cupboard before he realised who she was (yes I know, the idea that it is okay to kiss servants willy-nilly is a bit distasteful). Neither Cassandra nor Ruark can get the 'incident' out of their minds, unfortunately Ruark is one of Cassandra's brother's best friends which apparently makes her off-limits as a potential bride. In addition, Ruark is Irish and his mother married a Catholic after his father died so that makes him unacceptable to Cassandra's father (who seems to have regressed after his softening in the last book).

Cassandra's father has decreed that she must get married this season, the trouble is his notorious temper has scared away all potential suitors, so Cassandra asks Ruark to pretend to court her, in the hopes that this will encourage other gentlemen to pursue her.

For his part, Ruark is tormented by memories of their kiss, but he promised his father on his deathbed that he would not marry until he was at least 30 years old, so he cannot form an attachment to Cassandra before that date, especially since she is his best friend's little sister (I really don't get this aspect of bro-code, if he's a great guy then why wouldn't you want him to marry your sister, and if he isn't why are you hanging around with him?).

Argh! I tried I really did, but Ruark's promise to his father was so asinine and he couldn't even really commit to it, he and Cassandra behave inappropriately at every opportunity, even getting caught kissing in a cupboard during a game of hide-and-seek FFS!

I am happy to turn a blind eye to the morals of the time in the interests of romance but the sheer hypocrisy of Ruark knowing his sister was compromised, perhaps ruined by being seen kissing a man when he had done much more and got away with it was a step too far in a book that wasn't really grabbing me anyway.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series and would be interested in reading the next book (if, as I assume, it features Ruark's scholarly sister), but this didn't do it for me and I gave up at 50%.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The story was predictable, but not in that breathless anticipation that you'd want from an HEA.

The Earl of Wexford, Ruark, made a promise to his father that he won't get married before his 30th birthday. The aim of this vow was to make sure that he didn't rush into something that he would later regret, since it seems like Ruark has a habit of losing his heart all to easily. Cassandra convinces Ruark to pretend to be her suitor, both because it will give her a little more time to find a husband on her own and it will aggravate her father, who has no tolerance for Ruark.

Well, we all know where this is headed, right? Especially since Ruark and Cassandra had shared a "moment" in a dark closet not too long ago.

I didn’t really care much for Cassandra. She was uber confident, but her love for Ruark was always more background noise than anything else while she was quite seriously searching for a more suitable husband. Now, this particular plot device is not new, but what was different here is that I never got the impression that Cassandra was passionate in her feelings about the fact that she can't be with Ruark specifically. She seemed more upset about the fact that her father was forcing her towards marriage. To me she felt a bit fickle in her feelings and actions.

Ruark had a lot of soul searching to do, the poor man. It's hard to live your entire life by one set of rules, only to realize that need to be revised for you to embrace happiness. He, at least, was a lot more consistent in his thoughts and actions and feelings towards Cassandra.

I started out not liking Cassandra's father at all but ended up loving him. Underneath all the gruff and bluster is a heart that loves his daughter very much. The plot was a bit convoluted with Cassandra and Ruark's ever-changing minds. They made me a bit dizzy, in all honesty. I can't say that I was heavily invested in them getting together.

This is the third book in the Phoenix Club series, but it reads well on its own.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Lady Cassandra Westbrook is the debutante of the season, and her father, the autocratic Duke of Evesham has decided she will marry by the end, no matter what her choice is. Cassandra hasn't found any man strong enough to stand up to her father, and dare to court her, apart from Ruark Hannigan, Earl of Wexford, but he's only doing it to help Cassandra. However, after a night spent together at the Phoenix Club, and a secret kiss in a cupboard, neither of them can stop thinking about the other. But Ruark promised his father he won't marry until he's 30, and he can't break that promise - or can he?

After finishing Impassioned, I wanted to start Intolerable straight away, and am really glad I did. I liked the previous book, but this one was so much better! Cassandra and Ruark were the perfect couple for this book, and for each other. Both had vulnerabilities which were explored in the book, and they overcame trauma from their pasts, especially their childhood's without a parent. I really liked how they had a friendship first, before it became romantic, and that they spoke to each other about a lot of things, though the truth about why Ruark was waiting until 30 wasn't revealed until closer to the end. I'm intrigued by the next book, and hope that we see more of Cassandra and Ruark, just as we saw how Sabrina and Cosntantine's romance was progressing here.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.
This is the 3rd book in the Phoenix Club Series by Darcy Burke. It can be read as a standalone, but I would recommend reading in order, as the characters from the first 2 books are also in this one.
This is a sweet, angsty love story. Cassandra and Ruark, the Earl of Wexford, one of her brother's friends and business partners in the Phoenix Club have an incident that happened in a previous book that wasn't addressed until this one. Cassandra asks Ruark to pretend to be a suitor, to help get her father, the Duke off her back. He has told her if she doesn't marry by the end of the season, he will pick a husband for her. Ruark reluctantly agrees, and her father hates him. Ruark made a childhood promise to his dying father that he would not marry until he was thirty, which is in 3 years and has no plans to break that promise.
The chemistry between the 2 is wonderful. Every time Ruark pulls back, he runs into Cassandra again and finally realizes that she is the one for him.
I highly recommend this book, and the entire series.