I have to say, I enjoy good books….and this is not one of them. There was SO.MUCH.DETAIL as to what the characters were doing or eating, or writing, etc, that I got bored. Roxanne is hard to like with a hard shell no one seemed to crack. Maybe it was her first marriage , but the way she treated Graham made me wonder if he enjoyed being belittled so much. Arthur was a stand-up guy and I loved how he protected her. The (very)little exciting things to happen were so glossed over, it was hard to feel any emotion at all. If the author was trying to create some sort of trilogy, this story could have been written into the second book. Leaving a cliff hanger may not even convince me to read the second story. Even Roxanne’s loss seemed so glossed over, it made me wonder why it was even written in, except to get rid of the character that was never really in the story to begin with. There was no real emotion to this story, no real excitement. The love scenes seemed just gratuitous storyline to make the story more palpable .
Wasn’t a fan

I received this story for free and these are my own views.

Graham
✅ reformed rake
✅ brother’s best friend

Roxanne
✅ widow
✅ grieving/ mourning
✅ trauma past relationship

✅ childhood crush
✅ second chance love
✅ slow burn
✅ forbidden
✅ friends to lover
✅ plenty of spicy scenes :🔥🔥🔥

This book is almost everything i expected it to be. She is a strong, hard working woman who has found her chance to be free. The only problem i found with this book is that the mmc seems to like her more as a friend that anything. He doesnt show his love to her as much as i would like him to. Even tho the tension from their past friendship is still visible, at times i saw them pretty immature as if they hadnt learned anything from the past.

Not the book for me. The FMC was just a bit all over the place with her feelings towards the MMC and came across as not very likeable. The pacing of the book is very uneven and I also found the dialogue quite jarring. The characters spoke in a very modern way considering it's supposed to be set in the Victorian period which just didn't feel believable to me and stopped me really getting absorbed in the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dragonblade Publishing for this ARC.

Roxanne was in a difficult marriage and when her husband died, she was finally free.
She returns to her brothers home and meets up again with his best friend Graham.
They are attracted to each other.
Tangled storylines with twists involving her parents, a baby, and love.
Reading did not flow easily nor did their reconnection.
Threads of the story were left hanging until perhaps the next book.

I think this book just wasn’t the book for me. I found the heroine, Roxanne, to be fickle and prickly and she came across as unfeeling. One moment she’s friendly towards Graham, the next she snaps at him or is condescending or judgmental without reason. She calls him arrogant and infuriating for the simplest things, even when I feel he tried to show compassion or just shares his opinion. I don’t think he deserved that. So their relationship changing from Graham being her brother’s friend to becoming Roxanne’s lover/husband felt abrupt and sudden. I would have liked a more realistic development from being friends which progressed into a relationship.
There is also drama which felt added for the sake of drama; especially the whole issue with Thomas, but also the baby and even the horse dying. It felt forced to me and just quite sad without adding to the story. I would have liked more focus on character development and, as I’ve said, developing the romance between Graham and Roxanne.
I did like Arthur, Roxanne’s brother. He’s a jovial and kind man, easygoing and caring.
There is also a bit of a mystery with the unexplained death of Roxanne and Arthur’s parents, but that’s primarily addressed in the final chapters and not resolved in this book.
Content 411: There are a few graphic sexually intimate scenes that might offend readers. I think the story would have been fine without it.
Maybe others will like to book better but I world have liked more fun, banter and depth.
I received an advance review copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I dnf at 31%

Firstly this book needs a major trigger warning which it did not have. A main character losing a child needs one.

This books is based in Britain but is riddled with Americanisms. Such as the facts that we do not refer to female friends as girlfriends. Among others.

And I have never heard of the Isle of Wight referred to as Wight.

There wasn't any research done on journeys. The isle of wight is an island. They got off it via train (not they didn't). Then getting into Mayfair from the train they had to change the horses to do so. This is a journey which would take less then an hour in traffic. You don't need to change the horses. For that.

What an adorable second-chance at love romance. Roxanne and Graham are so heart-meltingly sweet it makes my heart full to bursting. I love this book.

I will admit, with the title and the cover I did think this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling at first. However, I found this was a sweet second chance at love romance.

I liked that Roxanne and Graham were friends first. Their friendship was sweet and exactly what Roxanne needed after he unhappy marriage. The way Graham yearned for Roxanne was chef's kiss. The slow burn made the romance develop nicely.

This was a quick read.