I tend to love historical romance, especially when you bring in good representation, humor and above all, swordfighting. Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me on a lot of levels. I will admit that I have not read any of the previous books in the series but that usually doesn't matter much in historical romance and I saw some reviews indicating the same thing so I requested an early copy of this one anyway. So it's possible that I would have enjoyed this more had I read the other books in the series but I'm inclined to think it's just a reader-author mismatch.

The story follows Elizabeth Wynchester who is on a mission to find the will of a client's sister and has to team up with reclusive inventor Stephen Lennox (currently pretending to be the Earl of Densmore) to find the will before the castle is seized due to a gambling debt of the absent Earl. At first, I had a fun time with Elizabeth and Stephen as I admired the former's bloodthirsty ways (she's always ready to stab someone with whatever sharp edged implement is available) and the way that Stephen is constantly trying to find some new contraption to build.

However, the appeal quickly wore off for me. The plot is just following the two of them as they dash from clue to clue and I was never really interested in solving the mystery and honestly by halfway, I was just skimming to find out what happened. The other issue is that I found Elizabeth increasingly off-putting and one-note. Props to the author for writing a prickly heroine and good disability representation but it felt like Elizabeth's identity was only the fighting and the disability. And as someone who's been involved in martial arts for most of my life, the CONSTANT references to needing to fight got obnoxious and frankly unbelievable and silly in parts. And my brain just couldn't skip over things that realistically, if they'd been in a movie, I probably wouldn't have been as bothered by. So I recognize that those may be more me issues than general reader issues.

On a personal character level, the walls that Elizabeth built around her heart made sense given her background but her stubbornness was frustrating rather than endearing, I think as a character she just wasn't working for me. And half the time, Stephen felt like a doormat to her and man, I just want more push and pull between the characters. If someone's going to be a stubborn shit about things, I'd like to see them get called out for it. I did appreciate the adult resolution of some of the conflicts but I just never really bought into the characters enough for the romance.

In a lot of ways, this reminds me of my experience with [b:The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels|55502861|The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (Dangerous Damsels, #1)|India Holton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1606749077l/55502861._SX50_.jpg|86547348] where it's a somewhat silly, swashbuckling adventure romance that I just don't connect with. I feel like other readers who enjoy historical romance and some action will probably enjoy this more than I did.

Thanks to the publisher and author for early access to the book via NetGalley