Vibes: "my wife is dead--OR IS SHE?", inconveniently talking parrots, there's only one bed, och aye

Working class guy turned unexpected duke Iain thought he was a widower... for thirteen years. Except oops, his wife, Seraphina, has been alive the whole time. And they're still legally married, whether they want to be or not. Ian isn't very happy with Seraphina, who he believes left him without remorse; and Seraphina isn't any happier with Iain, who she charges with his own betrayal. She's made a happy life for herself, and Iain could upend everything she loves; but there's still something between them, and even getting a divorce may not be enough to stop that.

Apparently, "I thought my spouse was dead" is on trend for 2024, and I'm not mad at it! This book was off to a great start with a reunion between Iain and Seraphina, both seriously pissed. And I do love their interplay, the hurt feelings and the snippiness and the remaining attraction. This is a solid book.

... Which makes it a little more disappointing that it's not everything it could've been. It's a pleasant read; I did like it; and I suspect that some of the people reading this would really like it. But I think it could've hurtled to a different level if there had been just a bit more stretching.

Quick Takes:

--This is the type of plot that does rely on chemistry to make the couple believably matched, and Iain and Seraphina do have that. There's more to their history than their (brief) time as a married couple, and that added to the sense of hurt feelings. They don't quite know each other--I mean, can you know someone after thirteen years of separation?--but they do still have feelings for each other, and that's rather delicious.

--Here's the thing, though. After this really arresting first meeting, you kind of go into this "hurry up and wait" thing. I get why Britton focused on Seraphina's relationships with her friends and her sisters. She's a girl's girl. I love female friendships in romance novels, especially historicals.

However, the focus on those relationships and Seraphina's life without Iain either needed to get cut down a good bit, or it needed to be shifted to another part of the book. For all that these two had a lot of chemistry, I didn't feel like they had enough time together in the first chunk of the novel, and that slowed the pacing significantly. Once we get to them one-on-one, I was kind of frustrated.

--Your mileage may vary on why there's so much confusion between Seraphina and Iain and what they both think of each other. I don't really mind miscommunication and secrets in romance, but I will admit that there is a lot happening here. On the other hand, I don't know that this kind of plot works without it.

That being said, there are a lot of external forces at play. Which again, may work for you. I felt like it was sort of... shoved in there to shift some of the blame off the two of them. I'd rather they both have to come to terms a bit more about being a little (or a lot) irrational. Because feelings!

--I did like how tough Seraphina was, and how willing she was to go to major lengths--including painful ones--to take care of herself and her sisters. It's rough at points, but I respected it, and it made her subsequent feelings and emotional walls more understandable.

Conversely, I found Iain to be a bit more "also ran" but still, he was a solid hero. I kind of would've liked him to be more of an asshole, to be honest. But that's kind of hard to pull off in the current market.

The Sex:

There are a few sex scenes, none of which are bad, but they're also not anything super explicit or super tame. Sort of flowery, but not super flowery, if that makes sense. I do think it could've happened a bit earlier in the book. Like I said, this is a slow burn.

Overall, I don't know that this book made me feel like I MUST read another Christina Britton novel anytime soon. But it was good, and I appreciated the places it went to. If you're into something that touches on the "dead spouse but not really" thing without going too far, check it out.

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.