I am having a really hard time getting through the middle of this book. We are jumping between a lot of characters and I'm not particularly interested in what is going on with any of them. I want to like this book so much, and I want to get through it to see how the series ends, but man is this one a slog for me right now.

I started this book on a whim after borrowing from my library, having no prior knowledge or particular interest in Bridgerton, but the first few pages hooked me more than I expected. I'm excited to read more now, maybe even to watch the show...

I've already been enjoying the characters in this story a lot just from the first 30ish pages, but the introduction of Lorena really hit me. Her backstory is really heavy with all the trauma she's clearly suffered, and it's immediately made clear to us how all of that has shaped her as a person. It feels realistic for this time period, but also very human. I expected women in a cowboy novel to read as very cardboard, cookie-cutter kinds of characters, but this doesn't feel that way at all.

Offsetting Lorena with Gus in chapter 3 as one of the few people that is genuinely kind to her says so much about him too; in previous chapters we understand that he is easygoing and doesn't take himself or life in general too seriously, but here his kindness and empathy is emphasized more than we could see before. His words to Lorena are so human, such a contrast from what you would expect from a man in this era, that they really stand out and feel like a testament to the kind of person he is.

The way this chapter was written and handled shocked me because I wouldn't have expected it from a male author writing in the 1980s. It reads as ahead of its time. I hope this continues throughout the book, because if so I can definitely see why this book is having a resurgence in popularity recently.