Then I'll list everything you've given me. Hot tea and blankets. A day at the fair. An apple, orange, peaches, cherries. The chance to win twenty pounds in a shooting contest. The courage to sing in a tavern. My first honest compliments. Breathless passion, and enough adventure to last a lifetime. Just think, in this one week alone I've been a missionary, an assassin, a long-lost princess...and, we can't forget, a sword swallower.

This book gets a lot of praise, and rightfully so! It's delightfully fluffy and steamy at once. Regency rom com, but better than Bridgerton. Tessa Dare is brilliant. The chemistry between the characters is palpable, and their relationship progresses little by little rather than all at once. The pacing and story structure were perfect. Nothing moved too quickly and nothing dragged on for too long either. Every chapter reads like a scene from a movie. I even loved the chapters that returned to Spindle Cove to focus on everyone's reaction to their absence, and I thought this was a genius way to incorporate exposition without telling us through the hero or heroine's thoughts. There is very little inner monologue, and a generous amount of dialogue and action.

Colin isn't quite a himbo, but he's definitely himbo-adjacent. Maybe it's on account of the frequent mentions of his wavy hair, but I kept picturing him as a Steve Harrington type while reading. His only crime was being a little too perfect. I always love HR heroines, especially the bluestockings, and Minerva is no exception. With less skilled writing, the characters might have bored me, but they really didn't! The ending was just perfect. Read it!

Why do the best historical romances have the worst covers? This book was absolutely fantastic. John and Sukey are just too good (pun intended) and I loved how unique their story was. The book dealt with their age difference so well -- she's 22 and he's 40 -- and the author handles this natural source of conflict in a tone that's neither catastrophic nor blasé. I loved learning about the different roles of a maid-of-all-work and a butler, and about the class divides within servants. Traditional historical romance doesn't usually bother with these details, but I can't get enough! Plus, doesn't it make perfect sense that a valet/butler would be an excellent partner? Talk about acts of service!

The emotional complexity and depth of these characters really stunned me. I wasn't expecting them to feel so real. Maybe that takes away from the escapism of historical romance, but I found it very refreshing and lovely. There was a good deal of angst right until the end, and I wish there had been just a bit more written after the conflict was resolved. The author has published some bonus stories and deleted scenes from this book on her website, which I will definitely be reading right after I write this review! I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of research and overall quality of this book, and I loved every moment of it.