I had no intentions of reading this book (or the entire series) even though I’m already looking ahead to Manslaughter Park, the adaptation of Mansfield Park I’ve decided to read this year.
HOWEVER, the cruise we went on in early March had an honest-to-god library. Like an entire room with books you could take out and read on the ship and we just happened to sit right beside this and it was too much of a coincidence to NOT read it.
I stuck to my plans and finished up two ARC’s prior to starting, but the second I started I flew through this one thanks to my familiarity with the source material and Price’s great adaptation.
If there is one book that I regret not getting my review pushed out as soon as I finished it to tell everyone about it, it is this one! Seriously, this book has stuck with me and I’ve thought of it off and on since I read it. And even when I read it, it was a year later than I should have because the publisher reached out in July of 2023!* OMG I didn’t even realize that which is a shock to me—I guess 2022-2024 were even more blurred than I thought.
OMFG. I can’t believe I waited as long as I did to read this. I accepted an ARC ages ago from the publisher, but then school and life got in the way and I blew past the publication date.* Then there were so many MM Holiday Romances I just had to read, and this is where we ended up me reading it in January 2024, six months after publication, and then finally getting the review posted almost a year to the date after publication (six months after I read it but back-scheduling). OH, THE SHAME.
What a wonderfully weird novel. When this landed in my inbox from the publisher I first thought WTF is that because the cover art screams pulp fiction and as much as I find those hilarious I’m not usually drawn to them. However, I’d decided I wanted to expand my LGBT novel repertoire, and knowing this featured lesbian/bisexual female protagonists I said sure why not.*
It was a little surprising to see that this one was only written by Eli Easton but I found out that what I believe will be the final book in the series,