not intended to be misleading, but get prepared for oozing sexual tension and the rush of heart-achy and tempestuous emotions

this is one of those books that gives you butterflies in your stomach. at least that’s what it did for me. it leaves you with a feeling of anguish and longing and yearning. in essence, makes you feel exactly what the main characters, juliet and halstead, feel. it is the kind of book that will ignite a whirlwind of agonising and tempestuous emotions and make forget about everything around you and let you escape into another reality.

i normally don’t like love triangle as they are the convoluted equivalent of a whole can of worms full of indecision and stupidity (and countless facepalms). the “love triangle” in this book felt more like an intense and fiery relationship with an uninvited third-wheeling barnacle. i have to admit, i definitely felt frustrated while reading, at times i wanted to mush juliet and halstead together and go “kiss already”.

i finished this yesterday and i’m still thinking about it. i honestly feel that words cannot do justice for how i feel about it. it is definitely one of those books that will, not just in the few days/hours after reading, but even months after reading it, it will be on my mind as “one of those books”—a hidden gem.🤍

now that i finished blabbering about all the good things, i’ll now focus on some of the small bits here and there that had me itching at the back of my head. i read reviews where there were some mentions of anachronisms present in this book. i did notice some, for example when juliet makes reference to halstead’s lineage stemming all the way back to “henry the conqueror”, when in actual history it’s “william the conqueror”. whilst things like this would normally hinder my experience—it would show lack of attention to detail (on the authors part) or more so, my ocd when it comes to these small mistakes, i admit it didn’t really bother me as much as i excepted.

another thing that really pricked at my brain, is juliets obsession for her brother. i don’t have the physical or ebook version of the book since i listened to it on audio, but i can guarantee that the word “harry” appeared at least 200+. it’s not so much the obsession that bothered me, but more the fact that she was willing to let go her own desires and happiness for the sake of her brother. i understand sibling love, but at times i felt frustrated by it because every time she would encounter an obstacle, it was always “harry this” or “harry that”.

adding to this frustration, another thing that really bothered me is the wretched aunt agnes. there were so many times i wanted to slap that bitch across the face. she was detestable and down right rude. plus something that really made me grind my teeth was juliet’s tolerance towards her aunts toxicity and criticisms (well apart from their last encounter when juliet finally grew some balls and severed ties with that maniac).

now that i finished ranting, if i were to summarise my exact feelings about this book, it would be love and hate. love that it made me feel things by fully immersing myself into the story, love the slow burn enemies-to-lovers relationship (my favourite kind 😇), love the obvious sexual tension (ironic considering this book didn’t actually have any sex), and of course the ending (which was really sweet and tender). hate aunt agnes, annoyed by robert and the bizzillion mentions of “harry”. i am still rating this book 5/5 bc urgh, i can’t get enough of it. i will definitely do a reread when i buy a physical copy of it—that is, if i can find a retailer which can sell or ship this book to australia.

also, props to the audiobook narrator for making this a fabulous reading/listening experience. she really nailed all the voices (the singing and laughing were a funny and delightful bonus 😂).