It was easy enough to read but was pretty weak. Which to be fair, is about what you'd expect from a novella.Then about 70% through it totally flipped and just became flat out weird. The plot completely fell apart. I didn't understand the point of Giles' whole storyline. It was just stupid. And unnecessary. It didn't add anything to the story. And it made me dislike Mary. The main characters are mere caricatures of actual people. They had no depth. I did like the Ikea scene. But it felt very modern and out of place for the historical genre and it wasn't really enough to redeem the book.
I'm coming to the conclusion I don't really like Tessa Dare's books. There's only been one so far that I've really enjoyed. Mostly they're just weak historical romance with no real plot, paper thin characters with no discernable depth and romance that contains an echo of fluff. So 2 stars, rounded up from 1.5. Because frankly it's a rare book that requires a 1 star rating. It might be not good but it wasn't really bad.
