"What could possibly deter any woman from accepting?”
“What, indeed. Perhaps a disinclination to feeling like a broodmare.” They stepped off the pavement and crossed the street.
“A broodmare. Hm. I’m not certain I mind that comparison. If you’re a broodmare, that would make me the stud.”
“And there,” she said, “is the injustice of the world in a nutshell.”
This was such a delightful read!!
Emma was a perfect main character - she was sweet, kind and loving, but also extremely passionate, honest with herself and her feelings and strong-willed. Ash doesn't stand a moment against this lady but it sure is fun watching him try!
Speaking of Ash, I loved the guy. He is so dry. I live for it. It's interesting because Dare doesn't waste time on making him appear like a jerk and then showing us what's underneath. From the first page, we know this guy truly thinks himself unlovable, and that's the root to all his (intentional) jerkery. And even still I never found him a jerk (probably because every true jerk moment is told through his eyes, so you SEE he is kicking himself in the arse and cursing himself seven ways to hell)
And what's even better? The entire book is just them falling in love. And they KNOW it. They're all like "oh, dear, we need to talk about this. There are EMOTIONS floating around and this was not the arrangement and how did it happen we had RUleS". It's glorious.
I honestly haven't had this much fun with a historical in a while, and I highly recommend this one!