It was Julie Anne Long at her best! I loved both main characters and how their relationship developed and grew. And the best thing might be that I as reader got to know both of them only together with other one. Because in the beginning they are not very likeable characters, each with his flaws and strange actions. And there are no internal reflections to explain that. But as they get to know each other through conversations, so do I as reader. As they hurt for each other, so do I. And as they were falling in love, so did I with both of them.
I was smiling and crying and enjoying every bit of this book!

3.5 I've always loved Long's voice and her light, witty romances story arcs, but after reading 9 books in the Pennyroyal series, they're starting to feel all rather similar. Was tempted to downgrade this one to a 3 from my usual four because of it, but by the end she'd pushed me to a 3.5, she's just so good at what she does.

In this installment, both hero and heroine have angsty backgrounds, which justify their less-than-admirable behaviors (the hero's a womanizer, the heroine a beautiful flirt who basks in male attention, no matter if the male in question is married/engaged to another). But Long doesn't explore said backgrounds in much depth, only refers to them in passing; we don't get to FEEL Tansy's grief for her recently deceased parents and brother, nor Ian's distress over his war experiences. This is deliberate; it keeps the tone light and humorous, and the plot moving at a rapid clip. It's what many readers enjoy about Long's books, I'd surmise. Guess I just prefer an author who can give me something new every time, rather than giving me the same thing in slightly different packaging, no matter how delicious that same one thing is...

Another Goodreads reviewer noted the throwaway line Tansy gives about Americans being good with guns because of having to shoot so many bears and Indians, a line that equates killing humans with killing animals. Was Tansy being ironic here? Or are we supposed to find this funny? If we're supposed to take her at her word, the comment is definitely racist. A fairly common attitude toward Native Americans in that time period, no doubt, but something that really could have been easily avoided.

The romance makes no sense. One second Ian hates her and is mildly intrigued and the next he's super in love with her... what. Also what the heck does Tansy see in him other than lust? He's kind of a huge jerk.

Was hoping more. It felt flat, like the MCs. The heroine was too similar to Cynthia from book 2 but not as interesting. There were good ideas but I was expecting more from JAL. We didn't get much from Ian either, especially about his military past. Compare to his brother Chase it felt, again, flat.

My favorite parts of the book where every scene with the Duke!!! Loved his relationship with Tansy and it's perfect that he was the one responsible for her, because of his hatred for Ian. The lovely moments between him and Genevieve were pure gold and like an extra epilogue of their own book. It just made me go back to reread my favorite parts of book 5 to witness how they felt in love all over again.
I also enjoyed all the scenes with Colin. I didn't like much his book, but since then, he's always funny popping up through the series, sharing his love for cows & farming & trying to push all his brothers to get married.
It was also nice to see Olivia let go of her love for Lyon Redmond and trying to move on and possibly be happy (or at least contented) with an other man.
So overall what I love the most in this book were all the side characters, who kept me interested through the story.

Really wish Tansy's vulnerability was more prevalent. Perhaps she would have been a relatable character. Instead she was unlikable.

Weak character development, few steamy scenes. Could have been much better but not much chemistry. Good to read it to complete the series.

Honestly, it’s got to be hard to make “two beautiful people with issues get together” interesting, though JAL def tried! E for effort!

3 stars

Yeah not my favorite of the Pennyroyal series. Tansy was sooo annoying for the first two thirds of the book and Ian was Mr cynical. I just didn't quite buy the way they fell in love. The last third was pretty good.