*3.5?
i wanted to love this, but it was more a "this seems nice" kinda read. violet was very interesting and i did like her character development, benjamin is absolutely fucking hot and i loved the nuance in violet's mother. the father also seemed quite interesting, and his fiancée was a charm (i loved that violet didn't hate her despite herself, we need more supportive portrayals of older women!!). frank knight was very strange, but i suppose he was ment to be and although i do think stalking and feminicides (or the lead up to it) are very important to be covered in literature, i think some tweaks could have helped that storyline a lot. i also somehow love how lily's lover simply kills him off, but at the same time struggle overcome my very middleclass upbringing telling me that killing your abuser is oh so bad (i am all for resocialisation, but what exactly were their options there?)
the whole maria and the brothel thing was funny, but what happened to hildebrand in the end? also i didn't like how much of a "saviour" violet came off as, instead of hildebrand having more agency.
it was somewhat funny but also wholly unbelievable how long violet didn't get that benjamin was a bachelor (wedding ring??)
the way they got together in the end was very cute, except for some bits in the train which felt a little off balance.
i liked the way violet was a woman of her time, obviously raised with victorian morals but unlearning them bit by bit.
i liked the way she slowly learned about sex, but a book would have done it just as well, no need to look at nakes men without consent honestly!
overall i felt like this book was too slow and there were too many storylines, so that not all of them ended in a satisfactory way. but there will be a sequel soon and i will absolutely read it!