Kerrigan Byrne: All Scot and Bothered

He is first and foremost—at everything. A man who’s made his own way in the world through ruthless cunning and sheer force of will. A strong and imposing Scot who can turn on the charm but does not suffer fools. His title: Lord Chief Justice of the High Court. His name: Cassius Gerard Ramsay. His mission: To investigate the goings-on at London’s most notorious gaming hell, owned and operated by one of the most intriguing and desirable women he’s ever met.

IN THIS GAME OF LOVE, THE RULES DO NOT APPLY

Cecelia Teague was an orphan facing a rather dire future—until a secret benefactor from her mother’s scandalous past swept into her life. Sent to prestigious boarding school and later to university, Cecelia believed high society was at her fingertips…Then, from out of nowhere, she became the inheritor of a gambling establishment. Now Cecelia must live two lives: one as a proper lady who finds herself undeniably drawn to Lord Ramsay and the other as a savvy gaming hell owner trying to save her business from the very same man. He has no idea she is both women…and Cecelia would like to keep it that way. But what happens when consuming passion and escalating danger threaten to reveal the truth?

CW: child abuse, child abandonment, sex trafficking, death on page, some body shaming language, violence (sexual and other)

Update CW: Queer woman villain, racism

The second in the Devil You Know series, this is one of those books that most readers will either love or hate.  I found myself a bit on the fence.

The book starts with a traumatic scene from the heroine’s past including fat shaming, abuse and being locked in the cellar for an extended period of time.  It paints a vivid picture of the formative years for a woman who is brilliant, sunny, and surprisingly untortured by the abuse she experienced as a child.  Some of that is because, we learn later, she has been educated and formed strong friendships.

Rescued by a mystery woman and man, Cecelia is whisked away from her childhood home and the abuse of her father.

After that, the first quarter was really draggy, purple prose-y, and focused on building up animosity and tension between the two MCs.

The hero is slightly older, at about 40, and is dead set on denying himself any earthly pleasures while making it his mission to rid London of crime.  He knows Cecilia socially, but worlds collide when her inheritance puts her in the Lord Chief Justice’s cross hairs. And he is frigid, bordering on mean most of the time.

There is some violence and action from those initial interactions, and then a race to solve a deadly mystery that has the MCs banded together in a secret location in the countryside.   Both MCs are determined never to marry, for reasons tied to their traumatic pasts, but they still find themselves drawn to each other and fighting feelings.  The romance element is strong, passionate and I think interesting because you wonder how they will resolve some very deep seeded issues.

There are several intimate scenes throughout, although they are pretty much on the steamy vanilla side being not too graphic. Byrne definitely writes with a flowery pen (or finger on the keyboard) which I found myself getting lost or resorting to skimming.  However, I know that other readers like more description and details, so this may be your catnip.

Characters, action, and plot also have a fair amount of angst which you really have to be in the mood for.  And I probably, honestly, wasn’t.  So it at times felt over the top or exhausting.  Other reads may find it engaging or just the right amount of drama to sweep them away into the story.

The ending had a nice twist, and was wrapped up into a fairly lovely HEA or at least HFN, so it definitely delivers on that score…particularly if you are a fan of enemies to lovers.

I recommend this for Regency Readers looking for angst, action, and enemies to lovers.

Update: Another book blogger pointed out, which some how I skimmed past, that this positions the only queer (female) character in the book as a villain.  Its exhausting how frequently this is the only LGBQT representation in historical romance.  It happens so much…I skimmed right over it.  For that, I am sorry, especially if you picked up this book based on my recommendation.

The book reviewer also pointed out that one of the few non white representations is also a villain.  An unnamed Indian male.  Enter my big white privilege blinders.  For that, I am also sorry.

After consideration, I am striking out my recommendation.  In combination with those updates, there were other problems with this book.  I try to balance my reviews with critical and non-critical points, and I think in this case I probably should done what I normally do for a book I don’t recommend or enjoy…skipped the review altogether.  But I am leaving it standing.  And I would encourage folks not to read this book.  Problematic representation, gratuitous violence, and a whole lot of purple prose make this a book few will enjoy.

Again, my apologies if anyone followed through on my recommendation and was harmed.  I will do better.

Love,

Anne

2 out of 6 Enemies to lovers, this features high stakes mystery and a lot of problematic content and writing

*A review copy was provided by Netgalley. No other compensation was provided.