I haven’t read much of this series, but I’d read Ruby’s book and enjoyed it, and I wanted to see what other good old fashioned sub/dom fun the series had to offer.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
One-Sentence Synopsis
A woman wanting revenge on the man who broke her heart finds herself in a plan that tests her own romantic and sexual boundaries. For a full synopsis, see this book’s Goodreads page.
How a Woman Should Act
Angela, like most regency heroines, has been raised to believe that her future husband will want a demure and biddable wife. This doesn’t keep her from showing her spark around Matthew though, at least until he shows interest. Then she turns on her best ladylike behavior, which then turns fairly cold when she catches him with a woman she assumes is his mistress.
What a Man Wants
The last thing Matthew wants is someone timid and quiet. He likes to indulge in bedroom play that most proper members of society find scandalous, and he needs the right woman to play with. When he meets Angela, he’s sure he’s found the one, but when she suddenly turns out to be like all of the other women he’s avoided, he calls their courtship off.
The Weapon of Seduction
The victim of a broken heart, Angela decides to fight fire with fire. Her plan? Seduce him, make him want her again, then turn him down when he asks her to be his. With Ruby’s help, Angela gets her seduction on and pushes past her comfort zone in the name of revenge. Of course, this plan has a few problems, like the fact that she’s still attracted to Matthew, no matter how mad she is at him.
Double Dare
Angela is an adventurous person, and I liked how both Ruby and Matthew helped her find her sexuality and encouraged her to push through her limits. At the same time, she was careful about setting boundaries, such as keeping her virginity. Though we all know that those boundaries go out the window when things heat up, she managed to hold on for quite awhile. It was interesting the way Angela embraced the more daring aspects of her revenge plot and proved she really was adventurous, just torn between who she was and who society wanted her to be.
It’s Your Thing
I’m a huge fan of women in novels finding their sexuality, but I’m also a fan of anyone, man or woman, embracing what they enjoy and not apologizing for it. Sure, Matthew liked Angela and wanted to be with her at first, but when he thought she wouldn’t be able to accept and engage in the things he liked to do, he refused to compromise on what he found pleasurable. There was compromise later, as he didn’t actually make her do anything that he saw she was truly uncomfortable with, but he wanted someone adventurous who would try things with him, and he stuck to that.
The Romance Factor
I didn’t get a lot of emotional surges, but I really wanted these two to end up together. It drove me nuts when they didn’t communicate, especially when everything could have been solved if Angela had just confessed to why she’d started acting weird in the first place. Problem solved. Still, their journey was sweet, and I liked that in the context of the story, it wasn’t just about them getting together, but also about their own personal development. 4/5
The Steam Factor
Matthew is another hero with “dark tendencies,” which I always find to be way tamer than I think they should be. In this case, Matthew is definitely adventurous, but I liked that even though he dared Angela to get a little freaky, he never made her do anything she truly didn’t want to. But when they did get their freak on, it was pretty rockin’. 5/5
Final Thoughts
I wasn’t entirely sold on the whole revenge plot centering around getting a guy to fall for you and then leaving him, because we all know how that ends up. But the story was good overall and I liked the truth or dare aspect to Matthew and Angela’s shenanigans.
The Romance Factor 