Enjoyed the MCs but the antagonistic energy in the beginning seemed off. Some anachronistic language is offensive. Also, prior MCs who feature as secondary characters now don’t have the same personalities. ( )

Well written. Lot’s of action. Loved the starchy hero. ( )

Several times something happened, that were so entirely unreasonable, that it yanked me out of the story. Much in between those times was enjoyable, but I think when I look back at this book it will be the preposterous bits that stick out the most. There's no way that someone, (much less a gently bred woman who can't see any of her surroundings) would be so blasé about nearly being abducted and having two men shot point blank in the process. (She's just mildly curious if the men died? She's laughing as they ride away?!) And *then*, after she's set upon *a second time* in a matter of days, she's still so fixated on doing things entirely on her own that she shirks her guards to sneak out?? That's not 'independent' that's idiotic. Then, when she's actually abducted, for *the second time*, she's bored in her own mind, like, 'been there done that, once you've seen one abduction you've seen them all!'? No. She has absolutely no reason to think she won't be raped and murdered for goodness sakes! That's preposterous unless she's entirely simple minded. So that was sort of a ridiculous theme for a fair chunk of the book. I know it was probably done to add drama and humor and stuff, but to me it was poorly done.

Secondly, the hero is supposed to care so much about her wellbeing and protecting her, but then quite selfishly tosses it all aside when it benefits him. With zero intention of marrying her he not only takes her virginity, but also doesn't use any precaution at all! She already had fewer prospects because of her disability, they become positively dismal being 'ruined' as well, and she would be tossed out of society completely if she became pregnant! It's kind of a dick move to do to someone you are even just responsible for, much less care about. (Neither of them ever even *considers* the risk of pregnancy either, which seems unlikely. It's just absurd that neither would care enough about her future or bringing shame to her family to even ponder that. Especially since he would have to be well aware, due to his own family history, that even a single instance can result in a child.

There's always some suspension of disbelief, a willingness to set aside unlikeliness in order to enjoy a story, but these were just too big for me to swallow. And lastly, the little parable or whatever throughout the book was such a sad little thing. The first few of these seemed like a tale that's been told for hundreds of years but you've just never heard it! But this one- not only did a man repeatedly use a magical woman to further his own greed, and then doesn't learn that there might be more to life at any point until he's a decrepit old man, when the magical woman, who's just been waiting by the phone all these decades I guess, takes him back with open arms and makes him young again. (There's no sacrifice, hardly even any growth or lesson learned, and her only appeal is her beauty and magic (which is at least something, if only superficial) but his is what?... Greed and shortsightedness? A lack of wisdom?) *But*, to add insult to injury(!), that's almost the exact same story as the one a couple books back! Just instead of being a magical bird lady, this time she's a magical fish lady. bah. Nothing was entirely horrid, but I was sorely disappointed.

2nd read- Perhaps this one was supposed to be more of a comedy? The other books are dramatic and have some unlikely things here and there, but this one really dabbles in preposterous. Again, I was not impressed with the hero's choice I mentioned last time, short-sightedness and selfishness are not qualities I look for in a hero. She's young and has been sheltered, so maybe she would be reckless with her future, but he's older and more experienced and should better look out for her (especially since his looking out for her person is the thing he's most known for in this book). If I set that aspect aside though, I did like how his feelings for her developed. Hers for him seemed to go from hostility to a mild crush to all-out love very, very quickly. But his were more believable, and he had some sweet moments. I also liked how we learn more of his background. This is my least favorite of the whole series, but it's not entirely horrible ( )

http://olvasonaplo.net/olvasonaplo/2018/06/22/elizabeth-hoyt-szivembe-zarva/ ( )

This, my 16th high rating reread, held up. Damn, I love these two (might be a 4, but tripping across moors is one of my all time favorite scenes.) Original review:

*Tosses kobo aside. Steeples fingers. Leans forward. Raises eyebrows*

Oh. I've found another for my collection.

*Plucks James from pages. Adds to "heroes I want to lick" shelf.*

I've enjoyed Phoebe's parts in the books prior to this and her book was not at all disappointing.I also l enjoyed the image of Trevillion just moments behind each Ghost. He's a clever and a tenacious one. Apparently he's also the strong, silent, steady type. It doesn't hurt, nope, in fact it helps, that he appears to ride horses like some kind of warrior from Rohan. I can't tell you I've ever drooled about superhuman horse-riding skills, but somehow Elizabeth Hoyt made me do it.

I don't really have a heroes I want to lick shelf, I have the boringly named 'book boyfriends' but I really need to up my naming convention there. Some of these new heroes, it just doesn't suit. (Delicious heroes?)

I felt she was careful in the characters, they were wildly consistent. A wonderfully, superbly, satisfying read. (I enjoyed Cornwall too! It suits them. Lovely.)

oh dear sweet bunny rabbits when he watched her fall three times. My heart.

I'm about to get real weird, so I'm going to just push save on this baby and go off to read [b:Down by Contact|33637825|Down by Contact (The Barons, #2)|Santino Hassell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498479591l/33637825._SX50_SY75_.jpg|54486273] In other words, I'll be up till 2 finishing that tonight. ( )