Torquil is essentially a gossip columnist who mostly uses their column to play Cupid and butt into everyone’s love lives, and I didn’t think I would like a character like that, even if they did use their power for good. But they were so lovable! They were so sweet and a little sassy and confident in some ways but shy in others. And I just loved them and really felt for them and their struggles.

I liked Emrys too. He could be a jerk to his brother, but he was so kind and sweet with Torquil. He was a little naive and oblivious about Torquil’s struggles because of his privilege, but he tried to help whenever he did realize. It was also so cute and funny when *MILD SPOILER* Wyn managed to trick Torquil into accepting a gift, and Emrys got jealous that Wyn managed to figure out how to give Torquil gifts before he did. *END SPOILER*

Their relationship was so sweet and gentle and tender. I think the afterword mentioned that word, tender, and if that is what the authors were going for, then yes, they nailed it. It was also scorching hot! And even in those scenes, it never lost its sweetness. I adored these two together. And so did almost every other character, it seemed. By the time they went public, their romance was the worst kept secret in London.

But somehow it felt sort of like a slow burn. They were already sleeping together and clearly had real feelings at the start, but the whole book was spent building up their growing understanding of their feelings and the depth of what was between them. Part of me was like, “Ahhhh I just want them to tell each other already!” But another part of me loved the delicious tension. Because I could really feel that tension in their secret relationship that they both obviously (to the reader) wanted to be public. It made sense though, why they didn’t tell each other sooner. They didn’t know how the other felt, didn’t want to put pressure on them, and Torquil felt like Emrys could never marry them because of their different societal statuses.

The friendship in this book between Torquil and Roger and Wyn (the characters from the previous book) was lovely too. So was the brothers getting closer, mending the rift between them. And a few other relationships.

There was also magic, of course, and some other plot stuff, and I enjoyed that too. In fact, I felt it was integrated into the story better this time. In Book 1, there was a lot of description of how magic worked and focus on that part of the plot, and my interest dropped a bit in the second half of the book, but I didn’t have that problem this time. This was more about the romance and characters, with the magic supplementing that. Also there was some bigotry against half-fae, that was part of the plot, but with an ultimately hopeful message.

The audiobook narration by Matt Simpson was great. It sounded natural and characters sounded different enough to tell apart. I enjoyed listening.

So yeah, I loved this! I adored these two lovable characters and their sweet, tender, adorable romance, plus the bit of magic and friendship and overall lovely story!

*Rating: 4.5 or 5 Stars // Read Date: 2025 // Format: Audiobook*