I did this as a Buddy Read with "Romance Book Buddy Reading" group on Goodreads.

Good lord, I got nothing. I just realized why this was my least favorite of the Brothers Sinister books. Sebastian and Violet are tedious, all of the science parts did my head in completely, and Violet's sister is written inconsistently. The way she is initially framed in the story is being protective of her daughter, then Sebastian calls her a viper, and we get a scene where Violet's sister is upset about her daughter getting an education, and her sister becoming known as an educated woman with "theories". Spare me. 

The only thing I loved in this book and wish had been played up more is that we get to figure out what really happened to Violet's now dead husband. 

Sadly I liked these two in the other two books in the series, I was shocked as anyone that their standalone left me cold. 

Eh not feeling this reread. Violet and Sebastian were even more aggravating. The whole plot with Violet hiding what she’s been up to just didn’t work for me. And her and Sebastian were beyond dumb to be hung up on being with each other.

The Countess Conspiracy
by Courtney Milan

Book 3 of Brothers Sinister

I have to honestly admit that even though this third book was very enjoyable, there were a few things that kept it a little lower on my personal book ranking scale compared to the previous two books.  Frankly, Sebastian and Violet were great together, and I loved how well they molded to each other.  And while both of their individual conflicts were meaningfully parallel, the events and set up felt deliberately created to make this couple a "No one understands me better than you" type of romance.  I'm not sure how to feel about it outside of a little 'meh,' truth be told.

If I had to pinpoint one disappointment, it would be that Violet and Sebastian seemed like a much more amusing, interesting couple as side characters in the first book.  But the ending of the second book gave me a bad feeling about them, so I wasn't really as looking forward to this couple as I would have been.

Then I started into The Countess Conspiracy and ended up with conflicted feelings.  Once again, Violet and Sebastian are a great couple.  But I can't help but feel like the rest of the characters were purposefully placed in a bad light just to showcase how special these two were, to each other, to all of their friends, to the world in general...  I mean, this book made me a little upset that I had gotten irritated with Robert for a short scene wherein he acts like a complete, inconsiderate, and insensitive jerk--this makes me sad because I love Robert!

Of course, compared to all the jerk-holes featured in this book--Violet's sister, Lily; Sebastian's brother, Benedict; Miss High Pitched woman with her uninformed judgments--Robert's and Oliver's little moment of being insensitive jerk-holes were quickly forgotten, in light of, they quickly repented and were very apologetic.  It still didn't make me happy though.

As individuals, Violet and Sebastian were good people with very unique, promising characteristics, with lots of potential for growth.  They weren't what I'd been expecting, to be honest.  And as intimate friends, they were wonderful together.  I loved how they fought and made up, read each other's minds at will, and understood each other without having to ask.

Once again, this was definitely a "made for each other" type of romance... and while those things are sweet, they were also a bit too deliberate in the telling.

And so, romance-wise, I'd have to say that while Sebastian played the dream, ideal man to perfection, Violet's own behaviors and actions were a little frustrating.  These two made better intimate, soul-mate-like friends than lovers.  Even knowing all the reasons behind the way Violet responds to other people, I still found the way she treats Sebastian a bit hard to agree with, especially after he'd always been nothing but sweet to her, never asking anything in return for just being able to be around her.

Anyway, The Countess Conspiracy is not necessarily my favorite of the Brothers Sinister series, even though it was enjoyable and easy to breeze through.  Meanwhile, there were still a lot of things that happen that I'm happy with, despite those few quibbles I mentioned.

So, conflicting feelings, yes.  But overall, enjoyable and no regrets about continuing this series.  If anything, the short moments that Oliver's youngest sister, Free, was present made me look forward to the last book even more!


***

Booklikes-opoly

Roll #17:
Book is set during Victoria's reign.

Page Count: 318
Cash Award: +$3.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $76.00

Last year, I failed to do any summary posts about what I had read in 2015. I think I just kept putting it off until it was so late in the year that it seemed not worth the bother. Of course, I see so many "best books of the year" posts in November of the year in discussion that sometimes January seems like it is too late. So March isn't even that late, really.

Sebastian Malheur has been in love with Violet Waterfield for half his life (if not more), but she only wants him for his penis. And not in the way he wants her to want him for his penis.
For the past five years he's been presenting her scientific discoveries as his own, since she's a woman and no one would take her seriously. But now his "celebrity status" has started to chafe. He feels like a fraud, he's at the end of his tether as far as his strange relationship with Violet, and he's had it. He's quitting.


I hated the heroine. Hated her! We've spent half the book in her head, seeing how she thinks herself cold and stone-like, how she has no feelings, that there's just emptiness inside...WITH NOT EXPLANATION AS TO THE REASON WHATSOEVER! And then you expect me to feel sorry for her, empathize, understand her once she finally spilled the beans? Sure, she's had a shitty hand dealt to her, she's suffered through years of spousal emotional abuse, but she also spent HALF THE BOOK emotionally abusing the hero. Tit for tat? I don't think so.

Violet ruined the book for me.

I loved everything else. Sebastian, the hero, was an absolute teddy bear, a martyr in his own right, trying to make everybody around him feel better (no wonder Violet latched onto him, the emotional vampiress that she was), even at the sake of his own happiness, and I really wanted him to be happy. Pity, he chose the wrong woman for that.
The writing, once again, was excellent, though it (and the pacing) suffered due to the insufferable heroine. I liked the absence of politics in this one, though I must say the trial in the end was utterly and completely chauvinistic, and the supporting cast was once again great (I loved Violet's mother).

But, as I wrote earlier. The heroine ruined the book for me. I couldn't stand her for the first half of the book, and though that dislike lessened a little in the second half (thanks to her hero), I really couldn't get into her story.