***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

Tessa Dare is amazing. I know it’s taken me some time to warm up to her works but I will say that once I started her Castle Ever After series, I was sold. This series has been a joy to read and the best thing about it is that all the books can be read as standalones. The books have almost nothing in common besides the main character of each book inheriting a castle. 

One of the best things about this series is the MCs and this book was no exception. Maddie is a fantastically strong female lead who hates crowds and is a tad romantic. It’s why, to avoid the ton during her own season, she made up a suitor and that came to bite her in the ass almost a decade later.

My favorite thing about Maddie was just how easy it was for me to relate to her. I loved when she talked about the way society always made it seem like marriage was everything and made women feel as they needed to measure their self-worth in terms of whether or not they were married. I loved how this was reflected clearly by the fact that she had to make up a suitor to avoid unwanted attention. I also loved that in spite of her fear of crowds; she had actually managed to make a life for herself aside from society and did what she most enjoyed.

Logan was the perfect love interest for her and goddangit did he win my heart over. He is no lord, or rake or anything really. He is just a captain who will do anything to protect his soldiers, including blackmailing. And he also just happens to be the person who received Maddie’s letters to her made-up suitor. I loved Logan’s loyalty to his soldiers and how much he cared for them. But I also loved seeing him come out of his shell and begin to trust the people around him. If that doesn’t win you over, maybe his love for books, and the fact that he read Pride & Prejudice will (HE ALSO PUT ON SPECTACLES TO READ AND I WAS A GONER. )

So, unsurprisingly, I loved the romance between the two and enjoyed the buildup plus the circumstances surrounding their courting.

This book was definitely 100% worth it and I just want to re-read it because it was so good and it made me so ridiculously happy. If you haven’t checked this series out yet, you NEED TO because you don’t know what you’re missing out on.

Note that I received an eARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review