A Reckless Promise by Kasey Michaels
Book 3 of The Little Season series
ARC, e-Book, 400 pages
Harlequin HQN
July 26, 2016
★★★½☆☆
Heat Rating:
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: Received via Netgalley for review with TLC Book Tours
London's Little Season has never been so scandalous
It's the kind of vow often made on the battlefield. Darby Travers, Viscount Nailbourne, never imagines he'll have to honor it. Yet here she is on his doorstep—his late comrade's young daughter, and Darby's new ward. Worse, she comes with the most overprotective, mistrustful, bothersome chaperone—the child's aunt, Sadie Grace Boxer. Darby is quite sure that behind her lovely facade, the woman is guarding a secret.
Sadie Grace faced many trials working in her brother's surgery, but none prepared her for the world she's thrust into with his passing. Navigating the ton, with its endless ball gowns and parade of parties, is difficult enough, but hiding the truth about her niece while the sophisticated viscount watches her every move proves nearly impossible—particularly when his searing gaze tempts her to bare all. But when her family's past catches up with her, she'll have to trust in Darby…no matter the cost to her heart.A Reckless Promise continues the story of the four best friends (Coop, Darby, Gabe, and Jeremiah) surviving the Little Season and falling in love along the way. I HIGHLY recommend that you read this series in order – I read the first two books out of order and that was ok, but by the time you get to book 3, one of the major events that has been being foreshadowed all along (whether the Duke will meet his maker or not) comes to a head – and you want to know that backstory so it makes sense.
Darby is that man in the group that isn’t expected to settle down any time soon. He is the rogue with a lot of wealth to throw around. But then Sadie and her niece, Marley, show up literally on his doorstep and magically he has a young ward after a promise that he made out of hand on the battlefield some time before. What does this rogue do?! Fall in love of course! As a couple, I like Darby and Sadie. They play off of each other well and are excellent matches for each other. Both are spit-fires and have excellent comebacks to each other’s nonsense. She is definitely his equal.
While their romance was somewhat of a focal point, it wasn’t the sole focus of this story which was a little bit all over the place, in a somewhat organized fashion. Let me explain that a little more. We certainly see Darby and Sadie grow together, both in terms of their interest in each other, but also as humans, letting their emotions out for the first time and becoming themselves. However, there is a lot that happens to grow the larger storyline of the four couples that detracts from their individual romance. I feel that Gabe and Thea and Coop and Dany were given much more physical story time to grow their respective stories than Darby and Sadie were. Here there is also how the promise Darby made came to be cashed in, the story of Marley’s parents, deep dark history for both Darby and Sadie, the Duke’s possible pending death, the story of the birds continued from the previous books, and probably some other things I’m forgetting. So it didn’t feel as much their story as I would have liked. Additionally, Clarice and Jeremiah’s stories have been told so much through the first 3 books that I have no idea what will be left for their own book. Oh and I mentioned a deep, dark backstory for Darby that is hinted at from the first pages until almost the last. I really lost interest in finding out what this was, but was very surprised by it when revealed – nothing like I had imagined it would be, but I would have liked a little more build up for it.
I’ve said this in the other reviews, but I don’t really find the title of this series relevant in any way. Again, nothing happens that involves the Little Season; they don’t even go to any balls or parties in the entire book. I enjoy this series, but it could be better titled.
The romance here is a little less descriptive and risqué than the other novels, which is a little surprising given that Darby is known to be the rogue of the group. It was sweet and romantic. Some of the scenes are marginally descriptive, but I found these to be more about the character growth than the act itself. It amazes me how different the romantic element are across the novels in this series.
This is a good continuation of the large story arcs within the series as a whole, but I would have liked to have a little focus on Darby and Sadie.
Reviews of this book by other bloggers:
Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia
Also by Kasey Michaels:
Kasey Michaels has over 100 books in her backlist, so I’m not going to post them all here, but here are the other books in The Little Season series:
An Improper Arrangement (Book 1)
[My Review]
A Scandalous Proposal (Book 2)
[My Review]
Find Kasey Michaels: Website | Facebook
Tour Wide Giveaway!
As part of the TLC book tour, there is a tour wide giveaway opportunity for a $25 Amazon gift card. Entries are made through the Rafflecopter below. Please note, I am not the coordinator of this giveaway and any questions/concerns should be addressed to TLC Book Tours. Good luck!
Follow the Tour!
Kasey Michaels’ TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, July 4th: From the TBR PileTuesday, July 5th: Reading Reality
Wednesday, July 6th: A. Holland Reads
Thursday, July 7th: BookNAround
Friday, July 8th: Broken Teepee – excerpt
Monday, July 11th: Stranded in Chaos
Tuesday, July 12th: Booked on a Feeling
Wednesday, July 13th: Written Love Reviews
Thursday, July 14th: Let Them Read Books
Friday, July 15th: Bookaholics Not-So-Anonymous
Friday, July 15th: Romancing the Readers
Monday, July 18th: A Night’s Dream of Books
Monday, July 18th: Books a la Mode – excerpt
Wednesday, July 20th: The Sassy Bookster – excerpt
Thursday, July 21st: Open Book Society
Friday, July 22nd: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Tuesday, July 26th: Books that Hook
Wednesday, July 27th: A Chick Who Reads
Thursday, July 28th: A Bookaholic Swede – excerpt
Friday, July 29th: The Maiden’s Court
Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court
I'm a stickler for reading a series in order, so I'll definitely do that with this one. I like having all the parts of the story in my head in the proper order.
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I am typically one who has to read books in order even if they are just loosly associated with each other to keep things straight.
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