Rating: ★★★| 320 pages | Sourcebooks Casablanca |The Survivors #3 | Historical | 07/02/2018
Rafe Beaumont, a charming and seductive former special ops soldier matches wits with Collette Fortier–a French assassin’s daughter determined to find a set of codes to free her father and start a new life. Rafe and Collette circle each other in the midst of a busy London season and while they both know not to trust the other they find themselves fighting a pull they are unable to resist
This installment of the Survivor’s series felt…different from the previous books in the series. It starts off with the same upbeat humor and comical situations as the previous two; when we are introduced to Rafe he is haplessly running and dodging female pursuers in a scene that is dynamic and as great flow. But as Rafe and Collette try to friend-zone each other while trying to pry each other secrets from one another, it just didn’t capture me.
Towards the end of the book, I was a bit surprised when the character of Thomas Gaines an escaped former slave turned business owner shows up. I guess it’s kind of jarring because I hardly come across black characters in Regency romance and I was getting rep sweats. I was wondering how the characters were going to react, was someone going to say something cringe-y ?
And sure, this character mostly exist to help the hero and heroine get to their HEA but…at least he didn’t die. I wonder if he will get his own book or novella
With all the said I thought this book had a classic romantic ending but it won’t go down as the most memorable in the series.
Nitpick
Minor spoiler alert: Gaines helps Collette and her father get passage to America, which seemed to take away from the HEA for me because it’s like yeah, go to America with all the slavery. But that’sjust a fact of history I guess. Also, the mentions of America being uncivil and savage felt a bit… off.