I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this book. It has some amazing instances of banter and bickering, various extremely delightful society intrigue scenes, and some incredible familial interactions. Kate Sheffield is pretty much flawless, not to mention her amazing relationships with her stepsister and stepmother that nicely mirror Anthony's admirable devotion to his own family.

But, and it's a big but, Anthony is just... such an asshole. He's great with his family, his grief and neuroses regarding his father are actually quite affecting for me, and I have a certain amount of stubborn affection for him due to his ridonk older brotherly antics in The Duke and I, but when it all comes down to it: he's an asshole!

He's your prototypical, super alpha, romantic hero and he's condescending and overbearing and paternalistic, and while he apologizes for a lot, because he's such a prototypical romantic hero it's never quite what he should be apologizing for as Julia Quinn (in what I feel is a fairly uncharacteristic case of Not Getting It) doesn't think the most irritating things about him are actually wrong.

So, alas, CONFLICT. Because so much of this book is super enjoyable, fun and witty, but there's always just that nagging fact that despite my total inability to take him seriously, Anthony is a butt. A huge, huge butt. Yet, I love him and Kate anyway?!

I'll just blame Kate's general magnificence. Also: Pall Mall.

Because of aforementioned conflict, I'd rank this book in the middle range of Bridgerton novels.