Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage

I was surprised to be moved so much by this book, because the first book, apart from the Autistic POV (about which I had mixed feelings) was a fairly standard insta-lust mystery romance. I enjoyed it well enough to keep going with the series.

This one is anything but your standard romance. It shows instead the reality of what often follows insta-lust - how a relationship between two damaged people can make less of both of them no matter how powerful their love. It is ultimately a story about a reconciliation made possible by both parties doing their own inner work confronting their demons, owning their prior actions, and changing their attitudes and behaviours. Only then can they tentatively, vulnerably, come back to each other to put it all to work in developing a healthier relationship.

The flashbacks reflect with painful accuracy what a relationship with an alcoholic who has family trauma can be like, and how destructive it can be to both partners. Same with how much effort and dedication it takes to break such an addiction and begin to heal.

It's not a 5-star for me because of genre related reasons- the repetitiveness, the fawning, the stereotypical depiction of Scottish people, and the melodrama of the mystery/suspense subplot.

Ironically, those are among the elements that made the book light enough for me to be able to finish it and, to my surprise, enjoy it, even as I read through reflections of some of the most traumatic moments of my life. In turn, the very elements that were fully expected and made the book less appealing to me, actually made reading this book a healing experience for me.