Ratings21
Average rating3.6
Miss Minerva Lane is a quiet, bespectacled wallflower, and she wants to keep it that way. After all, the last time she was the center of attention, it ended badly--so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past. Wallflowers may not be the prettiest of blooms, but at least they don't get trampled. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention. But that is precisely what she gets. Because Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont, is not fooled. When Minnie figures out what he's up to, he realizes there is more to her than her spectacles and her quiet ways. And he's determined to lay her every secret bare before she can discover his. But this time, one shy miss may prove to be more than his match... The books in the Brothers Sinister series: ½. The Governess Affair (free prequel novella) 1. The Duchess War 1½. A Kiss for Midwinter (a companion novella to The Duchess War) 2. The Heiress Effect 3. The Countess Conspiracy 4. The Suffragette Scandal 4½. Talk Sweetly to Me
Series
4 primary books7 released booksBrothers Sinister is a 7-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2012 with contributions by Courtney Milan.
Reviews with the most likes.
I didn't know why I had wanted to read this book until the first sex scene; then, I remembered that someone on Twitter had recommended this book as a great example of awkward sex. That scene was definitely unusual and not something I've encountered often in published novels, although I always like it in fanfic. It's very romantic to me to have characters fumbling awkwardly in bed and to have that clumsiness be a part of the intimacy they share.
I don't know if I'd recommend the book as a whole because of that scene, but I did mostly enjoy the story. Glancing at the prominent reviews here, it seems a lot of people disliked the betrayals. I didn't really mind that, although I did wish they would've just talked to each other (but I often think that).
I'm having trouble defining what did bother me about the book. Some of the elements of the main characters' backgrounds seemed overly melodramatic to me, especially the plot with Robert and his mother. At first I was emotionally involved with all of it, but as more sad pieces of Robert's childhood, along with other tragic details, like Lydia's past, were revealed, it just felt like too much to me. Also, I would have liked to see more of Minnie showing off her strategic mind.
I may read this author again, even though this book didn't totally sweep me away, because I do like the style of the writing. It's also a really feminist book, and I always appreciate that.
Eh. I really tried. I got about 10 chapters in before I decided to give up on this.
It isn't so much that there's a serious plot going on besides all your regular insta-lust and romancey things - in fact, I like it when a romance novel has a bit more substance than just “I see you, I want you, I love you”. I stuck with this book for even 10 chapters because I was actually interested in seeing where it was going to go with the plot.
What eventually made me give up on it, however, is that I just don't really quite enjoy it when the writing takes itself too seriously. I'm not asking for irreverent humour all the time, but there were way too many cringey one-liners that I kept getting distracted by.
Example:
- Damn his eyes. Damn his letter. Damn that smile, the one that made her want to kiss him back, just so she could know that she'd put that light inside him. [...]It struck her, that want, like a sharp first to her solar plexus--painful and paralyzing. She didn't just want. She hoped. She needed. She dreamed that this time, when she was revealed to the crowd for what she really was, they wouldn't mob around her and throw stones. This time, they couldn't call her a beast or the spawn of the devil. This time, instead of stripping her of everything, someone would love her for who she was.A yearning like that was too big for the person she had to be.
Tl;dr the story was fine and fairly interesting, but the delivery was too cringey and distracting that I had to DNF at Ch 10.
Solid 3.5. Hero was over dramatic but we have feminist Duke that cares about the working class and I am HERE FOR THAT.
Will not be my last Courtney Milan :)