This was the first Cynster book that made me cry—like, REALLY cry.

The first part of the plot is essentially the characters coming together, and a bunch of love scenes. I loved every second of it.

After marriage, Charlie turns into an ass. If we didn’t get his POV and understand what he was feeling, I would've thrown this book across the room and not finished it. But I cried and loved it.

The book's second half had more plot, although it was pretty clear what was happening. I really enjoyed getting ALL the perspectives.

This book is LONG. I'm not sure if it's longer than others in the series, but it felt long. I tried the abridged version, but it was crap, so I went back to the unabridged, and honestly, all the details mattered.

"I love you. You know I do. I've been searching for the right words, but these are the only ones I know; You are everything to me! My sun, my moon, my stars, my life. Without you I can no longer be me." 😭

♡◜✧˖°*:･ﾟ✧
🌶️🔥: 3.75/5

(It’s more of a 🌶️:4.5, but it’s not all super detailed or complete SMUT so I lowered the spice rating.) ( )

Romance

The Taste of Innocence
2 Stars

Charles Morwellan, Earl of Meredith, has decided to marry. To his mind, Sarah Connigham is the perfect candidate - beautiful, intelligent and mature enough to welcome a marriage of convenience. But Sarah is determined to marry for love and Charlie will have to use all of the weapons in his arsenal - wit, charm and skills in seduction - to win her over.

Series note: This is book #14 in the Cynster series but takes place after the Cynster Sister Trilogy (books #16-18). It is also linked to books #6 and #7 in The Bastion Club series. I strongly recommend reading Laurens' works in chronological order as they appear on her website - here.

After a string of engaging stories, Sarah and Charlie's book falls rather flat. The first half is tediously repetitious as Charlie tries to convince Sarah that he is worthy husband material. While the pacing picks up in the second half as the conflict between them emerges and the suspense plot gains momentum, it is still too drawn out.

The chemistry that characterizes the previous romances in this subset of Cynster brother-in-law novels is sorely lacking as Charlie and Sarah's interactions, both verbal and sexual, are more mechanical than emotional. Also, Charlie's reason for keeping his distance from Sarah is completely non-sensical and undermines his hero status.

In addition, the mystery revolving around the railway land scheme is overly convoluted and descriptive, with pages and pages of financial information, geographical details and train schedules (or so it seems). Moreover, readers coming into the series here without having read The Bastion Club will be lacking backstory on a major player in the story. While some information is provided, it is not sufficient to truly appreciate the character's personality and motivation.

In sum, this is one of the more disappointing installments. Hopefully, the next one will return to the tried and true. ( )

This feels like Laurens put a half dozen of her previous Cynster novels into a blender and this is what came out. The hero is set against falling in love but tries to seduce the heroine into marriage regardless, and the heroine tries to make him fall in love with her by seducing him back. Thus follows what felt like 30 make out sessions. Lol. The tension of the novel is supposed to come from this ‘battle of the wills’ I think, but it’s just the same thing over and over and over. When not sneaking away together there’s a mystery going on, but it felt especially ‘meh’ as well. This was a miss for me. ( )

The Taste of Innocence - Laurens
Audio performance by Simon Prebble
2 stars

Immediately forgettable romance from Laurens’ Cynster series. I’m offended by the hot at night, cold by day noble husband. It’s a ridiculous premise. And there was nothing else in content or character to add interest to the story. ( )