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I watch a lot of Asian dramas and this includes Korean, Chinese, Thai, Filipino, and Taiwanese dramas.
I watch every Asian drama you can imagine, and I’ll tell you for free that one of the most common tropes is childhood friends to lovers. It’s very popular, but honestly, it’s my least favorite.
That’s because, in most of these dramas, the male and female leads might have known each other as kids, but they usually get separated for at least 10 or 15 years.
When they finally meet again, for some reason, they’re always shocked that the other person has changed. Like, why? That’s so bizarre to me. I’m not even the same person I was last week — let alone 10 or 15 years ago. So it always feels very petty.
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Then they start having all these flashbacks of doing very innocent things as kids, but somehow the drama frames these moments in a romantic light. It’s just creepy, no matter how you want to frame it.
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That’s why this is my least favorite trope, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book, despite the romance between the characters irritating me a little because of this particular trope.
You’re probably wondering why I haven’t given you my usual rambling introduction. Well, it’s because I don’t have a lot to say beforehand and the review really speaks for itself.
So, here’s the story:
Our male lead, Sebastian, his twin brother, Tristan, and their younger brother, Rafe, were imprisoned as kids after their father’s death by their own uncle, who they later discovered had planned to kill them.
But then their childhood neighbor, who happens to be the male lead’s best friend (and our female lead, Mary), saved them by helping them escape.
She even tried to make sure their departure went unnoticed by confiding in her father, but her father sent her away to a convent. So they stayed apart for, I believe, more than 15 years.
Now here’s the thing: while the male lead and his brothers were away, they went to different places. The male lead went on his own journey, but they agreed to meet again at a specific time and place years later.
When they finally reunite, their goal is to reclaim the dukedom from their uncle and re-establish their place in society.
But they’ve all changed. He has lost an eye, his face is scarred, and even his cute younger brother has changed. They are not the same boys who left that town years ago.
Of course, when they return, they cause a stir because they essentially crash an event and our female lead helps identify them. Once they are on their own again, the real story begins.
Throughout the book, we see them fight off multiple attempts on their lives by their uncle, re-establish their position in society, and, of course, our male lead falls deeper in love with our female lead, while also trying to repair his broken relationship with his brothers.
Now remember what I said earlier about how irritating the childhood friends to lovers trope can be? Well, it’s everywhere in this book.
On almost every page, they’re reminiscing about their childhood — how things used to be — and feeling regretful that the other person has changed.
If this happened once or twice (or even five times), I could understand. But over and over again? It just felt so unnecessary to me. People change. People grow up. That’s natural.
But here they are, constantly talking about the past — when the past was literally just them playing as kids — and somehow turning that into some epic love story. They didn’t even know the meaning of love back then. It felt so unnecessary.
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Another thing that stood out — and not in a good way — was the incredibly tone-deaf language. There’s a lot of anti-fat talk, and the servants are spoken about as if they aren’t even human beings.
This is something I expect from much older historical romance novels, and my mind is usually prepared for that. But authors writing historical romance these days are usually careful with their language.
I haven’t checked the publication date of this book, but it’s recent enough that the author should’ve been more thoughtful with her word choices. So just be aware that you might come across some of this if it bothers you.
Now onto the good stuff, because trust me, there’s a lot of good here. This book was actually very interesting. I was hoping for a bonus chapter or something after finishing, but sadly, there wasn’t.
If you know my reading habits, you know one thing that always catches my attention is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. And that’s exactly what this book is.
Our male lead is scarred and as jaded as you can imagine. Our female lead is this vivacious beauty, who, by the way, is engaged for a good part of the book. So our male lead is pining for her hard until that engagement finally ends and he marries her.
I do wish there was more pining and longing — because I love that — but the intensity of his feelings really carried the story for me. I especially loved whenever we got his point of view, which surprised me because I usually prefer the female lead’s perspective when both characters’ viewpoints are shown.
Speaking of the writing, I’ll tell you now: we spend a lot of time in these characters’ heads. The book is very literary, and it’s clear the author is very talented – it’s THE Lorraine Heath, after all.
There’s a lot of winding prose, lots of descriptions, and a deeply introspective vibe. The characters are very contemplative and usually, I enjoy books like this. But even with all that, I feel like the pining and chemistry between the leads could’ve been elevated more.
There was so much potential for their connection to bloom, and I don’t think the author fully took advantage of it.
But my favorite thing about this book is the way the author explored the pain of loving someone who is obsessed with something else. Our female lead falls in love with the male lead and he loves her too, but his first love is reclaiming his estate.
Even after he wins it back, he clings to the vision that kept him going all these years — the dream of what could be – and he struggles to let go of that.
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She keeps trying to drag him into the present. Even when she gets pregnant, he loves her even more, but it’s clear he still loves the estate more. He won’t admit it, but she knows. We, the readers, know. And he, himself, knows.
It’s something he has to figure out for himself and eventually, he does. He realizes he’s done living in the past and should embrace the unexpected future he’s been given. But it’s a hard-won lesson.
All the while, our female lead struggles with feeling like she’ll always be second place to this estate, even though she knows he cares for her deeply.
There was one song that kept playing in my head the whole time: Love is Letting Go by Ashe featuring Diane Keaton. If you’ve listened to it, you’ll know why it’s the perfect track for this story. It played on a loop in my head while I was reading and it made me feel sad, because it really captured the hopelessness of her situation.
One tiny complaint: the whole drama about what happened when they were locked in the tower — and the reference to Richard III — felt unresolved even though the actual villain is done away with. There’s a little mystery that’s hinted at but never really addressed.
I get that this might be saved for the next book in the series, but I wish the characters at least mentioned it. Like, perhaps a conversation where they decide not to deal with it at the moment, but everyone just ignores it.
It might feel confusing if you only read this book and miss that clue before starting the sequel. Maybe this makes sense, maybe not, but that’s how I feel about this particular plot point.
I would absolutely read anything this author writes in a heartbeat and I have multiple times. I really, really enjoyed this book, if that isn’t obvious by this review. Aside from the things I’ve mentioned, it’s an amazing love story.
I’m especially curious about the two other brothers. Have I ever said how much I love when a book makes side characters interesting enough for me to want to read their stories too?
Some authors shove their next book’s characters in your face, but here, it feels so natural. They’re already so interesting that I have to read the other books. And I definitely will.
All this is to say: I really enjoyed this book. I think anyone would. It’s not the steamiest, but it’s definitely very romantic and tackles some big emotional themes. I think you’ll fall in love with these characters just as much as I did.
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