Society’s most exclusive invitation…
Welcome to the Phoenix Club, where London’s most audacious, disreputable, and intriguing ladies and gentlemen find scandal, redemption, and second chances.
Former courtesan and pretend widow Evangeline Renshaw is happy with her reinvented life as a patroness of the Phoenix Club. She doesn’t need or want a husband or a lover…until she meets the devastatingly charming and surprisingly virtuous Lord Gregory Blakemore. He’d like to court her, but he’ll have to settle for a short, thrilling affair instead.
After the death of his father and the marriage of his older brother, Lord Gregory can finally focus on what he wants: a government appointment. However, the enchanting Evie makes him desire intimacy for the first time, and now he wants her most of all. Their entanglement is supposed to be temporary, but he can’t let her go.
As Gregory reveals himself to Evie, she wonders if she might finally share the truth of her past. Unfortunately, there are those who seek to ruin her carefully crafted second chance. To protect Gregory’s dreams, she must sacrifice the only love she’s ever known.
Review:
Finally, Evie’s story!
Evie and Gregory’s story was everything I could have wanted–it starts with a puppy-induced meet cute, features a hero who isn’t afraid to let the heroine lead, and of course gives series fans a quick check-in with several of the other Phoenix Club alumni. (If you’re new to the series, though, no worries–it’s still a delightfully sexy story without a background in the series.
Except if you haven’t read the others, you probably won’t be *quite* as excited to get to Evie’s book 😉
Even though their backgrounds are really, really different–Evie and her sister Heloise have been on their own since they were teenagers, and before that had been barely scraping by; Gregory is the second son of a marquess–they are just wonderful together. It turns out that Gregory’s life isn’t quite as golden as it looks from the outside–his father recently passed, he’s not sure what life path to take, and his relationship with his brother is fairly toxic–whereas Evie’s right now is exactly where she (thinks she) wants it to be. Marriage and relationships are not only not on her radar, they’re inhabiting a different universe than she is.
Which all means that Gregory has his work cut out for him in this book. Not only does he have to figure out his own life, once he meets Evie he’s got a job and a half in front of him to convince her to give him even a glimmer of a chance. Fortunately he has backup in his endeavor–Ash, the terrier puppy that brings them together in the first place. Whenever Gregory needs to be in two places and obviously can’t, Ash and his puppy eyes and wagging tail to the rescue!
I really liked how Ms Burke handled the relationship black moment and resolution here–like the experienced heroine/virgin hero reverse trope she used here, she also didn’t pick the obvious route when one MC’s secret is revealed to the other. Not that I expected anything else from Gregory, but still…much appreciated <3
Now, don’t mind me, I’ll just be sitting here patiently waiting for Lucien’s book, especially since the tiny blurb for it at the end of this one might have made me snort laugh just a little… 😉
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.