The Lord and the Wayward Lady (Harlequin Historical #996) Book

Eh. This one defines 'mixed bag.'

The overarching mystery re: the gypsy dude, the murder, + the 3 families is intriguing, & for those reasons alone I'll continue with the Silk & Scandal books...but the romance portion didn't do much for me. I did like heroine Nell & found her decisions to be fairly solid (aside from that truly boneheaded plan to confront Gypsy Dude alone), but hero Marcus annoyed the hell outta me'just your basic stuff-shirt, holier-than-thou aristocrat with no concept of how people need to bend to survive in the world outside entitled gentry. In short: he was equal parts cliché, zzzz, & STFU.

Sidebar: the continual affirmations of consent were simply grating. I understand his being overly careful & considerate the first time'but ffs, dude. She's already said yes literally ten times over. STOP ASKING. It passes way beyond gentle or beta or considerate & vaults into obnoxious. And, as Jessi pointed out when I txted my frustration, it's totally unnecessary to the story: a simple "I know you've been hurt, so tell me if you want me to stop & I will stop, ok?" is more than adequate because by that point she's already slept (platonically) cuddled against him...in their nightclothes...on a bed. She obv trusts him. She even says so directly to the reader. The continual parade of permission each time he touches her boob or removes his cravat is just filler that could be better spent on mystery, or side characters, or even sexy times.

...Anyway. Each S&S novel has a stand-alone factor with different MCs, so I'll read the ones I've already got & see what happens.