Crime and punishment, the Cat Sebastian way.
Plot: The story weaves somewhat with the last book – The Queer Principles of Kit Webb – with Kit’s life long best friend and co-conspirator having learned the tragic truth that he was, in all likelihood, the true heir to the dukedom that Kit’s own Lord Holland had been prepared to take over his entire life. Rob is enthusiastically anti-monarchist and couldn’t want anything less. But he is a criminal, so he decides he ought to at least get 500 pounds for his trouble. Not from the duke himself, but from his wife, who deserves to know she’s not his wife at all and that he’s a bigamist asshole. Doubly fortunate, she isn’t interested in playing ball at all. Marian has her own plans. Shenanigans ensue.
Despite the heavy things that the characters have dealt with, this book is light and fun and full of sharp banter and everything you might expect from a Cat Sebastian story. Rob and Marian are adorable, Kit and Percy make an appearance, too. In her continued commitment to broadening representation, we have two bisexual leads, a woman with zero interest in penetrative sex (but a vibrant sexual life all the same), and a new mother that doesn’t immediately experience a connection to her baby (but isn’t a bad mother for it).
TW: trauma from dangerous pregnancy and fertility problems, alluded to sexual coercion, alluded to post partum depression. Sebastian unsurprisingly takes great care with her readers, so don’t expect any express danger on the page. Even conversations that might be triggering happen off the page.