I’m not sure it really counts as finishing a book if you literally flip forward a huge chunk and then read the ending to sort of…figure out how the ending happens? But that is indeed what I did, because I wasn’t really vibing with the entire set up of this book. Which is a pity! Because I really loved Seraphina and her story, and I was all ready to dive back into this work of like, half consequences and half wish fulfillment.
TO RECAP we’ve got ourselves three infamous women (a Rakess, a Sexy Painter, and a Famous Harlot) who have decided to pool their monies from being infamous women to fund a residential school for young women looking to better themselves via trade and work. Capitalism ftw, ladies, might as well beat them at their own game. They’ve made some leaps and bounds since the last we checked in, and now it’s Cornelia’s turn to pay her share.
The issue is that it’s hard to tell what the conflict really is between our two main characters? Rafe is…totally fine with bucking norms, as seen by the handsome buck that he sometimes f***s. Cornelia is married, but that literally changes nothing? She likes Rafe, but chafes at normal marraige but no one is asking her to do so?? It all felt very contrived, and I remember thinking quite early on that there’s not very much to pull the conflict forward another 100 pages or so. Apparently in skipping I missed a MMF scene, which I will say is rather rare (esp in a HR context).