WhiskeyintheJar Romance

"Well, Prudence?" he asked as his gaze slid to her mouth, his expression reminding her of a man who had not eaten all day and was seeing a morsel before  him. "What have you to say for yourself? Now your adventure has become mine."

I haven't read the previous Cabot sisters' books but I had no problem diving right in to this one; the author does a good job of summarizing why Prudence is acting the way she is here because of her sisters' previous actions. The bulk of the story and Prudence and Roan's romance takes place over only two or three days, so there's a bit of insta happening. I can't say I ever felt their love or deep attraction for one another. It was kind of hard to enjoy their budding romance when at every turn both were decrying how it was never going to last, Roan has an almost fiancee in America and Prudence can't imagine marrying an American (how rude! ;). 

However, I thought the writing was pretty good and their bumbling about journey was fairly entertaining and was liking it until the last 30% or so. The secondary characters consisting of Prudence's sisters and Roan's sister brought this down a whole star. I don't know how they acted in their own stories but Honor and Grace were cold, stuffy, and unsympathetic wenches to their sister. It seems their actions brought a bit of scandal to their younger sisters, Prudence and Mercy, and they refuse to let Prudence marry who she wants to because it would be scandalous (I guess because, again, he was an American? I don't really know why they wouldn't want her to marry the man she was traipsing around England with, other than missing her if she moved). They were so mean and rude to her! Prudence seemed a little oblivious throughout the story to how her actions could really affect her, or seemed to really cognitively distance herself from it, that I was a bit annoyed with her but dang, her sisters took the cake. Roan's sister Aurora, however, takes the crown for being the most unlikable, rude, selfish, and oblivious character, just ugh. 

Not a lot of emotional or relationship build up but if you like your characters to journey around and get into shenanigans, then Prudence and Roan get into their fair share. I will also say, the following line was almost worth reading the full book on its own:

 "I want to conquer nations and make you their queen."

SWOON.