Second Sons Series Review

"A lady can never have too many beautiful things."

Jane Austen meets Emily Rath. Regency romance gets steamy. Swords crossing. Years of pining and yearning. Breaking free from cages. This series has been nothing but beautiful and I will cherish these characters for a long time coming. Three more books off my TBR and added to my goal, lets get into them!

Beautiful Things is the first book in the series, and can I just say, I was hooked!! It took me some time to actually get into reading it, but once I did, I was reading 100+ pages a day. I ended up finishing it in 3 days after started it 10 days prior. Then immediately bought the next two in the series. But let’s get into it!

Rosalie Harrow is a nobody in a house full of somebodies. Her mother was friends with the duchess and was invited to the grand ball they are having to find her son, George, a wife. She of course is not in the contending view, as she has no family, no fortune, and no desire to marry. Save this thought for later.

I loved the idea of throwing her to the wolves because Rosalie is not some insecure, shy woman. She’s headstrong, will stand up for herself and anyone else, and won’t take shit from people. She’s gone her life being treated like dirt by her father, so at this point in her life, she has no time for it from others. She knows what she deserves and wants.

And onto that point…she wants three men. This is a why choose after all!! Her chemistry with Burke is immediate and I knew that they’d have something down the line. And of course, you can’t go wrong with a tan, tattooed sailor like Tom Renley. And why not throw another man into the mix, the man who hasn’t liked her from the beginning, the one conducting all of the dukedom responsibilities, James. It’s also revealed that she’s in love with Burke. Which is quite fast seeing as they met three weeks prior to them admitting this.

Obviously, it’s very unrealistic. Just like the idea of George marrying two twins when they arrive to stir the drama up, his mother’s idea of course. Well, Rosalie’s advice. But this is fiction. We can have fun with things. And Rose sure has fun with her men. God, the smut, even though there wasn’t much, was DELICIOUS. Emily never misses. It was so hot, I just wish there would have been more, but it is a slow burn after all. I would have loved to see James be a little more involved but seeing as he's super stubborn, we didn't see much of that. 

I’m all for a why choose, and I was loving the tension between the guys, the jealousy, the heartbreak. Burke constantly jealous of anyone that gets close to Rosalie yet loving the idea of sharing her with Tom, it was just so delicious.

I will admit, I didn't really focus much on any faults I found or things that annoyed me aside from a couple small things. It is a little unrealistic, seeing as Rosalie claims to love Burke only after three weeks, but this is 1812 after all. Also, the use of repetitive words like referring to Rosalie's sex, and Madeline, a 16-year-old (if I remember right) being thrust to consideration for marriage so young. I will admit, this was too much of a fun read for me to come up with anything of substance. I'm sure I'm missing things, writing this days after finishing and after reading the second book so everything is mixing together, but overall, I really enjoyed it and it was nice to get a little break from contemporary reads and get into a regency-era setting. Below is my overall rating of the first book.

His Grace, The Duke is the second in the series and picks up right where the first book left off, with Rosalie and James arriving in London from Alcott Hall. Of course, the drama is just getting good because soon, Tom and Burke find out that they have disappeared and immediately rush to find them. This kickstarts a downfall of confessions, jealousy, and swooning.

I have to say, I loved this one so much more than the first. There was just so much yearning, so much fucking now that we have established these relationships, though we still get a slow burn with the whole James ordeal and him not wanting to give in and change Rosalie. Even when he has her on the floor of the opera theater box (good god that was a good scene), he gets scared and runs off, of course leaving her crying. I just loved how Tom was the one to care for her through everything. When Burke gets shot, he goes and finds her, he's always the one to clean her up and care for her after they've fucked, it's just so sweet how they each have different roles in the relationship.

And onto that...I will argue and say that the tension with the MMCs was FAR BETTER than any of them with Rosalie. I mean, it's still good with her, don't get me wrong, she was the one to finally bring them together and open up about their feelings and desires, but the alleyway scene between Burke and Tom had my heart ACHING. They've loved each other for years, pined for one another, Tom even hid that by having relations with his navy buddy, William Hartington, who admits that all Tom ever spoke of was Burke. And the fact that him and Tom share the same sword tattoo. The jealousy that radiated from Burke and him biting the tattoo GAWD. It was just so good.

And we finally get the story behind James. How he has loved Burke for years and eventually saying he feels the same for Tom. Them all being together and becoming entwined like tree roots, no beginnings no ends (that last scene in the epilogue was...just wow), it was all just so delicious and heartfelt and I would have loved more from Tom's perspective on their shared love. Although we did find a lot out during they alley scene, how he wanted Burke and him telling Rose he wanted Burke since he knew what it meant to want OUCHHHH. God. I could go on about the three of them.

The smut in this book took it to another level. Definitely an upgrade from the first, obviously. We not only see Rosalie and the men together, but the men with each other. I think it was so beautiful how each of them opened up the more they got comfortable with one another, specifically Burke and James. Burke saying that he doesn't fuck men, he doesn't love men, but coming around to him finally fucking James in the end. AND!!! Burke kissing Tom in front of Hartington was a HUGE risk. And of course, James, even admitting that he wants another man was tough for him. This is 1812, they even state that it's highly illegal for men to say they love another man, let alone be intimate with one another. James was scared, and that definitely gives a good insight as to why it took him longer to open up. He had more at stake than the others. But in the end, he finally begs to be taken by Burke while fucking Tom, it was just...so beautiful and so hot.

I will say, the language was super repetitive in this, specifically with the smut scenes. I would have loved a bit more of a variety than the same "claim me, own me" over and over again. Not saying I won't eat it up every time, but it was the same almost every time. On that, I do wish this book would have been a little shorter, however, like reading the first one, I didn't even realize that I was reading 560+ pages because it was just so good. But I do think some things were just too drawn out and could have been resolved much quicker. Then again, this is supposed to mirror Jane Austen novels in a way. Just with some steamy smut. Another thing that got to me was George continuously calling Rosalie "cabbage". It got so annoying after a while, and it at some point just felt disrespectful, even between friends.

Once again, I have finished a 500+ page book in a matter of three days, so if that's not any indication on how good this series is so far, I don't know what is. Holy shit, this was just...ugh. I have so many words yet nothing at all. It's late while I'm writing this portion of review and my head is still spinning from all of the MMCs in this. Onto the third! Below is my overall rating.

Alcott Hall is the third and final book of the series and it follows Madeline Blaire, who we saw in the first book as a potential suitor for George Corbin. However, she was so young, only 17 years old, but we do see her form some sort of an acquaintance with another man who was invited to the ball. Her story takes place three years after the ending of the second book, so Rosalie and James are married and are living happily ever after with their growing family.

This is also a why choose romance, with Madeline pining after two men, who are also pining after one another. We learn early on that Charles Bray, the man Madeline met at the ball, has been in love with John Warren, the gamekeeper for Alcott Hall and the man who Madeline runs into on her night when she's run away from home to find a husband to inherit a large sum of money from her aunt that she left to her in her will. In order to gain that money, she must be married by the end of the year. Which is in three weeks.

Surprise surprise, she enlists Rosalie for some help. Although not before she informally proposes to her cousin (?!?!?!?!). She actually left for Alcott Hall with determination to propose to Tom Renley. But seeing as he's away on leave, she turns to another man who will never be hers. Burke. Yep. In the span of like 2 days, she's proposed to two people, with the intention of three!!! Insufferable.

Rosalie and James seem set on her marrying Charles Bray, however it puts him in an awkward position because one, his heart still belongs to Warren, and two, the terms that Madeline offers does not align with his views of marriage. Seeing as he's set to become a vicar, he views marriage less of a convenience and more of a partnership. However, because he cannot marry Warren, he's stuck in limbo.

Of course, things work out in the end, because Madeline finally marries Charles, and they informally marry John together on the frozen lake (which I will say was super romantic in terms of gestures), and all is good. Now...this story could have been 200 pages shorter. Drawing out three weeks worth of time in a matter of 500+ pages is unnecessary. After a while, all the sex scenes started to read the same, "you're mine", "more. i want more. need you. need him", just meh. 

Not to mention, this story would have worked so much better as solely MM. Madeline was so unnecessary to the story. This would have been so much better if it was a second chance romance with Charles and Warren and we got their story a lot more. I loved their connection more than anything, it was so sweet, so heartbreaking because they can not be with one another publicly, especially with Charles being a curate/vicar. It would have been more rewarding focusing on that than forcing Madeline into their history. Because multiple times, she felt like the third wheel to me. 

She was selfish, insufferable, and entirely clueless, which I don't fault her for. And she at least takes accountability in the end for how she acted with the whole money thing and marrying him. But my god, this was so hard to get through because of her. Like I said, had it been Bray and Warren, I would have eaten it up. But I found it so hard to believe Charles saw anything more in her than a friend because he was so in love with Warren.

I'm happy to be finished with the series, though! Some ups, some downs, overall such incredible writing and storytelling (you know, outside of the last book at times), but it is what it is. See you later Second Sons! Below is my overall rating.