Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Peccati d'inverno

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Peccati d'inverno by Lisa Kleypas

21 reviews

fritopie's review against another edition

3.75

emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

allingoodtime's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It’s not a surprise I have a lot of mixed feelings about this story. If I hadn’t read the last book, It Happened One Autumn, I would have been able to immerse myself in the changed man Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent becomes in this book. On the other hand, I somehow missed the fact that Evie is the daughter of Ivo Jenner from The Gamblers of Craven’s books, and that piqued my interest in Evie’s backstory.

(Quick warning: There will be spoilers for previous books to follow. No spoilers for this book.)

Let’s get my issues out of the way. Evie goes to the man who kidnapped one of her best friends to force her into marriage and offers to marry him. It’s mind-boggling that she should be so disloyal to her friend. But she is definitely in a tight spot and it makes an odd sort of sense that Sebastian is the logical choice for her plan. Sebastian’s betrayal of Westcliff never sat well with me in the last book although I know people can act out of character when they are desperate. Westcliff and Lillian forgiving Sebastian was greatly needed in this story, although it didn’t erase how terrible he was to them from my mind.

That being said, the person Westcliff befriended as a child and stood behind through all their years is the person Sebastian becomes in this story. It’s finally clear why Westcliff never turned his back on his friend. Sebastian tries to keep up his façade of unfeeling rogue, but it always crumbles with Evie. Over and over he proves to be a romantic at heart, not just a lothario.

Now that Evie is free of her extended family who ruled over her with their fists and disparaging remarks, she blooms like a flower. She finds a confidence she never knew she had. Evie does not back down when Sebastian gets high-handed and tries to order her about. She married him for her freedom, not to be put into another prison. This spirit does her well and helps her see the power she has within her.

This story is by no means perfect. I had to keep putting the blinders on as to who Sebastian was before so I could revel in the wonderful person he was becoming. Since I was able to do that, I ended up greatly enjoying this book.

Content Warnings

ember_eyes_are_for_tigers's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The novel begins incredibly strong, with the two main characters seemingly opposites and having to work through their differences to make the best of their situation.
What I believe is the strongest point of this book is the incredible character development that both protagonists go through, especially Sebastian.
That said, however, halfway through the novel begins to fall a bit flat and, if you read other novels by the same author, you could even start noticing than in most novels one of the main protagonists falls ill, gets injured or is in some way physically altered (I’m including inebriation) for the story to continue developing.
In this specific case of this novel I believe that

having Sebastian injured by a gunshot

was rather unnecessary and felt rather forced.
Nevertheless, the book is incredibly enjoyable!

Content Warnings

cepbreed's review against another edition

4.0

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Now this is what I'm talking about! After the trainwreck that was the last book I was seriously having doubts about my determination to give Kleypas another chance, and I wasn't disappointed! Unlike in It Happened One Autumn the main characters are actually very likable! Shocking considering how much redemption St. Vincent had to go through, yet Kleypas managed it. Everything he did in the previous book was terrible, and it made me hate him, yet the new side of him we saw, with the help of Evie's perspective made him an instant favorite for me. Maybe it's my bias for the shy girl and bold guy trope but this novel was infinitely better. St. Vincent became a male lead I actually loved, the slow realization that he's falling for Evie had me in such a chokehold, I eat that shit up everytime! I'm sorry for doubting you Lisa Kleypas 🙏 If I had read this before It Happened One Autumn maybe I would've given Lillian and Marcus more grace

Songs:

Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift
Norman fucking Rockwell - Lana Del Rey
Million Dollar Man - Lana Del Rey

Content Warnings

lauramparis's review against another edition

4.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

local_hat's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

This one came out in 2009. Not even that old! And while it proves my point that romance used to get much better copyediting, the casual racism, casual fat-hate, casual classism, casual ableism, and casual iffy consent have aged a lot less well. I definitely used to love Kleypas and her multiple series set in the same universe... and now I think I'm glad I fell away from them and haven't re-read any recently.

Content Warnings

rearic's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

caseygirlreads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

One of my favorite historical romances.

Content Warnings

peachreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

don't miss the content warnings.

Content Warnings

kit_carmichael's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Yes, it did take me this long to read this book (in my defense, I've been getting this series from the library and there was a looooong wait list). After the previous book, I was skeptical about St. Vincent, but his transformation was organic and believable. However, I did slightly prefer him in his pre-transformation, full-on rake incarnation. He was...funnier? Wittier? Sexier? Anyway, I enjoyed this, and am getting on the waitlist for the next book in the series (should only be a 6 month wait or so).

Content Warnings

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