This is my favorite book of the series. I like the darker vibes, the story, the characters. I liked that the villain here is simple and the conclusion straight forward. I prefer that over complicated god wars I'm personally not invested in. I love that he hid her and nursed her back to health in his little home. Feels intimate and special, especially with him being a lonely recluse. I wish the book had leaned even more into that, highlighted his feelings even more. Like the other book of this series (those I finished, at least), it was rather low on the spice. The last part was quite boring, though necessary, to answer the question what to do with her parents, how to explain what happened and get their blessing.

I didn’t expect a lot from this book since it’s only a novella. It was just very… dull. Of course, the romance plot was cute at times, with some steam and all. But the setting was just very bland. Maybe it was the Dutch small town or the fact that it played maybe in the 1800s? I don’t know. Whatever it was, I’m not a big fan of it. I feel like there were a lot of cliches in this book, with the heroine being seemingly the only one who rebels against society’s rules and thinks nee things, like women deserve to be respected. That characteristic can be good when executed well, but here, it just seemed boring. I wouldn’t say it was an entirely bad book but i can’t say that I’ve enjoyed it very much, either.