DNF at 20 %.

The main reason why I DNF'ed, is because I have an aversion to the characters. The hero is a real d*ck in the first few chapters. We quickly learn he's probably got PTSD, survivor guilt and probably some unresolved grief. Granted, that's a lot to bear and the hero, Max, copes (if we can call it that) by unloading all his anger and pain on others. Realizing all of this made it a little bit easier for me to understand his assholish behavior, but truthfully, those things don't make it okay to treat others so poorly.

However, the heroine... Don't even get me started. I've never disliked a character like this. She's such a people pleaser, got the biggest savior complex ever and denies herself any and every negative feeling. She also oversteps so many boundaries, while attributing it to her "curiosity" and calling it her "investigation" (insert noise of disgust here). She actually triggers ("provokes") him on purpose to get information. At some point, Max tells her she's "intrusive, impertinent and uselessly persistent" and to "mind her own business" after thinking she's meddlesome. I agreed full heartedly with him. But then... Then, of course, Max mellows a bit and starts answering her incessant questions and she's like "oh no, I never imagined he'd share such sentiments" and that, ladies and gents, was the straw that broke the camel's back. It may look trivial, but I was so damn frustrated when she thought that. Of course, he'll start sharing if you keep harassing him and overstepping his boundaries. 🙄

So, DNF because I can't stand Ada.

This was an enjoyable quasi “Beauty and the Beast” offering by the author in her series The Phoenix Club. I loved the contrast of Ada Tredway’s personality against that of Maximilian Hunt’s, the new Marquess of Warfield. She was “Miss Sunshine” and he was “the Beast” though he was more grumpy than beastly. Ada’s boss, Lord Lucien, sent her to Max’s estate to get his estate ledgers and affairs in order. She is not well received by Max. He tries to get rid of her as soon as possible. I almost laughed out loud when she poked fun at his grumpiness by mimicking him. In her own way, she tries to fix him, but he feels he is permanently broken. Ada returns to London and her position, but by then, Max finds an excuse to follow shortly thereafter. Max, tormented by guilt and remorse, reveals much of it to Ada. He discovers that she hasn’t done likewise with him. As with any “fairytale”, the hero and heroine overcome the reasons why they shouldn’t be together. All in all, an enjoyable read with great lead characters and secondary characters. I voluntarily read and reviewed an e-ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley.

**I received a digital ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

GOOD TO KNOW
Which reader should read this? Readers who love…
-Historical romance
-Regency/viscount romance
-Slow Burns
-Opposites attract (Grumpy/sunshine)
-Fairy tale retellings
-Alternating point of view (POV)

Triggers/Content Warnings
I strongly recommend readers to look up trigger/content warnings prior to reading.

Review
WHAT I LIKED
The Phoenix Club
The Phoenix Club is an exclusive, invitation only, social club run by Lord Lucien Westbrook. This club allows both men and women to join. While both sexes have separate living quarters, they are invited to socialize together once a week. For the time period this book is set in, this is considered very progressive.

I wasn’t overly invested in this book until Ada returned to the Phoenix Club in London. From that point on, I was definitely engrossed in the story. I was ignoring all of my adult responsibilities to finish this story. (There’s a mountain of laundry and I regret nothing).

Characters
ADA
Ada’s gone through a lot and her family didn’t stand by her during tough times. The publishing blurb says she is, “eager to prover her expertise and her worth.” Ada feels the need to validate herself and prove to others that she is a badass. She is strong, educated, and fiercely independent.

Also, Ada does WAY more than bookkeeping at the club. When she returns back to London, she checks on how all of her responsibilities were managed in her absence. As Ada is running through her daily activities and you come to realize that she is more of an operations manager than a bookkeeper. Lucien expresses his gratitude for Ada’s hard work. It is obvious when she left how much she truly did to make the club run smoothly.

MAX
Max is very broken when we first meet him. The traumatic events that happened in Spain during the war are still haunting Max, replaying in his mind. His mind is preoccupied with thoughts of Spain that he doesn’t notice what is happening around him.

We are introduced to Stonehill, the Warfield Estate, we see a property in disrepair. The gardens are overgrown, the horses have been sold, there are few very tenants living at the property; the property is being slowly run into the ground. Max has been in no condition to run the estate and has kept the fewest staff possible at the estate to keep it (barely) functioning.

It is not until Ada arrives to analyze the books, that we start to learn more about Max. She slowly pulls the information out of him and helps him cope with his grief. She gets him to smile and soothes his nightmares. Ada is one of the few that sees beyond his grumpy demeanor and is determined to help him navigate through his trauma.

What really sold me on this story was Max’s interactions with the Phoenix Club members, his old friends, and the city folk. While interacting with large groups of people, Max gets overwhelmed and gets triggered multiple times.

This is when I fell in love with this character. Max’s time in London is when you understand how hard it has been for him to cope and why he has been struggling to take care of himself. The unkempt estate was a physical representation of his inner feelings.

Prior to London, it wasn’t clear why the reader should care about Max. When we learn Max’s backstory and see that Max has been caught in this traumatic loop for years, you can’t help but want to give him a hug and console him.

Writing
STEAMY LOVE SCENES
Romance readers have definitely read their fair share of awkward sex scenes. The narration is described in an unnatural way and it’s difficult to follow what is happening. Not Darcy Burke’s! Her writing is steamy and unfolds naturally. Burke’s love scenes just play like top notch rom coms in your mind.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Beauty and the Beast Retelling
Is Impossible a retelling? No, I disagree with other reviewers calling this book a Beauty and the Beast. This is not a start to finish Beauty and the Beast retelling. Impossible is its own story and it’s also part of a larger series. If you remove the library scene, this is just a dark and moody male love interest.

Max, the Beast
Calling Max a beast was a hard sell. He just seems grumpy? I think to call him a beast he would have had to throw his tenants out or do something really horrid for him to be considered a beast. It seems far-fetched to me.

Theme of Light and Darkness
At first, I loved the analogy of the light/darkness. It is an excellent way to describe depression especially in a time period where this wasn’t as widely known. Unfortunately, this was brought up too often for me.

I think Darcy Burke kept bringing back the theme of light/dark for emphasis and to weave it through the whole story. I’m not sure it was necessary to bring it up that often? This wasn’t a deal breaker for me, I just a thought I jotted down while reading.


FINAL THOUGHTS
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
The Phoenix Series
I know this is a stand alone novel but I’m a little bummed that I started with Book 5! It’s just a pet peeve to start out of order. I definitely plan on starting the series at the beginning.

What I’m most interested in reading the rest of the series is reading more about Lucien. I want to learn about his backstory and why he feels the need to always be meddling in other people’s lives? It doesn’t seem like Lucien has his own book yet… maybe Burke is saving the best for last :).

The Beauty and the Beast Retelling Debate
In the reading community, there’s a debate among readers whether the Beauty and the Beast references in the beginning make or break the novel. The Beauty and the Beast elements didn’t really bother me. I’m not completely sold on the idea that Max was a beast but I think given the time period, people may have called him that.

You’ll just have to read it to find out where you stand in the debate 🙂

**Thank you Netgalley and Zealous Quill Press for providing me with a free ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review.**

Oh, I really can't resist a beauty and the beast story. It is without a doubt my favourite trope. This book didn't disappoint, I've enjoyed other books in the series but I think this one is my favourite.

It does have some flaws, I would have preferred if more romance happened earlier in the book but overall this is a fun entertaining read that would heartily recommend.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ada Treadway bookkeeper of the Phoenix club, is sent by her boss to help his long time friend, Max, Viscount Warfield, to organize his ledgers and restore his estate.

Max scarred and devastated both inside and outside, after war and losing his loved ones, wants nothing of his life. Especially the overly optimistic and overly meddlesome Miss Treadway, who wants to bring him back to life.

I absolutely loved Ada. She was such a sunshine heroine and then some more. Even though she's been through a a lot as well, she maintains her optimism and wants to bring it to the others around her as well. It was great seeing his change, which was not overnight, and finally getting a glimpse of his playful side as well.
Sex scenes are 🌋

I really enjoyed this one It was my first book of the series and the author. I usually prefer reading series in order, but I had no trouble connecting to any of the characters and the author offered enough information without being overwhelming.

I received a free copy via netgalley, and I volunteered my honest opinion..

⛔Trigger warnings: Cheating, death of loved ones, abortion (all of these are simply mentioned, and take place off screen)

4.5 stars round up 5

Enjoyable read! Darcy burke writes such great heroes. Highly recommend this author and look forward to more in this series.

This is the fifth installment of Ms. Burke's delectable The Phoenix Club series. Once I started the series, I was hooked! This book also did not disappoint. Ada is the bookkeeper at the Phoenix Club. She loves her independence and being burned in love once before, has no wish to experience it again. When the club's owner, Lucien, asks for her help in sorting out his friend Max's ledgers at his country estate, she accepts and looks forward to the challenge. Max is a grumpy sort of fellow. The experiences of war have made him hard and bitter and he is not able to move past the guilt and self-hatred he feels. He is an angry and unhappy man and doesn't much care for anything and doesn't let anyone in. Ada is a ray of sunshine and as he spends more time with her, those barriers he has so strongly built start to crumble. Both have experienced pain and loss, and both are afraid to lose their hearts. But the more time they spend together, the more their relationship grows and blossoms and they realize threre is hope of still finding happiness.
This was a lovely story that was wonderfully written. It was great to see the characters find their way to each other and realize how much they are really great for each other. It was a very enjoyable book, and I am looking forward to continuing the series.

I received a complimentary advanced reader's copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I originally clicked on this novel because I was on a post-Bridgerton high and I was caught by the clinch on the cover. However, when it came to reading this novel, I couldn't get past the many tropes, the dialogue or the character descriptions. Through no fault of the books, it's clear this author has an established style and audience, and I love that for them. It was just the wrong time for me and this book and I DNF'd at around the fourth or fifth chapter.

Regency romance perfection.

As always we know they’ll end up together, but how? Ada and Max both have traumatic pasts, and we explore the differences in how they treat these events and work to move on from them (or not as the case may be).

I really loved that both main characters freely admit their own imperfections, and they’re not the typical clean slates we so often see. They have trauma, previous relationships, and both have very different lives. It’s a breath of fresh air in the regency romance scene and I flew through this effortlessly. So much so I think I may now have to read about secret agent Dougall next!

Thanks to NetGalley and Zealous Quill Press for the ARC 🥰

This is supposed to be a take on Beauty and the Beast, however it only slightly resembles it. I will say it can be rather heavy at times. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but prompts a few CW: PTSD from war, rape off the page, attempted sexual assault, abortion off the page, infidelity again off the page.

I think the author handled most everything rather well. The attempted assault maybe the heroine reacted a bit too stoically to, but otherwise done well.

This is a grumpy/sunshine trope, maybe some forced proximity and gets fairly steamy. I quite enjoyed the banter, the side character Lucien was an excellent friend, and the side characters at the house aka the servants and tenants were adorable. It was a quick read and the ending was enchantingly dramatic. I very much enjoyed it.

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

I have loved all the previous books in the series, so I knew I would love this one. Guess what? I did! I've always liked Ada's character, and now we get her backstory and learn why she is the (wonderful) way she is. Max (Warfield) has been a mysterious character, who we know is the half brother of Prudence, the heroine of the previous book. We know he's been to war and we know he's Lucien's best friend, but we don't know much more about him besides the fact that he's kind of a jerk to everyone. Well, now we know what happened during the war, what caused him to be scarred so terribly, and what hardened his heart.

As always, Darcy Burke makes this a delightful journey. You know the books are connected, yet there are no cliffhangers; however, she whets your appetite for the next one in the series (c'mon Dougal!)

I will always suggest Darcy Burke for my historical romance newbies. This book, like all of hers, are engaging, interesting, and just a little bit steamy. Excellent read, 4-1/2 stars rounded up to a NetGalley 5.

Ada Treadway is the bookkeeper for The Phoenix Club. Lucian, the club’s owner, sends her on a mission to help one of his old war friends get a handle on his estate's ledgers. Maximilian Hunt, the Viscount of Warfield, is the complete opposite of Ada’s sunshine personality despite how the two of them both have past traumas. Ada’s bright personality starts to shine through Max’s grim manner, helping both of them heal from the past and find a new joy in each other.

While I had been so far enjoying the rest of the books in The Phoenix Club series, this one wasn’t really holding my attention. The plot was based on a good idea and the grumpy/sunshine clique is usually something that I like to read, but I didn’t find the characters to be too likable for me. There are still steamy scenes, but I found the cute scenes leading up to the characters finally getting together to be lacking and that is what I usually look forward to. I’m still looking forward to reading the next book in the series, however, so this one hasn’t completely turned me off The Phoenix Club.

I'm afraid this is just not working for me. I'm finding myself leaving the story to do everything else, and having a hard time coming back to it. It's a totally me thing though.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Impossible is an engaging book that is at times gut wrenching, but overall romantic and hopeful.

This is a sunshine versus grump; a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast. In this case, both Ada and Max are dealing with trauma from their pasts. I like the second half of the book when they talked about their trauma, like mature adults.

I really loved the dynamics between characters, especially the supporting friends from the Phoenix Club. And even though the book had a lot of dark subject matter, there was an air of light and optimism that was woven throughout. Ada and Max didn't need fixing, they needed understanding and love.

Content Warnings: PTSD, Sexual Assault, Abortion

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts are my own and freely given.

Such a heartwarming romance story.
I loved how this grumpy sunshine type of characters are finding friendships and love through their bond of numbers and problems to solve.
I’ve read a few of the author’s books in the past and this one exceeded my expectations so far. I loved everything about it and I can’t wait to read more in the future.


Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy

I enjoyed this story by Darcy Burke. The characters are well developed and the story line moves right along and kept my interest. I would recommend this book for a good historical romance.

Between 2.75 to 3 stars.
It was going really well until the 76% mark revelation.

I enjoyed the interactions between grumpy ogre of hero Max and sweet sunshine of heroine Ada. It was fun to watch how Ada sneakily but subtly infiltrated his life and house. Her charm was irresistible to Max. I also liked how Max slowly changed he ways.

The friendship in this book was fantastic as was the secondary characters. I liked the writing style too. The story was very engaging till the 76% mark like I said. Then heroine’s past were revealed and I loathed her action. I can’t reveal it without giving away spoilers. But it spoiled the book for me and the hot scenes.
Experienced heroine and hero.

Our Hero: grumpy, a true hero, and in a permanent bad mood. He needs his books put in order, and we know...his love life too.

Our Heroine: so completely the opposite. She's had her reasons to be sad/grumpy too, but chooses to be happy every day. I just love her... I am rooting for her! and him!

Phoenix Club is back and is the backdrop for this pairing. I would recommend reading the whole series, not to understand this book, mind you, but because it's a great, romance series.

Historical romance ,part of a series featuring the Pheonix Club. Dark ,brooding hero,feisty ,determined heroine. An enjoyable read.

This was my first Darcy Burke book, and while not all of it resonated with me, I will definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

I appreciated the thoughtful approach to the obvious PTSD and trauma effects on both Max and Ada. Ultimately though, I couldn't quite get myself to enjoy Ada and her endless optimism. I really think this is a case of the reader not quite jiving with the character(s). You can't please all the people all the time, and this just wasn't my time.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC, my opinions are freely given.