Characters' tragic backstories were given a poetic treatment. The over-the-top details (all the heroes were born the same day? really?) perfectly cued me, as a reader, to expect higher drama. too much? Sure! But the Bareknuckle Bastards series was also 'too much,' and I adored it.

Is the Hell's Belles set-up a little much? Perhaps. I'm embarrassed for you.) This isn't my issue at all. (Side note: a number of reviewers were bent out of shape that the heroine was not a virgin, which is deeply embarrassing.

Some reviewers that didn't like Bombshell simply don't want this setting, and generally don't like the way MacLean's books have been spending less time in ballrooms and more time in various dens of sin. Plus, we get to have heroines running amok, leading double lives in steampunk outfits. This is a great backdrop for romance! Characters are being forced to confront their expectations about gender roles and class distinction. Some feel excited and emboldened, but the backlash has been immediate and violent. Things are feeling unstable in London-nobody knows if Victoria is gonna stick, and nobody is sure what having a reigning queen will mean for women. In the Sarah MacLean expanded universe (TM), the start of this series coincides with the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. So fun! This is a logical progression from MacLean's previous books, and it takes advantage of the passage of time. Look, the execution is messy, but I love the idea of this set-up. I think it's like the Baby-Sitter's Club, but instead of babies it's terrible men and instead of sitting it's orchestrating arrest. I honestly have no idea how this thing works. The operation is complex and extensive but we don't hear very much about the details.

It involves disguises and seductions and explosions and heists and a vast network of spies. sabotaging the patriarchy? Or something? They have a whole system set up for taking down aristocrats abusing their power and protecting women caught in the crossfire. None of them are looking for marriage, but it seems all four will need to squeeze in a romance somewhere in their busy schedule of. The Hell's Belles series follows an early Victorian girl gang of talented, scandalous women on the fringes of good society. And it's looking like the whole Hell's Belles series is gonna be this way. There was still plenty to like about the book, and besides, I've read plenty of great romance series where the first book was a little iffy. I wasn't wild about Bombshell, but I figured that was a fluke. Sarah MacLean is one of my all-time favorites.

Sarah maclean hell's belles book 2