Josie

Absolutely loved the 'Before' part of the book. Everything about it was perfect:

• James and Daisy being best friends before realising their feelings
• Daisy's lively character
• the fact that James had little experience in the bedroom so they experimented together with Daisy telling him what she liked etc.

I just loved them both and it was honestly heading towards a favourite 5 star read.

Until the 'After' part. Don't get me wrong, I admired Daisy Theo for making something of the Dukedom and herself. I know people change but I was still upset that she wasn't Daisy from 'Before'.

And James? He ended up being a coward. Your wife is understandably upset and "throws" you out of your house and you disappear for 7 years? He should've been begging at the door the very next day! People always say things they don't mean when upset/angry, and for all he knew, she was just hurt and expected him to come crawling. Not become a bloody pirate!

And when he did come back? It was such a convenient time that I wondered if he'd come back for her or for his title.

In fact, all this cowardly behaviour, I probably could have forgiven (it would've been better though if he hadn't waited 7 years) if not for one thing. And the people who've read this book will no doubt already guess what I'm referring to.

His infidelity.

Oh hold on. James would like to emphasise that they were "mistresses" and not "lovers". That makes it all okay.

Actually, I thought this stupid distinction made it worse - personally loads of one-night stands seem "better" than continually visiting the same women long-term but what do I know? He then proceeds to blame Daisy Theo and is not even sorry for his "lapse" (his words of course)!

"I stopped thinking of you as my spouse some years ago, as I'm sure you did of me."

Well, I wanted Daisy/Theo to go through and divorce him and find someone with some balls. As you'd expect, she forgave him without him being too contrite and it showed in their sex scene, which was no where near as special as the one in the 'Before' part.

As you can see, I was disappointed with the second half of this book but probably more so because of how much I loved the first part.