This was so damn good.

I liked it so much that I'm struggling to put it into words. Usually, I take a lot of notes as I read, but I swallowed this up without taking a moment to note down anything ahaha.

Characters are so complex and interesting. Both Stephen and Lucien had some unexpected sides that amazed me. Stephen, despite his small figure, is far from helpless. And Lucien, a Shanghai dock rat, as he called himself. And I love his loyal and protective manservant/henchman Marrick too.

The dialogue was so engaging. The characters are so witty and a little snappy and I loved it. The mystery and plot are a bit dark, but interesting. The focus is definitely on the mystery, but there is romance, lots of tension between the characters throughout the story and the intimate scenes were so hot.

I gotta say this, but almost to the very end, I was so convinced that Graham is behind everything. And I was totally wrong lmao.

Amazing read, I recommend it 100%.

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*General Notes*
-animosity to lovers, height/size difference, magician MC, earl LI...

*Intimacy Notes*
-Top/bottom/verse: strict; Lucien tops and Stephen bottoms.
-Kinks: soft D/s, (somewhat?) rough play...
-Other: //