So I went from hating the heroine Sarah to liking her once she put her dramatic sighs and high handed judgmental attitude away. Her and Hugh were really sweet together once they realized they were crazy for each other...but that lasted like a minute. Everything just fell apart right after when the silly melodrama with Hugh's father got in the way (tying your grown ass son to a bed? Really?). I thought Hugh's backstory was interesting and heartbreaking but I think Quinn went to extremes to make his villainous father unhinged and disgusting. I'm not a prude by any means when it comes to reading tastes but I need good motivation behind why a character does what he does, what drives him. Some of the things Hugh's father did were a little all over the place that it left me feeling...confused? I don't know, or maybe it was the fact that some of his uh vices... weren't explained clear enough. The hero would explain *just enough* to leave readers to put 2 and 2 together but it did not add up to 4 in my head. His father likes rough sex, he man-handled and possibly beat his wife in bed, he's a horndog but the things he did to Hugh's older brother Freddie when they were younger just left me going huh? cause it made no sense. (view spoiler)[Freddie is gay so their father would hire prostitutes and lock them in a room together and I guess force him to have sex with the prostitute and he would stay in the room to watch and cane Freddie as punishment? pleasure? juries still out. (hide spoiler)] Their father clearly hates both his sons yet he went to such above and beyond extremes to try and get them to get married and have an heir to carry the family name. His hellbent fury and revenge against Daniel for ruining Hugh's life was a little extreme and convoluted to me given how little he thought of his own family and again, how he treated his own off-springs. Did Julia forget this? I don't know, something just wasn't clicking for me with this whole conflict. And doing this all for the family title didn't jive with me. The villain's motivations for giving Hugh and his loved ones such grief was contrived and all over the place. And don't get me started on the ludicrous deal Hugh makes with his father to leave Daniel alone. Are you kidding me?? And Sarah's reaction to it was so dramatic and OTT. He made this deal way before he even met her, so I didn't understand her I want to die! betrayed reaction. Everyone acted like it was a done deal and Daniel's offended angry reaction to finding Sarah with Hugh didn't make sense and was just unnecessary. 
 The love story, whatever there was, was nice but it fell short for me, not enough alone time for these two. I loved the ending but I wanted more. Too much time was spent on back and forth repetitive flashbacks of how the h/hr met (from BOTH POVs), Sarah and Hugh hissing at each other, her sisters and cousins getting in the way and the stupid vendetta with his father. And the author's habit of rambling inner monologues got tedious fast. The number of things our heroine feels necessary to point out, and 
 emphasize 
 and break down further (with parenthesis) was so pointless and annoying. What's with all the parenthesis usage? It's nearly on every page and adds nothing to the dialogue. It only makes things more long winded. Is this a new thing with JQ? I can't stand it. Her characters seem to love to go off on tangents while talking with others and speaking internally as well. It just doesn't work and got annoying fast. 
 Bottom line: 
 I really feel JQ's only successful work is the Bridgerton series. *ducks head* Everything outside of that I have struggled to enjoy and have been complete misses for me. Even her backlist works haven't worked for me (with the exception of Minx) the OTT silly dramatic characters with never ending conversations where everyone interrupts each other is not my idea of witty. I thought it was just a writing quirk of hers she phased out...I guess not. It was definitely more pronounced here with Sarah's squabbling nosy younger sisters. Forgive me but I did not find the endless arguing, shrieking and bantering cute but rather annoying. And Sarah's behavior in the beginning of this is like nails on a chalkboard and unforgivable. Nobody can be that dramatically whiny & judgmental and call themselves "sensible" and "easy to relate to". Seriously? lol That's a special kind of self-absorbed. SMH. I honestly feel this whole Smythe-Smith spin off series is rather pointless & entirely tone-deaf (in more ways than one) since it focuses on a family of girls who can't play their instruments but nobody has the heart to tell them they suck. I mean.....really?? How is this cute? Or funny? The overall humor falls so flat. I honestly don't get the appeal or purpose behind this other than "they know the Bridgertons" and milking that angle for all it's worth. It's like that one annoying relative or acquaintance who shows up everywhere and never goes away. Half the time I kept rooting for Sarah or Iris to yank that damn violin out of Daisy's hand and throw it out the window and tell her to just SHADDUP! Humoring senseless annoying characters is not my idea of witty at all. Iris did intrigue me a little, her blunt honesty and lack of drama for one lol but I honestly don't know if I have enough interest or patience to sit through another Smythe-Smith rambling monologue. And given the overwhelming reaction to Book 4, I think I'll pass.