When I started reading I was going to scream at Con noooo, how dare you and almost stopped reading but gave it a chance and glad that I did these two had so many misconceptions about each others and secrecies and just problems. When they married it was a horrible affair, Sabrina didn't want to marry Con which made him upset and they started the marriage on the wrong foot. They have been married for 2 years and he has only gone to her bed maybe twice a year. Sabrina suffers from severe anxiety and does not like being in crowds but she has decided that enough is enough and she is going to have a real marriage and have a child and take her place in society. Con wants to know what in the world happened to his wife, who is this woman, she is not the woman who he married the one, who never wanted him to touch her, the one who does not enjoy marital intimacy, which in turn makes him nervous and awkward...And that my friends begins there story. can't wait for Cassandra's

I just finished Impassioned by Darcy Burke. This is another great book by Ms. Burke. I really enjoyed it and am very much looking forward to the next installment. Well done.

Sabrina is married to Constantine Westbrook, the Earl of Aldington. He is the future Duke of Evesham. They have been married almost two years and hardly see each other. Sabrina has decided she wants a child and has come to London to make it happen. Sabrina has always been shy and timid. She wants to break out of her shell and claim her position as Countess of Aldington. Constantine is surprised she is not the shy malleable woman he married. He is shocked she demands she wants a child. This was a fun and enjoyable courtship for the two of them. When they first met they never had a chance to get to know each other. Their marriage was arranged by their parents and they were told they must marry. Constantine and Sabrina have great chemistry. They are both very inexperienced in courtship and love. They learn they can be very passionate together. Constantine has always done what was expected of him as the future Duke. He has always done what his father wanted. He is slowly learning that he must do what he feels is right. He learns he doesn’t have to be the boring future Duke.
Both Constantine and Sabrina break their shells to become the couple they were meant to be. This was an entertaining story of a couple who fit so well together but they never realized. They are lucky they have a second chance. During their courtship they realize they can have a real marriage. This is the second book in the Phoenix Club series. There are many wonderful characters we have met in the first book and I’m sure we will see in future books of this series. I look forward to reading the next book in this series. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

This story is both poignant and farcical.
In nearly two years of marriage, Sabrina Westbrook has barely spoken to her husband and shared a bed even less. As it is, the Earl of Aldington attends to his seat in the House of Commons, while she and her crippling social anxiety tend to his country house and gardens.
Their arrangement is quite civilized, and their letters are painfully polite. Their twice-yearly visits are…awkward.
This is a pretty good storyline that makes you want to both laugh and cry.
Darcy Burke has written a bit of romance into this tale.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and netgalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

Yes, another story in the Phoenix Club series. And in the first chapter of Impassioned, we have the Lord Overton starring with his ward (yes, from Improper). They en­counter Constantine Westbrook, Lord of Aldington at the Phoenix Club. Con wasn't supposed to meet anyone at his visit to the Phoenix Club, so he hurries home. Only to find his wife, Sabrina unannounced at their London house. During their first two years of marriage, Con and Sabrina have lived apart for most of the time. But now, Sabrina has found the courage to come to busy London and ask her husband for one thing: to have a baby. To help her accomplish the mission, she turns to Lucien: Con's younger brother and owner of the Phoenix Club. Together with his good friend Evie, Lucien comes up with a bright idea to convince Con to give his marriage an actual chance. So he reluctantly turns to his brother Can Lucien help him to woo his own wife?
Endearing, funny and cute. I loved it! Five out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc. And a special request to Darcy: can Lucien have his own story too, please?! He is wonderful and deserves his own happy ending. maybe with Evie? Pretty please

This was so great! A slow burn between two people who are already married and need to learn how to relax and love each other. Both characters take a journey and it’s believable to watch them unravel and rebuild. Definitely enjoyed.

Thank you NetGalley and Zealous Quill Press for this arc.
While I found the story to be interesting enough to finish, I was underwhelmed with the superficial main characters. I was "told" of his work in Parliament and some background details were provided, I was "told" of her love of gardens / gardening without details. But otherwise, the main characters basically came across as sex-obsessed teen-agers who were just now learning to "use their words".
Overall, not a bad story, but one I just couldn't really get engaged with.

A wonderfully steamy read about a couple belatedly finding their way to each other after an arrange society marriage! Darcy Burke is a great writer—this book felt like one big hug. I'll definitely read the rest of the series.

That being said, there's a good deal of suspending disbelief about choices the characters make and overnight growth in their confidence and empathy. If you're not a fan of infidelity and intentional deception plot lines, maybe skip this one.

I am a big fan of Romance books and I found this one to be a very enjoyable read. I will be looking for more books from this author.

Although I found some of the interactions between Constantine and Cassandra absolutely infuriating because their compatibility problems would have been fixed with one good conversation at the beginning of the book, I get why their communication issue was extended. This was my only real complaint with the book. Cassandra although painfully anxious was looking to push herself outside her box. I also liked the fact that the hero Constantine was also learning something about himself, so the only character growing wasn't just Cassandra. Overall, a very sweet little romance and had just enough spice to make it interesting.

This is such a sweetly sensual and delightfully charming marriage in trouble love story. Darcy Burke's writing is engaging, well paced and accessible. She easily draws the reader into her story with her lively tone. I enjoyed getting to know the hero and heroine as they also got to better know themselves and each other. I found this to be a wonderful story of two people learning to communicate, learning to trust and learning to understand and grow.

Sabrina and Constantine have been married for the past two years but it has been one of estrangement. The novel starts off with Sabrina returning to London and demanding that Constantine take care of his husbandly rights to get her with child. As situations unfold, these two embark on a bit of a slow burn romance as they begin to discover each other in a new light. This novel deals with some heavier issues with a light an caring hand around Sabrina's anxiety and the manipulative nature of her mother, as well as Constantine's fear of loving someone with the chance he might lose them and his ridged nature around always following his father's mandates.

I think Darcy Burke did a lovely job of placing her characters in situations and surrounding them with helpful people in order to give them the confidence to grow into the people they wanted to be, and discovering what they wanted from their spouse. I really enjoyed watching these two learn that they need to communicate, that they should ask for what they need, and that when they work as a team they can overcome obstacles. I loved that Constantine finds that he wants to take things slow and woo his wife, that he wants to be desired for himself, and that in order to do this he must also show Sabrina that he desires her. This slow build up was a beautiful way to lay down a strong foundation for their love to begin to blossom upon.

I would highly recommend this novel, as well as the first in this series. This is a great marriage in trouble romance, that started with an arrange marriage and turned into something more. I am looking forward to the next book in this series, Burke does a wonderful job of teasing couples that are coming up!

This is a voluntary review of an advanced copy.

I could not wait to hear what was going to happen when it came to Constantine and Sabrina when we got a little encounter with Constantine in the previous book. This book, picks up at that particular event and then proceeds with this new couple.

Wow, all I can say is what a mess of a relationship and so much miscommunication and misunderstanding. Good thing that Lucian and Evie are there to help these two along and give them some advice so they don't go down in flames!

Loved the blindfold part! That was a good idea and helped them both along. Don't want to give away too much as it was a fun read and had a few chuckles as these two stumbled along to their HEA.

Now, I can't wait for the next book and what is going on with Cassandra and Wexford!

A sweet book and an easy read. I have enjoyed the plot that is quite unique (with a married couple finding passion after 2 years) and completed it in one sitting.

Thanks NetGalley for a free copy.

I truly enjoyed this story by Darcy Burke. It is an easy, fast read with love, laughter, determination and interesting characters. Readers definitely don't want to miss another great story by Darcy Burke.

I absolutely fell for this arranged married couple trying to figure out how to make their marriage work after 2 years of practically living separate lives.

Sabrina has huge social anxiety issues and is intimidated by her husband’s indifferent attitude. Constantine was excited to wed the beautiful Sabrina until he finds out before the wedding that she doesn’t want him… two year of polite indifference and spartan strained interactions culminate in Sabrina coming to town and demanding her marital right s- she wants a child to Alleviate the loneliness in her life.

Now these to both need the help of the Phoenix club to figure out how we can come together to make this baby happen… And maybe a real marriage!

This was a great marriage in trouble representation. I also really appreciated the sensitivity given to Sabrina’s anxiety.

Impassioned by Darcy Burke was release August 24th, 2021.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#Impassioned #DarcyBurke #Netgalley #pinkcowlandreads

Welcome back to the Phoenix Club, one of London’s most exclusive invite-only clubs. After two years in an arranged marriage, Sabrina Westbrook is ready for a change and her brother-in-law, co-founder of the Phoenix Club, is just the person to help. Marriage life is not going as Sabrina always fantasized it would be, her crippling anxiety keeps her from social events, her husband only visits the country estate twice a year, and she is just plain lonely. Constantine Westbrook is overwhelmed with fulfilling his duty to his country and his family. Constantine pushes himself in his work to compensate for his failings in his marriage. When a woman shows up unannounced to his London home who looks like his wife but acts nothing like the shy woman he thought he knew, there might be hope for their marriage and future family after all.

I haven’t read many historical romances, but I really enjoyed reading this one. The main characters have already been married for a year, but don’t worry about feeling like you are jumping into the middle of their relationship, because they don’t really have one yet. You get to experience this couple finding themselves for the very first time. I sympathized with Sabrina and her social anxiety, and appreciate how Burke shows that her anxiety just didn’t disappear one day, but that she still has to fight through it for the entire story. I did feel second-hand awkwardness reading the first sex scene between Sabrina and Constantine, but don’t worry as there is a lot more scenes after that first one that are more passionate between the two. Definitely know that this book is not for people who want a clean romance with fade-to-black sex scenes. Some of the plot points are not realistic, but it is a fictional story that can have some fun with situations. For those looking for a fun historical romance, pick up not only this one, but the rest of the series as well.

Special thanks to Zealous Quill Press for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 swoon-worthy stars

It’s been a while since I read a Darcy Burke romance but it was nice to come back to her regency romance world. I enjoy her writing and the era comes alive through her descriptions and the words/phrases from this period. It feels authentic, although I can’t really comment so much on the accuracy of it, just that it feels realistic to me.

This one had a bit of a rough start and our H/H took a while to understand the real problem between them and their arranged marriage (hint: it wasn’t sex). This does lean heavily on the miscommunication trope, plus there’s also a fair bit of deception that lasts until the conflict at the end, so if these are two things you don’t like in romance, this book might not be for you. While I normally also don’t like these tropes, and they did frustrate me when I was reading, I liked both characters enough to want to continue and see them get their HEA.

Sabrina and Constantine each have their own issues to overcome that stem from their upbringing and troubled family relationships. Sabrina suffers from extreme social anxiety and that isn’t helped by her horrible parents who belittle and demean her and treat her anxiety as a joke, which causes her to retreat into herself and become a ‘wallflower‘. Constantine has been raised to be the perfectly rational, unfeeling and coldhearted Duke by his father who is more of a domineering dictator rather than a parent, and who expects his favourite son to be just like him. These personal issues have led to misunderstandings and constant miscommunication between our H/H, but both want desperately to change that and as they break down the walls in their marriage, they also learn to stand up for what they want. I enjoyed seeing them break out of their shells, find their voices and finally stand up to their bullies, though I wish we did get more details specifically about how Sabrina overcame her anxiety. It felt overly simplistic as if she decided to get over it and that was that; however, it wasn’t a “magic cure” whereby the end she didn’t feel anxiety at all because she continued to suffer from her nerves, she just got better at managing it.

There’s also a delicious tension that builds up between these two. What starts out as Sabrina boldly demanding her marital rights to get with a child, turns into a tentative and swoon-worthy courting between husband and wife, and it’s not only very sweet but also delightfully steamy—the sexual tension developed so nicely and it’s well worth the slow(ish) burn when they finally give in to their desires and get together! That said, I wish it didn’t take them so long to realise that lies and miscommunication were what made their relationship so awful in the first place and that the deception they participated in to get to their marriage on more stable ground didn’t aid in that. But you can say the journey to get there was definitely sexy and fun! 😉

Overall, despite the use of tropes I’m not very fond of, I liked our H/H and I’m glad I read this book! I’m definitely excited for the next book in the Phoenix Club series, but I’ll also go back and read the first one, too.

I don't normally read a whole lot of regency romance, but I really enjoyed this! The characters were well-rounded and the love story was beautiful. It made me excited for the next in the series!

Darcy Burke's Phoenix Club series characters are so shakeable. You know the kind, the ones where you just want to reach into the book and give them a good shake. I thought Tobias and Fiona in Improper needed one, but Sabrina and Constantine are worse. Constantine, the heir to a dukedom has a big stick up his backside. It is not entirely his fault, his father has raised him to be just like him, a cold fish. Sabrina through the two years of their marriage seems to be anxious over almost everything, especially their marriage. However, that all changes when she comes to London to demand her right to yave a child. Through the rest of the book we see these two slowly unraveling their layers until we get to see the real people underneath. So glad they got rid of the "shakes" by the end of the book with a little help from friends.

Sabrina is a very meek and unassuming young woman. Afraid of everything. Until she decides she's not. She returns to London to live the life she wants. She just has to convince her husband to let loose and live along with her. They have some ups and downs throughout the book. You just don't know what's going to happen next. Such a great book! Read it!!