My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Title: Deal Breaker (Aristocrats of London, #2)
Author: Susie Tate
Format: eBook (NetGalley)
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 11/3/26
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Categories: Sports Romance, Contemporary, Series
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
From the USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author comes an enemies-to-lovers, brother’s best friend, age-gap, grumpy/sunshine contemporary romance featuring family secrets, red carpet drama, and a hero who will move heaven and earth to protect his girl.
Everyone loves Poppy. She’s pure sunshine with an infectious snort-laugh, and nobody is immune to her outrageous flirting. Nobody, that is, except her much older brother’s best friend, former Scottish rugby star and grumpy fun-sponge, Rory Wallace.
The last thing Rory wants is a woman who represents everything he cameras, chaos and constant attention. The irony is that although Lady Poppy Sterling flirts with the world, the man she’s had a crush on since childhood can’t stand her. At least that’s what he tells himself…
It’s only when Rory’s betrayal leaves Poppy vulnerable to both paparazzi and predators that he realizes too late what he stands to lose. Her celebrity lifestyle might be his dealbreaker, but his failure to protect her? That’s hers.
Content Warning: harassment, paparazzi
+ I thought this started off well – I love the FMC Poppy who is extroverted, bubbly, the life of the party and a light in many people’s lives. She is awesome. Now the guy in love with her, Rory is a former rugby player who won a championship – he’s a wanker – literally. He is possessive, insecure, grumpy and just mean sometimes. Poppy is helping Rory and his friends do a fundraiser to raise money for a friend of his who has a terminal disease, so this forces them to spend time together after time apart.
+ I love Poppy and I hated seeing people judge her because of her outgoing personality. They think she’s stupid, when she’s not. I’m glad she stands up to Rory at least, even if she doesn’t stand up to her parents and brother. I enjoyed a lot of the side characters. And even though this is a series and I never read book one, which I assume is Rafe and Clara’s story, I didn’t feel totally lost.
~ I tried to like Rory but I don’t think he went through enough pain and groveling to deserve Poppy. He’s mean to her, scolds her, demeans her (to her face!) and then is apologetic for being an ass to her. And this is a cycle, it’s not a one time thing – he lets her down countless times. He’s lucky that Poppy is in love with him, because I did not love him. I felt like he was emotionally abusing Poppy, with his back and forth. I just kept thinking what is wrong with him? Is it the age gap that he think he can treat her like that? He acts pretty immature for an older guy. Did he redeem himself at the end? Not enough in my eyes. I did like the bonus chapter though, which finally shows his softer side. I think this is the first time I really disliked an MMC this much though, which is too bad.
~ Also, the conflict between Rory and Poppy was rooted in an event that he misremembered, and yet he held a grudge against her for 5 years because of it, ghosted her…so it’s basically a miscommunication trope that I did not like. Add that to the list of why I didn’t like Rory for Poppy.
Final Thoughts:
I read this pretty quick and it would have been a 4 star rating if I liked the MMC. But I couldn’t stand his back and forth, being mean to Poppy then telling her he loves her, just to disappoint her again and again. He was so clueless, he was annoying me. And I guess it’s realistic that some men are that way, but I didn’t want him for Poppy, because she’s right, she deserves someone who loves everything about her. Does he try to make amends? Sure, but he lost me after his one too many mean remarks about her. So outside of the MMC, I loved Poppy and the secondary characters and the heartfelt story about Connor raising money to help cure the disease he had. So overall, I enjoyed the story, just not the MMC.
Read if you like:
- sports romance
Book Links:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
