We first met Sebastian and Violet in the first book of the Brothers Sinister series, The Duchess War, and I immediately was taken by them. Their interaction, even in the short time that we've seen them together in The Duchess, was gold and I wanted to see more of them. So after I finished the book, I went googling, and when I found out that Sebastian and Violet was the hero and heroine of the third book in the series, I was on it ASAP. And this picture is basically me after reading the blurb:
Sebastian Malheur is a charming rake who happens to be one of the most reviled scientists in England because...he presents work on the inheritance of traits in flowers, which is obscene and ungodly because it's part of evolution and because to talk about traits inheritance you have to sort-of explain how the traits are inherited in the first place that is through sexual intercourse (I find the whole uproar very ironic, because as we know the Father of Genetics, Gregor Mendel, is a friar who crosses and breeds peas in his spare time). But Sebastian has a secret; the ideas he's been presenting are not his; they are his best friend Violet Waterfield's. Violet's a woman, so of course she can't go on presenting her ideas to the public, so she uses Sebastian instead. But Sebastian's grown tired of the charade and of being thought disreputable (because of his apparent godlessness and impropriety) so he told Violet that the deal's off, that he didn't want to present her work any more. Oh, and he also told Violet that he's loved her all these years. Violet, convinced that she's utterly worthless and that her work was all that mattered to her as a person and that she'll never love again like a normal person (because her husband's a total douchecanoe), despaired over Sebastian's decision and confession. Both of them are troubled people, and both of them felt that they're essentially worthless and only with each other can their true self shine, so the meat of the book is for Violet and Sebastian to sort their feelings for each other (as you do) and realizes that they should have some self-confidence and be proud of what they've accomplished.
The Countess Conspiracy contains a great deal of my catnips: Women Doing Science! Noble Rakes! Defrosting Ice Queen! Sweet and Kind Hero Who Uses His Smile as a Defense! (I have very specific catnips, okay). So, yeah, my liking for it was maybe a bit biased, but every reader knows that even the most catnip-packed novel can turn awful in the hands of a bad writer, which is not the case here, as Courtney Milan is a damned good one. She can make you laugh with witty repartee and also quiver in your smallclothes from the sheer hotness of her sex scenes. Though I admit I found some of her use of language anachronistic, it's such a minor issue and would probably only bother you if you're that kind of historical romance novel purist. Her characters are layered like a good rainbow cake, with their own issues and charms. Violet is a tough puzzle to crack, but she's wildly different from the socially awkward!scientist trope that we all know and (sometimes) love but do get quite tired of. Sebastian can be too perfect to swallow, sometimes, but his self-confidence issues are nicely contrasted with the fact that he's an outgoing people-pleaser. And the smatterings of side characters are nicely done too, complex in their own way, even though we don't see them as much as the main characters.
I;ve read Ms, Milan's Unclaimed before and I like it very much, but from the two books that I've read, the Brothers Sinister series are more politically charged than the Turner Brothers series, which is fine by me, but may put off some people who prefer that their romance is clean of politics. In the first book we have a nearly-socialist Duke writing pamphlets to rouse factory workers and mentions the issue of worker's rights and poverty. Here, we have a woman barred from presenting her own work because of her gender and a man who is labeled as an apostate and gets vegetables thrown at him for having the audacity to talk about traits inheritance in flowers. Darwin and evolution is mentioned many times and it's clear that it's evoking the creationism v. evolution debate that, for some reason, we still have today. This is all very fine to me, but may put off others. I like that Ms. Milan's works are socially conscious, but her characters may espouse views that are decidedly "modern" to a certain kind of purists. Overall, if you like your heroine intelligent, your hero sweet, and your stories smart with just a pinch of social consciousness in it, then this book - and indeed any book written by Ms Milan - is just the book for you.
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