His Empress (Empire of Royals #3) by Emilia Rossi

⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆
📖 Story: 3/5
❤️‍🔥 Characters: 4/5
🌶️ Spice Level: 3.7/5
🔁 Re-read?: maybe
⏭️ Next book?: yes

Not a bad book, but certainly not as good as her other books. To be fair, I don't really like the tropes and sub-tropes in this book.

• Accidental Pregnancy
• Lead to Forced/Arranged Marriage
• MMC is experienced (though approx. 2 decade celibacy), FMC is a virgin

I particularly don't like the experience vs lack thereof trope, but I can still handle the pregnancy. However, I didn't like the way the pregnancy trope was written. It's hard to explain, but it sort of focused on the pregnancy, without doing so. I would say Rossi focused on the literal baby part of the pregnancy, but not on the effects of pregnancy on the FMC, Sienna. Also, having read her other books, and re-read His Tesoro especially, and being familiar with the characters, I do not agree with Sienna having to go through this trope. Honestly, her personality was diminished in this book, and she was victimized unnecessarily. However, Rossi's 3 books all victimize the woman, so I guess it's her cup of tea.

Another issue I have is with the MMC. Dimi was an asshole. Asshole. Red flag. Idiot. Podonok (courtesy of google translate for Russian for fucker). And again, considering her personality, she wouldn't have taken that shit. She barely put up a fight, and almost rolled over, but not completely.

Two other negative things, before I get to the positives.

• Typos in my version of the book (ePUB) and in the bonus scenes
• Overall, this wasn't as good as the other 2 books.

Okay! Good stuff coming right up!!

I THINK I SAW A HEATED RIVALRY REFERENCE!!!

Semi- spoiler/quote/thingy:

“And our inaugural film is actually a TV show.”

“Wait, you don’t mean⁠—”

Sergey wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Yes, that gay Russian hockey one you’ve already watched a million times but for some inexplicable reason want to watch with us.”

Ok, it's done :))

Another thing, for fans of Neva Altaj, I see hints of Altaj's storyline in her books. Almost like Rossi took reference from Altaj, but no plagarism.

In all, this wasn't a bad book. I'd definitely give it a re-read, especially since the sex was goooood - what can i say, i like a man in control :P

Characters and story lines were good, I liked the plot, just not the tropes. Would still recommend, since the lower stars are influenced by my personal taste, obvi.