Mademoiselle Noir

It had a good start—beautiful background for a first meeting that felt painfully sentimental. You could sense the love and longing in the space, in every corner of the house, and within both leads.

But as it progressed, that sentimentality started to feel unearned. The past was revealed to be more hot and fast rather than soft and lingering.

For a Queer historical romance, I found the buildup and danger to both be lacking. I craved real, profound yearning and stakes.

You already know what I'm going to recommend instead: I Feel You Linger in The Air and The Loyal Pin. Both tragic and painful, but centered around a hard-won love with moments of private joy throughout. Even "To Sir, with Love," beautifully ridiculous as it could get, made me believe in the couple gradually finding themselves impossibly in love with each other.

Or, if they REALLY wanted to be hot and fast, they could have taken a hard turn toward comedy and made it as non-serious and high-energy as "I'm the Most Beautiful Count."

But they didn't do that. I guess they wanted to have their cake and eat it, too?

I don't know.

All I know is that I'm disappointed.