Rating: 4.5🌈
The Barony Bet, the second book in Kai Butler’s Imperial Space Regency series, actually takes its characters from their respective homes and current lives out into space and onto another planet where they face adversity, such as it is, in a number of aspects. Obstacles to overcome that challenge them include facing their own feelings about each other and their future together, to the mission they’ve been assigned to accomplish in a short time period.
Butler has really created a winning tale in The Barony Bet. The characters are childhood friends but so different in personality and status that their dynamic is instantly intriguing. And each man is so subtly crafted that you don’t recognize how deeply rounded each is until they reveal more of themselves through their actions and conversations as the story develops.
Butlers’ remarkable ability to create believable characters and complex situations outside of a contemporary world, pulling the reader into their relationship and universe is extraordinary.
Deva is so compelling a character. I really wanted more of this book to see how the dynamics between his father and the new couple played out afterwards. It’s so quietly laid out for the reader exactly how important and responsible Deva is even if he and his family (father) aren’t acknowledging it. Deva grows in depth and maturity as a person throughout the book and it’s an amazing journey.
Step by step, shoulder to shoulder, is Asta, the childhood friend who has always loved him. And supported him. The change in their relationship and romantic understanding is another beautiful element and feels exactly right.
This is wrapped around a plot that involves a mission from Deva’s father that Deva must complete in a short time period. Butler’s narrative shows Deva,with Asta’s help, using ingenuity, his respect for others , and determination to solve the difficult mission and finally succeed.
We get a terrific cast of characters in every storyline, many of which we’d love to follow along on their adventures, and a couple we’re absolutely invested in.
The ending gets a little unfocused as a new character wanders into the story, preparing us for his book. I’d prefer he’d have been folded in another way and left the entire ending to Deva and Asta who certainly earned it.
I’m loving the series and this is by far my favorite. Check them out if you’re a fan of the author and the trope. A definite winner.
It’s a definite yes as a recommendation!
Imperial Space Regency series:
✓ The Earl and the Executive #1
✓ The Barony Bet #2
â—¦ The Inconvenient Count #3
Buy link
The Barony Bet: An Imperial Space Regency Novel
Blurb
A wager he can’t lose…
Lord Deva lives a charmed life. As the son and heir of one of the Empire’s wealthiest lords, Deva’s biggest problem is protecting his younger siblings from their father’s wrath. But when Deva’s actions place him on the verge of disinheritance, his only hope is an insurmountable task.
Dragging his best friend, Asta, into the fray, Deva agrees to revitalize his father’s newest acquisition – a barony on the verge of ruin. Little does he know that undertaking this task will put more than his inheritance on the line, but his heart as well.
A gamble he can’t win…
Asta is about to depart on a two year deep space trading expedition with one purpose: to fall out of love with his closest friend. Deva has no knowledge of the depths of Asta’s feelings and Asta hopes the distance will allow him to move on from the desire for more than friendship.
Agreeing to one last adventure to help Deva win his impossible task, Asta finds himself thrown into the role of protector and fake fiancé of his best friend. With an estate in ruin at the hands of a corrupt mistress, Asta and Deva must become even closer to win their bet and place their friendship at risk in the process.
The Barony Bet is a 90,000 word mm regency romance set in space. It is a fake relationship, friends to lovers romance with a HEA.
• Publication date: October 5, 2020
• Language: English
• Print length: 326 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 