It's In His Kiss - Julia Quinn

Initial draw: ✰✰✰✰
Character development: ✰✰✰
Plot/Writing style: ✰✰✰✰
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Meet our hero. Gareth St. Clair is in a bind. His father, who detests him, is determined to beggar the St. Clair estates and ruin his inheritance. Gareth's sole bequest is an old family diary, which may or may not contain the secrets of his past...and the key to his future. The problem is - it's written in Italian, of which Gareth speaks not a word.

Meet our heroine. All the ton agreed: there was no one quite like Hyacinth Bridgerton. She's fiendishly smart, devilishly outspoken, and according to Gareth, probably best in small doses. But there's something about her - something charming and vexing - that grabs him and won't quite let go...

Meet poor Mr. Mozart. Or don't. But rest assured, he's spinning in his grave when Gareth and Hyacinth cross paths at the annual - and annually discordant - Smythe-Smith musicale. To Hyacinth, Gareth's every word seems a dare, and she offers to translate his diary, even though her Italian is slightly less than perfect. But as they delve into the mysterious text, they discover that the answers they seek lie not in the diary, but in each other...and that there is nothing as simple - or as complicated - as a single, perfect kiss."

I've been arranging and rearranging my ranking of these books in my mind as I've read them and subsequently reviewed them, and I really think this one has landed solidly in second place. Aside from Anthony and Kate, the development of the romance feels the most natural, and overall I just liked Hyacinth and Gareth as characters. (Although Gareth, horrible name for this character. Hate that decision for him.) Hyacinth is so snarky and outspoken, and I am here for every moment. Also, her friendship with Lady Danbury meant there was significantly more Lady D in this book than in others, and can I get a hell yeah? God, I love Lady Danbury. I aspire to be like her.

I also greatly enjoyed that a fairly big part of this story revolved around hidden diamond hijinks, which...what?! It was somewhat silly but in a super enjoyable way, and I was very on board. Although I am unendingly curious where Hyacinth found herself a pair of pants, specifically pants that fit her so well that Gareth was drooling all over seeing her in them. You know her brothers don't have pants that would be hugging her curves...Hyacinth, tell me your secrets. 

Once again though, we must confront the thing that I did not like. The SAME THING, as a matter of fact. What is with the men in these novels scheming to trap women into marriage via seduction? Boo, Gareth, boo. We fuck because we want to, because we're both into it and it's great fun! We don't fuck to force someone to marry us! That's not cool, bud. Hate to see it.

In conclusion: be cool, guys, stop weaponizing sex. More Lady Danbury, please. Hyacinth is a badass.