The duchess stooped and gave her a hug. She smelled so good, like wildflowers and silk. It sounds as if Colin deserved it, she whispered. Bittersweet. Bittersweet. Bittersweet. That one word that encapsulates the feeling of pleasure and pain together -- that perfectly encapsulates Grace's emotions the moment when her hopes and dreams all fall apart.

It was chaos. It was glorious. The ducal progeny dreamed of it all year long. They talked longingly of days when they were in and out of the lake all day, when the air was lazy and sweet with the smell of new-­mown hay, and when the children often didn’t bathe at all.

Meeting a beautiful stranger with a love of fantasy would be the ideal scenario for most people. A meet-cute. Something that only happened in books and movies. But Lorelai was not most people and Grayson would run a mile if he knew her secret. — (Lorelai, p.32)

Lorelai appears to lead a quiet and routine life. She loves books and reading, works at the local cinema and lives with her best friend. However, she's been living with a overwhelming secret since her very first kiss - when she kisses someone she sees how they die. She's unsure whether what she sees what would unfold anyways or whether the actual kiss seals the recipient's fate. Thus she hasn't kissed anyone since she was sixteen.Lily was the loudest and the naughtiest Ryburn, which made it all the more unexpected when they were greeted by a charming young lady, who curtsied with a sprightliness that made her perfectly groomed curls bob around her shoulders, and generally behaved like the daughter of a duke. Even so, Fred regarded her with a healthy skepticism, and Colin felt a bit wary himself. There was something about Lily’s smile—­no matter how charming—­that suggested she was enjoying her own performance. I am so thrilled to be joining the blog tour for “With This Kiss” by HQ Stories. If every time you kissed someone, you knew how they will die, would you have the courage to try and find love? “With This Kiss” by Carrie Hope Fletcher explores this in a sweet romantic fashion. I wanted to like this one because the cover is super pretty and the premise of the story seemed like it would make for an excellent read… one kiss from the main character and she can tell you how you’ll die, talk about a death kiss. Unfortunately this one fell a bit flat for me. The characters were forgettable at best, I can’t even remember their names and I’m not fussed about looking them up, and not too long into the book we are thrown a token trans character, who’s literal point in the book was to be apologised to and then forgotten about without another mention in the story.