Blind Date with a Book 2026: 'Beautiful Things' by Emily Rath

 

Since I've always preferred to read by recommendation, I decided to try a 'Blind Date with a Book' on WhatNot at the beginning of the month. There was no way I could possibly have known that this would open up the flood gates in my reading life. At this point, I've ordered dozens of blind date books and I'm slowly working my way through them. (I say "slowly" but this means that I'm reading about 2-4 books every week). 

My very first blind date book was from seller tiffanyrey03274 and the book revealed was Emily Rath's 'Beautiful Things'--the first in a trilogy called 'Second Sons'. I am currently reading the second book and I've purchased the third, so once I've completed them, they'll be available for sale on one of the selling platforms that I use. 

I'm a sucker for historical romance, especially the Regency period (though I've yet to read the Bridgerton series books). I started my literary journey with Jane Austen, after all. Emily Rath's books, however, bump historical romance up to a whole new level. 

I'm not going to say it's comfortable for me to read some of the sexual content in these books, but I'm plowing through the trilogy at this point because I've already committed. I do feel that the author does a good job with placing the reading in the historical setting, however, and everything about the customs, food, clothing, etc. feels right and I'm not left questioning how much knowledge the author actually has about the time period. Considering there are multiple characters that are focused on in this book, I felt that the author developed each one just enough to keep me invested in the story. 

The flow and pacing of the story is good, and considering how thick these books are, that is paramount. I finished this particular book in 2-3 days of leisurely reading and was left wanting to continue the series, so that's always a good sign. I'm not particularly fond of trilogies, but I was willing to invest the time with this particular one. 

I bought the sprayed edge version of the Second Sons books, so that always lends something to the reading experience as well. 

My personal Goodreads rating on this book is 4*.

I also purchased Emily Rath's 2024 release 'North is the Night' (part 1 of a duet), but have yet to begin reading it. 

WhatNot seller tiffanyrey03274 does an amazing job with her Blind Date books and she makes her own resin book holders and other items that come with each one.