I had a hard time putting my finger on why The Countess Conspiracy didn't work for me- I mean, friends-to-lovers isn't a favourite trope of mine, but it's also not one I'm opposed to- but I think in the end, I just wasn't all that into either Violet or Sebastian as characters or as a couple (I'd been hoping while reading The Heiress Effect that Violet would turn out to be Genevieve's future love interest, but alas it was not to be) and there was also kind of a TOO MUCH BACKSTORY thing going on. Milan had to establish that Violet and Sebastian were longstanding BFFs, and that Violet was a secret scientist, and that Violet's sister was an asshole, and that Violet's father had imposed ridiculous expectations on his kids and then killed himself and that Amanda was trying to make a run for it . . . it was just too much.

I did enjoy Amanda and Genevieve for what they were, but they kind of had the opposite problem; at some point between books three and four, Amanda 1. came to terms with her sexuality (in VICTORIAN ENGLAND) and 2. developed a hardcore crush on Genevieve, but we didn't see any of it! I mean my general policy on queer characters is "the less angst, the better" but it actually fell a bit flat as a result, because we never really saw why they liked each other beyond a sort of "pair the spares" ending.