My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Rogue Files #6
Publication Date: 4/28/20
Number of Pages: 368

** Maybe 3.5 Stars **

My thoughts about this book were all over the place – from total disbelief to wondering what was going to happen next. I have read three of the six books in this series and each of the books can easily be read as a standalone. While the female lead in this story is the sister of the female lead in the previous story – the male lead is also related to the previous male lead – you don’t need to have read that story to enjoy this one.

Charlotte Langley is the middle sister, the dull one, the boring one, the uninteresting one, the one who just wants an uneventful, unexciting life. She wants to marry the man she has been friends with since they were children – he is steady, honorable, and … dull. She has convinced herself she is in love with him, but she’s never even kissed him, nor has she had any desire to do so. It never even occurred to her until – THE EVENT.

Samuel Kingston is the natural son of The Earl of Norfolk and a famed courtesan. His life has been a hedonistic one – much like his father’s – until he learns his mother is ill and he visits her. What he sees and learns of her illness turns his stomach and he immediately loses interest in his former lifestyle. He’s searching for something, but he doesn’t know exactly what it is. He’s been wandering from place to place for a while now and he finally decides to visit his step-brother. Now, his step-brother has no use for him – nor he for his step-brother – but he’ll stay there for a few days until he decides where to go from there. Except – when he arrives – he finds there is a new wife and her sisters who live there with Nicholas. Kingston is totally unimpressed with the lot of them – especially the middle one who seems like a milksop – and decides to leave the following day.

Nora, Charlotte’s younger sister, is an herbalist (she identifies herself as a scientist), and she mixes up a tonic to alleviate Charlotte’s menstrual cramps. However, she adds in a few new ingredients to see if they will be more effective. Well, it was certainly effective – as an aphrodisiac. Charlotte thought she was dying and headed out of her room in the middle of the night to go to Nora’s room for help. Except she encountered Kingston in the hallway and attacked him – seeking her pleasure on him. Luckily, he was gentleman enough to let her achieve her pleasure without him doing more.

I liked both Charlotte and Kingston, but I would have liked to get to know them a bit better. I failed to see how they could come to a deep and abiding love for each other when they spent almost no time in each other’s company and the time they did spend was of a more carnal nature.

I had to wonder how the Langley family home came to be in the possession and control of Marian who was then giving it to Charlotte. Yes, it meant the most to Charlotte, but – there was a brother. Given the times, why was the family home not under the control of the brother? Yes, he was younger, but still as the only male, and females unable to own property, I have to wonder how that came to be.

There are a few anachronisms in the ARC, but I will assume they will be corrected prior to publication. While the story itself felt a bit more modern in its concept, it had very little modern terminology or ways of speaking, etc.  There were no dates included, so the period was a bit ambiguous.  I’m assuming it was Regency.

Overall, I enjoyed the read and the characters. I would have liked to see at least one scene between Nicholas and Kingston where they come to realize that neither is actually who the other thought he was and maybe form a friendship of sorts. That could have just been mentioned in the epilogue and it would have made for a happier ending because Kingston really needed a friend.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.