June 2021 – Flippin' Pages Book Reviews

An Inconvenient Arrangement by Callie Hutton
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Rose Room Rogues #3
Publication Date: 6/30/29
Period: Victorian London, May 1892

Once upon a time, there were three brothers who owned the best gaming establishment in London – maybe in all of England. Two brothers were legitimate and one was not, though he was raised right along with his two legitimate brothers. We’ve already been delighted with the stories of the two legitimate brothers – Hunt (A Scandalous Portrait) and Driscoll (A Lady’s Trust). Now, we have Dante (don’t you love the name) who is a rogue extraordinaire. He loves the ladies and they love him, so why should he ever wish to give that up and marry. He isn’t in line for a title and has no need to create an heir – let his legitimate brothers take care of that, he’ll just enjoy his life.

“Another reason to not get involved with a wife. They never stayed where you put them, never did what you told them, and when things didn’t go their way, they cried. Or threw things at your head.”

I loved this well-written and well-delivered story of two people who both vowed they’d never marry because they loved their lives just as they were. Seeing them fall in love for the first time (and forever) – all the while denying it – was a delight. That magical coming together of two hearts was truly sigh-worthy.

Aside from owning a gaming establishment, the Rose brothers also take on occasional assignments for the Home Office. When Dante is summoned to pay a visit to Sir Phillip DuBois-Gifford, their home office ‘handler’, he knew it was to be an assignment that would last quite some time. But that was ALL he knew. Imagine his total surprise when he arrived at the appointment and was introduced to his partner for the assignment – a frivolous, empty-headed, unmarried spinster, Lady Lydia Smythe, daughter of Viscount Sterling. Groooooan! Well, wasn’t that just what he needed. Just wait until both of them discover that reputations and appearances can definitely be deceiving.

“This woman had a spine of steel and for the first time in his life he was interested in a woman for reasons other than her body.”

Lydia is on the shelf, definitely by choice. She’s had dozens of proposals, but she has never met any who stirred her interest and since her widowed father doesn’t push her to marry, she’s very happy to leave things as they are. Her father leaves her free to make her own choices about social functions, friends, activities, etc., and at her advanced age, she doesn’t even require a chaperone. Yes, life is good for Lydia. Right? Lydia especially enjoys the occasional tasks she performs for the Home Office. Her main skill is language – she can speak and write seven including German which is the language needed for her current assignment. She’s happy enough with the assignment, but she’s not thrilled to be working with a rakish, gambling, womanizer like Dante Rose. Who, in their right mind, would believe that theirs is a real courtship as required by their assignment?

“See. There is always a solution to any problem.” Dante rested his hands on her shoulders. “Yes, but the solution to some problems tends to be worse than the problem itself.”

I absolutely loved watching these two come to realize the other has strengths they would never have imagined. I loved them learning to value – and to love – those strengths. Poor Dante fought it tooth and nail, but when Lydia was in danger and he realized he could lose her – well – that just brought it all home to him.

“She imagined a little boy with Dante’s features and his charming personality. He would have all the female staff wrapped around his little finger. Perhaps they would have a daughter with the same traits. She frowned. They would have to keep an eye on that one.”

I hope you’ll read and enjoy this book as much as I have. Now, I can hardly wait for the fourth, and final, book in the series – A Rose for Laura – which will feature a previously unidentified illegitimate brother. We’ve met the brother, but we didn’t KNOW he was a brother, so that is something to anticipate for September 30th.

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

View all my reviews

Outrageous by Minerva Spencer
Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Rebels of the Ton #2
Publication Date: 6/29/21
Period: Regency -1816 London and points north
Number of Pages:374

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I learned that the villain from the previous book, Notorious, is the hero in this book. Sometimes authors manage to redeem a character spectacularly – and sometimes they don’t, so I was anxious to see how this redemption would go. In the first one percent of the book, it seems our hero had a complete personality transplant and became filled with remorse over what he’d previously done. Actually, I like the way the author handled the redemption – he sort of ‘awoke’ and realized what he’d done and even what he was still planning to do. He definitely wasn’t redeemed at that point, but it was a great beginning and as we slowly learn the reasons for his actions, we also come to understand the pain that caused him to go off the deep end. I know page time is limited in a book, but I would have loved to see a short scene, maybe in the epilogue or perhaps the last chapter, where he approaches Dru and Gabriel to apologize and ask for their forgiveness.

Eva de Courtenay is one of those bright, energetic, fun-loving, dedicated people who just make you tired by being around her (think of the Energizer bunny). She’s drop-dead gorgeous – and would argue with a fence post. Headstrong, heedless, and reckless don’t even begin to describe her, but she is also strong, resilient, resourceful, brave, and totally loyal to those she loves. You are going to absolutely love her!

When Eva learns the villain is still after her step-brother and his new wife, she makes a plan to thwart him. She’ll just kidnap him and take him north somewhere and strand him so that her step-brother and his family will already be out of London by the time he makes it back to London. She seems to have forgotten that the man was a soldier for over a dozen years and is pretty resourceful himself. Of course, nothing in any of that scenario could go wrong – right?

Godrick Fleming, Earl of Visel, heir to the Duke of Tyndale, has had a horrendous time of it over the last few years. I won’t tell you all of it because that would spoil the book’s revelations for you. Just suffice it to say, if any of us had been through what he has, we’d probably go off the deep end as well. With good reason, he never plans to marry or have children, and yet, he’s been knocked out, kidnapped, and now he is on the Great North Road with a beautiful young woman who has him tied up and at her mercy. The young woman is totally oblivious to the fact that they must now marry or she will be totally ruined. Uh Oh.

This was a fun read – after I got past all of the age references. Those references were throughout the book and it often made me want to throw the book against the wall. Godrick is 17 years older than Eva and today we’d think of him as a cradle robber, but in that period, it wasn’t particularly uncommon. Also, it wasn’t like he had any real choice in the matter and since they needed to marry, was it supposed to be a chaste marriage? So – mention the age difference, deal with it, and then get on with the story.

I loved all of the wit and humor both of the main characters displayed. Their banter and ‘arguments’ were often priceless. I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced, well-written story filled with many, many mishaps along their trek toward Scotland. It seems as if anything that could happen, did happen. I also loved the supporting characters – especially Andrew and James who were both loyal employees and friends who enabled the adventures and helped resolve the issues.

The only reason I rated this book lower is because of the constant references to age. I got very tired of it because I often felt as if it were mentioned several times on each page. It definitely wasn’t that often, but it was so often that I started to groan each time it came up. It added nothing to the romance and didn’t move the story along, so there was no reason for the author to have fixated on it quite so much.

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

View all my reviews

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