Month: October 2025

A Rogue In Rome by Linda Rae Sande

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Part of a Series, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

A Rogue in Rome (The Grand Tours of the Aristocracy Book 4)Barbara’s rating: 3.8 out of 5 Stars
Series: The Grand Tours of the Aristocracy #4
Publication Date: 10/24/25
Period: 1841 – Rome
Number of Pages: 329

With this author, we always get two wonderful romances and HEAs in each book. She also usually references something from a long-ago book – something that helped the hero win the heroine. In this book, it is shoes. If you read that earlier book, it will make you smile as you remember, and if you didn’t read it, you’ll think ‘how cute’ and move on. In this series, we follow a group of family members embarking on a Grand Tour – with Rome as their final destination. During the tour, all of the unattached males have found their HEAs – except David, Viscount Penton.

David has always behaved as a gentleman should. He’s respectful, thoughtful, kind, caring, protective, and amiable. Everybody loves David – well, almost everybody. He cannot believe the young lady he just tried to rescue thinks he is as bad a rake as the man from whom he attempted to rescue her. Humpf! Of course, he has to admire the fact that she had actually already rescued herself.

Lady Vittoria has been excessively sheltered by her overprotective father all of her life. She’s never really traveled nor mixed in society – but she has been raised to think all men are rakes, and she acts accordingly. So, when one rake tries to take advantage of her, she believes the one who comes behind him is a rake as well.

Our second romance is between American Patrick McAdams and Dona Armenia D’Avalos, who is Lady Vittoria’s great aunt. Patrick is a widower with an adult son, and has come to Rome to expand their textile business. Armenia has never married and is thankful for that. She thinks Patrick is a fortune-hunting lothario who is after Vittoria.

The sparks fly quickly between each couple, and it was a delight to see David and Patrick pursue and win Vittoria and Armenia.

This was a fun read filled with lovely characters and delightful romances. This author is well-traveled, and you’ll also pick up lots of the history of Rome – along with descriptions that will make you feel as if you are walking right along beside them.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Only Rakes Need Apply by Kate Pearce

On By TracyIn Check Content Warning/Triggers, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Only Rakes Need Apply (Rakes of London)Only Rakes Need Apply by Kate Pearce

Tracy’s Rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: Rakes of London

Release Date: October 28, 2025

After two long years, Carenza, the widowed Countess Smythe-Harding has finally finished mourning her late (and unlamented) husband and is ready to move on with her life. After enduring a miserable marriage with a man that cheated on her and left her penniless, she has no desire to remarry but does miss the benefits of the marriage bed. After jokingly saying she should place an ad for a lover, her best friend Olivia Sheraton places the ad and sets up a place for them to interview applicants. Carenza is mortified but goes along with it. When her late husband’s best friend Julian Laurent shows up and stops the nonsense, he makes Carenza an offer of his own – he will be her lover, no strings attached.

Julian Laurent has known Carenza for most of her life, as their family estates border each other. As the second son, Julian had no fortune, title or purpose, so he did as many other “spares” did and sowed his wild oats in London and gaining a reputation as a rake. But recently he inherited a massive fortune from his godmother and has tried to become more responsible. When he learns that Carenza has placed an ad for a lover, he can’t stand by and let her ruin her reputation, so he intervenes, not intending to offer himself to her, but that is exactly what happens. Too bad they both have enemies determined to see them ruined before they can claim their HEA.

I have mixed feeling about this book, I loved the idea of the story and felt that the story was well-written with some great characters. But at the same time, there was a lot going on and despite the steamy love scenes, I wasn’t feeling the chemistry between Carenza and Julian – in fact at some points I wondered if they even liked each other. I did like Carenza’s circle of friends, which gave the story a bit of a “Desperate Housewives” vibe, but even that created more drama than the story could support. I finished the book and felt like the story was too chaotic and I didn’t get enough closure – I know this was the start of a series, so some unfinished business is bound to work its way through future installments – but this was more about things that were central to this story. Overall, I didn’t love this story, but I didn’t hate it either – I will definitely be reading the next book to see if I judged this installment too harshly.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *