Category: Tracy’s Reviews

A Rogue No More by Lana Williams

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

A Rogue No More (The Rogue Chronicles, #3)A Rogue No More by Lana Williams

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Rogue Chronicles, #3

Release Date: June 23, 2020

After the death of his father, Thomas Raybourne is tasked by his brother, the new Earl of Carlington with turning the family publishing business into a success. Thomas has no experience in publishing and is widely known as a rogue, a reputation he relished until just a few months ago. Now he is focused and wants to succeed, he has overhauled the entire publishing operation and learns that unfortunately the only book they have that is making any money is a murder mystery written by A. Golden. But he is shocked to learn that A. Golden is actually Miss Annabelle Gold, the lovely girl he kissed on a moonlit terrace a few months ago!

Annabelle has a passion for writing and used her talent to help her family financially when her father’s business began to decline along with his memory. But now that her sister Caroline married the Earl of Aberland and things have begun to look up for the family, Annabelle can once again write for the pure joy of it. She has written the second book in her mystery series and has been waiting to hear from her publisher. When she doesn’t hear anything for weeks, she finally makes the trip to their office. She is just as shocked to find Thomas there as he was to see her – but he is surprisingly supportive and eager to publish the next installment. She can’t deny that she is attracted to Thomas, but a deep-seated fear of losing herself if she marries has her keeping all potential suitors at bay – including Thomas.

They make plans to reissued the first book and publish the second one, but just as they finalize their plans, there is a murder that clearly mimics a murder in her first book. They decide to hold off publishing until the murderer is caught and work together to find out who (and why) they are using her book as inspiration. They stumble across a potential suspect, which ends with them forced into a betrothal, yet gives them no evidence to stop the murderer. But when a second mimicked murder doesn’t tie to the victim of the first murder, they race to stop their villain before they can strike again. All the while, Annabelle and Thomas grow closer and wonder if they can defy the odds and find their own HEA. But when the villain approaches Thomas and threatens to destroy someone he loves; will Thomas be able to thwart them or will he make Annabelle’s worst fears come true?

I thought this was a well written, nicely paced book with likeable characters, very low steam love scenes and an interesting mystery. Thomas and Annabelle are a wonderful pairing and you can’t help but root for their HEA, the mystery was good, but the villain wasn’t much of a surprise to this reader. There were cameos from previous characters and I enjoyed catching up with Caroline, Aberland, Louisa and Granger and was thrilled that there was an epilogue. This is the third book in the series, but it can easily be read as a stand-alone title.

The Devil of Downtown by Joanna Shupe

On By TracyIn America's Gilded Age (1870-1900), American Historical, Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Devil of Downtown (Uptown Girls, #3)The Devil of Downtown by Joanna Shupe

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Uptown Girls, #3

Release Date: June 30, 2020

Justine Greene is the youngest of the Greene sisters and compared to her vivacious sisters, she appears to be a little dull – but as they say – looks can be deceiving! Unlike her sisters in both looks and temperament, Justine spends her days helping the poor and forgotten of NYC. She also helps out with her brother-in-law Frank Tripp’s legal aid society – tracking down missing husbands. It is on such a case that she meets Jack Mulligan – the city’s biggest crime lord. After weeks of looking for Robert Gorcey who left his wife and five children without a word, she learns that he works for Jack and hopes to gain his help in getting Mr. Gorcey to take care of his responsibilities! Jack agrees, but wants a favor in exchange and won’t lift a finger to help unless she agrees.

Jack Mulligan was born with nothing and fought his way to the top, he is powerful and feared, but Justine Greene doesn’t appear to be impressed – which intrigues him. She grudgingly agrees to grant him a favor in the future and leaves. Jack shouldn’t give her another thought, he has problems of his own in the shape of an up-and-coming crime boss, Trevor O’Shaughnessy, a man that is testing the boundaries with Jack. But he can’t seem to get the little “do-gooder” out of his mind and has her followed. Days later he catches up with her to cash in his favor, he marvels at how much she does in the city and listens to her complain about not being able to get her police friend to help with a matter of a unfair factory owner. Jack buys her lunch and tells her that for his favor he wants to escort her to Frank’s fundraising gala – there is a man he wants to talk to that refuses to see him – Julius Hatcher – Justine agrees and demands an outrageous donation to boot – Jack agrees.

When her family learns of her interactions with Jack, they all warn her off – Mamie and Florence are sure he will hurt her and ruin her reputation, Frank and Clay are concerned for her safety – but they all underestimate Justine – she is stronger and braver than they could ever imagine and she refuses to stop seeing Jack. For his part, Jack is caught in Justine’s spell – he wants her, but more than just sexually, he likes her and enjoys her company – she is a light in his dark world and even as he knows he should let her go, he can’t seem to send her away. But when Jack gives Justine her greatest desire, she finally admits that she is changing into someone she doesn’t like and she walks away from him. Can he win her back?

This was a well written, fast paced, amazing read with very likable characters, red-hot love scenes, unexpected twists, wonderful secondary characters including cameos from Mamie, Frank, Florence, Clay and Julius Hatcher! I just loved this story, it was a wild ride from the first page until the last and is definitely my favorite in the series. This is the third book in the series and while it can be read as a stand-alone, do yourself a favor and read the books in order!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by the publisher.*