Every Bit A Rogue by Adrienne Basso

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

Every Bit a Rogue (The Ellinghams, #4)Every Bit a Rogue by Adrienne Basso

Tracy rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Ellinghams, #4

Release Date: February 25, 2020

Emma Ellingham knows heartbreak and unrequited love, years ago she confessed her love to Sebastian Dodd, the Earl of Tinsdale, who told her he loved her too, as a sister. When Sebastian fell in love and married another, Emma was devastated, she closed off her heart and concentrated on her art, but even that seems to have deserted her. So when Jon Burwell, Viscount Kendall is jilted at the altar, Emma knows his pain and feels empathetic but she doesn’t really give him another thought for almost a year, when their paths cross again.

While exploring her brother in laws property, Emma finds a path she has not taken before, one that leads to an unfamiliar building, her curiosity gets the best of her and she approaches, she knocks and enters, she finds two men working on a machine, one of them is Jon, but it is not Jon that captures her attention – it is his machine, for the first time in years Emma feels the overwhelming desire to draw, she is overjoyed, but her joy is short lived when Jon asks her to leave. She returns home and sketches from memory, but really wants to see the machine again. She returns to the workshop and lets herself in and begins to draw, Jon finds her and sends her away, refusing to let her draw his machine. She leaves, promising not to return until she is invited. But, she hasn’t given up, she will find a way!

Jon is finally beginning to get over Dianna, the woman he loved, the one who left him at the altar and ran off with another man. He has poured all the passion he felt for her into his invention – a threshing machine. His experience with Dianna left him hurt and unable to really trust anyone, which is why he denied Emma. He is in the village when he runs into Dianna, literally. He is shocked to see her and tries to be polite, she is married and her husband inherited a barony with a nearby estate. Jon is not happy to learn she will be living close by and even more upset when Dianna’s husband joins them and is nasty to her. Despite everything she did to him, he still feels outraged on her behalf and has to stop himself from defending her. He is returning home when it begins to rain and he finds Emma lost in the woods. The rain intensifies and they take shelter in his workshop, they share a drink and he tells her of seeing Dianna in the village, she moves to comfort him and trips, he catches her and they share a kiss. She is surprised by the feelings it invokes – but they agree it was a mistake. They fall asleep and Emma wakes at dawn – she bolts, hoping to return home before anyone knows she is gone.

Jon is home getting ready to go see Emma when her brother in law arrives – he thinks it is about Emma, but is stunned to learn that Dianna’s husband had been killed the night before and servants at the house named him as the murderer!! To save Jon, Emma confesses to being with him all night. Her confession saves him, but to save their reputations, they must wed. Can they find happiness or will their past experiences with love keep them from trying to find love again?

This was a well written, well-paced story with likable characters, cameos from previous couples in the series, a murder, steamy love scenes and a HEA complete with an epilogue. I was loving this book right up to about the 85% mark and then it tanked for me. I didn’t care for Emma’s deception, I wasn’t thrilled with resolution of the murder and I was really not happy with the “punishment” the villain got. This is the fourth book in the series, but it can easily be read as a stand-alone title. I enjoyed the book even though the ending was not what I was hoping for and I would be happy to recommend it.

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

Engaged to the Earl by Lisa Berne

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

Engaged to the Earl (Penhallow Dynasty, #4)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Penhallow Dynasty #4
Publication Date: 2/25/20
Number of Pages: 384

Christopher Beck was a delightful hero, you couldn’t help but love him. As a very young man, he had a contentious relationship with his father. His father didn’t understand Christopher at all and was constantly pushing him into things that Christopher just hated. So, when Christopher was twenty, he decided to leave home – and when he told his father he was leaving, but would write – his father told him not to bother. He left that night, traveled the continent working at many odd jobs, and didn’t return home for several years.

Gwendolyn Penhallow is another delightful character – you’ll love her as well. She comes from a large, happy, boisterous family – you met them in the last book, The Bride Takes a Groom. Gwendolyn has missed her friend from next door over the years. She’s wondered what happened to the troubled young man to whom she once proposed – when she was ten and four. Now, she’s in London for her delayed London season – and she’s already engaged to the most handsome, most wonderful man. It was love at first sight – they literally saw each other ‘across a crowded room’ – and they were lost in each other.

Two things happened at about the same time, but they weren’t related. Gwendolyn began to have small, niggling, subconscious doubts about her engagement and Christopher Beck returned to England – London specifically. As more and more life events happened, Gwendolyn became less and less sure of her decision to marry the earl.

As Gwendolyn and Christopher renewed their friendship, she fondly remembered the young man he had been before he left and she valued him as a friend – someone to whom she could talk and someone she could trust.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope you will as well. I had trepidations about the book because I assumed (wrongly) that it contained infidelity. Yes, she and the earl were only engaged, but to me, it is still just as wrong to take up with another man without resolving the current relationship. That isn’t what happened. She considered Christopher a good friend and was always happy to see him.

Be prepared – there are LOTS of people, plots, and sub-plots you have to keep straight, but they all make sense. Well, except one – I have absolutely no idea how Gwendolyn could ever have thought that Christopher was smitten with Helen. Goodness, Helen was an awful person and it was readily apparent that was the case.

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