A Rogue to the Rescue by Lana Williams

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Rogue Chronicles, #4

Release Date: October 29, 2020

Beatrice Linfield has had a rough couple of months, her father passed away, then she learned that he left her penniless by giving her dowry away and then betrothed left her for another woman! But none of that could hold a candle to her current problem, she traveled to London to find work and start a new life, but once she arrived, she was directed to a registry office to find employment. The clerk took her information and recommended a boarding house. At the boarding house she was drugged and taken to a brothel, where she was being held until the madam “sold” her to the highest bidder. She plans to escape and begs the other girl in the room to go with her, but Mary is terrified that the brothel owner, Mr. Finch will catch them and refuses to go. So, she escapes alone, with nothing but a thin shift and no shoes. Beatrice runs into the street and is ready to collapse when she stumbles upon a gentleman walking alone, terrified, but desperate, she takes his offer for assistance.

Daniel Walker, the brother of Richard, The Earl of Aberland, is walking home from his club when he happens upon a young woman. He asks if he can help and to his horror, she bursts into tears and then faints. He scoops her up and hails a hackney, will no idea who she is or where to take her, he directs the driver to his house. At home he asks his savate (a French boxing technique) instructor cum valet to summon a doctor and help him get her into a bed. The doctor says she has been drugged, but should be fine. When she wakes, he learns her story and is appalled for what happened to her, but impressed by her bravery and resourcefulness. He hires a Bow Street Runner to investigate and arrest the parties involved with her abduction and hopefully save Mary. He wants to help her, but knows her reputation will be ruined if she stays with him. Instead he asks his brother if he and his wife Caroline will take her in.

Beatrice is grateful to Daniel and Lord and Lady Aberland for their help and immediately forms a friendship with Caroline, Lady Aberland. Caroline is expecting a baby and is overjoyed to have Beatrice stay, she introduces her to her sisters and they decide that Beatrice should be introduced into society, to either gain an introduction to someone in need of a companion or governess or even better, find a husband. But Beatrice cannot think about her future while Mary is still captive, the Runner has made no progress with the case, so she asks Daniel to help her try to save Mary.

This was a very well written, intriguing novel with wonderful characters, cameos from previous heroes/heroines, a bit of mystery, action, mild love scenes, nasty villains and a very sweet HEA. I really enjoyed this book, Daniel is the kind of hero every girl wants to meet and Beatrice was strong and brave, yet compassionate and very likeable. I did feel like Daniel and Beatrice both dithered a bit too long about their feelings/relationship and that the book dragged a bit in the middle, but it picks up steam and sprints to the finish. Overall, this was a great book and I am happy to recommend it. This is the fourth book in the series, but it can easily be read as a standalone title.

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

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.