About a Rogue is a fun Georgian Era romance that is unique for focusing on the upper-middle-class and having a hero I liked more than the heroine.

Full review: https://rebeccasreadingcorner.blog/review-caroline-linden-about-a-rogue/ ( )

3.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Bianca resolved before noon on her wedding day that she would hate and despise her husband for the rest of her life.

About a Rogue kicks off the Desperately Seeking Duke series with an intriguing start. Readers might be thrown at first as we get the story first and then the characters, which is different from the more typical introduction to characters and then we follow them to get the story. Here, we are first introduced to the Duchess of Carlyle and her man Mr. Edwards and through their discussion and the duchess' musings, we learn that her younger son has just died. This is particularly important because her husband is dead and her oldest son is intellectually disabled, an heir is needed for the vast and rich Carlyle dukedom. Mr. Edwards has discovered three possible heirs, “An army man, a cardsharp, or a Frenchman,”, choices the duchess isn't particularly excited about. When the army man, Captain Andrew St. James and the cardsharp, Maximilian St. James show up, she interviews them and explains that she will give them an allowance and keep a watch over them to see how responsible and settled they are and in six months time they are to report back to her. Max is the second heir behind the captain but he has had at least one foot in poverty all his life and is determined to not let this opportunity pass him by, he's going to find a way to turn the duchess' allowance into a permanent flow of money he can control.

He suspected they had both acted on impulse, even if her impulse sprang from passion and fury while his came from an iron-willed determination not to let this opportunity slide through his grasp.

Bianca has lived in Perusia all her life, a town founded by her father's pottery works business, she loves creating new glazes and working there. When a man starts coming around and her father is impressed with his fine London ways, connections to a dukedom, and seems to be trying to court her older sister Cathy, Bianca is instantly on her guard. Bianca knows that Cathy is in love with the local curate and when their father approves a marriage between them, Bianca helps Cathy plan her elopement. When the day of the wedding comes and there is no bride, Bianca and her father fight and push each other until Bianca agrees to marry Max in Cathy's place, thinking Max will refuse. Max just wanting to accomplish a stakehold in Perusia, agrees to marry Bianca.

Even in his plain, sober clothing, wearing spectacles and reading a dust-dry contract. Obviously he knew he was a handsome man. Bianca was wildly annoyed that she had to know it, too.

With the marriage of convenience, there is also some enemies-to-lovers and Taming of the Shrew. Bianca only calls Max “That Man” and will test your resolve with her very caustic and borderline bratty attitude. Max through it all just plays the calm and unruffled husband trying to build and implement some new ideas to improve Perusia, while also non-confrontationally challenging Bianca. It's around the 40% mark that Bianca starts to thaw towards him and their relationship takes over as the focus of the story as they travel to London for some Vauxhall sexiness and then come home for what turns out to be some foreplay in the form of a competitive game of cricket. There's obviously some slow burn to this couple but what I really enjoyed was how there felt like purpose to their sex scenes. Max decides early that he won't push anything or in fact act on any signs from Bianca until she is all in with her desire, which can be read as Max wanting that emotional connection from her. They start off oil and water but as each emotional connection is built, so is the feeling of desire and it made the eventual physical scenes have that much more heat to them.

No one had ever spoken to her like that. No one had ever looked at her this way. It made her feel wild and beautiful and powerful, that this man wanted her.

This story was more about the present time and Max and Bianca connecting. There is some background to Max, his father being a wastrel, his mother writing to the Duke of Carlyle for financial help and only receiving a five pound note, and his aunt ending up caring for him, that explained aspects of his personality and helped fill out his character. Bianca was outshone by him as her beginning attitude was aggravating in The Shrew way. I also thought that the ending issue with Max's aunt had a bit of forced in drama, instead of adding to the story, feel. Overall, though, this had an appreciated different feel to it while still giving the tried and true Vauxhall but adding in some interesting pottery works elements. Max and Bianca were a sparking spot to stop off at for a while in the overarching plot of finding an heir for the Carlyle dukedom. The ending brings us back to the beginning with the Captain and, as of now, first in line heir, not heard from for a while and missing. This series started off fresh and intriguing, I'm looking forward the next.

He smiled, that lazy rogue’s smile that both put her on guard and made something inside her soften treacherously. ( )

Crafting a Genuine Marriage
I really enjoyed About a Rogue, and Caroline Linden did a wonderful job finding a new angle on Regency romance. At first, I was a bit disappointed that the first book of her new series is about the second heir Maximilian St. James (Max), and not Captain Andrew St. James, but I certainly was not left disappointed. Expecting a rogue, Bianca Tate is adamant that Max is bamboozling her father, and compelling her sister into agreeing to an unhappy marriage. So, Bianca helps her sister elope, and resentfully marries Max instead. Bianca is certainly opinionated about Max, and she was a bit unlikable at the beginning. As she gives the benefit of the doubt to more unreliable characters, but believes the worst in Max. Max, though shadowed by a questionable past, is very genuine. He is patient with Bianca, and is determined to support her. By the end Bianca and Max where a well-matched couple! I certainly enjoyed the surprise twist at the end, when Max’s dark past was revealed, and properly dealt with. I am excited to read her next book A Scot to the Heart. ( )

Review originally posted at Romancing Romances.

I received an eARC at no cost from the publisher, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

So, I read a few contemporaries before this (some very good, one not so good), and I was in need of a historical that you bring me the will to read again. This book definitely did it.

About a Rogue is an enemies to lovers story, and I have to say I really enjoyed it, as usual with Caroline Linden’s books.

I really liked the main couple, Bianca was just the right amount of fiery, and Max was a wonderful man trying to win his bride over.

There’s a bit of mystery at the end of the story, and I have to be honest – I did not expect that! Which is good, in case anyone is wondering.

Bianca fierce love for her sister and her work was very amazing, and even if her decision to marry Max was made in the spur of the moment, she kept to it, and even if she didn’t want to fall in love, and actually trying to prevent it, she also realized when it was time to just let go, which I really enjoyed, as I prefer stories where people are not so stubborn that they only realize they love one another in a death or life situation.

Max was indeed a rogue, but he’s so much more than that. He’s an intelligent man, with a head for figures, and he’s very good at business adventures. And he also knows how to best engage with Bianca, without ever forcing her or imposing on her, he simply makes himself known, and actually does the work for both the business and the love relationship.

The conflict at the end could have spiralled out of control if handled differently, but I think the author did just the right thing. Yes, Max hid something from Bianca (and her family), but he had a good reason for it, and I like that Bianca is slightly sad that he didn’t trust her, but not exactly hurt, because she understands him and his reasons.

The book ended up being a quick read, and was just right for my mood. ( )

Naming a Duke!

The heir to the Duke of Carlyle, his younger son is dead. His heir, his eldest son is brain damaged and unable to take up the dukedom reins. Now the hunt for who might succeed is on. The Duchess of Carlyle's agent has found three men who are eligible due to their family ranking. They are as the Duchess laments to herself, “an army man, a cardsharp, or a Frenchman. ” She's plainly not enamoured with any of them.
Still she decides to give the first two men some support to ensure that if they did inherit they'd have some knowledge of their responsibilities. The Frenchman is not to be considered.( Hmm! That bodes well for an interesting development in the future!)
As for the cardsharp and the captain, "either of them is preferable to a Frenchman, of all people...The gambler is most likely a hopeless case. Once a gamester, always a gamester. It’s like an infection in the blood. As for the Frenchman . . .”
Cardsharp! Gambler! Maximilian St. James has been that and more! Now he decides to turn the windfall from the Duchess into more concrete success.
He becomes engaged to the elder daughter of Samuel Tate, the owner of a very successful pottery works. With a keen intellect behind his calm presence he looks to put down roots and develop business interests that will strengthen his financial security to a point where it matters not if he's ever declared the Duke’s heir.
Things work out somewhat differently when the Tate sisters are informed about the eldest, Cathy’s upcoming marriage to Max. Cathy is already in love with another party.
Bianca Tate, the younger daughter, is intensely involved with the family pottery business, cleverly inventing new glazes, and working with porcelain. Feisty and determined to the point of thoughtless, she's forever throwing down the gauntlet heedless to where her temper flash might land her. Her shock when her father declared that Max as her sister's fiancé would be given a quarter percentage of the business fuelled her fury beyond incendiary. Which left her in a place of no return when, in a rush of that famous temper, she accepts marriage to Max in place of her beloved older sister.
A different type of read, set against the background of the ton, with characters much further down the social ladder, being involved as they are in 'trade'. A very pleasing read with a slight twist to the 'marriage of convenience' trope that really was only convenient for one person--until it became more!

A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley ( )