Author: Julie Johnstone
Genre/Age: Historical Romance/Adult
Series: Once Upon a Rogue (Book Four)
Publisher: Night Shift Publishing
Format: ebook via The Romance Reviews
Rating: ✺✺✺✺
Links: Goodreads
Synopsis: When a lady bent on ruining rogues and a duke set on revenge attempt to derail each other's plans, passion erupts into a love for the ages.
After being left brokenhearted by a duplicitous rake, Anne Adair no longer desires a husband—she wants justice. She's traded in her foolish dream of happily-ever-after for the much more sensible one of thwarting the blackhearted lords who prey on innocent debutantes. But her first mission proves rather complicated when the dashing, devilish Duke of Kilmartin comes to the aid of her target.
Simon Sedgewick, the newly titled Duke of Kilmartin, never thought he would return to England, let alone attend a ball full of simpering lords. But when his oldest friend's reputation is being smeared, and Simon discovers that the perpetrator is none other than his enemy's granddaughter, his long-festering desire for vengeance flares to life.
The moment Simon spies Miss Anne Adair across the glittering ballroom, he knows that the ravishing beauty is the perfect instrument for the retribution he thought lost to him. He does not know, however, that Anne has devised a scheme of her own. And soon, these two wary hearts will discover that the best laid plans are no match for love.
What an oddly pleasant book!
Anne has a plan to bring down a rogue who has ruined her friend's chance at marriage. Simon has developed a scheme to save his own friend's reputation. The two know little about each other but both are loyal to their friends and want to get to the truth of the situation. It seems as if there might be more than one liar among the ton. Just when the pair start to unravel the mysteries surrounding them, they realize their attraction to each other is too strong to ignore.
When I say that this book was odd, I don't really mean in a bad way. It started off like any other historical romance, with a heroine swearing off all rogues and a hero planning to seduce the lady for revenge. Then the storyline went in a direction I wasn't expecting as truths are revealed much earlier than I assumed they would be. This led to some surprising conversations between our pair. It kept me on my toes, that's for sure.
And the romance wasn't necessarily your standard fare either. The pair somehow were able to develop feelings for each other even though neither of them trusted the other as far as they could throw them. Strange way to fall in love, indeed. But I did like both of our characters. Each had their flaws and both of them struggled with their feelings getting in the way of their initial schemes against one another.
I do think the side plot with Simon's friend was wrapped up a little too perfectly. There really wasn't any indication that Simon's friend had any feelings for his accuser. I think that part could have been explored a bit more. There was a whole slew of lies being tossed around throughout the book and I wish the ending hadn't been so quick. But this was a good read, overall.
In closing...
This was my first book by this author, but hopefully it won't be my last. Four suns!
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