ARC Review: Love Is a Rogue (Wallflowers vs. Rogues #1) by Lenora Bell
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Series: Wallflowers vs. Rogues #1
Author: Lenora Bell
Published December 10th 2020 by Piatkus
Goodreads Synopsis
Once upon a time in Mayfair, a group of wallflowers formed a secret society with goals that had absolutely nothing to do with matrimony. Their most troublesome obstacle? Rogues!
They call her Beastly Beatrice.
Wallflower Lady Beatrice Bentley longs to remain in the wilds of Cornwall to complete her etymological dictionary. Too bad her brother's Gothic mansion is under renovation. How can she work with an annoyingly arrogant and too-handsome rogue swinging a hammer nearby?
Rogue. Scoundrel. Call him anything you like as long as you pay him.
Navy man Stamford Wright is leaving England soon, and renovating Thornhill House is just a job. It's not about the duke's bookish sister or her fiery copper hair. Or the etymology lessons the prim-yet-alluring lady insists on giving him. Or the forbidden things he'd love to teach her.
They say never mix business with pleasure. But when Beatrice and Ford aren't arguing, they're kissing.
Sometimes, temptation proves too strong to resist…even if the cost is a heart.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
The wallflower sister of the Duke of Thorndon, Lady Beatrice has always known her parents would want her to marry well. But when an accident at birth left her with palsy, the duke and duchess lamented her chances, and her time at school, where she was known as Beastly Beatrice, has ensured she hates going into society. All Beatrice wants is the freedom to write her etymology dictionary in peace in the family's country seat. Well, that's all ruined when her brother's hired carpenter, Stamford Wright is left to renovate the Gothic mansion. Her peace is shattered, and the fact that Ford is as handsome as the devil doesn't help matters. They clash, again and again, but now the dowager duchess is spiriting Beatrice off towards the season, and a promised match, and Beatrice can get over her ill-advised feelings. But, when an unexpected inheritance comes Beatrice's way, and she needs a carpenter to keep a wicked business man, who just happens to be Ford's estranged grandfather, at bay, Ford is the only person she can turn to. Will they both be able to find happiness, either alone or together, or will they very different statuses in society always be at odds with reality?
This was the first book I've read by Lenora, but it will not be the last. Love is a Rogue saw two unlikely characters fall in love, and I just loved them both. Beatrice has had a hard lot in life, albeit in the pampered position as the daughter of a duke, and she wishes to have solitude and time with only her closest of friends, the Mayfair Ladies Knitting League, and matrimony does not seem to be in the cards for her. However, her mother is nothing if not tenacious, and will do just about anything to marry Beatrice off. Even resorting to blackmail, with giving Beatrice some time at her new bookstore, if she relents to taking part in the season. For Ford, he's always known that his grandfather disowned his mother for marrying beneath her, and has therefore been sensitive to class distinction. He's attracted to Beatrice, but she's well above his place in life as a navy carpenter, and son of the estate's carpenter, but still, he can't leave her to the proverbial wolves, including his own grandfather. I liked the intrigue surrounding the inheritance of the book store, and the mystery to be found in the letter, but what I found the most pleasing was how the relationship between the two formed into something real. I honestly believed their affection for each other, and hope we see much more of them in the next book in the series.
Dates Read:
November 12-16, 2020
Rating
4 Stars
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