Will you give up your happiness to save everyone? Miss Sophie Kendall knows that she will need to marry someone that she doesn't love to save her family from ruin. She will give up the one thing that drives her to help others as she knows that she won't be able to use her friends as excuses anymore. So when she has a chance meeting with Henry Reese, Earl of Warshire everything changes but can she take the chance with him?
Henry has many demons and she finds that Sophie helps him sleep and he looks forward to their visits every week but he knows that their time is running out as she will need to marry soon. Can he win her before it is too late? Sophie knows that she could never feel like this with anyone else, Henry sees her and he would do anything for her but she has no choice in what her future will be. But can she walk away from the one person that believes in her? Where will Henry & Sophie land up? Will these lovers lose everything? A beautiful read. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this story. I especially liked how Sophie and Reese met. Sophie's rules were interesting. But they definitely deserved their Happily Ever After. It was good to see characters from the previous books. This is such an interesting time period. I like reading about it but am sure I would not have liked living then.

I received this ARC is exchange for an honest review.

I just adore this series. This book is Miss Sophie Kendall's story.

Sophie loves presiding over the secret meetings of the Debutante Underground to discuss the local weekly advice column The Debutante’s Revenge, along with her best friends Lily, who writes the column and Fiona who draws the pictures. Sophie knows that once she is married to Lord Singleton she will need to give it up. It also doesn't help that she really doesn't want to marry Lord Singleton but because of her father's gambling debt she has no choice.

One night after her meeting, Sophie scopes out other nearby bigger locations for her meetings. While in an abandoned warehouse, she comes upon Henry Reese, the Earl of Warshire. Sophie doesn't realize who Reese is but quickly he is taken by her. Sophie brings a calm to Reese's mind and soon he falls asleep...something that he rarely ever does. After waking, Reese realizes that he wants to make Sophie a deal....she can use his warehouse in exchange for spending one night a week with him so he can get some sleep. Sophie is reluctant at first but then agrees.

As Reese and Sophie spend more time together, certain feelings start to emerge. Sophie decides to throw caution to the wind and experience a little of life before she has to marry Lord Singleton. By the time she has to announce her betrothal she has fallen in love with Reese. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, the perfect answer falls into their lap and Reese and Sophie can finally get their happy ending.

I just adore Sophie! She is such a fun, sassy heroine. I love how she takes control of her life. I really enjoyed Reese too. He had such horrible skeletons in his closet but with Sophie's help he was able to overcome them. This was a fun, enjoyable love story that had great banter. I'm sad to see this series end.

This story was a lot of fun to read and I rooted for the characters.
There's an engrossing and entertaining plot, a well thought and likeable cast of characters and a vivid historical background.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

3.5 stars

Sometimes you just need a Regency romance... This was a cute and enchanting read, with more fairy tale elements than steamy scenes.

Memorable?: ★★★
Pacing: ★★★
Characters: ★★★★

Miss Sophie Kendall, organizer of the feminist group the Debutante Underground, has a few problems. Her family is one step above financial ruin, her father is a drunk, and her family has given her an ultimatum: she must marry, he must be rich, and it must be quick.

Now, in a deviation from one of the more traditional Regency plots, it's not an arranged setup—the family has already found Sophie a marquess willing to marry her. Too bad Sophie doesn't love him...

Reese, Earl of Warshire, is a man with a serious problem: he can't sleep. We're not talking casual insomnia—he's literally killing himself with a lack of sleep. A former war general, he's haunted by the loss of his men and even more haunted by the loss of his older brother, Edmund, who was supposed to be the Earl. Now stuck in the position with more nightmares than hope, Reese is not doing so well.

One chance encounter with Sophie Kendall radically changes his life.... And begins their sweet, chaste encounters in the nighttime. In a twist that feels more like a fairy tale than a romance, Sophie agrees to spend her Friday nights with Reese—no funny business, for real—and engages in fairy tale-like adventures with him on the moonlit gardens of his estate.

But Sophie's betrothed to another, and Reese knows he has her on borrowed time...

I thought When You Wish Upon a Rogue was a cute and soft installment for the Debutante Diaries series. This was my first introduction, and to be honest I really enjoyed it! My main qualms with the story involved the lack of realism... I know that most Regency romances often deviate from historical accuracy to follow the romance, and normally I'm on board with it, but for this particular plot the facts kept me from fully immersing myself in the story. I thought it was extremely sweet, but not overly plausible.

Intrigued enough to try out the next book in series!

Thank you to St Martin's Press via NetGalley for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I adored Sophie and Reese! It was a "Beauty soothing the Beast" situation that was totally believable! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This was a pretty good story.
Really fun read! a great way to spend a quarantined day or two. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. The story was fun and interesting. It kept me entertained. Fully recommend reading it.

I wish I could rate with half stars, because this would be 3.5 for me. Well, 3.49 for rounding purposes.

I was enamored at the beginning - he can't sleep unless she's there! She runs a society called the Debutante Underground! But as the story carried on and they spent more time together, their chemistry didn't do anything for me - their dialogue was too well put together maybe? Too easy for the characters? Also, there's a twist at the end that didn't feel sufficiently foreshadowed to me, or perhaps I missed the cues.

The author conjures up some lovely settings and romantic gestures. I would like a tour of the garden which plays a large role in this book. I felt some of the secondary emotional business quite keenly, but for me the romance fell flat.

I suspect that many readers will connect more to this book than I did.

Why is it over? When I got the end of the chapter I was hoping for more. That's how much I was enjoying this story. And the second book I've read with an Underworld themed garden.
Sophie Kendall has to marry in order to help her financially struggling family. Which she has been putting off because she enjoys running her secret society of The Debutante's Revenge column and will have to step back once married.
Looking for a larger space to accommodate her growing group, she meets Henry Reese, Earl of Warshire, in the vacant tailor's shop she checking.
When she notices his dark circles she offers to help him get some sleep. When he wakes up the next morning, he seeks her out to strike a bargain. Her help with his sleeplessness for the use of his building. 

There was something about the way these two talked to one another, got to know one another, that really got to me. I found myself really caring about them. And really thinking these two were not going to get their HEA.
But they did!
Now I need to read the other two books in this series.

ARC provided by St. Martin's Press via NetGalley

I found that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its first half is fanciful, filled with inventive use of flowers, has a underworld garden, and a hero running from his demons.

Miss Sophie Kendall is practically engaged to a marquess. She helps run the Debutante Revenge and Underground, a progressive gathering and weekly advice column for women. She encounters Henry Reese :Reese" the Earl of Warshire. He's taken over the role of Earl and carries immense guilt from leaving the army and the ensuing death of his company. So, he can't sleep. The only cure for his insomnia is, well, Sophie (I'm not sure if that's a selling point as to why a man wants to spend time with a lady, but in this case, it works)..

Reese is the hero we all want, supportive, kind and caring. More importantly, not a rake. He's pretty dreamy.
Reese and Sophie spend one night a week together and that grows their intimacy (the flowers, remember?).
The second half of the book deals with her impending engagement she feels she must fulfill and the secret society.

Recommend.

This was an incredibly sweet story, very heartwarming and that leaves you with good feelings. Both characters seem like kind people trying to do their best.

3.5 stars

“In a sea of decay and death, that rose was a stubborn spot of sunshine—and it reminded me of you.”

Oh, my heart! This is the third book in Anna Bennett’s Debutante Diaries series, and hands down my favorite. Sophie and Reese have absolutely won me over—not that it was too hard, admittedly. I was ripe for well-written, throughly enjoyable historical with a ridiculously swoonworthy hero and daring heroine.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, having read book two first, then going back to book one because I was intrigued. Needless to say, these books can all be read standalone, but I recommend the whole series. It’s fun, flirty, light-hearted romance with a strong message. And that message is never more clear than here, in When You Wish Upon a Rogue. Being true to yourself and your heart, believing in yourself—these are the sentiments that drive this book, and it makes for a sweet, sometimes heartbreaking story.

Like, I actually ached for Reese when he confronted his past, and for he and Sophie as they faced a future apart. I was crazy invested in their outcome—and closed this book both happy (because ROMANCE and SWOONS) and mildly disappointed (why is there not more?! I want more!).

Before I finish up this review, just one quick note: there are non-historical-ish aspects of this book. I didn’t care because I loved the story (and Reese is going on my all-time favorite book boyfriend list), but if you’re a stickler for accuracy, you might want to beware. If you can set it aside for the sake of enjoyment and female empowerment and love, then you really need this book. Highly recommend.

“You’re mine, Soph. No matter who you marry or where you go, you’ll remember this night. And you’ll know I loved you enough for a lifetime.”

A great story of family obligation vs love. Sophie runs the Debutante Underground weekly meetings and is looking for a new place to meet when she runs into Reece, the owner of the building she is looking at. Reece finds that Sophie helps him sleep and keeps some of his demons away so they strike a bargain.

Meanwhile, Sophie is expected to marry a wealthy marquess to get her family out of financial difficulties, but she finds herself falling harder for Reece. While he is a new Earl, he is not able to give her the financial help her family requires.

I loved the story and the romance and by far this is my favorite of the series!

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.

In this third book of the Debutant Diaries series, we meet Sophie. She is supposed to marry someone to help her family out, but she has no feelings for him. Then she meets a stranger and feels something she has never felt before. Will she follow her feelings, or marry only to help her family? This is another great book in this series!

I have voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this title given to me via NetGalley. I really enjoyed this book. It was really well written and it just had you trying to solve the mystery. I look forward to seeing what’s next from this author.

This is one of those books I wish I could give more then five stars. If you are not totally involved in this story and it's characters by the end of the first chapter something is wrong with you.
Miss Sophie Kendall is a lovely lady who like to help people and part of doing that is her secret meeting place for women from all classes of life to meet and discuss anything they like. It is called The Debutante's Revenge.
With the help from her two best friends who happen to be sisters. You will remember them from the first two books, Fiona and Lily. They meet at night, for now the dressmaker has offered them the back room of her shop. Word has spread and many more women want to join, Sophie needs to find a larger meeting place but one that is super cheap. One of the members tells her of a shop close by that is out of business. After the meeting she goes to just look at the outside to see if it might work. To her shock
the door is unlocked. She can't help herself from going in, only to be scared by a young man that is already there. One Herry Reese, Earl of Warshire.
No one could see how this meeting by accident would change so many life's..
Herry is the new Earl of Warshire, as his brother has just died. His is an ex-solider and never thought he would be the Earl. He left and joined the military but when he received notice his brother was dead he had not choice but to leave his men and rush home. He is carrying a ton of guilt and grief over it. He also has PTSD from things he saw and did. On top of all that he is devastated by the lost of his brother Edmund who he worshiped and saw as perfect.
Sophie has a bucket load of her own problems she is dealing with. She is to marry One Lord Singleton in a very short time, and she doesn't even know him. Has meet him only a few times and didn't feel comfortable around him. He is willing to help her family if they marry.
She is also worried about the ladies of Debutantes Revenge as she must leave it when she marries.
There is a lot of things going on in this story, the attraction growing between some of the characters will surprise you. The ending will surprise you. What happens to both the H and H is different and wonderful.
I don't want to say anymore and hope I haven't said too much. Just enough to make you rush out and get a copy. Don't plan to do anything once you start reading...
Kinda wish if didn't have to end.
I received and ARC from the author and would like to thank her for a truly great read. I will be reading it again I know... I am giving my honest opinion...

This didn’t turn out to be the story I expected. First off, I admit to be new to Anna Bennett’s writings and some might say diving in the middle of an ongoing series is not a clever thing to do. I had no difficulty following the story though. So if anything, this third entry to her “Debutante Diaries” can easily be read as a standalone. Even a schmuck like me had no trouble despite being a newbie. But I guess I just didn’t click with the writing.

While trying to picking up interesting premise the delivery didn’t live up to expectations. The story felt two-dimensional and predictable with tedious characters; everything seemed too orchestrated. Personally, for a historical romance set in (I assumed) Victorian era England, the story didn’t sound convincing to my plebeian self. Small things like the word/expression used, the unmarried leading lady could go anywhere unchaperoned (impoverished status notwithstanding) niggled on me.

Sophie would’ve been wonderful MC if only her character were being delved more. Same as Reese. The way his distress first introduced, I thought it would be much more complicated than what’s revealed. Not that I’m trying to belittle the tragedy surrounding him, but perhaps with a bit of a tweak the delivery of grief concerning his family and friends could leave more impact to the story.

As an addition to my historical romance repertoire WHEN YOU WISH UPON A ROGUE just fell under okay but unmemorable category. Not really one I wish to revisit any time soon.


Copy of this book is kindly given by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When You Wish Upon a Rogue by Anna Bennett is the third book in the Debutante Diaries. The books each focus on a different couple, but the three females are all best friends. I continue to find reading about the ton with all their interesting rules and fashions.

Miss Sophie Kendall is the leader of the secret club called Debutante Underground. She believes in true love. She knows it exists because her two best friends found it, but Sophie is in a different situation. Her parents are expecting her to save their family from becoming destitute. She is expected to marry well and a suitor has already come forward. There is nothing wrong with him, except she feels nothing.

Henry Reese, Earl of Warshire can’t sleep. Every time he wakes up in the midst of a horrible nightmare. He roams at night trying to sooth himself with no success, until he accidently meets Sophie and she helps him sleep. Now he wants her to help him sleep at the time and she wants to help and spend more time with him, but not at the expense of her family.

The two main characters were well suited. I was getting a bit nervous for them and their future as the book went along. I found the novel to be interesting and well paced. When You Wish Upon a Rogue by Anna Bennett was a fun, quick, easy read.

This was way too much for me! Sorry, but to be honest, I liked the heroine at first, then she turns into a Gloria Steinam in the 18th Century, or early 19th Century?! I am losing my taste for Historical Romance for this very reason, they are no longer historical, they are contemporary dressed up as historical. I read historical fiction as an escape, not for political statements dressed up! How did a young lady move about in Society without a chaperone? That would never have happened, never, she would not have been invited to balls by the ton, she would have been considered fast, much less have a Marquess wanting to marry her, and she thinks she is too good for him? Please give me Jane Austen!
Thank you Netgalley!
carolintallahassee.com

When You Wish Upon a Rogue (Debutante Diaries #3). By Anna Bennett. 2020. St. Martin’s Press (ARC eBook).

As Sophie Kendall inspects a seemingly vacant building in search of a larger place for the ladies of the Debutante Underground to meet, she is met with the building’s owner, a seemingly sleep-deprived tailor. When she inquires if she can rent the building he entices her into playing a card game, wagering buttons; and she makes him tea that will help him sleep. Curious as to what she wants his building for, he sets a monetary price that Sophie can not afford and the two part ways.

When Henry Reese, the new Earl of Warshire discovers that it was not Sophie’s tea blend that soothed his nightmares that night, but Sophie herself who acted as a balm to his tortured soul; he seeks her out and offers a new proposition—the use of his building in exchange for her company one night a week.

This is the first book I’ve read from Bennett. Sophie and Reese are likable characters; however, I feel like maybe had I had some attachment to Sophie coming into her story, maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more. I did like the parts where Reese tends to his garden—seeing the beauty return and his gifts of flowers to Sophie as he begins facing the losses that had previously sent him into a tailspin. He does seem rather mild-mannered for a rogue though. Overall, this is an entertaining story about the healing power of love and I do look forward to reading another book by Bennett.