I love the concept of a rogue group of women meeting to discuss "taboo" and salacious topics. Sophie's role as organizer and hostess truly is surprising when compared with her life at home essentially being a sacrifice to a peer because of her father's drunken debts. She is a complex character with hidden gumption and a gentle, kind, practical disposition that made her story a joy to read. Paired with the grumpy mess that is Reese, the two really blossomed into a couple that readers love to root for.

Watching Sophie's character arc was incredibly satisfying, though I admit to wondering why she had to be the one to marry for the family. While it was explained away, I still don't buy it. I was also on the fence regarding the terrors that Reese suffered from and whether it was enough to cause that much torment, but after thinking on it... It's clear that he is deeply romantic and hangs a lot of his self-worth on his ability to provide and be present for others. The perceived failures in his past would be devastating.

Overall, this was an incredibly sweet romance with just a bit of self-discovery on both sides of the romance. Be prepared for incredibly romantic garden scenes, some steamy no-touch moments, and to sigh happily upon finishing the last page. You can certainly read it as a standalone, though I'm sure you would get more pleasure from starting with book one. 

**I voluntarily read and reviewed a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

When You Wish Upon a Rogue is the third novel in Anna Bennett’s Debutante Diaries series. This novel closes the series out with the story of Sophie a young woman who is trapped between family expectations and her own desires. Our hero Reese is the new Earl of Warshire and is struggling with the transition from a soldier’s life to one of lord. Reese needs Sophie’s help, but can she risk it all to help him?

The blurb about this book drew me in, Sophie helps organize meetings with other women to discuss the weekly Debutante's Revenge column. In those meetings the women share openly and honestly about all matters relating to relationships and men. I love a feminist and subversive heroine in historical romance, and Sophie was no disappointment. She is a sweet person that prefers the garden to the ballroom, and though she participates in the meetings isn’t as bold as her counterparts. I liked that she managed to be a beacon of reason and hope to other women in a quiet graceful way.

Sophie meets Reese by chance after one of these meetings and the chemistry was immediately evident. He is newly returned to England to take over the Earldom after the death of his older brother. Adjusting to the new role has taken its tole on Reese and he’s feeling like a shell of his former self. The weight of his new responsibilities as well as his grief is nearly crippling him. That is until he meets Sophie brings light to his world, much like Persephone brings spring to Hades.

Rather than spoil too much of the plot, I’ll say that this book uses one of my favorite tropes very well. Reese can barely function without Sophie, and I am always a sucker for the kind of story where the heroine is the only one that can truly see the hero and help him heal. I loved that Anna gave us a troubled hero that was honest with the heroine from the start about his struggles. He was willing to reach out for help and expose some of his deepest issues to her almost immediately. Sophie of course wants to help, but family and society expectations make that a huge risk for her.

Through much of the story Anna had me guessing about how these two were going to end up together. She did manage to make it seem truly impossible. By the time we got to the resolution I was relived that she managed to tie up the end of the series in a very neat package. I only had one complaint that some of that resolution came out of nowhere for me, so I had a bit of a hard time believing it. However, it was a minor plot piece and really did not detract from my overall enjoyment.

What more can I say about this book, other than I absolutely adored it? I had never heard of Anna Bennett prior to picking up this novel and now I am of course ready to devour everything else she has previously written. Overall, I’ve rated this 5 starts, the first 5 start book for me of 2020, and I’m excited to go back and read the first two books of this series. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Sarah MacLean or Tessa Dare, because the story felt very similar in tone to some of their recent offerings. While I don’t recommend staying up till 3 a.m. to finish the book like I did (hello book hangover), I do recommend you pick this novel up as soon as it’s released.

~ Lindsey

Posted!

I cannot even begin to explain how much I loved this book. Author Anna Bennett roped me in quickly with just the blurb. My mind kept trying to figure out how Reese and Sophie could pull off one night a week and not get caught in their era. This was handled by the author in a stunningly believable way.

The book is very emotional as it deals with what we know of today as PTSD, true abiding love, and deep emotional commitments to family.

Sophie is one of those women that people become instantly peaceful around. She has a graceful presence that draws people to her. This alone draws Reese to her. I do not think it mattered to him that she was beautiful as well till much later in the story.

Reese was a surprising character. I at first expected an alpha type man but he was much more than that. He had a soft intellectual side that was very expressive and romantic. This man may be tortured but he had depth to his character making him extremely interesting.

Because I am sentimental this story started me crying almost immediately. It was such a soft emotional feeling that just keep coming and going with the depth of feelings and emotions of this couple paired with the authors superb story line. I absolutely love books that bring out this depth of emotional.

I give it 5+ STARS for the delightful solution to Reese and Anna’s situation.

Sensual & Charming. WHEN YOU WISH UPON A ROGUE will give you the build up you desire, the adventure you didn’t know you craved and the happy ending to end all happy endings. This story had so many facets to it that I couldn’t put it down.

When Sophie Kendall starts looking for another place for her secret meetings for the Debutante Underground, she meets a grumpy, tired looking man, who she offers some tea and conversation to help him sleep. Henry Reese the Earl of Warshire hadn’t slept for weeks. Tormented constantly by the memories of war, by the lose of his brother Edmund, and leaving his brothers in the trenches behind, and returning home. When he wakes up after a good night of sleep he knows that he needs Miss Sophie Kendall and makes a deal with her. She can have the tailor shop every Friday evening for her meetings if she spends an evening a week with him. Scandalous for these times!

But Sophie is to be engaged, since her family is dire straits. Sophie must not be seen with him or her reputation would be destroyed. So she sets up some rules to keep herself and Reese from crossing the line. No Touching! No one must know. And she got the tailor shop for free. And no inquiries about what her use of the shop. But Sophie has always harbored romantic notions of falling in love before becoming engaged. Unfortunately marrying for love was a luxury that she and her family could not afford. But with the heat that simmers between them and every night they spend together is better than the last, will these two find love before she becomes engaged? You need to read this exquisite story.

If you are looking for a book that will give you all the feels, some adventures and makes you want to break out a fan then dive into WHEN YOU WISH UPON A ROGUE.

Gifted an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

When You Wish Upon a Rogue is incredibly sweet without ever becoming saccharine. Anna Bennett’s third Debutante Diaries installment has a gorgeous setting with some fairytale elements that easily captured my interest, so when you add in such likeable characters as Sophie and Reese it’s easy to see why I fell into this story with such ease.

By all outward appearances, Sophie Kendall is the proper society miss. She says and does what she should and without question she will protect her family’s wellbeing by marrying a marquess she doesn’t love. Underneath that, however, is a much more interesting woman. Sophie chairs a weekly meeting of women from all different classes who discuss The Debutante’s Revenge, a column Sophie secretly works on with her two best friends. Sophie has more spirit than most people would give her credit for and she’s a nurturer at heart. Her love of plants and gardening is something even a person with a black thumb like myself can enjoy reading about.

Chance brings Sophie into contact with Henry Reese, Earl of Warshire. The new earl is grieving and unable to sleep when they first meet, but something about her soothes him to the point where he’s able to rest for the first time in forever. Reese is a hero with a good heart and a troubled soul. When he and Sophie strike a bargain – she can use a property he owns to hold her meetings if she secretly meets with him once a week to help him sleep – it gives them time outside what they would ever be able to traditionally have to come to know each other. I loved their secret meetings and the almost fairytale-like setting of the manor garden Sophie and Reese bring back to life. The two of them are free to be themselves and open up in ways they never would normally, making their swift slide into love work for me.

However, sometimes love isn’t enough and that’s the case in When You Wish Upon a Rogue. The earldom Reese inherited needs a lot of help and there’s no way he can rush in and be the wealthy white knight her family requires at the moment. How things work out, I won’t spoil. I will say that the route the characters take is a bit predictable, but that didn’t bother me.

Sophie’s book is the third in the Debutante Diaries, but having not yet read First Earl I See Tonight or The Duke Is But a Dream I can safely say it reads well as a standalone. I did enjoy Sophie’s friendship with Fiona and Lily and the themes of women supporting other women were strong in this book, which I loved. With its lush background and endearing characters When You Wish Upon a Rogue is the perfect historical romance to escape with.

Thank you Netgalley and Saint Martins Press this is my first time reading a book by this author.

I adored this sweet relatable love story!

These ladies in a super fun club - debutantes club find their matches in super genuine ways!

I loved how Sophie and Reese found time alone. Reese has trouble sleeping and Sophie is enlisted to help him in exchange for a meeting place for her club.

The ‘sexy time’ scenes were very well done and not cringy at all! I also really enjoyed the character development! Also the internal and external dialogue where very well done! Sometimes it’s hard to get the best of both worlds.

When Sophie Kendall stumbles into the Earl of Warshire while looking for a meeting place for the Debutante Underground, Reese makes her a bargain she can't refuse. Sophie knows their relationship can't last. Her family circumstances have forced her to accept a proposal from another man. How can Reese and Sophie save her family and find their own happiness?

This was the third book in the series but it easily reads as a standalone. As soon as I started this book, I was pulled in right away! I love an intrepid heroine and found one in Miss Sophie Kendall. Reese is a gruff, reluctant earl who is chasing demons. The sparks and banter between the two made this an enjoyable read. I especially loved the scenes in the garden. So romantic! Sophie was instrumental in helping Reese face his past. And Reese was supportive of a cause near to Sophie's heart.

One reason I enjoy historical romance is seeing how characters deal with the social constraints of the day, such as an arranged marriage to save a family from ruin. This was a fun, romantic story with some steam. I only wish there was an epilogue with the couples from all three books.

I highly recommend this book to romance fans! Thank you to Saint Martin's Press Romance for an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A delightful story that showcases female power. Sophie is the last of the trio who started the Debutante’s Revenge to remain unmarried. Things are not going as she would have liked. She is a caring person. She is very intuitive about people and uses that knowledge to help others. Reese has demons that are keeping him awake. Meeting Sophie becomes one of the best things to ever happen to him. The author writes a spectacular story to shows these two falling in love as they discover all the ways they connect and help each other. It is a beautiful love story with really great characters.

It's been a long time when I read a book that made me sad and happy at the same time. The couple in this book are both hurting. He can't sleep because of bad dreams from his time in the army and the death of his brother. She is miserable because she is going to marry a man that she doesn't love in order for her family to avoid total poverty.
They meet accidentally and right from the start there seems to be a special connection. The more they meet the closer they get and even though they try to avoid it they are falling in love even as her betrothal date draws nearer.
Can Reese do anything to get Sophie to cancel her plans for a betrothal? Will Sophie be able to turn away from her secret meeting of enlightened women and become a woman married to a man who she has no feelings for.
When the happily ever after comes it is well worth the wait.
I received an advanced copy of this book.

This was a very interesting, well written book. Sophie and Henry were very loveable. You can definitely sense the chemistry between them. Sophie was a very independent woman. I really liked her. Henry was a troubled Hero. A bargain was made and what followed was funny and endearing to read. Well done to the author.

Although Fiona en Lilly (The Duke is but a Dream) both are already happily married, Sophie (the third of the Debutante's Revenge trio) isn't looking forward to her marriage. Because her father has created a lot of debts, she is forced to marry for money and not for love.
So in the remaining weeks before her life will be totally over, she commits herself to the Debutante's Revenge and their growing secret society of Debutante's Underground. In search of a better meeting place, she stumbles upon an abandoned place. But she is caught tress passing by the owner: the intriguing Henry Reese.
Reese is being plagued by insomnia and when Sophie manages to get hem to sleep for a few hours, he strikes a deal: she can use his abandoned store every week, if she stays the night with him after her meeting to help him sleep.
Sophie's agrees, although she must be careful not to ruin her reputation of course. So, in secret, she meets with Reese every week. And throughout the weeks, they realize that there is so much more than meets the eye. But when the time is up and Sophie must marry, can they let go of each other?
A wonderful read. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

I love a good Regency romance. Actually, I love to read everything so my tastes are all over the place. But a Regency romance fitted in between the thrillers and mysteries and biographies and war novels provides the perfect escape to a world where you can’t help but fall in love with the characters – even if they are rogues or scoundrels to begin with – and where you can’t turn the pages fast enough to get to that happy-ever-after ending, but at the same time want to stay in this world with these people forever.

When You Wish Upon a Rogue is the third entry in author Anna Bennett’s Debutante Diaries series, but it’s the first one I’ve read and it was just fine as a standalone. It’s sweet and delightful and will make you smile. It’s fast paced and deliberate at the same time, if that makes sense, giving you rich detail about the setting and characters so you feel you know them well and are right at home with them and feel their anxiety and pain. Reese is irresistible – tragic, grumpy, sad but a romantic at heart. Just what Sophie needs and wants in her heart of hearts. Except she’s already almost promised to another and Reese can’t have her. Even if he was suitable, which he is not. He’s definitely not a society favorite.

Another joy about reading a Regency romance is that you get to visit a time and place where women are constrained, restrained, and bossed around, but our heroine is generally strong willed, determined, adventurous and perseveres. We get to spend time in that place so different from our own, glad we’re not her and oh so happy for her victory in the end.

Sophie and Reese and all the supporting characters are rich and full and engaging, even if some of them are villains. Thanks to St. Martin’s for providing an advance copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed When You Wish Upon a Rogue and recommend it without hesitation. I can’t wait to read the next story in the series and go back and catch up with what I’ve missed.

Sophie Kendall and her two friends have been running the Debutante Underground for quite a while now. While searching for a larger place where the group can meet once weekly, Sophie stumbles upon an abandoned store and, as the door is open, starts to wander through when she meets a strikingly handsome man who makes a deal with her to spend one night a week with him in exchange for her assistance with his sleep.
Henry Reese, Earl of Warshire, has been back from the war for months and, is haunted by the deaths of his older brother and his best friend. Every time he sleeps, he has nightmares about not being able to prevent their deaths.
Something about Sophie soothes him.
Sophie is in a quandry. Her and her friends write The Debutante's Revenge in the newspaper every week and, must do it in absolute privacy. No one can find out what they are doing or who is doing it. She is also having feelings toward Reese. Feelings she can't afford as she is to be engaged to a man who is paying off her alcoholic father's gambling debts and, forcing her into a marriage of HIS convenience!
Can these two finally find the happiness they both need? Or, will the best laid plans go awry?

Miss Sophie Kendall is the third member in a secret group of high society women who are behind the scandalous and titillating newspaper column known as the Debutante’s Revenge where all manner of women’s true desire from their men are discussed. Sophie heads up the meeting of their secret society called the Debutante Underground where they discuss the relationship subjects that end up in the newspaper articles. While searching for a new place to hold their meetings in a seemingly unused building, Sophie encounters Henry Reese, Earl of Warshire, who has desperately been trying to find a sleep without the nightmares that plague him from wartime military service.

Reese suffers so much from the horrors of war and loss of compatriots so that every time he closes his eyes, the terrorizing nightmares return. After what seems like a magic potion from Sophie and her soothing presence, Reese makes a bargain with this intriguing young woman. She can use his building if Sophie will help Reese get more nights of desperately needed rest. Reese has only recently become the Earl after the sudden loss of his brother so he is grieving while trying to reestablish the household.

Sophie and Reese develop a strong relationship going from mutual attraction to something much more; however, she must wed another man who has rescued her useless father from his mountain of debts bringing the family to near ruin. Reese’s own financial situation is not at it’s best because of his brother’s mismanagement so he cannot offer Sophie financial security.

This Regency Romance is third in the Debutante Diaries series, but can be read as a standalone. Readers who enjoyed the previous books as well as historical romances set in the backdrop of London Society where a young woman is subject to the strict social mores of the time and they might be subverted in creative ways will like this story.

3.5 stars

This was a charming (and a little steamy) historical.
I enjoyed getting to know Sophie and Reese and loved their almost instant connection to each other. Their interactions ranged from sweet to very steamy and I wanted to see them to find a way to be together.

While the author does not explicitly tell us when this takes place, there are clues that tell us it is in the early 1800/1810's based on Reese discussing his service in the Infantry. Given that, the author does a good job of painting the struggle that Sophie faces given her family's situation.

When You Wish Upon a Rogue is a fun and entertaining read that makes me what to go back and read the first two books in the series, but there were several places where I found myself scratching my head. For one, Sophie seemed to have an extreme about of freedom for an unmarried lady of her social status. This freedom led to several other things that I found surprising regarding some of Sophie and Reese's interactions. The second issue for me was the blending of women of various social standings blending in a social situation.

This is a piece of fiction, so the things that seemed out of place are things that I have to try to let go as artistic license. Ms. Bennett is a newish author to me and based on this book I would be interested in reading more of her work.

This was a well-written, entertaining book. Sophie enjoys being independent, but her family's fortunes are in dire straits and she is expected to marry to solve them. Harry encounters Sophie one evening and finds her to be intriguing and different from anyone else he knows. They make a bargain to spend one evening a week together and find themselves more and more drawn to each other as time passes. The story was interesting and fast-paced. I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed this book and would read other books by this author.

I really enjoyed Sophie and Reese's story. Sophie is unconventional. She is in charge of a small secret group of women who discuss a weekly column. While searching for a place to hold the meetings, she finds Reese. There are those who think they are trying to undermine society with their discussions at the meetings, so they keep everything secret, including the members names. Reese has so many things that haunt him and he barely sleeps. When he meets Sophie, she helps him sleep. So, he agrees to let her hold meetings in his building if she will spend one night a week with him. As they spend time together, the closer they become. But, she has promised to marry another man and won't be able to continue seeing him or having the meetings. How can they let each other go? They love each other, but if she doesn't marry another man, her father could go to debtor's prison. What will they do?

I was so completely enchanted by this delicious story that I read it in one sitting! Sophie and Reese are incredibly endearing and charming, and they epitomize the idea of romance, devotion, and love.

Feeling pressured to save her family from financial ruin, Sophie has resigned herself to marry money without love, but doing the right thing becomes increasingly difficult when she meets the tortured and penniless Reese.

*
I liked Sophie’s independent nature, but I wish she had the balls where it mattered to stand up to her useless parents.

It doesn’t take long for both Reese and Sophie to openly admit their attraction to each other, so there is fantastic tension as they can’t act on it.

The book spends plenty of time lingering in their presence, without it all being about sex, but I wasn’t always convinced that their attraction wasn’t mostly about the physical and not being allowed to be with each other, than actual falling in love.

Very easy read, felt fresh, at times a bit syrupy sweet and dramatic, had me engaged, but lacked that extra to have me commit to 4 stars.

3.75 stars

This is book 3 in the series but can be read as a stand alone.
This is Sophie's story. She has always been the one who is most level headed, proper and logical of the 3 girls. So this book is totally out of character for her. She is troubled because she has to marry a man she doesn't love to save her family.
Reece was a Major in the army. He receives a letter telling him he must come home, his brother has died and he is now the Earl. Just as he is ready to leave his regiment, they are attacked and he loses many of the good men he feels responsible for.
Two troubled and unhappy souls who are looking for solace and find one another.
I enjoyed this story. I felt there were a few inconsistencies in the book. He had no money to help Sophie but he owned the property she was using for her meetings. Why not sell it? And this scenario of her spending 1 night a week with him would never had happened during that time period. But it made for an interesting story. It allows the time to see the relationship build between the two main characters
So 41/2 stars rounded up to 5.
I want to thank Netgalley for the chance to review this book.