Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Daniele

A Rogue of One’s Own is the fabulously entertaining follow up to Evie Dunmore’s Bringing Down the Duke, but it can definitely be read as a standalone novel. With characters that leap off the page, it will keep readers captivated long into the night.

Lady Lucie has devoted her life to the suffrage movement and women’s rights. She feels so passionate that she has sacrificed her own happiness, but she is elated to have the financial backing to purchase a portion of a major publishing house to further the reach of her message. However, things do not go as planned when Lord Ballentine sweeps in and buys the majority share. Lucie and Tristan have history. Their mothers were very close friends, but Tristan has become everything Lucie despises about the male-centered social construct. He has quite the reputation as a womanizer and living his life without a care in the world, but, little known to Lucie, he has carried a torch for her since childhood. When he makes an indecent proposition in exchange for the majority, she is insulted but also cannot deny her attraction. This oil and water pair must learn to work together in business and personal matters alike.

I like Lucie a lot. She is feisty, full of conviction, and not so unlike women of the twentieth century. She is realistically flawed and relatable. Tristan is much deeper than his frivolous façade would suggest. Even though he is completely unlikable when introduced briefly in Bringing Down the Duke, here he grew on me, and I now find him quite endearing. Is he perfect? Heck, no, but readers learn his motives and how he has also been a victim of society and his father’s cruelty. Lucie’s friends do make appearances throughout the book, and they are always great fun. The other characters, including parents and Lucie’s cousin Cecily are not very likable, but they do play important roles within the story.

My problem with this book is the virgin/rogue trope. It is used to show the vulnerabilities and shortcomings of Lucie and Tristan and their growth as individuals and as a couple, but I wish there was some other way to convey it. That said the chemistry between the characters is palpable, the sex scenes sizzle, and the banter between Lucie and Tristan is marvelously smart and witty. Overall, it is a very satisfying historical romance. I recommend A Rogue of One’s Own to any romance reader looking for well researched history, snappy dialogue, engaging characters, and an intense romance.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

This review will go live on The Blogger Girls on September 9, 2020.

Lady Lucie Tredmore is one step closer to control one of London’s major publishing house, which is part of the plans from her band of Oxford Suffragists. They plan to release the report of how women are suffering because of the Married Women’s Property Act. Unfortunately, one rake stands on their way, her childhood nemesis, Lord Tristan Ballentine…

I am always a bit leery with enemies-to-lovers trope … because for me to believe in the change from “enemies” to lovers, well the romantic development has to be very convincing. Part of what charmed me about Dunmore’s debut, Bringing Down the Duke (2019), was reading (and believed wholeheartedly) the change of heart from Duke of Montgomery, in the process of falling in love with Annabelle.

Now, as separate characters, I enjoyed Lucie and Tristan, her more than him. Lucie is a heroine that I admire. She believes in the Cause and she marches in her own drum. Lucie stands tall against the male counterpart, and she challenges the “traditional” notion of marriage. But Lucie also shows vulnerabilities, especially when she tells Annabelle about being jealous and worry that marriage has changed her friend. Lucie is not perfect and her heart does ponder… and that’s make her wonderful.

Tristan is one of those rakes that hide secrets of his own; that what he shows to the tons of society and to the women are façade of what he is truly, inside. Tristan writes a collection of romantic poetry, for God’s sake *laugh*. He has admired Lucie from early on, but Tristan also needs to help his mother from his ruthless father, and he may hurt Lucie in the process.

Unfortunately, the romance between Lucie and Tristan failed a little, in my own humble opinion. Yes, there were tensions between them, quite delicious sparkly tensions… I swear, almost halfway through, I was almost screaming to my kind, “KISS EACH OTHER SILLY ALREADY, FFS!”

However, I felt that Dunmore spent more time in that built-up tension, or in Lucie and Tristan as characters of themselves, but not enough in the “romance”. I felt that when they finally got together, there weren’t enough time about them as a couple. Then there was the family drama that followed them. I guess it felt like missing that intimate ‘bond’, one that made me root for them at all cost.

I am rounding my rating up, though, because the whole book is still a good sequel. The historical context of British women’s fight for equality, mentions of real-life historical figures (there’s even a cameo from Oscar Wilde!), they all make a wonderful reading material. I am definitely in for the next book – look’s like it will be Hattie’s

Thank you Berkley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review! For my first historical romance I was really in love with this book! I thought Evie did an incredible job with her writing. The sexual tension was jumping off the pages! I loved everything about it!

This bookstagram-beloved feminist historical romance series was poised to be one of my new favorites, but there are some challenging topics in this second entry that I don’t know if I can get past. This review will touch on some major plot points that I found necessary to discuss. CW: white supremacy/colonialism & homophobia.⭐️
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In A Rogue of One’s Own, Anabelle and the gang are still working for the Cause, and in this second novel we pivot to Lucie, perhaps the most outspoken of them all. Lucie is a delightful, strong-willed woman who is more than happy to call our hero out on his nonsense throughout the book. There is more focus on the friends in this novel than in the previous, which is a huge plus, and the nuances of these women working around their society positions to advance the Cause were each crafted in a unique and interesting way.
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This book is billed as enemies to lovers, but frankly, the waters are muddy. It was never quite clear when the turn was made or why. Childhood nemeses to friends-with-benefits, maybe? There are a few other minor plot points that didn’t quite follow the thread either, which made for a fairly confusing reading experience.
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This story could have benefitted from sensitivity readers. First, it’s revealed that Tristan has a tattoo of a naked woman based on the Hindu god Shiva, from his time fighting in Afghanistan and India. There’s colonialism in historical romance (another topic for another day), and then there’s….this. Aarya on Goodreads has put in the labor and energy to detail exactly why this is not ok, and I highly encourage you to go check out their review. Second, the villain turns out to be the one (fictional) gay character, and this smacks of homophobia. It feels like a clumsy attempt at representation that takes way too many missteps and ends up casting the villain as evil *because* he is gay, then takes away the agency from one of our main female characters at the same time. It’s a shame that an otherwise fine story chose to lean so heavily on these two problematic plot points, and I can’t award this more than one star. ⭐️
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Thank you to @netgalley and Berkley for this #gifted ARC in exchange for my honest review.

​Following a stellar debut, Evie Dunmore does it again with a sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance in A Rogue of One's Own. Fans of Bringing Down The Duke will find much to love about Dunmore’s new release: a strong Lady, a clever Lord, lots of British politics, and the tell-tale sardonic humor that seems to follow Dunmore’s characters through every scandal.

We meet our heroine, Lady Lucie Tedbury, in the aftermath of her friend Annabelle’s recent scandal. As Annabelle attempts to repair the damage done to high society by her mere existence, Lady Lucie has been hard at work gathering funds and supporters for the purchase of a publishing house. Just as she closes the deal, she finds out the business is majority owned by notorious rake, Lord Ballentine, a family friend from Lucie’s long left behind past.

As Lucie attempts to find a way to majority ownership so she can publish a damning report on marital abuse in the upper classes, she finds Lord Ballentine and his perfect jawline at every corner, blocking her progress. As the two are forced to work together, they find that the tension between them is not purely business.

Dunmore does her sophomore work justice, and I enjoyed it greatly - she has a reader in me in her next novels for sure. That being said, I have to mention that there are serious representation issues to grapple with. While I cannot speak to how offensive the South Asian representation is, it felt wrong to me, and those with voices I’d like to amplify on this issue can be found here: (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3299721565?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1)

As a bisexual reader, the introduction of Arthur was welcome, only to follow the pattern of so many queer characters before him: a villanous threat to the heroes of our story, over petty jealousy and nothing else. While I see that Dunmore does try a fresher take in revisiting Arthur later on, it felt like a hollow reminder of how Arthur’s mere existence in the novel serving a plot point and nothing else.

Still, as a bisexual reader, I adored the way Dumore approached Tristan’s sexuality, which she does clarify here: (https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1880632-is-tristan-bisexual-that-would-be-so/answers/1034901-hi-laura-thanks-for#)

Her treatment of Tristan as a man who experiences attraction to his own gender and others as a small thing, but a distinct thing, brought joy to this bisexual reader in its non-chalance and ability to find into the story as nothing but the truth. This queer reader was very put off by the treatment of Arthur, but glad of Tristan’s. I am willing to give Dunmore another opportunity to do characters like Arthur justice in the future.

Fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope will not be disappointed by this one, where at every turn angotonism and impulse follow the characters through bad decisions and worse solutions. The tension is made more palpable given Lucy’s strong character and standing as a leader of the women’s right movement. A less skilled author would have found it hard to wade through the politics of consent and HEAs that are, well, equal, given Lucy’s politics. But this reader found Dunmore’s treatment of romance tropes matched with progressive politics to be handled deftly. Dunmore’s historical romance is romance with a bite - sexy fluff and smut intertwined with hard-boiled policy and etiquette in a way that seasoned writers find difficult.

This historical romance novel was predictable in its storytelling, which had me less focused on the story and more on how problematic it was. 21st century authors should be aware of cultural sensitivity, diversity inclusion, and completeness of world-building by now. Even in historical fiction! The story centers around two white cis heterosexual characters, which was fine. However, what’s not okay is to make a villain out of the only LGBTQ character, have the only BIPOC character be a valet with no other backstory or personality, and fetishize/other Indian culture. These issues made it through way too many people from the author to publication for them to not be caught and changed.

I loved this feminist historical romance even more than the first in the series! Sparks fly when Lucie, a steadfast suffragist, meets Lord Tristan, a scoundrel, again as adults. Their enemies to lovers story is heftier due to the social issues (women's rights, British society rules, parental disapproval, etc.), which are handled really well. Their chemistry is steaming hot and their relationship woes entirely believable. I fell a little in love with Tristan. And the cat too! Highly recommended!

3.5⭐

Summary
Lucie and her suffragists finally scraped enough money together to buy majority ownership of a publishing house and use it to in a coup against Parliament. But when her nemesis Lord Ballentine steps in and buys the other half, all their plans fall apart.
Lord Ballentine has his own reasons for owning the publishing house, but he agrees to give Lucie majority on one condition - one night in his bed.
As the two try to outmaneuver each other, they learn there is "truth in what the poets say: all is fair in love and war…"

Overview
➸ POV: 3rd Person, Lucie & Tristan's POVs

➸ Lucie Tedbury: Spinster, Closed-off, Leads the Oxford suffragists, Trying to buy a print house

➸ Tristan Bellentine: 2nd Son to Earl of Rochester, Soldier in the British Army, Spent summers at Lucie's family estate, New heir to the Earldom after his brother passed away

➸ Content Warnings: Cheating, Abuse (including physical abuse of a child), Sexism & Misogyny, Death of a loved one, Animal death/abuse, Mental illness (undefined), Controlling & Manipulative behavior, PTSD

My Thoughts
While I overall enjoyed this follow up to Bringing Down the Duke, but I had some mixed feelings. In general, these weren't my favorite characters of the series, but I thought the romance was fantastic.

Since I have so many feelings I'm going to do this in list format. First up...

What I Liked
1. I love how Evie Dunmore addresses sexism and misogyny in this series. She weaves real life events and articles and people throughout this which adds an extra layer of authenticity to the story. It really brings everything to life and packs a massive punch.
2. I LOVED the chemistry between these characters! I'm always down for an enemies to lovers romance and this one was so well done. This romance was so slow burn and it had me sweating. I definitely had all the butterflies every time these two interacted. The author really brought their connection to life.
3. One of my favorite thing about Evie Dunmore's romance is how high stakes her romances feel. One thing about romance is you know how the story ends. So sometimes the drama or conflict can feel manufactured. But that is definitely not the case with this series! I honestly had no idea how these characters were going to make their relationship work.

What I Didn't Like
1. I didn't care for the games they played with each other... Tristan propositioning Lucie made me super uncomfortable and I just felt weird about them getting together that way. Since we're inside Lucie's head we aware of the fact that she actually wanted him, but it was still weird that she caved as an exchange for something.
2. And in general... I didn't like Lucie. I was so frustrated with her actions for the majority of this book. She was so quick to judge and snap on everyone around her. Between her accusing Annabelle and then yelling AWFUL things at Tristan, I was just over her. She wasn't without good qualities nor was she completely unbearable, but she's definitely my least favorite of the group.
3. While I liked the slow burn romance, the pacing of this was a little off in my opinion. This story took awhile to get going for me and I struggled to stay invested during the first quarter. However I will say the last half of this absolutely flew by!

Overall I enjoyed this sequel and LOVE this series. I can't get enough of Evie Dunmore's writing and I absolutely love this female friend group! While I had a couple of issues this particular book, I can't begin explain how excited I am for Hattie's story!!

1.7/5 ☆ = 2-

A Rogue of One's Own follows Lucie, the Oxford Suffragettes' leader who plans to acquire London's leading publishing houses to commence a coup against Parliament. What she did not expect was a nemesis (Tristan Ballentine) from the past who has the power to ruin all of her plans and hard work. The price for preventing Lord Ballentine from ruining her plan is outrageous - a night in her bed.

As I usually enjoy reading historical fiction, I expected nothing less of A Rouge of One's Own. A feminist novel following a suffragette? An enemies-to-lovers story? Count me in! Simply put, I was intrigued to see how this story would unfold. Maybe my expectations were too high since I did not find myself enjoying the story most of the time. In fact, I sometimes felt uncomfortable.

When reading historical fiction rom-coms, I don't expect there to be any representation of LGBTQ+ or BIPOC people. This book surprised me, yet not in a good way. Tristan has a servant, which (surprisingly not) is the only POC character in the entire book. And I wonder what happened to the POC suffragettes? The antagonist is a gay jealous ex as if the trope got any better since the ex was gay. Tristan's sexuality is not explored deeply, but having the villain be a jealous rejected queer is problematic. https://twitter.com/acosmistmachine/s...

You thought that was it? Nope. There's even racism in this. Check out Aarya's review here that explains the problem in better words than I ever could: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Moreover, the erasure of POC suffragettes made me a bit annoyed. The author had all the chances to include a better representation. After all historical fiction is just - fiction. Staying accurate to the time and place seems to always be an important factor, yet the author does not manage to address that POC suffragettes existed. Or at least better queer representation. I do feel the author tried to include the LGBTQ+ community but didn't do the proper research and rather tokenized it.

Moving on to some criticism, oh there are a few matters I want to discuss. Firstly, I didn't connect to any of the characters at all. To me, they all felt unauthentic and superficial. I didn't get to understand them, as they never stayed consistent throughout the book. Does Lucie go through some character development? In my eyes, she does not. To me, she stayed the same. She's extremely judgemental, and I get why she doesn't trust men, but it got to a point where her attitude was almost ridiculous. Tristan is told to be a misunderstood man, who always ends up in the spotlight of sexual scandals by the malicious gossip magazine. We're told his most of his encounters are just gossip, but then later told he participated in orgies and liked voyeurism (which is totally fine as long as there's consent). And then he decides to seduce Lucie into having sex with him. Like, what? It definitely felt gross to me. Of course, there was consent from each part, yet it was just so....uncomfortable. What are we, the readers, supposed to think? I personally never managed to really connect and understand the characters, as they never seemed consistent.

Secondly, the hatred between Lucie and Tristan came almost out of the blue. Maybe after the incident in the first chapter had something to do about it, but it didn't really explain why she hated him so much. Was it just because she had decided to hate all men? Yet, all her male figures in her life had been horrible to her. And that could be an explanation for her hatred of the male species. But does that make a good feminist, who's supposed to be advocating and fighting for equal rights?

Looking aside from the problematic misrepresentation and issues, was there something I liked in this book?

There was. The story and plot were entertaining. Some of the banters between Lucie and Tristan were fun. In fact, I found myself laughing at some points while reading. I imagine this book was supposed to be a cheesy rom-com. I would have enjoyed it too. Unfortunately, some problematic factors ruined it all for me.

I am not invalidating all reading experiences with this book. You are allowed to enjoy reading this book. I only wish you, the reader, will think of the problematic factors and set the author accountable for these harmful misrepresentations. Hopefully, you'll acknowledge that this novel is not perfect. It has some good parts, but also some problematic parts. Do not paint this book to be perfect, is all I ask.

I really thought I would enjoy this book. Which was the reason why I requested the DRC of this book. Yet I found myself disappointed. It was not as I expected. I don't think I will read any of this author's other works. Hopefully, we can all learn something from this.

Over and out. -Nora <3

I really enjoyed this one! Even more than the first.

A huge thank you to Berkley Pub, NetGalley and the author for my advanced copy.

What I Loved-

The Dual Perspectives- Dual Perspectives in books is my jam. I love seeing both sides of a story especially in a romance.

The Characters-
Lucie is my new book BFF. I love her so much. She was a very well rounded character. Strong, funny, passionate, rebellious ( for the time). Someone I really enjoyed reading about.

Tristan- The image of this man inside my head is so sexy y'all lol. I have to say I do like an imperfect love interest. Tristan and Lucie together was comedy gold. I loved their banter. The hate to Love Trope was really well executed between them.

Boudicca- Somewhat of a minor character but meow. So adorable. The backstory of this little fur ball touched my heart.

The Steam- Loved! It was perfect. Nothing over the top or ridiculous.

The History- This book takes place during the British Women's Suffrage Movement and makes me so thankful to be a woman in today's world with many personal and political freedoms.

Why This Book Lost a Star-

The writing style. I struggled through the first half of this book. I did a lot of picking up and putting down. ( tends to happen when I'm working and don't have the time I would like to read) This made the story drag for me a bit. Once I got into the flow of the writing all was good though.

Overall- great book. I definitely recommend this to other readers and am curious to see what this author does with her next book. I'll be reading it.

Evie Dunmore has done it again! A rogue of one's own was delightful and a fun romp from beginning to end. In choosing to follow Lady Lucie in this book Dunmore explores the thankless work that women's suffrage leaders did to further the cause for all ladies. A devilish mix of sex, politicing, and love that is meant to be any reader will find something to smile at while reading this book.

To say that Bringing Down the Duke was one of my favorite books of 2019 would be a drastic understatement. I bought it for every woman reader in my family for Christmas. I absolutely loved Evie Dunmore’s debut novel and the book hangover that followed was so real!

I have been checking Netgalley weekly to see when the next book in the series will be available and the second it was out, I downloaded it. I knew I would be reviewing this one in September so I had plenty of time to read it but I couldn’t help myself!

I started reading it in June and was done in 2 days times. It was so good and now I being the long long long wait for the next book in the series! Evie Dunmore—-you are my favorite romance writer! Please excuse me while I fangirl and gush over this book!

Summary
A lady must have money and an army of her own if she is to win a revolution—but first, she must pit her wits against the wiles of an irresistible rogue bent on wrecking her plans…and her heart.

Lady Lucie is fuming. She and her band of Oxford suffragists have finally scraped together enough capital to control one of London’s major publishing houses, with one purpose: to use it in a coup against Parliament. But who could have predicted that the one person standing between her and success is her old nemesis, Lord Ballentine? Or that he would be willing to hand over the reins for an outrageous price—a night in her bed.

Lucie tempts Tristan like no other woman, burning him up with her fierceness and determination every time they clash. But as their battle of wills and words fans the flames of long-smouldering devotion, the silver-tongued seducer runs the risk of becoming caught in his own snare.

As Lucie tries to out-manoeuvre Tristan in the boardroom and the bedchamber, she soon discovers there’s truth in what the poets say: all is fair in love and war (summary from Goodreads)

Review
Of all the suffragettes in Bringing Down the Duke, Lucie was the more formidable. She lived for The Cause and the thought of her finding romance was almost laughable. When I saw that the second book was going to be about Lucie, I was like oh dear Dunmore has bitten off a big task with that one as a follow up to such a successful debut. But I need never have worried because this second book was amazing and Lucie’s story and quest for romance was even more swoon worthy than I anticipated.

Tristan was truly quite the rogue who wasn’t about conforming to daily life. His reputation was scandalous and while Lucie had known him since childhood, her loathing of him was no small thing. I loved watching Tristan strip back the layers of Lucie’s prickly exterior one attempted seduction at a time. But what I loved most I think was how Tristan was far from the golden boy but not such a bad boy as to be seen as unworthy of Lucie’s affections. He was a complicated figure but at the end of the day he had a good heart even if at times he could be stubborn or high handed.

Lucie was truly the shrew. She was not having any of Tristan’s attempts at seduction, because it would go against everything she held dear, but the more she resisted, the more he pushed to win her heart. There were plenty of times where I was like come on Lucie just give in, but I loved that the author really capitalized on their chemistry and drew out their romance.

Dunmore is an incredible writer and has written modern romances wrapped in Victorian goodness. I absolutely love this series and can’t wait to read more books by her! She is firmly in my auto buy category!

Book Info and Rating
Kindle Edition, 368 pages
Expected publication: September 1st 2020 by Berkley
ASIN B082H39QNK
Free review copy provided by publisher, Berkley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 5 stars
Genre: historical fiction, romance

I just love Evie Dunmore's writing! This book had me laughing, swooning and even tearing up a few times.

I loved getting to know Lucie more and what brought her to the suffrage movement in the first place. She is such a fantastic character and I really admired how dedicated she was to the cause. I knew from meeting her in the first book that it was going to take quite the hero to make her fall and Tristan totally did that.
Tristan was someone who judging from his reputation alone you wouldn't think he would be the one for Lucie. But there is more than meets the eye and the two of them just bantered and antagonized each other until they finally exploded.
One thing I really liked about these characters was their ability to admit when they were wrong and apologize. I don't think we see that enough and it is always refreshing to see.

Of course I also really loved the history of the women's suffrage movement that was woven into the story. One of my favorite things about reading is learning something new, and I definitely did while reading this book.

Overall this was such a great historical romance and I will read anything Evie Dunmore puts out next!

Edit: After posting my original review, it was brought to my attention that there are some problematic elements having to do with Tristan’s tattoo and the meaning tied to the Hindu faith. This is not an area I am very familiar with so I did not realize the problematic issues while reading. I have since read reviews from own voices reviewers on this issue and better understand. Overall I still really enjoyed this book and the love story of Tristan and Lucie, but I did want to. take that situation into account.

3 This is a well-written story that does have some issues with using a cultural reference. This usage takes away all the clear focus of what amazing work women did for the vote.

When these things happen, they take away from the tale.

I quite liked Bringing Down the Duke which was Dunmore’s debut. I did not expect to like it so much because I struggle with HR at times and was happily surprised when I enjoyed it so much. I was still wary about going into Rogue because again, I struggled with HR & have been in a slump. But, WOW I loved this one. I liked it even more than Duke. I adored Lucie & Tristian’s hate to love story. Just on some level I think that the names Lucie & Tristian look good together.

Anyways, Lucie and Tristian knew each other and kids and now are battling over a printing press. Lucie wants to print her suffragette materials while Tristian wants to print his own things.

It’s a grand time as they both try to deny feelings for each other and have SO MUCH BANTER. I was laughing out loud at multiple parts and just smiling for much of the novel.

I also appreciated how this novel looks at the duality of people, specifically women. Lucie is struggling with the idea of how she will maintain her identity as a suffragette if she is with a man and seeing her friend Annabelle married, is a little judgey. Meanwhile, Tristian is a rogue who isn’t really a rogue who was a solider and writes poetry. His dad is basically the blueprint for toxic masculinity and tried to literally beat it out of Tristian. I loved both our characters so much. Tristian has an earring and a tattoo, and I was here for it.

I will say I had a few minor complaints, the only gay character is sort of a villain, and I low key thought that the author was hinting at Tristian being bisexual, but nothing is really confirmed. Oscar Wilde flirts with him which was legit such a fun moment. My other critiques are minor spoilers, but dang this novel was close to perfect for me. I laughed, I teared up at the end, and I adored Lucie and Tristian together. There are also like no people of color in this novel except for Tristian’s valet.

I loved how this novel explores burnout and fighting so hard for a cause that it becomes your entire life. Which is something many activists feel.

Plus, so many cats and cute callback moments to popular literature.

I enjoyed Evie Dunmore’s Bringing down the duke and hence was excited to read the sequel. Thank you Netgalley for providing the earc in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed Dunmore’s writing and the characters of Tristan and Lucy. The suffragette movement, the trials they faced, the friendships, their bravery were all beautifully depicted and I loved getting to know more about it. The romance was excellent, it was well developed and I was rooting for the Tristan and Lucie to be together.
This should have been a five star read. And the reason it’s not is because I was made very very very uncomfortable with the way colonialism was brushed over, with the way Indian deities were represented and with how Indians were represented in this book. The fact that Tristan has a tattoo that is inspired from Lord Shiva but is a nude dancing woman with four arms, the Indian valet who came to London to study but is instead made to be a valet, how there’s little to no representation of PoC other than Avi, Tristan’s valet are just a few examples. I thought I was being too sensitive but then I chanced upon the review by @aarya which is I think the topmost review on goodreads and that gave me some relief because I was not the only one feeling it. I think she does a much better job of explaining why this is problematic (please read her review)
So I am going with 2.5/5 stars for this book.

I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher - thanks!

ALL THE FEELS! I absolutely loved this book. I was worried it wouldn't be as good as Bringing Down the Duke, but it was! Dunmore is such a master. Her characters are wonderful, the story carefully constructed, with just the right number of twists and turns. With a lot of romance, the inevitable conflict often feels convenient, without real reasons for characters to act as they do. In A Rogue of One's Own, motivations are clear, the conflict is real, and I really felt their struggle. And THE ROMANCE. It's sublime. Your heart will be breaking out of your chest, and it's just the right heat level, in my opinion. The setting is equally wonderful. It's set in the time of the suffragette movement in Oxford, with strong, empowered women, fighting for women's liberation. It's so unique compared to most other historical romance, and gives a sense of underlying conflict throughout. Love, love, loved this book, didn't want it to end, and can't wait for the next one!

A case where the sequel is better than the original. Really enjoyed Lucie and Tristan. This book was a fun one because I was trying to figure out how they could be together at the end of the book with a HEA wedding, when it goes against everything Lucie stands for. She completely doesn’t believe in giving over all her property and self to a man when she marries, which is what her suffragette movement is focusing on. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she didn’t just give in (ie marry Tristan), but that they were able to come up with a solution that kept them both respectable and allowed her her freedom.

This book also was definitely steamier than book 1. Which I always appreciate (obviously).

It is always fun in a novel with the main characters are at odds for reasons outside of their dynamic. In this case, they each want to own the newspaper for their own purposes, not to spite each other (although Lucie certainly thinks Tristan is trying to spite her at the beginning!). And with this unlikely partnership, they learn to respect each other’s goals and voice alternative methods and paths for the other person to get to their end goal.

As a fan of Evie Dunmore’s writing and first book, which we reviewed on the podcast Romance at a Glance, I was very happy to discover that this book was an excellent story as well. And just enough intrigue was dropped about Hattie’s suitor for me to be very excited for her book to come out.

McDreamy to McSteamy: McSteamy with a McDreamy heart

Classy to Nasty: Classy if pre-marital!

Hero rating: 🍆🍆🍆🍆

Heroine rating: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I adore a historical romance theme and Evie Dunmore did not disappoint with her second installment to "Bringing Down the Duke." I also love a juicy hate to love romance and Tristan and Lucy definitely brought some heat. Both characters have a tumultuous history with their families and the passion that runs deep inside of them ultimately brings them together in the end. Loved seeing Lucy and Tristan bring down their guards and come together in a way where they both reserved pieces of themselves and their Independence. Can hardly wait for the next book in the series!

Lady Lucy, a young woman with a high social background, has been living on her own since her father kicked her out of the house when she was 17. Thankfully one of her aunt’s left her some money which allows her to live comfortably, if not frugally. Lucy uses her independence to continue to fight for women’s rights. When her consortium finally gathers enough money to purchase a publishing house that prints a set of women’s periodicals their plans to use them for the Suffrage movement are foiled when the other half is sold to her nemesis, Tristan, Lord Ballantine. He has always gotten under Lucy’s skin, and now he is in her way! Their sizzling chemistry distracts her from her purpose, but as she gets to know him she is surprised at his hidden depths.

I didn’t think it was possible to like a book better than the first. I loved Bringing Down the Duke, but A Rogue of One’s Own? Even better! This series is set during the Women’s Suffrage Movement in England at the turn of the 19th century. Men held all of the rights over woman, considering them purchased when married. Lucy is determined to never get married but she needs society and their wealth and privilege to continue her fight. She has always considered Tristan to be a rake, believing all of the stories about his conquests. He certainly plays the part but as he discovers more about her world and how women are not ok with their treatment he is enraged on their behalf. This paragraph below, I hope doesn’t give anything away but explains why I liked this story so much.

“Until now, she had not been sure how her lover would respond to realities most people refused to see. Until now, she had not been entirely certain whether he would fall victim to the peculiar, selective blindness which afflicted so many otherwise perfectly sensible people when confronted with something ugly; whether he would claw for explanations, no matter how ludicrous, or would try to belittle away what unnerved him rather than face inconvenient truths.”

A ROGUE OF ONE’S OWN BY EVIE DUNMORE
Maybe it’s the time I’m living in right now, with what is going on in the US, but this quote struck me to the heart. Lucy fell in love because Tristan opened his eyes and could see her struggle and he was not going to stand by without supporting her. Oh, this was a powerful moment in the book for me, as it was probably meant to be.

I’m a particular fan of historical fiction and I’ll admit, I love a good romance. What makes this series different is the place in time, the depth the author goes to make the reader feel like this world is real, and some of the accurate historical notes she adds to the tale. A League of Extraordinary Women is in a league of its own; entertaining, educational, heartbreaking, and sizzling with heat. I recommend this series, and this novel whole-heartedly. It’s on my best list for the year so far. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest!