Love is a Rogue is the first in a new series by Lenora Bell. Lady Beatrice is a book-lover who has not had the easiest life simply because there were complications when she was born. She feels that she has nothing to offer any man, but Wright sees beyond the physical to her heart, to her soul, to find the real Beatrice. The author really understands and puts into words the feelings that we all have when we struggle with our self-esteem.

My review on this superb romance novel will be published in a forthcoming issue of Booklist which is why I can't post it here.

Poor Beatrice, daughter of a Duke and slightly disfigured lives in a world of books and words. She does not participate in life but lives on the perimeter hiding behind ferns at balls and reading. Ford is a ship’s carpenter who is working on the family estate until his next assignment comes through. He is big and brawny and handsome and quite confident. How he helps Beatrice come out of her shell and realize her worth is a wonderful tale. A lovely read, sure to make you smile!

Lady Beatrice spends the summer at her brother’s estate in Cornwall alone from family to work on her etymological dictionary. She has decided to remain a spinster rather than give in to her mother’s insistence she marry well. When she was born, the tools used in her birth caused palsy on one side of her face. She was ostracized at school and was raised to believe she was never good enough by her parents. The problem? Ford, the handsome-and-he-knows-it son of the estate carpenter is renovating the estate and besides the annoying noise, she can’t keep her eyes off of him.

A flimsy reason soon places them both in London. She inherits a bookshop and he ends up renovating it too. I enjoyed the Lady Knitters, a group of women with secrets, and their quest for equal (or any) rights. Mostly they seemed a set-up for future books. Which brings me to mention my confusion. This was number one in a series but I could tell I was obviously missing something from previous books. Her brother the Duke was newly married and off on his honeymoon and was actually missing, her brother Rafe (who also seemed to be aware of a Lady Knitter) had something to do with it and he had a mysterious limp the reader seemed should know why, a group of Dukes mentioned at the end, and even the author of a series of books mentioned frequently, Daphne Villeneuve, obviously was or will be part of a storyline somewhere. I see I should have read the previous series first. I found all of these hints at past and future books distracting and annoying.

The twist of the Lady and the carpenter was a refreshing change in social standing. Ford was more supportive of strong and independent women than many men are today.