Still miserable after leaving Willa at the altar, Dom accompanies his friends, Kieran and Finn, and their wives to the home of a scandalous friend for a house party only to learn it is a set up to bring Dom face to face with Willa. The pair still want nothing to do with one another, but their attraction is still their below the surface. They want to keep their distance but the games at the party keep bringing them back together and forcing them to confront the past. Both learn the other is not who they thought they were but they come to understand that they love the person inside.

I have been waiting for this book since I read the first book in the series in August 2021 and it did not disappoint. While it can be read alone I do think that the first two books in the series are necessary to fully grasp Dom’s miserable state without Willa. I’d say a good 90% of this book is Dom groveling and I am here for it. He knows leaving Willa was wrong and he will do whatever is needed to earn her trust back and she, correctly, drags him through the coals.

I knew Dom well from his featured role in the past two books, but Willa this was the first time I truly got to meet Willa and I absolutely adore her. I like that she can hold her own against her brother and her own against Dom. I loved how Eva wrote both Dom and Willa as perfect reflections for each other, I was especially tickled that the first lines we hear from them are equally profane epithets. I loved that they both had to deconstruct how they perceived each other. Everything about them felt equal, which is something that I absolutely love to find in historical romances. I am just so happy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Rogue's Rules for Seduction: ★ ★ ★ ★ . 2 5

Eva Leigh (Last Chance Scoundrels, #3)

“It was ever thus,” she whispered. “You and I. Beside each other, evermore. Two shooting stars burning trails of fire across the sky.”

Tropes:
- Second chance
- Brother's best friend
- Forced Proximity
- Slow burn

After being jilted by Dom on her wedding day, Willa swears she wants nothing to do with him. Only years later, when she's trapped on an island with him & there's no way out, the secrets & tension between them just keep pulling, until finally it snaps.

It feels like we've come full circle... The very first scene in The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes is Dom leaving Willa at the altar, and we finally get to read their story! How surreal! I've been waiting for this book for so long & let me say this: it did not disappoint.

Dom–hard and coarse on the outside, thanks to his rougher upbringings, but a true heart of gold on the inside. The way he loved, adored, worshipped Willa is what every single woman dreams of & I, for one, want nothing less. Willa–doesn't care for the rules of society, and has always had that fiery lioness inside of her. Despite her attitude, she still cared for Dom & wanted to make sure he was taken care of, adored, and listened to him without judgement. I adored her character, and I was rooting for her the whole time.

The thing about second chance that I love is when the characters always remember the things they used to do and this book has that ("He used to love this dress"), but what I also loved was how much Dom & Willa continued to learn about each other this time around. It almost made me feel like it was good they didn't get married when they did, because they had this new time to discover each other. This book is definitely a slow burn, but when they get started, oh boy do they deliver. Dom is hot like fire, and Willa meets him right there.

Dom & Willa are the couple you just need to see together because it's so obvious they are meant to be. Despite all the time that's passed & all the secrets that they've hidden, there's something undeniable about them, that they just can't ignore. I love a good second chance romance, so seeing it in historical–another one of my absolute favorites–was such an amazing experience.

Eva Leigh delivers the conclusion of the Last Chance Scoundrels with such a bang, and it's a must-read for people who have loved this series! I'll certainly be reading other books from her because how could I not want more of this?

*ARC kindly shared by Netgalley for an honest review.

Finally! We have Dom and Willa’s story, which I’ve been eagerly awaiting since the first book in this series because I’m a sucker for second chance romances. Happily, “A Rogue’s Rules for Seduction” lived up to my high expectations and was a satisfying read; it’s above and beyond the standout of this trilogy.

Given the history between the two main characters, you might assume they’d be quick to fall into old patterns, but this is a slow burn. It all takes place during a house party on a remote island, a charming setting that forces interaction. The story builds to some particularly spicy scenes for the genre.

I loved rough-around-the-edges Dom, as well as Willa, who seemed a little too much like Celeste, but she is a likable character. During the slow burn, some more angsty scenarios would have been nice, such as jealousy, but there's little of that. Dom and Willa refuse to hurt each other if they can help it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, which I’d been hoping for!

Genre: historical romance
Scotland, Inner Hebrides, 1819

Nearly a year ago, Dominic Killburn left Lady Willa Ransom at the altar, aided by her brothers Kieran and Finn. The wake of the scandal left Willa fleeing to the Continent, Dom to the bottle, and the Ransoms to place an ultimatum on Kieran, Finn, and Dom to find brides within a year and settle down or be cut off from their inheritances. With Kieran and Finn now happily married (books one and two) all that remains is to patch up Dom’s broken heart. The brothers and their wives hatch a plan to bring Dom and Willa together at a house party in the Hebrides on an island for several weeks where they’ll have to face one another and work out their conflicting feelings.

I’ve been waiting for this one since reading its setup in Good Girl’s Guide to Rakes. The machination of the siblings to pull Dom and Willa together seemingly against their will is amusing, but a house party on an island so remote is the perfect setting. The moment they first see each other there are hurt feelings and throwing of porcelain and stubborn wills. Willa doesn’t understand why Dom jilted her (Reasons), but it’s been clear through three books that even despite Dom’s reasons, they weren’t yet ready to be together. In Rogues’ Rules we see their walls break down as they allow themselves to truly get to know one another.

This has really big "burn the world for you" energy and I love that. I love that this series is about strong women and the men that make them stronger, to find out who they truly are. It’s a testament to Leigh’s writing that the characters complement one another so well, that her “opposites attract” are such perfect pieces for one another, and the heroines are shining stars while the heroes are stalwart and loving.

I think my eyeballs are sweating from the heat of this one - Leigh gives us what we need. But Dom and Willa had to earn this the hard way, and I'll say it again, 2nd chance just hits better in historicals.

Thank you to the author, Avon and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

The third book in the series, while it can be read as a standalone I recommend reading the other two books to really getting the full glimpse of Dom and Willa's romance

CW: corporal punishment and toxic experience while at boarding school (past), family tensions, dom/sub (consensual kink)

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f historical romance
-second chance
-forced proximity
-house party
-meddling siblings
-sex cabin
-praise kink

Gosh have I been hyped for this book since I read book 1. This was forced proximity brilliance. The siblings forcing Willa and Dom together, and also giving us glimpses of their HEAs, honestly just smart and effortless.

I'm always a fan of a house party set up and this book does not fail. Willa is pissed, Dom wants to run away and they're stuck going to all of these events and usually sitting next to each other. This book could have put all of the blame on Dom (and he grovels trust me) but I appreciated how it made their issues also based on the fact that they didn't really know each other and how young they were.

Both Dom and Willa fall for each other all over again, while lusting hard. One step forward, two steps back at times that will have you screaming and wondering if these two can make it work. And then Dom ends up on his knees, a sex cabin might then be involved, some praise kink and honestly a lot of screaming on my behalf because whoooo does this book deliver on the steam and using it also to connect their intimacy and relationship.

Dom and Willa were such a match for each other and watching them both accept themselves and fall hard for the other was so lovely to see. Just horny for each other and kind of pissed about it because the people who most believe that Dom and Willa aren't getting back together are these two but gosh the pay off and how the epilogue brings it full circle.

I'm so sad this trilogy is over but now I just want to go reread it all over again.

Steam: 4

After dark memories from his past resurfaced, Dominic Kilburn left Lady Willa Ransom at the altar. Following a year abroad, Willa accepts an invitation to a house party, determined to move on with her life. But well-meaning family and friends have conspired to throw them together, and Willa and Dom are forced to face each other - and their demons.

This is the third book in the Last Chance Scoundrels series. I highly recommend reading the books in order because the payout for this couple is so much better when the reader is invested in how miserable Dom has been without Willa.

This book is delicious and, in my opinion, the best in the series! Willa covered up her pain from being jilted by leaving town. As the reader will come to find out, this is a coping mechanism for her. Dom, as evidenced in the previous books, is lost and aimless without Willa. She's the only woman who has ever held his heart, but he was afraid he didn't deserve her and panicked. There is a bit of a slow burn as the two attempt at first to avoid each other, and then begin to circle around trying to avoid their pull toward each other. The pining, fear, and emotional upheaval are all there; but thankfully Eva Leigh doesn't tease us forever. The wait is worth it when these two crash together, both sexually and emotionally.

And in perfect, beautiful Eva Leigh style: "who says there's only one way to love someone, only one way to be with them. This is about us. It's not about what we represent, or anybody's expectations. It's just you and me."

Tropes: Jilted, Class Difference, Brothers’ Best Friend/Best Friends’ Sister, Forced Proximity/House Party, Second Chance

Steam: 5+ (six very steamy scenes)

* I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

The way I am obsessed with this book! Dom and Willa were everything I wanted and so much more (I had expectations and this surpassed). 😍 A Rogue’s Rules for Seduction is the 3rd book in Eva Leigh’s Last Chance Scoundrels series. In book 1 of this series, Dom (the hero of this book) jilted his bride-to-be at the altar with the assistance of his 2 best friends (his bride-to-be’s brothers). After that mess, the 3 men were given an ultimatum by their families: find themselves “respectable” brides and settle down or risk being cut off. It’s been a year since the wedding-that-never-was and Willa and Dom find themselves thrown together at a friend’s house party on an isolated Scottish isle!

The story opens with Dom headed to the Scottish isle for a house party with his friends and their wives (one of which is his sister). He arrives and immediately sees Willa there, who is back from a year on the continent after he left her at the altar. Willa and Dom quickly realize they’ve been set up by their friends and family (his 2 best friends are her brothers) and are now stuck on the island together. At first they try to keep their distance but with their friends pushing them together, the party games, their adjacent rooms, and the weather…Dom and Willa can’t help but face their past.

“Whatever you demand, I’ll give it to you. Not to earn your forgiveness, but to give you back everything I stole from you that mornin’. You want me to go, I’ll go. You want me to make you come, I’ll do that. Everythin’ you want is yours.”

I loved this second chance romance! They start to realize that they weren’t ready for their wedding before and how they really didn’t know one another as well as they thought. Dom was born a commoner before his father became wealthy when Dom was a teen. After that he was sent to school with the ton’s children and picked on and bullied because while his family was now part of society, he always felt like an outsider to that crowd. Willa is an Earl’s daughter, she belonged to the ton, and was popular, and Dom never felt like he was deserving of her. He always looked at her as an aristocratic “Princess”, while he never really belonged. Willa starts to realize that he didn’t confide in her, his life was rougher and more brutal than he let on and she never knew the depths of his struggles.

The tension and angst between them was so good! Having to talk to one another and be around one another and deal with all that went down when he ran from their wedding. I loved all the house party games, the getting stuck in a cabin after bad weather, a scene they play out together that leads to more, and some tying up as well! 🥵🔥 This just was such a fantastic end to the series, I loved every minute of it, and enjoyed seeing the other couples as well! The epilogue was a great way to end the whole series.

“You’re my dream and my salvation and my torment. I want to claim you all for myself, and kill anyone who would touch you, but there’s blood on my hands and shame in my heart, and my penance is living without you.”

Thank you to the author and publisher (Avon) for an e-ARC. All thoughts in this review are my own. A Rogue’s Rules for Seduction is out April 25, 2023!

I started this series because of a tweet Eva Leigh posted about this book, so yeah, my expectations were high… and they were met, SO met. It was so freaking good!

Dom left Willa at the altar a year ago, and now her brothers want to reunite them so they’re forced to be on an island together for the foreseeable future. The meddling, the forced proximity, the tension, the unresolved feelings, the longing, the sexual tension… this book is a ticking bomb! Every interaction made me shake with nerves. Willa is a spitfire and I love her so much. She was stubborn, but can you blame her? I’d be, too, if I was jilted! And Dom. My heart. I knew there was a reason behind his actions and while I obviously think he could have told her, I understand why he didn’t. He was also so stubborn. They truly deserved each other.

We were promised good (and lots of) steam, and friends… we get it. It is AMAZING. It takes them a while to get there, which is understandable, but once they finally stop being in the idiots stage and jump to the lovers one… oh. Ooohhh. Thanks for your service, Eva Leigh. Will love you forever.

This trilogy is great and this book is the perfect conclusion! Truly recommended if you’re into historical romance or want to begin reading it!

Rating: 5/5
Steam level: Open door, +5 scenes, high level of detail

ARC provided by Avon and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

A Rogue's Rules for Seduction is the third book in the Last Chance Scoundrels series, and everything has been leading up to this! We have been dancing around Dom and Willa's romance for two books, making the payoff extra sweet. The setting of a house party on a private island makes it extra fun, as these two can't get away from each other.

I had one minor issue with the book, but it's not a big enough deal to take down the star rating. Simply put, their past felt too simple. There's such a big deal made about Dom calling off their wedding and we aren't given the reason in previous books. There's so much buildup for the ultimate reason being that he panicked. There could have been so much more drama in their backstory, but alas.

Along with Dom and Willa's romance (which was great) we also catch up with some former couples. The main romances from the previous two books feature prominently, as the characters are related to Dom and Willa. We also get some cameos of character from books farther back. Overall, I recommend this book and series, and will be reading whatever Eva publishes next!

A Rogue's Rules for Seduction is... good. But a good book in a heretofore great series doesn't shine as brightly as it would under other circumstances. In that sense, RULES is hoisted by its own petard -- something of a victim of self-created circumstance.

Part of the problem is the execution of the primary trope, second-chance romance. The series' inciting action involves Dominic leaving Willa at the altar, and we've seen the big guy miserable in each book since. Willa, meanwhile, hied off to the continent to escape high society and possible run-ins with the man who broke her heart. When their loved ones conspire to get Dom and Willa at the same house party (on a private island, hosted by a known libertine famous for an "anything goes" policy), the resolution of that long-ago jilting is inevitable. Waiting for it is a bit tedious, and involves a level of interiority never truly balanced by external conflict. The stakes are low; Dom and Willa will get together or they won't.

Leigh is a gorgeous writer, but she painted herself into a corner with this one. With previous books in series executed so perfectly, RULES couldn't quite live up to the hype. Still good, just not as good as its series brethren.

3.5 stars

Oh friends. We have been waiting for Dom and Willa's story for THREE BOOKS. Their break up in the first chapters of A Good Girl's Guide to Rakes set us up for a second chance romance that we were craving. That said, second chance isn't always my fave. Usually the break up is something based on miscommunication or toxicity that makes me roll my eyes. But Rogue's Rules is set up with so much longing and growth and groveling that it works.

This book is a slower burn that I am used to getting from Leigh. She writes some fantastic heat and steam and her books are typically filled with it. But the slower burn let's the story and the characters grow and learn and rediscover each other and themselves in a forced proximity. It's the best kind of set up and the pay off is absolutely worth it. I appreciated how the third act break up moment made so much sense. I loved how they came back together in a way that wasn't frustrating. I like Willa and Dom and just can't wait to see what Leigh writes next.

A Rogue's Rules for Seduction is my first Eva Leigh novel, though it won't be my last. I enjoyed this second chance/enemies to lovers trope, though I only give it 3.5 stars since the character's "issues" were a bit much, even for a this overwrought genre. Willa is a great heroine and is finally proven to be well matched by Dom. I'm intrigued enough by the side characters to seek out their stories. Recommended for fans of Eva Leigh and historical romance in general.

This story was an enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable escapist romance. Following the read, I had no moments that made it stand out from other titles with similar settings or tropes.

After Dom left Willa with a broken heart and a broken engagement, the last place she wants to see him is at a remote house party. But machinations by her brothers and his best friends take Willa and Dominic to the wilds of Scotland where they are removed from all the pretense of London and the roles prescribed to them by others.
They can finally get to really know each other, breaking down all preconceived notions, to see if there is a way forward for themselves as individuals and perhaps as a couple.

In A Rogue’s Rules for Seduction it was nice to see a Regency couple get an opportunity to get to know each other prior to making a commitment.
This also allowed for ample opportunity for steamy encounters as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When the slowburn is so good it burns red hot at the end

It’s my honest opinion that second chance romances always deliver great longing and yearning, you put it in a historical romance and you add to the mix forced proximity and the result is: boom mind blown.

I love a good pining historical man. They always eat and leave no crumbs, I loved how completely desperate they get and Dom here was utterly desperate.
Willa was an amazing heroine, I loved her so much she is a force of nature.

This is a slowburn, Dom and Willa had to confront each other and their fears. Being forced together by their meddling families they both discover that when they first got together they hadn't been true to each other and showed only a mask so this time around if they want their relationship to succeed they have to be true to each other.
I loved that in the end Dom left the choice to Willa and he was ready to have her in whichever capacity as long as they got to be together.

This was one of my most anticipated books of this year and I am so incredibly happy it delivered everything it needed to deliver

Dom is determined to forget Willa, the woman he abruptly left at the altar one year ago. That proves difficult to do when both Dom and Willa end up stranded on an island at an extended house party. Although Dom and Willa try to avoid each other, they still feel a spark of attraction to each other. Through conversation and perhaps in spite of a few set ups by friends and family, Dom and Willa begin to trust each other and share some of the secrets that kept them from the altar the first time.

The ending of the novel was perhaps weak, with too much telling instead of showing. However, Leigh portrayed the difficulties in building a relationship well, and her portrayals of Dom and Willa were sensitive and developed.

This book was such a long time coming and it was the perfect ending to the story of these three friends. But more than that it was the perfect ending to Willa and Dom’s story. They were so childish when they originally got engaged and had stupid expectations. Their journey together showed growth and understanding, respect for themselves and each other.

I really enjoyed A Rogue’s Rules for Seduction. I read the second book in the series and liked it, but this book seemed so much more developed and engrossing. I loved that there was already a connection between Dom and Willa when the story began. Watching their connection grow throughout was the best part of the book. Dom and Willa are my two favorite characters from the series!

This is an emotional slow burn, but once the love scenes get going, they don’t stop! The sex scenes are also pretty kinky, with the use of toys and some big switchy energy. I loved Dom and Willa’s chemistry, and the moral that if you really love someone, you’ll take the time to get to know them and love them for every quirk and trait, not just the idealized vision you have of them. For Dom, that meant he had to stop viewing Willa as a princess and instead see her for the strong, vulnerable woman she is. And for Willa, that meant looking beyond Dom’s humble and scandalous beginnings and thrillingly gruff exterior to see him for the intelligent, loving man he really is.

A fine end to Leigh's Last Chance Scoundrels series. I didn't love the setup (in that they were literally set up by their families) but it was an entertaining read.