Everlee's writing style possesses vivid imagery and good character descriptions. Main characters David (bisexual) and Noah (gay) have a believable friends-to-lovers arc. I also appreciated the differentiation shown between the male and female queer communities in the novel.

Unfortunately, the plot doesn't hold up. There's a problem of a club closing and needing a wife to fool the owner that’s explored deeply, with two different potential fake wives, and then it’s abandoned suddenly towards the end with an equally sudden appearance of an undercover investigator, and it’s frankly a mess. Likewise, the interjection of history between David and Noah, while a good build on the friends-to-lovers aspect, are not done in consistent intervals.

I wanted to read it because I loved Jess Everlee's previous novel and this one sounded intriguing.
There's a lot of world building as the author does an excellent job in describing the atmosphere and the sense of secrecy and danger.
There's also a lot of humour and poignant love story that kept me rooting for the characters and moved me.
A good and entertaining story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

LGBTQIA+ Historical Romances have such a space in my heart, and a Rulebook for Restless Rogues included itself in that space. I don't even know where to begin - I just want the best for these two, and the journey to get to their HEA had me turning the pages!

I really enjoyed A Rulebook for Restless Rogues. I liked that we got to dive further into Everlee’s queer London. I was really excited to learn the next book followed Noah and David’s story as I love Noah very, very much.
My main issue is that the stakes never felt very high. I suppose they were, technically, given the social and political landscape of the time - but they never felt that way. A happy ever after is a necessary convention of the genre, one that always follows the fear that no, it won’t work out, our couple won’t be able to overcome their challenges. For me, this book didn’t have those stakes. Despite the challenges, everything worked out rather easily and was tied together perfectly. I didn’t feel emotionally invested in the plot the way I was in the characters themselves.
Overall I give a Rulebook for Restless Rogues 4 stars. It’s a fun, queer, childhood friends-to-lovers story set in the complicated world of 1880s London.

“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.”

After hearing lots about Jess Everlee’s first novel (but not having gotten to it yet!), I was excited to receive a copy of her latest, set in the same world.

Although having the same setting and crossover characters from The Gentleman’s Book of Vices, I found I didn’t necessarily need to have read the first book to enjoy this one; some of the Easter egg and character reunions would probably be appreciated more, if read in order. Everlee creates an immersive world, set in the Victorian era, when being like David and Noah, was punishable. The friends with benefits to lovers trope is well used here, and I loved that David and Noah were best friends above all else. This lifelong friendship was believable, and even though all other characters could see they were in love with each other, I appreciated how nervous both were to admit their feelings, for fear of ruining what they had. Noah and his sister Emily’s relationship is lovely; Emily doesn’t want Noah to change who he is, even if she doesn’t always approve of David and his running of a “men’s club.” I also liked the idea of Noah wanting his family’s actions to be in line with their intentions. The STEAM was there, and I fully was invested in David and Noah’s love story. Although the main conflict of the story was lacking a bit (the antagonist seemed to be more bark than bite, and the stakes could’ve been higher), there was a fun reveal towards the end that had me surprised!


A Rulebook for Restless Rogues is a story of vulnerability, societal expectations, protection, and stability. Everlee’s writing won me over with the world she has created. Not only am I looking forward to reading the first novel, but also can’t wait to see how this series expands. Thank you to Carina Adores, Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a really solid historical romance that I felt was slightly lacking in a cohesive ending.

THE GOOD:
Characters you can't help but root for and a romance that does them justice! I loved David and Noah -- childhood friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes and Everlee did a great job writing their relationship both platonic and romantic. Their friendship was always at the forefront, even when their romantic chemistry was undeniable.
Well-handled serious plotlines! In particular, David's storyline was handled with a lot of care and never put me in a possibly triggering mindset.
The plot in general! I think the story was engaging and interesting to read about. I was invested in what was going to happen and whether David and Noah would get their happy ending.

THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
The pacing was a little jarring -- it started pretty mid-paced (good for a romance!) but the ending was really rushed and left me a bit dissatisfied.

In general, though, I think this is a really good introduction to queer historical romance. It's easy to read, engaging, and full of loveable characters. If you can deal with a slightly rushed ending, I highly recommend this!

I did not like this one as much as I liked Jess Everlee’s previous book set in this world. It was good, I did enjoy it but it was mostly pretty meh for me. There’s a lot of telling not showing, which is find but I think the characters suffered a bit for it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press/Carina Adores for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly struggled a bit with this one and I'm not sure if it was me or if it was the book. I just found it a bit boring, and I couldn't connect with Noah or David and I felt like the pacing was really off. I didn't feel the time jumps back and forth were necessary, we already knew they were pining for each other, it just kept reiterating their<spoiler>friends with benefits </spoiler> past. I felt like they hooked up pretty quickly too and it was just a bunch of thinly veiled excuses keeping them apart and other drama that I felt was confusing and unnecessary.

This was a good solid story... a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I enjoyed the fact that this was set in a different time period - gave it a bit more originality. Now, I'm a goof and didn't read the first book, but don't worry - this book was perfectly good as a stand-alone.

Definitely would recommend this to folks who like the genre!

Hot gay historical romance with loving descripted characters and an unpredictable ending in the vein of friends to lover trope..

David Forester and Noah Clarke have been best friends ever since David defended Noah from a school bully as kids. Now, Noah is a respected, up-and-coming tailor and David runs The Curious Fox, a club catering to men like who enjoy other men. David takes his role as the manager of the club very seriously, seeing it as his duty to help take care of his patrons and ensure their safety and happiness. Noah is a frequent guest, often in his Miss Penelope Primrose drag persona. While over the years the men have had their share of sexual interactions together, it has never been more than friendship between them. That hasn’t stopped David from falling hard for Noah, but Noah has never seemed to feel the same.

Running an underground club is a risky endeavor, especially since the Fox also rents rooms for sex and David often helps set up his clients with a date for the night. David knows that if things go badly with the law, he is the one who will face the most trouble, but he feels the risk is worth taking to help out his people. However, dealing with the club’s owner is another story. David knows Lord Henry Belleville is bad news — though just how bad is something David doesn’t want to share with Noah.

When Belleville wants to close the club, David is determined to find a way to stop him. He can’t even imagine losing the Fox, losing a place where so many people can be safe to be themselves. Noah is right by David’s side, committed to being there for his friend and supporting him however he can. The experience also helps Noah to see David in a new light, and he realizes that his feelings for David are more than just friendship. Noah is determined to be there for David, whatever the risk. But facing off against an unscrupulous man, particularly one who has leverage over David, isn’t going to be easy. It is going to take all they have to find a way to save the Fox and keep David from ending up in the kind of trouble that could ruin his life.

A Rulebook for Restless Rogues is the second book in Jess Everlee’s Lucky Lovers of London series. One of the main characters in the first book, A Gentleman’s Book of Vices, spends quite a lot of time at the Fox and so we met both David and Noah in that book. But I think this story should work fine as a standalone.

This is an entertaining, friends-to-lovers story between two men with an intense friendship (along with some occasional fooling around between them since they were teens). But they have never seen each other as more than friends, even as David wishes for more. I could really feel the close bond between David and Noah, and Everlee adds a few flashback scenes that do a great job in establishing that lifelong connection. There are some nice moments here where we see how much Noah truly cares for David, but doesn’t quite realize that all these feelings are adding up to love. It is really rewarding to see Noah finally recognize his love for David and I enjoyed their bond. Once he is in, Noah is all in, even if that means putting himself at risk right beside David. One aspect I thought was really interesting is that Noah’s family are Unitarians, a group that is pragmatic and generally accepting about homosexuality, even at a time when it was outlawed. Everlee adds some nice detail here that really adds some historical interest, but also highlights and develops Noah’s character well.

The conflict here focuses on the risk that David accepts for his role at the Fox and the fear that Belleville may close it. But there is also an underlying conflict with regard to David’s past with Belleville and the hold he has over David. It means David has little leverage and faces great risk if he doesn’t fall in line. Noah wants David to look out for himself more, to not put the club before his own safety. But David is determined to save the Fox, knowing what it means to everyone. I did like this part of the plot and it adds some nice external tension. However, I didn’t fully understand why David was so fearful of Noah learning the truth about his past. I also didn’t fully understand why Belleville was such a personal threat to David. We are told how dangerous he is, but I don’t think the reason David is specifically at risk is fully explained. I liked how Noah and David ultimately make some really good decisions that go a long way to helping them out of this difficult situation. But there is also this sort of fairy godmother situation where some outside party comes in and solves the big hurdle and ties things all up neatly at the end. I had this issue in the first book too, though there I felt the resolution was almost all external, which is definitely not the case here. I just wish that the characters were more agents of their own success, rather than someone else sweeping in to save the day.

As one other random note, I am confused by this title, as I wouldn’t consider either Noah or David to be “restless” or a “rogue.” Both men are actually deeply committed to things that they care about and, in David’s case, he is almost fervent in his dedication to his people. Not to mention both have an intense dedication to each other. Neither man seems particularly roguish either. I know this is a silly thing to care about, but I feel like the title is there because it sounds cute (and fits well with the first book’s title), but not actually because it fits with this particular story.

In the end, I found this an engaging friends-to-lovers story. Everlee does a really nice job developing Noah and David as characters and the story provides a great foundation for understanding these men and what has shaped them. David and Noah are an appealing couple and I really liked them together. This is an interesting historical and I think this series will appeal to a lot of readers.

3.5. I loved the first book in this series, so I was disappointed that I didn't connect with either David or Noah as much as I did Charlie and Miles. (I also, unfortunately, read this at the same time as a stellar M/M romance by Cat Sebastian, so I was constantly comparing the two.)

The villain and threats in this book were also less developed than in its prequel, so I had less emotional stake in this book. Also, this is a small pet peeve, but Noah's Italian has errors (though maybe that's on purpose?).

Nevertheless, the romance is cute and steamy and done well. I also enjoyed reading about Noah's ambition and talent--I could've read a whole book about the drama at his workplace. Overall it's a solid entry in the series; I just wanted more from it.

The sophomore book in Everlee's Lucky Lovers of London series, this focuses on David Forester, the proprietor of The Curious Fox and one of the club's most notable personalities Noah Clarke, aka Miss Penelope Primrose.

We learn that David and Noah met as schoolboys about 15 years prior and have moved from exploring their sexuality together to "friends with an interesting little history." Although David, known for his matchmaking skills at the club, wonders why he has never tried to find someone for Noah, and why Noah has not taken advance of the private rooms at the club in quite some time. There's the steady sizzle underneath all their interactions but neither is quite willing to acknowledge their feelings.

And then the world of The Curious Fox falls apart as the owner, Lord Henry Belleville, shows up one night. "Over the long complicated years of their acquaintance, David had been everywhere from this man's bedchambers to his club parlors to his payroll; called everything from precious to pathetic, proprietor to poppet." Changes are afoot - bad news for the eclectic clientele of the Fox - and David is caught in an impossible situation where he only see one option ...

And [sigh] this is where the story falls apart for me. David clearly only see one crazy option in order to save his beloved club, mostly because of the "mad, bad and dangerous to know" Lord Belleville. Without going into plot details, we never really get a cohesive sense about why Belleville is so dangerous, why David is convinced he must do the most ill-advised thing ever, why Noah makes his own hare-brained plans .... and why all of a sudden it all no longer matters.

IMHO, the convoluted plot distracted from a small sincere story of two men who have always been in love with one another, but of course that is completely my take on this book. I look forward to another book focusing on the elements that really make this series interesting - the community of The Curious Fox, the quirky characters .... and honestly, what is up with Shaw? I hope he is the focus of the next book in the series. 3 stars.

THIS BOOK. Sigh! Perfection! I didn’t know it was book 2 in a stand alone (yet interconnected) series so I now have to immediately go read Book 1.
Everless uses dual timelines (flashbacks) to flawlessly develop a friends to lovers, mutual pining for years!, romance of the freaking century. I adored the character growth of both mains, and really enjoyed the exploration of gender and sexuality delivers with care while also highlighting how dangerous this time period was for anyone with proclivities outside the ‘norm’ of society.

Audiobook Review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 5
Story – 5

I loved the audiobook!

I received a copy of the eBook from NetGalley but I got behind in my reviews. When I found out that this was available in audio format I decided to listen instead. Seems like there just aren’t enough hours in a day to sit and read a book but I can listen while I complete other tasks around the house.

This is my first book by Jess Everlee and its book two in a series. You do not need to read the first book to enjoy this one. I know that at least one character from book one makes an appearance in this one but it didn’t matter that I haven’t read his story (but now I want to).

This is also the first audiobook I’ve listened to by Tommy Hawthorne – but is it really? I’m sure I know his voice and I think he performs under at least three other names but I won’t say what I think they are. I loved his performance of this story, and if his is who I think he is I’ve loved everything I’ve listened to no matter what name he’s using.

I’m very fond of historical MM romance. My gateway to MM romance was an historical MMF series by Samantha Kane and that got me hooked. I’m not a reader who cares a lot about historical accuracy. Quite frankly I doubt very much if I could even spot an error unless it was so blatant that the author would have to be pretty bad to make that kind of mistake. So I can only speak about how much I enjoyed the story.

I thought the characters were interesting and their romantic connection felt genuine – although it took them a long time to finally get on the same page about their feelings for each other. The story alternates between time periods from when they were in boarding school together and David defended Noah against a bully, and when they are adults fifteen years later.

David runs a Molly club and is very protective of all of its patrons, including Noah (they haven’t acknowledged their feeling yet). The absent owner of the club, a high society person, threatens to close the it. Knowing this will devastate many patrons, as well as himself, David decides to try and convince the owner not to close.

When things were revealed, I surely hadn’t seen them coming; it was a great conclusion to the story and the epilogue was the perfect finishing touch.

I’ll be looking for more books by this author and more audiobooks from this narrator’s pen name.

A review copy of the eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.

I enjoyed Jess Everlee's debut novel, The Gentleman's Book of Vices, and eagerly awaited this one. A lot of what made me love the first book is at play here as well. Her writing is strong, especially in the details of club and various other settings in the book, including the overall setting of London in the 1880's. Her main characters are well drawn, although some of the secondary chacters were less well fleshed out. I absolutely love David and Noah, with their faults and foibles, their insecurities and bravery.

David's personality and his determination to save the club was especially well done. David had an abusive father, then went on to have further beatings at school overly zealous adults. While his general personality is to be protective, he's been quite literally beaten down and doesn't see much else of value in himself. From protecting Noah from bullies when they were at school, to providing a safe space for the members of the Curious Fox, the "gentleman's club" he manages, David measures his own worth by how well keeps his people safe. This is the driving motivation in his determination to save the Curious Fox when the manipulative and shady owner, Lord Bellville, seems not only set on closing the club, but throwing any blame at David if the true narture of the club is exposed.

While Lord Bellville keeps David dangling on a string with the hope that the Curious Fox can be saved, Noah is determined to help David any way he can. What Noah really wants is for David to make a clean break from Lord Bellville, even if the club closes, but barring that, he'll stand by to do whatever David needs.

Anyone who has read The Gentleman's Book of Vices (which I highly recommend, especially on audio) will recognize several of the characters here, including Noah's alter ego Lady Penelope, Jo, and Charlie and March, as well a some new ones. The relationship between Noah and David is well done as they go from school boy fumblings, to pining best friends, to finally getting their feelings out in the open.

There are a few issues with the book, however, that make this a weaker novel overall than the first. The plot with the villain Lord Bellville ends with more of a whimper than a shout and things are tied up rather too neatly. (I had the same complaint about the first book, but it wasn't quite as big an issue there.) The overall tone of much of the book is everyone being stressed-out, which was a bit wearing for this reader. Still, I enjoyed the book and will be looking forward to more from this author.

While I didn’t quite enjoy this one as much as the previous book in the series, it was still a very fun and heartwarming read.

This book was a delight to read. I loved David and Noah's friends-to-lovers journey. David is the club manager of an underground gay club in 1885 London. Noah is a talented up-and-coming tailor. The two have been friends since boarding school. Some of the story about the club owner muddled the story for me, but overall I enjoyed this book. I had not read anything by Jess Everlee before and would consider picking up one again.

Noah/ Mis Penelope Primrose and David Forrester, the proprietor Of The Curious Fox were old old old friends who went back a LONG way. Underneath the old friendship however, were deep feelings that had developed over the years.

Even though it was clear as day to anyone paying even an hint of attention that they were head over heels for each other, Noah, for some unfathomable reason, kept backtracking anytime they made any sort of progress towards acknowledging these feelings. It made me sad for David who loved him too much to cut him off but annoyed me that Noah run from it in the first place.

On the flip side however, David had a stubborn streak a mile long that had him ignoring GLARING truths right under his nose. His tendency to care for everyone to his own detriment was admirable to an extent but extremely frustrating.

Nonetheless, the story was very good and completely unpredictable. There were some paths I thought it would take but was pleasantly surprised that it did not. I love stories like that and just HAD to finish it in one go.

I must add however that with how unrepentant the "Big Bad" and his revolting minion were, I expected them to suffer a bit more in the resolution of the crisis. But hey, that's just my vindictive heart talking lol

All in all, although quite different from Book 1, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it for lovers of Historical Romance. Should there be a Book 3, I'll be first in line to grab it.

David and Noah have been best friends since school. They have always kinda been friends with benefits but it has always been casual fun. David runs a queer gentleman’s club and Noah is a tailor who likes to dress in drag. When the owner of the club threatens to shut it down, the pair must figure out how to save their refuge.

This book, and honestly the series as a whole, should in theory be everything I want in a book, but they just don’t work for me. I liked both David and Noah, but I didn’t feel overly connected to either of them. I do remember them from the first book in the series and really wanted their series. Similarly i found myself having the same thoughts about some of the side characters, but now I worry that I would not actually enjoy their story. This book did a lot of telling rather than showing and I just found myself getting bored.There were aspects of the plot I enjoyed but there were also long sections that just seemed to ramble and I found myself skimming.

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