This one was a fun book with some mystery, spice 🌶️ , a nice romance and some likeable side characters

My rating 3.5 ⭐️

An entertaining Victorian romance with a little mystery and suspense. Well written characters with a slow burn romance between Amelia and Logan. Protection and passion collide, a bodyguard/brother's best friend romance that delivers. A solid start to a new series.

Thank you Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book delivered on the basic desires I had for the book. It was a quick, cute read that proved a nice distraction for the world. There are some components of the book that proved frustrating, but there is still potential that the book could take it that next step forward,

Below are the main items which kept the book from being a truly great read:
1. Adding "ye" and "yer" to a person's vernacular does not innately make the character Scottish. There are many other ways to incorporate a more authentic dialect for Logan and to pay homage to the Scottish brogue.
2. This one is mostly a personal pet peeve for me, but character continuity is incredibly important. If you're building out features of your character enough that they're being incorporated into the story, it needs to come full circle at some point. There are multiple instances where the plot line was pushed along without any real revelation or logic.
2.1: In the first few chapters, Amelia is so adamantly against Logan's help and it's all shrouded in her distrust of him as a person, as a 'rogue'. Amelia's character is supposed to be that of a woman who managed to escape a physical an emotionally abusive husband. Without trying to make too huge of a generalization, that usually provides a level of wariness in a person, but also the ability to sense when someone may have ill intentions. In order for the story to happen, Amelia has to acquiesces. So why make her acceptance such a drawn out and irritable exchange?
2.2: Similarly...um how did Logan go from expressly refusing to acknowledge that he had love for Amelia to proposing all within 30 seconds? He fights with two of his close friends and then immediately turns around to go collect a diamond he conveniently had in his study within the same paragraph. Continuity is important. This doesn't mean that there aren't character arcs and development, but these were basic inconsistencies that were irritating to read.
2.3: Amelia is very quick to share intimacy only for everything else about her character to be ridiculous over silly things. She is the instigator! I love the portrayal of a confident woman enjoying her choices, but this was so against how the author built our understanding of Amelia...she's not the type of woman to fall into bed with a charismatic smile and a gravelly tone.

Again, the book delivered on the flirtation and the happy ending that I needed, but there was so much potential that I was disappointed. The book felt a bit rushed, but upon a second edition could develop out the side characters further, really lean into the mystery with Paul's tarot reader and the murderous Hawk. I wouldn't have been upset with more depictions of the Highlands or even a few more references to which books occupied her lending library.

I could tell early on I wouldn’t gel with this couple. So much combativeness omg please just speak plainly with each other.

This was a really easy read with two characters that were easy to love. A typical pain point to me in this when people in books fight help too much. Amelia was strong and independent but knew when she needed help in her adventure to find out the mystery of her brother's life and who is after her. She demanded to be involved but knew that she would not be able to do it on her own. I thought the mystery itself was interesting I didn't figure out what the solution was to it. The dog was also very cute. I did think the ye got old, I say this often in my reviews but I wish authors wouldn't right out accents they can just use descriptions to tell us. Logan was a decent male lead. He was hurt in the past and willing to give everything but his heart to Amelia and she demands all of him. He was the right amount of growly and their banter in the beginning was enjoyable. 3.5 Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A Rogue to Watch Over Me by Tara Kingston is a third person dual-POV Victorian romance. When Amelia’s brother suddenly dies, she’s convinced something nefarious has happened. Logan owed Amelia’s brother a debt and arrives at Amelia’s home to keep her safe at the brother’s behest. The two had no reason to ever meet, but now, they’re lives are going to be entwined forever.

What keeps Amelia and Logan apart is their very similar but different romantic histories. Amelia has previously married for love, but her husband passed away shortly after her marriage and he didn’t have the same feelings that she did. She’s already faced her husband not giving her his heart so she’s not willing to do it a second time. Logan, on the other hand, was in love with a young woman who he was engaged to and then left him to marry someone else. It makes sense that both of them are cautious of trusting their hearts with anyone else even if they do trust each other and see the good in each other.

The general thrust of the plot is that Amelia and Logan are trying to solve the mystery of why Amelia’s brother died and who are the people chasing Amelia down. Logan takes his job as Amelia’s protector quite seriously, including protecting her from her landlord who wants to kick her out. Because Amelia has previously been married, she and Logan are given more freedom to move about society together and that lets us see them out and about and working together in ways that are often difficult in other romances set at that time.

The real star of the show for me was Heathy, Amelia’s dog named after Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. Logan initially isn’t super into Heathy, but they grow on each other, though Heathy does develop a taste for Logan’s leather shoes. I love it when there’s pets that are given actual time on the page and authors include them instead of ‘yes, there’s a pet’ and we get two or three mentions only. Pets are a part of the family for many people and I find it far more believable that Amelia would view Heathy as her constant companion, the mop that he is, than if he was rarely present.

I would recommend this to fans of Victorian romances with a bit of a mystery plot and readers looking for a historical romance that prominently features pets

A Rogue to Watch Over Me started off strong. I think Amelia is a very compelling character and I appreciate how active she is within the story. I also liked Logan which is rather surprising given love interests can be a bit of a hit or miss with me. There is so much that I liked about the book from the premise to the cast of characters to the romance, however, it did feel a tad bit too long. The last third of the book was difficult to get through.

Tropes: MMC is MFC's bodyguard; brother's best friend; MC's team up to solve a mystery; forced proximity
Language: mild
Violence: a bit of gun and knife violence; MFC narrowly escapes a violent thug at the beginning; characters injured in confrontation scene
Steam level: 2 (non-graphic on-page consummation)

3. 5 stars rounded up. I teetered between 3 and 4 stars, but this is solidly written, with a compelling set-up, and the MC's have sweet "slow burn" chemistry. Amusing dialog throughout. I liked the 1890's setting and world building, with details that created vivid visual images without an overload of description. The mystery isn't bad; while I had an idea of what was going to happen early on the writer threw in a couple of little red herrings.

As noted above, there is a bit of violence with an edge that reminds me more of modern suspense/ romance novels. This isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, but if you're looking for a "mild and cozy" HR or if you're easily triggered be aware.

Characterwise, I appreciated Amelia's strength and resiliency. She isn't a shrinking violet, but she isn't anachronistic. At first she seems overly stubborn, but the author does fill in in her backstory and her trust issues with men. You also get a sense of why her late brother, Paul, was so important to her. Logan is a likable "rogue with a heart of gold", although I did have an issue with his difficulty declaring love and cementing their relationship, when right before he and Amelia slept together he'd told her she was "in his heart" and he'd already admitted that she was nothing like the woman who'd left him for a title and money.

The supporting characters are well developed and their banter is fun. I particularly liked Logan's aunt, Mrs. Johnstone; I would definitely read a book featuring her.

What almost brought this down to 3 stars for me:
--The dialog and ruminations become a bit repetitive at times. I felt that in the first half the book could have been pared down in places.
--The slow-burn worked for the most part, I liked that the MC's didn't just jump into bed, but one too many "kiss interrupted" scenes. When this happens toward the midway point of a book, I get a good indication of the steam level to follow.
--The baddie's motivation switched gears suddenly during the confrontation scene and tbh it didn't make sense to me.
--Finally, the Scottish dialect. It wasn't completely off-putting, but I do wish HR writers would move away from phonetic spelling. It's one of my pet peeves.

Overall, I enjoyed this, particularly Amelia, the world building, and the banter. The MC's have a sweet connection. It's a solid 3.5 stars.

Action packed from the beginning.
Amelia’s brother committed suicide or did he?
She is heartbroken and then a stranger propels himself into her life claiming to be sent from her brother to protect her.
Logan is determined to watch over Amelia to fulfill a debt owed.
But then emotions come into play with mystery and murder.
Fast paced read as something new is always happening.
Really liked the storyline and the pace.

Independent, witty FMC? Check. Surly rogue of an MMC? Check. Adorable puppy sidekick? Also check.

Amelia Stewart lives life by her own standards, running a lending library for women along with having the cutest dog companion, Heathy (short for Heathcliff, of course). That all changes when one day, known rogue Logan MacClain barges into her establishment claiming to have orders from her deceased brother Paul to protect her from an unknown danger. When that threat proves to be very real, she has no choice but to reluctantly keep Logan close as her protector. Sparks fly at the very brush of their fingers, but both have been jaded by love to think of anything more than it just being attraction. With them in close quarters for the foreseeable future, how long can it last?

Pros: everyone is sassy! I always enjoy banter and everyone from Logan’s driver Mrs. Langford to Amelia’s friends Bea and Edith bring a little extra life to the pages. I also loved Amelia’s independence- she doesn’t need a man to take care of her, she often chooses decisions that are the best for her, but she also has a big heart and cares for the people in her life.

Cons: I actually wanted more yearning 🥸 with beautifully written moments such as “They had never even uttered a single syllable of commitment. Not a single word of love”!!! Give me MORE of that. Even before they could stand each other, we had brushes of the hand and both of them feeling sparks and denying it. Now I will preface this by saying it’s a short book at only 296 pages, but I could have used a few more moments of longing glances and pining that I typically associate with historical romance of this time period (Victorian).

Another con for me was the Scottish ‘ye’ 😬 I know it was supposed to be to really capture his brogue but I would have been okay with just mentioning he has a brogue and continuing to see the word ‘you’. For me personally, it was a bit distracting when there’s just ye as every other word in a sentence 😅

The mystery/suspense aspect of it was okay, it served the story but I don’t think it was anything really unique.

This book definitely has its bright moments, which is why I rounded up in my rating. I’d recommend this to those who are looking for a quick read with not a lot of spice, but really lovable characters that you root for.

I've been loving the historical romances with mystery that Dragonblade has been publishing lately. A Rogue to Watch Over Me was exciting, romantic and a fast-paced mystery.

I had a fun time with this one! I enjoyed the mystery and thought the story was full of action. The romance was well developed and definitely swoon worthy. I also really liked the heroine, she was a great female lead.

Highly recommend!