Oh, how I adore Julie Anne Long's books! Long first captured my heart with her Pennyroyal Green historical series and fully cemented her title as a favorite author of mine with her contemporary romance series Hellcat Canyon. And now, I can't believe that HOW TO TAME A WILD ROGUE is already book six in the deliciousPalace of Rogues series! This delightful historical fiction series is set at the Grand Palace on the Thames, a genteel hotel run by two formidable ladies who were left penniless and adrift by the same despicable man, husband to one and lover to the other. All sorts of naughty miscreants and slightly dodgy characters make their way to stay at the Grand Palace on the Thames, along with many a woman fallen on difficult times. This series is chock full of diverting banter, fun, and oodles of sex appeal. I would be hard-pressed to choose my favorite in Long's books, they are all so good as a rule.
Lady Daphne Worth is the daughter of a viscount who has ham-handedly gambled himself into a 500 pound debt. Daphne manages to quietly rent out their estate house, and she and her delinquent father move into the caretaker's cottage. The viscount charges his daughter Daphne with becoming a paid companion to help keep the household afloat, but when the man of the household tries to take liberties with Daphne, Daphne must flee into the night to save her virtue. Mr. Lorcan St. Leger is a larger-than-life privateer who saves Daphne from robbery and assault as she is escaping.
Lorcan delivers Daphne safely to the Grand Palace on the Thames where they must pretend to be husband and wife to get the remaining suite of rooms for Daphne to stay. Lorcan, while seemingly a ne'er-do-well captain, is actually a very honorable man capable of deep feeling. Their forced proximity leads them to discover each other's sterling qualities (of course) and fall deeply in love. This sounds like a mess of cliches, right?! And yet, in Long's talented hands, this story feels fresh and vibrant, and ever so captivating.
The best part of any Julie Anne Long book is the dialogue. Witty banter enlivens each chapter, leading me to highlight tons of passages in utter enchantment. The sexual attraction between Daphne and Lorcan is spicy and engaging. And the many secondary characters at The Grand Palace on the Thames form a marvelous found family which deepens the sentiment. Long's HOW TO TAME A WILD ROGUE provides a captivating romance with a fresh and lively telling of beloved tropes.
In USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long’s thrilling new romance in the Palace of Rogues series, an infamous privateer’s limits are put to the test when he’s trapped during a raging tempest with a prickly female at the Grand Palace on the Thames.
He clawed his way up from the gutters of St. Giles to the top of a shadowy empire. Feared and fearsome, battered and brilliant, nothing shocks Lorcan St. Leger—not even the discovery of an aristocratic woman escaping out a window near the London docks on the eve of the storm of the decade. They find shelter at a boarding house called the Grand Palace on the Thames—only to find greater dangers await inside.
Desperate, destitute, and jilted, Lady Daphne Worth knows the clock is ticking on her last chance to save herself and her family: an offer of a loveless marriage. But while the storm rages and roads flood, she and the rogue who rescued her must pose as husband and wife in order to share the only available suite.
Crackling enmity gives way to incendiary desire—and certain heartbreak: Lorcan is everything she never dreamed she’d wanted, but he can never be what she needs. But risk is child’s play to St. Leger. And if the stakes are a lifetime of loving and being loved by Daphne, he’ll move any mountain, confront any old nemesis, to turn “never” into forever.
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