Customer Reviews

A Rogue of My Own (Reid Family Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

My biggest problem with this romance is that the couple seemed to loathe (but still have the hots for) each other until nearly the end of the book. I didn't get the sense of a love developing at all.

The story started out interesting and different from many romances I've read. Lady Rebecca Marshall is appointed to be a maid of honor in the court of the young Queen Victoria and is assigned to the Queen's mother's chambers where she comes into contact with Raphael Locke while on a snooping mission for her supervisor.

I thought Rupert St. John was a terrible "hero." His behavior toward Becca was dreadful -- he seduced her for no reason other than he thought she was spying on him and then left her alone until she came to tell him she was pregnant. To me, that is not a hero; that's a villain no matter how "beautiful" and angelic looking he may be. The seduction scene didn't seem particularly believable from Becca's perspective either. She was infatuated with his looks and it felt good but she went along with the seduction a little too readily for a young woman of that time. She doesn't even stop to consider the consequences.

After sniping at each other for nearly all the book (and Rupert thinking Becca planned to trap him into marriage with a fake pregnancy), they decide they are in love about 10 pages from the end. It didn't work for me. There wasn't enough evidence of a growing affection (much less love) between the couple to make it believable.

I have been a long-time fan of Johanna Lindsey but her latest books have not been very good.

Rebecca goes to Buckingham Palace to be a maid of honor for Queen Victoria at court. While there she gets involved in a little bit of rivalry between a spymaster and the woman in charge of the maids. Rupert works for the the spy (as a spy himself) and of course draws all the wrong conclusions about Rebecca, even after she starts working for the spymaster.

I HATED this book. Please save yourself some aggravation and skip it. If you absolutely love Johanna Lindsey and can't skip it, check it out of the library. Rebecca was a smart girl, and I liked her. However, I couldn't stand that she would fall in love with Rupert when he was being such an idiot. I'm sorry, but no way I fall in love with a man who treats me the way he does. Also, I couldn't stand Rupert. I would have liked this story better if he had been killed (preferably by Rebecca or her mother, or maybe Sarah) and Rebecca had ended up by herself. Seriously - he treats her awfully the entire book, with the exception of the last 6 or 7 pages. And I am sorry, he didn't do near enough to redeem himself in my opinion - after treating Rebecca horribly he just tells her he loves her and then it is all ok - I DON'T THINK SO. I never saw any signs of them falling in love, and quite frankly there were no good scenes between the two (romantic or otherwise).

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL, skip this one!

Full disclosure up front, I couldn't even finish this novel. I forced myself halfway through and just had to stop. I like Ms. Lindsey's novels as a rule, and was looking quite forward to this one. Sadly, there was nothing here to recommend it. The heroine was listless and dull. I didn't care for her from the opening moments. The hero was too much of a namby pamby. I just couldn't get excited about them. I had no investment in them or their story. I will think long and hard before purchasing another Lindsey novel.

I admit that I don't read Johanna Lindsey for great literature, but usually she comes through with a good story. Not this time. No way. Not only is the hero (??) obnoxious, the writing itself is BAD. In just the first chapter I got extremely annoyed by the sentences that were ended with an exclamation mark--literally dozens of them!!! (I had to do that). Fortunately, I checked this out of the library and I have to admit that I only get half way through the book and skipped to the last chapter just to end the misery. Don't waste your money on this book--if you haven't read all of Lindsey, go back to some of her earlier books that were much more entertaining, and usually a bit better written.

This was my first book by Johanna Lindsey, and I'll be honest... I was really disappointed. I admit I bought this book without checking out the ratings on Amazon.com... I ALWAYS check ratings first, so shame on me! But this was a last minute audio book purchase before an emergency eye surgery so I needed to buy SOMETHING! I've decided I may check out some of her earlier works because other reviews indicate she has much better fare than this latest effort, but really, this book contained no romance. It was all lust with no chemistry whatsoever and an absolute jerk for a hero, who ended up not being any sort of a hero at all! Would you want a man who consistently told you over and over again that he didn't believe you, didn't trust you? Accused you of being a liar even when there was proof to the contrary? I sure wouldn't! With that, the story became completely unrealistic real fast. And if I had to read one more time about how "angelic" Rupert was in Rebecca's eyes, I swear the audiobook discs were going to become frisbees for my dogs. Clearly his "angelic" glow impaired Rebecca's vision!

The potential for a great story was definitely there but it all just fell short. I was hoping Nigel could save the story and pair Rebecca and Rupert together to unfoil a good plot against the crown. The possibilities were endless yet the whole scenario with the Pearsons was so under-developed and brief it seemed like a last minute effort to create a little drama just to give the story some sort of climax, weak as it was. The potential to witness a blossoming romance was there as well but completely ignored. Instead Rebecca endured more accusations of untrustworthiness from Rupert, then of all things, he married her! WHAT?? The ultimate reason for the marriage made sense for the Victorian era, but come on! Rupert didn't believe Rebecca to begin with, so what was the point of marrying? Was that his way of finally acknowledging trust, or was he merely doing what he believed to be the right thing? Either way, that's not at all what I call romance.

It had potential at the beginning but then went downhill fast. I laughed at the reviewer who mentioned all the exclamation points. I thought the same thing. Very disappointing hero and heroine. What's going on with Johanna Lindsey? How does something like this even get published?

I have read all of Johanna Lindsey's books and this is by far the worst book she has ever written. During the whole book Rupert the male lead is horrible towards the protagonist Rebecca. He berates and treats her horribly the whole book. Seriously what kind of romance novel is this. I actually wanted Rupert to die, thats how horrible he is.

This book had so much promise with a unique premise as Rebecca is a lady in waiting at court but I was reading the book hoping it would get better which it never did.

The secondary characters were not used at all and there was so much potential for intrigue there.

Repeat dont waste your money!! Horrible Book!

What a disappointment! Having read most of Johanna Lindsey's other books, I was very much looking forward to "A Rogue of My Own." I excepted it to be as witty and entertaining as her previous stories. Unfortunately, it fell absolutely flat for me.

The story goes like this:

Rebecca is appointed maid of honour at the royal palace. While involved in palace intrigue, she meets the handsome spy, Rupert. Rebecca refuses to be involved in any more palace intrigue. Rupert seduces Rebecca, then accuses her of seducing him. They fight. Rebecca and Rupert avoid eachother. Rebecca tells Rupert she is pregnant. They fight. Rupert insists they get married. They fight. Rupert believes that Rebecca has "trapped" him into marriage with a fake pregnancy. They fight. They fight. They fight. Rupert thinks Rebecca specifically targeted him for marriage because she wanted to become a member of his family... No matter what. Rebecca is offended. They fight. They fight. They fight some more. Rebecca leaves Rupert. Rupert goes after her. And... Surprise! They love each other and live happily ever after.

The characters spend so much time fighting and loathing each other, there was never a moment that I believed they truly loved one another. There is no chance for them to build a rapport because they are always being so disrespectful to each other! Their relationship (if you could call it that) is completely shallow, and based from Rupert's "angelic looks" and Rebecca's "pretty face."

It seemed like there was a lot of potential here! There was a narcissistic roommate who appeared to have a vendetta against Rebecca-- but she disappeared from the story without causing any real trouble. Rupert's male boss was also in love with Rupert, an interesting twist-- but he also disappeared from the story too. In fact, he seemed like a totally unecessary character. As a result, the book was definitely lack luster.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend the book. It was the opposite of what I expect a romance novel to be. But there are other people who appear to have enjoyed it-- so there might be hope for you! Good luck!

Rebecca goes to Buckingham Palace to be a maid of honor for Queen Victoria at court. While there she gets involved in a little bit of rivalry between a spymaster and the woman in charge of the maids. Rupert works for the the spy (as a spy himself) and of course draws all the wrong conclusions about Rebecca, even after she starts working for the spymaster.

I hated this book but I stuck through it cuz I already bought it before reading reviews, lesson learned. Rupert's character is sooooo annoying that it makes me wonder how a smart girl like Rebecca could fall for him. I would NEVER subject myself to that kind of abuse from anyone. I didn't understand how she knew that he wasnt good for her but she still kept having the hots for him whenever he kissed her. It was even really confusing when he kept insulting her and then kissing her after and she would still like him. I find that feeling very difficult to reconcile with, i'm sorry but if someone keeps insulting me and keeps walking around in a cocky way, rubbing it in my face, telling me that I wanted him and he didnt, there is absolutely no way I would ever allow myself kiss or fall for a pig like that. The way this book is written its almost impossible to see the love developing between the characters or fall inlove with them. It was painfully annoying. I understand the way those times were and so it would not have been a good idea for Rebecca to end up raising her child alone but still I would pick buying a husband than sticking with the character Rupert.

This was my first Johanna Lindsey book, so far I do not like this one but I'm going to kep an open mind and try her other books, hopefully i'd have better luck picking another one of her books.

Johanna Lindsey has always been one of my favorite romance authors. I love her earlier works and am crazy about the Malory novels however I have noticed that her more recent titles have slipped. This book was particularly boring. Johanna had a great talent for making me fall a little in love with her heroes while at the same time liking her female heroes. This was not case with this book. Rupert St. John was lackluster and not very likable at all. Becca wasn't very exciting either. All in all they were dull and I didn't feel the romance at all.

I noticed that Johanna seemed to put a bit more "history" into this novel which I liked but it was not enough to help this book. If this is the first or only book you read by this author you will probably be disappointed and skip her earlier works, which will cause you to miss out on some of the best romances ever. Skip the last few years and go back to the beginning, staring in the late seventies and the next decade. Also read the Malory novels, preferable in order, you will not be disappointed.

I know that I will not be spending any more money on a Lindsey hardback. I will get it from the library so I won't be mad at myself for wasting my money.