Widowed Lady Isobel Morrow asks Bow Street Runner Callum Jenks for his help again she’s discovers a dreadful secret about her dead, art critic husband. He helped to solve her husband’s murder 18 month ago and now she wants him to help her right a wrong. When she discovered that her late spouse had been selling forgeries of valuable paintings and stashing the originals in a secret room. One of the painting is about to be sold and she wants steal it and replace it with the original painting. Isobal is afraid her ward’s marriage prospects will be limited if the art scandal comes out and feels she must return the stolen painting to its rightful owner is she can convince Callum to help her. Callum and Isobel find their passions reignited after all this time and they finds themselves embroiled in an art heist that rather confounds all. This is my honest opinions after I voluntarily read a copy of this book that was provided to me with no requirements for a review

Lady Rogue by Theresa Romain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lady Isabel Morrow and Bow Street Runner Callum Jenks should have nothing in common but their paths have crossed twice before. Now Isabel needs help and calls on Jenks to help her. Her late husband had secrets that could come out and do damage to Isabel and her ward. There is danger, tension, and romance put together in a story that is very different from most historical romances set in this time period. Isabel and Callum are from very different social levels and that adds to the tension. I loved how everything finally worked in their favor. There was a very unexpected turn in the plot that really surprised me.

I am really enjoying this series. The characters are so interesting and different. Not the usual kind of people you find in historical stories. Isabel has always been the kind of person that society expects her to be. Then, a year and a half after her husband's death, she finds out that he wasn't the person she thought he was. There was no love between them when he was alive, but it was a blow to find out that he had some very shady things going on. She decides to be the kind of person that she wants to be, not what society expects. When she decides to put things to right, she calls on Callum. Callum is the Officer of the Police that was summoned when her husband died. Callum wasn't happy that all the facts of the man's death was swept under the rug, he doesn't like loose ends. Callum would do anything for Isabel, including skirting the law. He is usually a by-the-book person, but for Isabel he will put that to the side. Will they be able to pull off their daring caper?

Lady Isabel Morrow, widowed 18 months previously, needs help. In Lady Rogue, she has discovered that her husband had been selling forged paintings to his list of exclusive clients. She has to do something to correct this immediately.

Isabel has no care for herself, but her ward may be ruined by the revelations. Lucy Wallace, originally Isabel’s husband’s ward but now Isabel’s is someone Isabel cares for very deeply.

It is bad enough Andrew Morrow committed suicide all those months ago, but now she finds out he’s a criminal? Should the forgeries become public knowledge, Lucy could be ruined. No one will want to marry a young girl who is associated with a criminal. The scandal of forgeries on top of the suicide would ruin her chances to make a successful marriage.

Callum Jenks is the officer who investigated Andrew Morrow’s death. Summoned by Lady Isabel, he arrives to find that there is no case to investigate, she wants him for something quite different.

It turns out Isabel wants Callum to help her steal the forgery sold to a Duke, and replace it with the original. Isabel feels that this is the moral thing to do. The Duke is using the forgery to pay off a debt, the forgery may be discovered.

While replacing a forgery with the original isn’t your typical theft, neither is it quite legal. Callum declines at first but Isabel must do something to change his mind.

Heat And Intrigue Galore

In her shock after the suicide of her husband 18 months ago, Isabel had a brief one-night affair with Callum. When they meet again the spark is very much still there.

In some ways, this was an impossible relationship. The attraction was undeniable but the difference in their stations was difficult, to say the least. I enjoyed the way the author managed the attraction and the difficulties of such a relationship, juggling both with success.

I will definitely be happy to read more books by Theresa Romain.

Reviewed for LnkToMi iRead in response to a complimentary copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review.

Lady Rogue is the third book in a series of books called Royal Rewards which is loosely connected thru characters that appear in past books. The whole series in general has characters that are sort of out of the box or whose pairing sounds different but may make a reader wonder how it could really work out in the end. Couple that with a mystery that needs to be solved then you are basically hooked. Lasdy Rogue is no exception. Set in the regency period, Lady Rogue opens the book with Lady Isabel and Callum Jenks in the former’s residence but this isn’t their first meeting. First they met over her dead husband’s body then had another very intimate one later one. But eighteen months has past and now this daughter of a marquess and Bow street runner are again crossing paths. Now Isabel is asking Callum’s help in something skirting the law and who better to help her than the most law abiding of them all? Now if their attraction towards each other starts burning up once more then it can only help in motivating them to solve or do the crime!
At first the book starts of a little stiff which in hindsight reflects the initially oddness of Callum and Isabel meeting once again after being lovers for one night. As the story progresses, and there is quite a story, they start loosening up and you can sense it with the flow of words and the dialogue which builds up the developing romance between the two. There are a lot of social issues and commentaries as well which lends depth to both Callum and Isabel’s evolvement as individuals beyond what family and society dictates them to be. Callum and Isabel as a couple works only because they are able to find themselves and become their true version when they had to confront the possibilty that they would never work because of a lot of social factors which was so wonderfully tackled here. Lady Rogue is definitely one romance that creeps into your heart quietly but so permanently.

Isabel was not looking for scandal. It just found her twice. Callum did not plan to end risking his reputation and heart. It just happened. Can this tantalizing duo, give love a chance as they race to right a wrong? Lady Rogue is an intricate tale of love, lust and intrigue. What began as an affair quickly spirals into something beyond their control. Love.

Lady Rogue has the endearing characters and witty dialogue that make Romain's books must reads for historical romance fans. Add to that a suspense-filled caper that drives a page-turning plot, and you have a romance with extraordinarily broad appeal.

Crime and punishment!

A young widow discovers a dreadful secret about her dead, art critic and art aficionado, and society scion husband. A certain Bow Street Runner Callum Jenks finds himself embroiled in an art heist that rather confounds all.
When widowed Lady Isabel Morrow and Callum meet again, after one brief moment of bliss at Vauxhall gardens some months prior, events take a strange turn, and a regency romance with an interesting twist is born.
Isabel is determined to protect her ward from being sullied by the truths about her husband's art dealings and will go to any lengths to ensure that will happen. And that's where Callum comes in. Mind you reignited passion also plays a part.
I really enjoyed the dance between Isabel and Callum, adding spice to an already captivating read.

A NetGalley ARC

I wanted to love this book. I mean, a romance between a lady and Bow Street Runner, one that would be forbidden in the eyes of society… that is right in my lane. I adore pairings where the hero is below the heroine in social station. But for a number of reasons, this book did not deliver in the ways I had hoped.

The biggest fail, for me, was that the first hook up for these two happened before the book ever began. Yes, it tells you that in the blurb, but reading this book gave the distinct feel that I was jumping into a series already in progress. The was disappointing for the romance to be sure, but it was downright overwhelming with the giant infodumps in the bigger story. No standalone book has a history for its characters so detailed and complex, so I did some research and sure enough, this book was born out of the events of The Royal Rewards series. (*This is clearly stated now on Amazon & Goodreads, but was not made obvious when I accepted the ARC.) There is a whole thing about a gold heist and a dead brother for the hero… all it did was bog me down and take away from the story at hand. Even worse, I couldn’t tell what stuff had actually happened on page in other books and how much was backstory for the characters that no one had read anywhere.

Let me get back to the main couple, Isabel and Callum. Callum investigated Isabel’s husband’s death 18 months ago, but after the investigation was over, they hooked up at Vauxhall Gardens and then went their separate ways. No flashbacks. No talking about the feelings/desire/angst of that tryst. It’s just stated as fact. And such a missed opportunity. As the story here begins, Isabel reaches out to Callum to help her with a delicate problem. She has discovered that her late husband was selling art forgeries before his death and now one of his marks is about to sell one of the forgeries to someone else. Isabel wants to replace the fake with the real artwork before the dupe is discovered and her ward suffers from the scandal.

There is barely a blip in the interactions between these two that would so much as hint at hidden passion. The forgery/art plot is not exciting. And the twist at the end felt totally gratuitous. I honestly spent most of the book feeling like I was robbed of any opportunity to have grown to care about these characters or any developing feelings between them. Their interactions were stilted; they lacked passion and chemistry. Part of the time, I didn’t know what I was missing and by the end, I just didn’t care.

Maybe people who read Fortune Favors the Wicked and/or Passion Favors the Bold would enjoy this more for having some of the backstory, but I only know for sure that the gold heist and the dead brother are covered there. I don’t know if any of the initial events between Isabel and Callum happened anywhere on page. I can only wonder if I would have enjoyed this if the entire story were self-contained in one book… it would have been better for sure, but I am afraid I would still feel something was lacking. I needed more passion and really just more emotion and connection from these characters.

Overall, this was a miss for me.

Rating: C-

Theresa Romain is one of my favourite authors; I’ve enjoyed all of the books of hers I’ve read, and there are a number of her historical romances on my Keeper shelf, so I’m always eager to read any new book by her. Lady Rogue is the first in her Roguish Runners Duo, and features as its hero one Callum Jenks, the Bow Street Runner – more correctly, Officer of Police – who helped Sir Hugo Starling and Georgette Frost to find the stolen gold in Passion Favors the Bold, book two in her recent Royal Rewards Duo. The storyline in those books centred around the theft of a large number of newly manufactured gold sovereigns from the Royal Mint; at the beginning of Lady Rogue, the person behind the theft, Sir Frederic Chapple, is in Newgate awaiting trial – and to Callum’s disgust, is about to be released due to lack of evidence. Callum’s brother, Harry, was one of the guards killed during the theft, and he has made it something of a personal crusade to see those responsible brought to justice. So the fact that the principal mover in the operation is going to walk away a free man sticks in his throat. This is no kind of justice, and is not what he has spent more than a decade of his life working for.

It’s this disillusionment that prompts him to reconsider the most unusual request for help he’s probably ever received. The widowed Lady Isobel Morrow, whom he’d first met around eighteen months previously when he investigated the death of her husband Andrew, has just revealed to him that she had discovered that her late spouse, an art dealer, had been selling forgeries of valuable paintings and stashing the originals in a secret room in their house. Learning that the Duke of Ardmore had been planning to sell the (fake) Botticelli painting he’d purchased from Andrew in order to pay off a debt to a dangerous London crime lord, she has conceived a plan that while not strictly legal, is the right thing to do. She asked Callum to help her to break into the duke’s house, steal the forgery and replace it with the original – but he refused. No matter the rightness of her intentions, breaking and entering is illegal and he is, after all, bound to uphold the law.

But after learning of Chapple’s upcoming release, Callum isn’t so sure any more about the difference between ‘just’ and ‘right’, and decides he’ll help Isabel after all.

Over the months of her widowhood, Lady Isabel has begun to realise the extent to which her life has been controlled by the men around her, and how much of herself she had subjugated to her husband’s will. Her marriage was clearly not a happy one, and she is determined to move on and make an independent life for herself as well as to make a good match for Andrew’s young ward, Lucy, who resides with her. It’s Lucy’s reputation that has prompted Isabel to scheme to restore the Botticelli to the duke – if he tries to pay off his debts with a forgery and the forgery is traced back to Andrew, then the Morrow name will be blackened and Lucy’s marriage prospects will be irrevocably damaged. The one person Isabel trusts to help her is the man who investigated her husband’s death… who happens to be the man with whom she had a passionate sexual encounter a year earlier – Officer Callum Jenks.

Isabel and Callum may move in very different spheres, but they have obviously not forgotten each other or what happened between them that night at Vauxhall Gardens. Their mutual attraction is as strong as it ever was, yet after a little bit of initial awkwardness, they settle very easily into a friendship of sorts, each of them feeling able to be more themselves with each other than with anyone else. I liked that they had a history together, that they aren’t bitter about it and haven’t spent the last year mooning over each other – but the downside to it is that I felt as though the relationship had been established off the page and that I’d landed in the middle of it. Theresa Romain always creates interesting, likeable characters, and Isabel and Callum are no exception, but while I really enjoyed their interactions and the way they just ‘click’ together, in terms of the way their minds work and their sense of humour, their romance is a little… underdone.

The plotline that concerns the need to swap the original Botticelli for the forgery is well executed, but after the exchange is made (around the halfway mark) that plotline fizzles out and attention turns to Isabel’s decision to set up her own household, and her concerns over Lucy who, at eighteen, should be making her come-out, but who instead is very shy and doesn’t like attending the sorts of events where she might be able to meet prospective husbands. The hints dropped that Isabel’s life with Andrew wasn’t happy are never really followed up, and the last-minute introduction of a darker storyline involving abuse and murder happens so quickly and comes so far out of the blue that I wondered if I’d jumped into reading another book by mistake!

As I said at the beginning, I’m a fan of Ms. Romain’s, so it pains me to say that Lady Rogue didn’t quite work for me in terms of the storyline, which doesn’t feel cohesive and seems to jump from plotline to plotline. The characterisation, however, is excellent and is the book’s real saving grace. Callum is charming, generous and honourable, and is suffering a bit of a crisis of confidence when it comes to his chosen profession. I liked seeing him with his family, who run a grocery business; it’s clear they all care for each other, but that, like most families, they have their ups and downs, and Callum’s characterisation is enhanced by the glimpses we’re given of his relationship with them. Isabel is at pains to look after Lucy and find her a husband, but she is also starting to relish her independence and to want to leave the remnants of her marriage behind her and I enjoyed watching her grow in confidence and find the courage to strike out on her own. Both are strongly drawn and engaging and they make a very well-matched couple. I’d just have liked a little more chemistry and heat between them.

Lady Rogue didn’t quite fire on all cylinders, but it’s an enjoyable read in spite of its flaws. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, and will continue to look out for more from Theresa Romain.

Theresa Romain's latest historical romance follows in the footsteps of others, with characters outside the aristocracy and a bit of a mystery. It's charming but not quite what I'd hoped for, in fact it took me a couple of weeks to finish. There's still a lot to love, however, so let's get into it!


LADY ROGUE is loosely connected to Romain's previous two "Royal Rewards" novels, which focus on the theft of a great sum of newly minted gold coins and the search for the coins and the thieves. The book opens with Callum Jenks, an Office of the Police (Bow Street Runner) finding out that one of the masterminds of the theft, Sir Frederic Chapple, is going to get away with the crime. This wouldn't be so bad except that Callum's brother was killed in the line of duty. Callum's family, as we learn, is closely knit, and between his work and helping his family grocery, he doesn't have much room in his life for anything else. Romance readers will know that he does, of course, have room for love. *wink*

Lady Isabel Morrow was widowed over a year earlier, but has recently discovered a secret room in the home she shared with her late husband. It's not a spoiler to tell you that Andrew Morrow hired a talented painter to make copies of great works and sell those to the wealthy, while keeping the originals for himself, in the secret room. Who knows what she would have done if not for the Duke of Ardmore's decision to sell one of his paintings (a fake) to a notorious crime lord to settle his debts. Would Angelus know the painting was a fake, revealing Morrow's crimes? Complicating matters, Isabel is taking care of Andrew's young ward, Lucy, who is ready to enter society and hopefully marry. So now Isabel hatches a plan to swap out the fake painting with the real one, thus saving Andrew's reputation and avoiding a scandal that would ruin Lucy's chances to make a good match.

Isabel met Callum when he was investigating her late husband's "accidental" death, so naturally she asks the Officer of the Police whom she banged in Vauxhall one night to help her break into a duke's house. Who wouldn't?

That's the basic set-up, but the plot meanders around a bit. The heist takes place in around the middle of the book, and I'll admit to not knowing at that point why there was another 50% to go. Don't worry, you soon find out. The romance was, dare I say, too realistic to be compelling. The two of them are friends, but the central barrier to their relationship is their class discrepancy. There's a lovely discussion near the resolution of the book about the various amounts of privilege they each possess, one as a wealthy woman, one as a man. The general consensus seems to be that they can each try to make each other happy and maybe that would be enough.

One of my favorite parts of the book is Jenks & Sons Grocers. Romain clearly spent time researching, and I could smell the onions hanging from the ceiling, could hear the dry beans in their bins, could imagine the odd newness of tinned meat. These scenes, as well as the time Callum and Isabel spend walking the city and talking about life and police work made the book something different and fresh.

However... there's a reveal at the end of the book that yanked me out of my happy place and pushed me into "why is this necessary" territory. We know from the beginning that Andrew Morrow most likely committed suicide, but we don't know why.



If you're stopping here, I'll give you the content warnings: murder, child/sexual abuse, racism (not from any of the central characters, but directed at a secondary character).

SPOILER





SPOILER





SERIOUSLY DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED





SORRY I WILL WORK ON FIGURING OUT SPOILER TAGS BUT NOT TODAY





Morrow had been forcing Lucy to sit naked, posed like his secret stolen paintings, while he masturbated. Lucy had been abused by her parents prior to becoming Morrow's ward... and she shot them both. Morrow took her in and decided that he could get away with abusing her further. Then she threatened to tell Isabel and he killed himself. None of this was necessary to the plot, and it was, frankly, startling to read at 95% of the way through the story. It's immediately, I mean IMMEDIATELY, followed up with Isabel and Callum's big joyous reunion and professions of love and so on. I had whiplash.


Anyway, I still enjoy Romain's books for a number of reasons, but that ending left a sour taste in my mouth and I don't want other readers to go into the book without knowing what to expect.

Lady Isabel as Lady Rogue is on a journey of self-exploration. Her story begins about a year and a half after her husbands “accidental suicide.” Months earlier, she finds a hidden room in which her husband has hidden original paintings of which he sold copies as originals. The Bow Street Runner who investigated her husband’s death has, also, lost a brother in a botched robbery. These two meet at Vauxhall on a night in which they are both questioning themselves. They experienced one night of passion and need not seeing each other again, until ...

At this year and a half mark, she decides to try to switch the original with the copy and asks Callum Jenks, her runner, to help her do so. Of course, her refuses. But, his life and investigations are not going the way he believes it should. He decides to help her. She has enlisted the aid of the man who completed the forgeries.

Ms. Roman writes in such a way that you feel you are right three with them during the exchange. Your heart is beating fast just hoping all goes well.

As Isabel and Callum’s love grows, they actually grow apart. Callum knows he is not worthy of her. She is a peer while he is the son of a grocer. There is no way they can be together.

Callum is dealing with his own disappointment in not being able to bring his brother’s murderers to justice. The peer who had admitted to planning the robbery denies involvement a year later. He misses his brother horribly and feels the justice system, for whom he works, is not administering justice. Thus, another reason he decides to help Isabel right the wrong her husband committed with the forged paintings. Throw in the owner of the forged painting who knows it is forged and his demands.

Add all of this up and Isabel’s journey of self-discovery just becomes more complicated. She wants to have worth. She wants to feel. She wants to help. She wants to matter. Isabel sees that Callum affects people every day in many ways. She needs to be and feel worthy of herself not her money. Your heart aches for Isabel. Everything she believed about her life with her husband has been shattered. It seems to go from bad to worse. Her original goal was to help her husband’s ward have a good start finding a good marriage, but she even feels like she has hurt and let Lucy down.

I loved this book and Isabel’s journey. Glad Callum got it right.

Lady Rogue by Theresa Romain is book three in The Royal Rewards series. This is the story of Isabel Morrow and Callum Jenks. I have read the other books in this series but feel this can be a standalone book.
Isabel husband died but now it is coming out that he may have been killed and that the art he was dealing in was forgeries. Isabel needs Callum help with getting everything straitening out before being found out. But their past relationship and now friendship is turning back into a current relationship that is hotter than before.
Loved reading their story.

Lady Isabel Morrow is a character in search of her true self, even before love, and as she discovers that she is more adventurous and daring than she realized, love follows. This is a widow whose husband was an art forger and a somewhat despicable character (she finds out just how much so as the book ends); she is eager to do the right thing by her late husband's young cousin. But to accomplish that, first Lady Isabel needs to break the law -- and for that, she is going to bring back into her life Callum Jenks, the Bow Street Runner with whom she had a tryst but who is not of her world. Callum has his own soul-searching to do, trying to figure how the son of a grocer can ever aspire to the hand of a lady. They are a delightful couple, kind to each other and striving to do their best. How they manage to find a way to bring their worlds together is simply delicious. An aside, I really loved the cover dress -- it fit the description of Lady Isabel's new style of dressing. Elegant. Simple. Colorful. And like her, outside fashion. (I received an advance copy on NetGalley. Opinions are mine.)

Lady Isabel Morrow is facing ruin and needs the help of Callum Jenks, a bow street runner and a man she had fling with. Now she needs his help to replace the forgeries her husband sold with the originals, can they work together before anyone finds out the truth? What will happen when sparks fly? This is a fast-paced historical, second chance romance. The story is fast-paced with plenty of drama, suspense and steam. I really liked it!

A young widow who discovers that her dead husband wasn’t who he portrayed to be! A secret if exposed will be a scandal of epic proportions! Bow Street Runner Callum Jenks finds himself in an art heist that boggles the mind.
Lady Isabel Morrow and Callum have a passionate encounter but meet again, and events take a strange twist.
Determined to protect her young ward from the reality of her husbands scandal she will do anything in her power to keep the truth at bay. Enter Callum Jenks a man that ignites her passion but she can count on him. Wonderfully written full of intrigue and mystery keep the reader captivated till the last page!
I really enjoyed Isabel and Callum! I recieved a copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest unbiased opinion.

I really enjoyed the first 1/2 of this book! Unfortunately, once the main heist plot was solved, it just kind of fizzled and then the very final act felt like a lot stuffed into a little. Some better plotting would have allowed Romain's talent to truly shine.

Interesting and very well written but not sure if it’s true to the era. The lady is a widow and not a lady by society standards. It is steamy. Maybe more risky behavior than traditional. However, a good read.

I really enjoyed this book. I had read some of Ms.Romain's previous work and was a bit ho-hum about it, so I wasn't sure about this one. I'm so glad I took a chance on it! Lady Isabel and is a wonderful heroine, and Calum is a fine hero. They are both intelligent, caring people trying to do the right thing in a situation that has multiple shades of gray. Yes, a relationship between a lady and a Bow Street runner is unrealistic, but the book is well-written and I don't read romance for realism--I read it to escape into a different world. I very much enjoyed this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I've read quite a few of Theresa Romain's books and I would highly recommend most of them. This unfortunately, doesn't do it for me.

The pace is too slow for my liking and seemed rushed towards the end and I just couldn't get into it.
All in all it's not bad, it's just missing that usual touch of Ms Romain's storytelling.

This is my honest opinion of the eGalley copy from the publisher which I voluntarily read.