I enjoyed the most of the plot but some of it (like with her father in law) seemed a little disjointed and like the story was edited down too much. That said, it was still an enjoyable book and I liked the main characters and their story line.

Lady Kitson Fairbright, widowed and mother of Chatwyn is at the mercy of her father in law, the Duke of Sprogsfield. He is control of the property that became her husband's upon their marriage and won't let her take her son and set up house elsewhere. He threatens her often with taking her child, so when she overhears a conversation that has the possibility of her escape from his prison, she is determined to make it work.
Garrett Stockton, a charming rogue is in town and spies her in a bit of a jam. He falls for her as he assists her out of it and continues to try to assist, even as she resists his efforts.
A charming historical romance, with a villain or two, a hero, and a few heroines. Skillfully crafted with vivid descriptions of the settings and characters.
Ms. Grey combines, intrigue, humor and romance in this tale chronicaling the difficulty of women in this era trying to do good.
I requested and received a NetGalley ARC to peruse and offer my opinion gratis.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this one. The characters seemed a bit stereotypical and living embodiment of classic romance tropes. As a result, I never really engaged with either character and so I wasn't invested at any point.

1.5/5⭐️

This was a new author for me, and I was excited when I was offered the chance to read this ARC (2nd in a trilogy). Unfortunately I couldn’t find much to recommend it.

The writing is very simplistic, repetitive and stilted, and regrettably there are way too many uses of over-the-top trite terms that give this genre a bad rep to many who don’t read much in historical romance. A lackluster plot and characters with no charisma (either personally or as a unit) rounded out my issues with it.

I really wanted to enjoy it, but I felt that it didn’t try hard enough. I’ve definitely read better.

Thanks to #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for providing me the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

Since the death of her husband, widowed Julia and her 4-year-old son have lived for four years with her father-in-law, the Duke, who has never forgiven her for eloping with his son, The duke imposes rigid rules of behavior for them, and if Julia should not abide by them, she would be faced with the loss of her son. Will a chance encounter in the park with Garrett, a wealthy shipping company owner, change Julia’s life forever? Will her dear friend and fellow widow, Brina, try to deal with her grief by joining a convent? This engaging second book in the First comes Love series completely stands on its own, with only a brief mention of the characters from the first. A lovely mixture of romance and humor – watch Brina and Julia try to bake bread and make soup so that Brina can prove her worthiness to the abbess of the convent – make this book a winner.

I received a courtesy copy of this book and I’m voluntarily leaving a review. This has been an enjoyable read for me, a story that reflects the opinions of its time. Julia is a widow who is trapped by the hatred of her father in law. She has a mission, that is she wants to break free from the clutches of the Duke and the only way to do it is to find evidence against his respectability. When this strong and stubborn lady encounters the most unruly man of London, she decides to take the risk and thanks to his help lady Julia will finally have the chance to uncover the schemings of the Duke. A regency romance with hints of passion between the hero and the heroine that will inflame the heart of the reader.

Gone With the Rogue is just corny and cheesy from beginning to end. Half the writing is just over the top, and may be okay for someone who wants to read overwhelming desire and the throes of passion, hearts melting and being captivated and mesmerized. If you want to read a book where you can see the love for each build in two characters instead of having it spelled out for you with every possible word available in a thesaurus, eh, not so much. This is unfortunate, because parts of the book that having nothing to do with romance between Julia and Garrett aren't bad, and remind the reader of how few options women in regency times had. But even the non-romantic parts of the book aren't all stellar. Julia's father-in-law, a duke, serves as a villain in the story by threatening to take her son away from her if she leaves him. He's a background presence for a large majority of the book, leaving you to presume how incredibly awful he is by Julia fretting about it all the time, instead of creating a character that is easy to hate and makes Julia's situation untenable. This book is probably two and a half stars for me, but I've rated other romances as three star books that were definitely better than this one.

I felt it was an okay novel. I liked the widowed single mother; however, the duke component took it a little too far.

Garrett Stockton owns a successful shipping company and is rumored to have a woman on every continent and half-a-dozen in England. The truth, however, is that Garrett has but one mistress: the wide open sea.When I started reading I couldn't put it down.Amelia Grey is magnifysent and amazing writer.I cannot wait to read more of there books.Keep up the great work.You should definitely read this book.Can't wait for the next book.

An enjoyable story of romance with some twist and turns to keep the ready engaged. Good character and story line development overall.

Ameilia Grey is a new to me author and this is the second in this "First Comes Love" series that I was glad to get a copy to read and review as I very much enjoyed the first book.

Ms. Julia Fairbright has been in the state of a widow for about 4 years and is somewhat at the mercy of her father-in-law who has his own notions of what a prim and proper widow she should be. Essentially she is a prisoner to the man and it doesn't help that he is a Duke. In any case she has to walk on eggshells around his staff in order for them not to report her comings and goings. When she finds out some damaging information that could help her come from under his foot, she enlists a best friend and unintentionally drags Garrett Stockton in to the picture.

Mr. Garrett Stockton is a wealthy owner of several shipping companies and has returned to England to attend a wedding. He unfortunately stumbles across Julia stuck in a tree and their the attraction ignites for him. As Garrett can't forget Julie, the daily meetings turns their desire into a romantic relationship. Although the title sounds delicious, the book fail a bit short for me and was very fuzzy in places. I thought the relationship moved a bit too fast as they only knew each other for about a week. I'll admit that I like the sexual attraction and intimacy in the stories I read, but 4 or more in a week is a bit much. It was not clear why her father-in-law had such a hold on her and her son. Didn't think she owed him anything. I think that could have been expounded on a bit more instead of showing him as a villain early on the story.

At times, there was a bit of disconnect between Julie and Garrett but in other places it was oh so lovely. It could have been chalked up to their character portrayal...could have been more depth to them to make them a bit more interesting. The characters kind of fell a bit flat and there was alot of potential and development that could have been done to Garrett's character. Although the story kept up the repetitiveness of Julia's constant speaking of the Duke control over her and her circumstances, at some point early on in the story she should have developed a backbone to break free.

In summary, was I blown over by this story...not so much as the first but it was an enjoyable enough read. I did like the slight build on Brina's character and am hoping the next would be about her story.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3- Stars

-- This review is also available on my blog www.hookedbythatbook.com --

Julia Fairbright is a widow with a young son, and by all rights should be able to enjoy the freedoms that usually come with widowhood for women like her. But she is firmly under the thumb of her father-in-law, the Duke of Sprogsfield. Julia meets Garrett Stockton when he happened to stop under the very tree where she was stuck on one of the branches above him. The two of them had an instant attraction and it was described pretty well. I completely felt it with them.

Julia is trying to find evidence to free herself from her father-in-laws strict rules. And eventually she asks Garrett to help her.

Julia is a strong character. She tried to stay strong for her son while under the thumb of the duke. She made a plan to get herself out from under his tyrannical rule. She had the courage to confront the duke all by herself. Garrett supported her all the way and helped her by making his resources available to her.

The story flowed well and I don’t feel as if there were any unnecessary parts to it. It just wasn’t very exciting.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The father in law read too much like a caricature villain. How he got in to his side business was mustache twirling evil and his comeuppance wasn't satisfactory for his misdeeds.

Meanwhile Julia and Garrett was a little too instalove for my tastes.

I received this book free of charge as an ARC thanks to the publisher & netgalley. The review is my own.

I enjoyed this book - the story line flowed fairly well, only a few choppy points and the main characters were enjoyable. It was set up a bit like a classical fairy tale with a villain (the Duke) that the Julia and Garrett need to find a way to best! I recommend reading the first book in this series, although, this would work as a standalone.

I enjoyed the premise of this series: three young widows who lost their husbands in the same shipwreck. This second book tells Julia's story as she raises her son under the thumb of her hypocritical father-in-law. She is ready to get out from under his tyranny but has to do it carefully or she could forfeit her son's living with her. A new acquaintance, Garrett, proves to be both a major distraction and a major help. I enjoyed the story and the characters but felt like there should have been more. More story, more character backstory, more tension, more issues to resolve. But I still enjoyed reading it!

A exceptional read, with a interesting storyline. Full of romance, and excitement, A excellent connection between protagonist.
4 stars

Julia has been widowed for four years after her husband died in a shipwreck. Since her husband's death, she has been effectively a prisoner of her father-in-law, who is a Duke. The Duke refused to allow her to move on or out without leaving Julia's son behind. When she finds out information that can show the world the Duke isn't the pious, upstanding man they think he is, she thinks she can use it to get from under his thumb.

Garrett owns a shipping company and hasn't stayed put in England for many years. He has returned to England for the wedding of his closest friend. He has also returned because the allure of adventure isn't as strong as it had been.

A chance encounter at the park brings Julia and Garret together and sets them on a path to love.

I so so so wanted to love this book. And there were moments where I did love it - basically any scene where it was just Julia and Garrett. But there were a lot of things that didn't work so well for me. For example, Julia and Garrett have sex literally the fourth time they see each other, which couldn't have been more than a week since the first time they meet. Their connection was clearly very strong, and I'm not judging them for jumping in bed together - but it seemed kind of out of character for both of them. Plus during that encounter they both profess to have been "waiting" for each other. Garrett says that he hasn't been interested in another woman since he saw Julia for the first time - what like 7 days ago? Wow give the man a medal.

I think there just wasn't a lot of depth to either Julia or Garrett's character. There were hints about it - but they never really came to anything.

Overall - this might be the book for you, it just wasn't for me.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the second book in this series. Julia is a great heroine with a feisty spirit. She is being hindered by her dead husband’s father, the duke, because he rules her every move. If she doesn’t obey, she will lose her 4 year old son to him. She meets Garrett in the beginning of the book & sparks immediately fly. Garrett makes his living at sea & is only in London briefly. I highly recommend reading this book to find out what happens between this characters. I also look forward to the next book of the series!

Widowed Julia Fairbright is forced to live under her father-in-law's tyranical rule in order to retain custody of her young son. An accidental meeting with dashing commoner Garret Stockton changes Lady Julia's fortunes for the better. Gone with the Rogue by Amelia Grey is a well written and entertaining story with wonderful chemistry between the main characters and just the right amount of intrigue. Thank you Amelia Grey and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read #GoneWiththeRogue.

Continuing this series, this is Julia’s story, who is forced to live under her duke father-in-law’s thumb. She is seeking information to prove he is crooked to be free. She meets Garrett by chance in the park and he is instantly drawn to her.

Overall, the story is ok, but it had too much internal dialogue and was repetitive regarding Julia’s situation and despair with the duke. Lots of set up for Brina’s story, but our couple from book one were nowhere to be found.

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.