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Max can't believe he's in line for a dukedom. He didn't know what to expect when summoned to Carlyle Castle, but he has found out he must prove himself a worthy gentleman or his new allowance could be cut off. He sets off to create a respectable life for himself and find a meek wife. He sets his sights on the Tates, who own a pottery business.

Samuel Tate's pottery business has been in the family for generations. Unfortunately for him, he only has 2 daughters and no son to pass on the business. Bianca sees no problem with this, as she can manage it just as well as her father does. Her father is over the moon when the perfect gentleman from London, Max, shows interest in his mild mannered daughter Cathy. Cathy's heart belongs to someone else though and switches places with her sister the morning of the wedding.

This book is enemies to lovers done right. The heroine is very much against her marriage to Max and is quite snarky to him in the beginning. While this hasn't been my favorite trope lately, I adored Max's quips back to her. He took all of her hostility in stride and turned it around into funny interactions that left Bianca flustered. Also, the heroine turns her behavior around by halfway through the book, so it wasn't dislike until they magically loved each other. She fights her dislike and it lessens over time with Max's charm until she finds she's actually liking him.

The steam in this book is fairly mild. A few quick kisses and a few full scenes towards the end. My favorite was a naughty scene in the middle of Vauxhall gardens. But nothing extremely explicit or crazy language used, for those who avoid that stuff.

Max is so much a beta hero. He is so caring about Bianca and her family. He is wonderful. I really enjoyed him. He was very much a gentleman to Bianca even with her spitting venom at him in the beginning. He has a pleasant personality. He's not a grumpy brooder. But he does have a secret. And while secrets aren't my favorite thing in romance novels, this one didn't play out the way I expected it to, and I was happy with the way it worked out.

Bianca is a very independent and opinionated heroine. Once she gets over her dislike of Max she is quite sweet though. Sometimes those feisty heroines can annoy me a bit but I didn't find that with her.

The thing that dropped the rating for me a lot was this book felt soooo slow. While I really did like the aspect of the pottery business – it was different and interesting and the way it was described I was really able to picture the pieces made – I just kept waiting for something to happen. I felt like a lot of what I had read by 50% could have been described in 20%. But there are so many sweet little scenes in this book. And it was clever. The banter and their interactions were rather funny sometimes. Overall a very pleasant read. There also was a short novella about Bianca's maid and Max's valet at the end of the book that was rather cute.

Spoilers about my favorite parts
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I adored how Max always turned Bianca's antagonistic comments around on her in the beginning. Like when he comes up to her and she sniffs at him and says she just caught a chill. He offers her his jacket because she has him all 'hot and flustered'. He was just so clever and adorable with managing her dislike, I loved his reactions.

I also LOVED that he was displaying his calves to entice her. That had me laughing.

My favorite though was when she asked him about how he was always at the breakfast table before she was. He admits that he would listen for her maid to open her door and it would squeak and he would rush out of bed as fast as he could to get downstairs before her. Bianca kept getting up earlier and earlier until she was getting up when it was still dark out and every time he would be sitting at the breakfast table. It was just too cute.

It's... fine? This was my first Linden and I was unimpressed. I can't think of anything wrong/objectionable (it's your basic run-of-the-mill MOC enemies-to-lovers), but it didn't hold my interest either. YMMV.

This author is one of my favorites for the very reason that she delivers a good read every time. And she delivered good read with this book. She doesn't use a formula; what she does is writes a book that wraps around the reader and pulls them into the story. I find myself reading her stories slowly, because it seems as if they are over too quickly. But they aren't. These are the kind if stories that you read and then immediately go back and read the parts that you liked the best. The heroine of this story is the younger sister who works at her family's pottery factory. She works on creating the colored glazes. The hero is a man who has been down on his luck but finds that he is one of the heirs of a duke. But there is another distant cousin in front of him. So he uses the funds he is given to get himself.to the heroine's father and arrange a marriage to the elder sister. But she elopes with her beau and the younger sister steps in. And the story just keeps getting better.
This story is very well written. Too many times, an author just keeps throwing information at the reader and it doesn't really make any sense. There are many of these stories out there. But this story is not like that. All of the plots wind together into an enchanting romance that is memorable. The characters are very likeable and keep growing in the story. There are no grammar or spelling errors. I liked that the heroine was spunky and not bratty. I liked that the hero was concious of the value of things and was not wasteful. I could go on and on about everything I liked, but you need to read this story and enjoy it. I highly recommend this book and give it 5 stars

Strong first half, weak finish. Good, but ultimately unsatisfying (not counting the brilliant bonus novella!): 4 stars/B-

<b>About a Rogue</b> showcases one of my favorite character tropes: A bad boy who isn't quite the bad boy everyone imagines. Oh, he's bad. But not the bad kind of bad. The naughty kind of bad.
Know what I mean? Well, if you don't, you might not read a lot of historical romance...and I'll leave it at that.

I digress.

<b>About a Rogue</b> opens in a prologue. The dowager Duchess of Carlyle has recently learned that her youngest son, the heir presumptive, is dead. With the current duke unable to marry or produce an heir (an accident as a young man has left him in a child-like state), she asks her solicitor who in the family tree is next to inherit the dukedom should the current duke die. When the solicitor informs her who the two options are - a soldier, and a disreputable London rake - she summons them to the estate, and makes them an offer neither can refuse: in exchange for a lump sum and annual allowance, she wants each man to prove to her he's capable of one day inheriting and becoming the next Duke of Carlyle. The soldier seems eager, and the rake...well, he doesn't reveal how he feels about the sudden life-changing windfall and opportunity, but he intends to improve his life regardless.

Maximilian St. James is not quite the rake he appears to be. Although he spends his time with a fast, affluent crowd, he doesn't gamble for fun. He gambles to make ends meet. Life is either feast or famine. Max is used to struggling; as a young boy, his dissolute father abandoned his mother whenever it was convenient, and his mother struggled to care for him. The pair often went hungry with help in short supply, despite his father's connection to the Duke of Carlyle. When his mother died while he was still a young boy, he went to live with his mother's sister, Gemma. Gemma and her husband cared for Max. Life was good, he was studying law...until he was falsely accused of seducing the wrong woman and lost his position, and then his uncle died. When Gemma remarried, he departed for London to make his own way.

When Samuel Tate, owner of a prosperous ceramics business, introduces Maximillian St. James to his daughters, he has high hopes that his guest will make a match with his eldest daughter Cathy. St. James is interested in the business, and has some intriguing ideas about increasing sales via his London connections. Cathy is horrified (she's in love with the local curate); Bianca, her youngest sister, is angry. She has no intention of letting some handsome London Lothario marry her beloved sister Cathy, and she's furious that her papa would even consider it. Instead, she secretly helps Cathy elope on her wedding day. Except she wasn't expecting her furious father to suggest she marry St. James instead, or that St. James would accept the switch as if it was neither here or there. So instead of backing down from a bad position, she gets married. Oops?!!!!

Oh friends, the set-up for this enemies to lovers story is a treat. St. James, as I mentioned earlier, is no bad guy. He's a good bad guy, with some very naughty, wicked desires. And once he's married to Bianca...well, he desires her! But he plays a long game, determined to prove his prowess as a businessman, and as a husband. He's thrilled with his connection to the pottery, and eager to prove himself. And he makes Bianca so mad! It's delicious. Just when Bianca thinks she has the upper hand, he gently shows her a different way. I loved their friction and chemistry, and it was a treat waiting for all the lust to finally combust. Linden does a marvelous job developing these two characters - the intelligent, tempestuous, beautiful, slightly naive Bianca pitted against the lonely, handsome, kind, sly and charming Max - and building the tension between them to a boiling point. They're terrific together.

Unfortunately, once they get together, the story takes a turn. All through the first half we get teases of a terrible secret Max is keeping (I thought I knew what it was for 3/4 of the novel. I was wrong. So wrong.). It's a nail-biting wait hoping Bianca doesn't find out before he can explain whatever it is...and then she finds out. And the secret is ridiculous. And totally sends the story off its rails. And from there, it just sort of limps to the finish line. Sorry, but it does. A climatic scene lacks finesse and ends with a bang that...well, it's just awkward. That's all I'm going to say.

Look, well past the half-way mark I thought this was going to be in my top 5 novels of 2020. Great sexual tension, a compelling and unique setting and story - with a heroine in a non-traditional role totally killing it with her talent, a rake-ish hero who's just delicious...romance reader, it was all working! But then the big reveal was so odd and strange and surprising, and the villain so forgettable? Ridiculous? Random? Silly? It just felt like the author wasn't sure where her story was going (or what Max's big secret should be), so she invented this horrifying secondary plot. It just feels wrong.

Promising start, disappointing ending. B-/4 stars.

beautiful story about getting to know one another and that things aren't all that they first appear. That love can sneak up on you at any point. I loved the short story at the end. It was like having two books in one.

Maximilian St. James sees the perfect opportunity to finally become a responsible gentlemen when he agrees to marry Caroline Tate, an heiress to the famous Tate pottery empire. His perfect plan goes awry when Caroline runs away to marry her true love. Her sister Bianca finds herself agreeing to marry Max in her sister's stead after a heated row with her father. Bianca despises Max and though they are married, she does everything she can to stay away from him. It's up to Max to win her over, but is this one challenge he cannot win?

I loved all the lively conversations early on in Max and Bianca's marriage. This was no love match and Bianca reminds Max of that fact every day, but Max is determined to make a go of this business marriage. There was a slow build up of feelings between these two and it was definitely believable, but Max is keeping a terrible secret that threatens to tear this couple apart forever. Will Bianca be willing to forgive Max for his deception? This book had good pacing and I was quickly turning the pages to see how things would work out. There was also a delightful short story at the end about Kit and Jennie.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This historical romance was refreshing and charming. Bianca is forced to marry a man she dislikes so that her sister can elope with the man of her dreams. Max finds his new bride to be fiercely independent, beautiful and smart. He vows to make her want him just as much. He wins her by quick witted banter, learning the business she loves , and showing her boundless amounts of patients and slow burn seduction. Despite his secrets he wins her by showing her that she's more than a means to an end. Enjoyed it.

Maximilian St.James has struggled, with his mother, all his life to get by after being abandoned by his father. They received no help from the paternal side of his family, although they could have easily helped, being related to a dukedom as he was.
His parents passed away, and he survived by his wits and gambling. Shockingly he received a notice that he was in line for that same dukedom, not immediately, but second in line.
The current Duchess, contacted him, offering him financial assistance to enable him to learn what he may need to know...in the event he became the duke.
He grabbed the opportunity to learn and invest in a pottery plant, getting engaged to the man's daughter in the deal.
Many things come out in the tale that aren't apparent at the start. The promised bride is reluctant, her sister believes him a rogue and a rake. He does bring a considerable amount of assistance to the pottery, not only in cash and the cache of being related to the duke, but also intelligent suggestions to bring the business to a higher level.
The reluctant bride runs and her sister is now the one on the spot.
His reasons for his former lifestyle are revealed later and show his true character.
This historical is wonderfully written. Great characters, vivid descriptions, intrigue, humor and romance make this a must read for anyone loving historical tales.
I requested and received a NeyGalley ARC to peruse and offer my offer freely.

I can't wait to read more in this series. I am a big Caroline Linden fan. I always preorder her books. I think Bianca is a strong, brave character to take her sister Cathy place so she can marry her true love. Then Bianca has to take her place and marry Max a new Duke. Bianca wants only to protect her family ceramics business. They seem the right balance of characters personality. I loved the characters and the plot. I can't wait to see what will happen in the next book.

This book is the first in Caroline Linden’s Desperately Seeking A Duke series which is about three different common men who may be the heir to a dukedom and how that changes their lives. This book is about the rogue Max who tries to better himself by shunning his wild ways and marry into a successful pottery business run by a man and daughters. His marriage is a business arrangement that becomes much more when he is forced to marry the bold sister, Bianca. Max’s business acumen impresses Bianca enough to lower her guard and fall in love with him. I can’t wait to read the next in the series. I received an ARC from NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for my honest review.

First in new series Desperately Seeking Duke.
Maxim, is called to the Carlisle castle to speak with the Dower Duchess. He finds himself to be a possibly in line for a dukedom. He must clean up his act first.
In comes Cathy, who elopes,. So her sister, Bianca, steps in.
Primary and secondary characters very likeable

I always enjoy lindens books and this one was no different. I liked the touches of feminism throughout, the topic was well handled. I enjoyed the complicated and believable relationship between heroine and her father. I enjoyed the drama of the “let’s see who will be duke” background drama unfolding. I liked the hero a lot. I didn’t care for the heroine. I am tired of heroines being portrayed as shrewish in order to portray supposed character and strength. I have no idea why she had such an immediate and overwhelmingly nasty reaction to the hero even though she knew literally nothing about him. She treats him horrible for no reason at all and he just takes it. I really don’t get it. I wish the author has chosen a different way of adding tension between the two, or had given a more clear reason for the heroine to act this way. Still I enjoyed the book, if not the heroine for the first half, and ido recommend it.

This was another enjoyable novel by Ms. Linden. Bianca Tate enjoys working in her father's ceramics business and has a talent herself. She always believed the business would be split her and her sister, since her father could not trust it to a man who does not know anything about ceramics. That all changes when Maximilian St. James, recent heir to a dukedom enters the picture. There is more to Max than meets the eye, and of course some of what the gossips say is true! Bianca is determined to despise Max, who is determined to win Bianca over. What started out as a competition turned into something more. Bianca began to see the promise in Max's ideas and realized he was more than a rake, but had a keen mind too. A marriage neither really wanted turned into something more until Max's past caught up with him. Bianca will then be faced with a choice of whether to continue their marriage or let it dissolve.
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a good book. I really like a strong opinionated main character. Just like Bianca. She stuck up for her sister and kept true to herself. The story was great. The characters were well written. Can't wait for the next book in the series!!

*Wipes tears* And another hit from Caroline Linden!!

"And as they drove back to the house in Farley Street, she made a silent promise to her husband that she would never be so faithless or disloyal, as his family had been. Tates were made of sterner stuff. Together, they would build a new family, and find happiness there."

ABOUT A ROGUE brings vastly different characters together and creates a beautiful love story that will tug at your heartstrings. Linden creates a refreshing take on a historical romance novel, choosing a rogue with a chance at dukedom, and pairing him with a hard-working glazer whose family runs a ceramics business. Their hate/indifference-to-love relationship is a beautiful slow burn, as readers grow to appreciate both characters as they fall in love with each other.

In the prologue, we find that the Duchess of Carlyle is searching for distant cousins to be readied to become the next duke. One of these distant cousins, Max, is a rogue and a gambler. Her incentive for turning him into a sober and decent man is a large allowance, in order to prepare him for the possibility of becoming a duke in the future. Max, however, doesn't really want to become a duke. He may be a rogue, but he's looking for honest work and a chance to have his own... everything. His own home, his own passion, and his own family. Through a mutual acquaintance, he strikes up the friendship of Mr. Tate, who owns a ceramics factory, and becomes interested in his company. However, Tate keeps the company within the family. So what can Max do, but ask to marry into it? Good thing Mr. Tate has two eligible daughters...

We begin the story with Bianca despising Max, thinking him a dandy and rogue that only married into her family for money. Max doesn't care either way, and he's ready to get started with learning the business. We begin to see a relationship unfold as Bianca cannot ignore Max's earnestness, and Max remains patient to eventually wear down her anger. I thought these interactions were so pure and sweet, and their slow-burn progression to loving the other was perfect. Max's respect for Bianca's knowledge in ceramics and passion for the business was beautifully evident. Her own empathy with his poverty-led path and struggles was also really heartwarming to see. Together, they make a powerful team as they both bring new ideas to the Tate business that pave the way to success.

"Perhaps... just perhaps... this ill-begotten marriage would turn out to be a brilliant match."

Not only is the premise refreshing, but the angst is kept low as well (as usual with Linden books). The main conflict was not dragged out, and I found the characters' reactions realistic and empathetic. It was very evident to see the main couples' love for one another, as well as a colorful cast of supporting characters who supported them every step of the way.

Linden is a queen of historical romance, and ABOUT A ROGUE captures my favorite aspects of her stories. I would recommend this for someone looking for a refreshing historical romance, with a unique premise and spunky characters that just tug on your heartstrings. In fact, this might be one of my favorites of her books, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

Trigger Warnings: off-page details of abuse (physical, mental), trauma and mental illness
I do have to note: while Linden maintains historical accuracy with the storyline set in London, I don't think mentioning the culturally appropriating costumes of Vauxhall adds to the plot. Maybe the setting? It goes unchallenged, since historical accuracy and everything, but I didn't think it was necessary. There is also a side plot that deals with mental illness that definitely could have been explored, and in a more respectable way. It wasn't a focus of the story, but there was a lost opportunity in that.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for the review copy!

This review is very difficult to write because I enjoy Ms. Linden's books immensely and was very much looking forward to this book. This book is well-written with a clever premise and some great supporting characters but overall it is disappointing.

The pacing of the courtship is generally well done but it begged for more details. Their relationship seemed to initially be built on those walks from work to home. Tell me more about those walks. Give me details and dialogue and maybe a cliched scene where Bianca twists her ankle slightly. Something.

I thought that Max was handled very well and really grew up in the relationship into a man worthy of being a partner. He was studious, thoughtful, and savvy but also compassionate toward Bianca and her family. I did think he was a little too cold-blooded industrialist but that is because I am in a revolutionary phase right now.

I thought that Bianca's transition was awful. Bianca doesn't become a woman capable of managing a home and work life. She doesn't grow into being a better partner. She becomes a cardboard cutout of what a spouse should be. She loses herself. After she perfects the red glaze, there is never another scene of her in her workshop.

Finally, there is a plot line dealing with mental illness that is handled very very poorly. The character is treated very badly in the asylum but she isn't really crazy so she doesn't deserve it and everything is okay. Bah, what a cop-out and what a missed opportunity to deal with mental illness and the challenges of caring for someone with mental illness.

In fact, that is what this whole book could be summed up as: a missed opportunity. Unless you are a hardcore Linden fan, I would take a pass on this book.

About a Rogue by Caroline Linden features a ne'er do well gambler hero and an assertive daughter of a wealthy ceramics magnate. It opens with the death of the heir of a duke and the realization that the duchy will now fall to distant cousins who must now be sought out to see if they will pass muster. The duchess brings two of the cousins to her, one an army man, the other the novel's hero, and grants them funds upfront to make more of themselves than what they are to "prove" themselves to her. Maximilian St. James takes the opportunity and runs with it, now in possession of stable income for the first time in his life, and begins making plans: firstly, ingratiating himself with Samuel Tate with his business ideas, and then offering to marry Tate's daughter Cathy. The prospect infuriates Bianca, Tate's other daughter, who considers the business hers, and who knows that Cathy is in love with the local curate. Bianca believes Max to be a fortune hunter and dilettante, and is appalled that her father is willing to offer up Cathy, knowing that Cathy will obey. In a turn of events, Cathy elopes and Bianca, facing their father's fury, weds Max instead at the last minute.

Setting aside a weird initial scene with the hero who acts like a jerk for really the only time in the novel, my only recommendation for reading About a Rogue is for Max. Max is a wonderful hero, whose motivations are clear and feel fully rounded. Bianca, on the other hand, made me want to throw my figurative novel against the wall. She is so incredibly abrasive and know-it-all that she was hard to like for almost the entire novel. When she's furious about the offer for Cathy it never felt like it was because she cared about Cathy. It felt more like "This is Wrong Because I, Bianca, Know Everything, and I Do Not Accept This. This Man Who I Do Not Know or Talk To Is This Thing That I've Decided and Nothing Will Change My Mind." Which leads to endless scenes of Max being kind and considerate (at odds with the first scene he's in, so this could also have been tweaked) and Bianca wearing my last nerve with her nonstop suspicion and rudeness. If I hadn't received an ARC, I wouldn't have made it past the 40% of the novel before she begins to even slightly adjust her attitude.

3.5 stars, minus one full star for Bianca.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.

This was a fun book! It took me very little time to read because I was so charmed by the story.

Max is gambler and a distant relation of a ducal family who becomes in line to be a duke and has an opportunity to be given a steady income if he cleans up his act and also marries. He decides to forge a business connection and a marriage alliance in one with a family who runs a ceramics business. At first, he is set to marry Catherine, but with her sister Bianca's help she elopes with someone else. Unfortunately, their father had already given a portion of the business to Max, so even though Bianca thinks the worst of him, she agrees to marry him instead of Catherine.

Bianca was a wonderfully feisty character, but she and Max quickly grow to respect each other, and their attempts to outdo the other person is so much fun. Although the summary and title implies that Max is a rogue (and yes, he is a gambler), compared to other rogues and rakes in romance novels he seems pretty tame and sweet and respectful. I also enjoyed many of the side characters.

Ultimately, while this doesn't bring anything new to the genre, if you want to read something that is comforting and familiar and engaging, I would recommend this one.