Every once in a while, there is a book available on NetGalley that I am extra excited for—and this was one of them! I actually whooped out loud when I saw that I got approved for it! And oh, how I fell in love with it!

I was actually pretty surprised by how much I enjoyed reading about Tristan and Lucie because neither of them were characters that I felt particularly drawn to in the first book. But after getting to spend more time with them here, I can completely see how they would deserve their own book. Their love story felt very real, and not forced. In fact, on the whole, Dunmore has a particular talent in creating compelling characters and stories that stay true to the romance genre, but with a twist. In this book Dunmore examines the real fear many women at the time felt surrounding a marriage contract that did not protect their rights, while showing how a woman could be vulnerable and in love, while retaining her independence.

Overall, I was sad to finish this book, and cannot wait to return to this world in the third installment of the series with Hattie!

This book comes out September 1, 2020. Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and the author for a review copy of this book!

A Rogue of One's Own is Evie Dunmore's sequel to Bringing Down the Duke. This time it's Lucie and Tristan's turn at suffragist romance. Both make their entrance in the first installment--as a firebrand suffragist and a lothario lord--which made their pairing in this book look like a tall order given how both are perceived in Bringing Down the Duke, but it works. It really works.

Lucie is a disowned lady and the strong leader of a suffragist chapter in Oxford. Tristan is a lord recently returned from Britain's war in Afghanistan. Both are notorious for the exact opposite reasons, which makes them an idea pairing for an enemies-to-lovers story. Given they've known each other since childhood, there's an added emotional dimension to their journey. In A Rogue of One's Own, Lucie is determined to buy London Print in order to publish a suffragist report, and is stonewalled when Tristan winds up buying the other half of the same publishing house. The two lock horns, and tempers flair, and then he offers to sell her one share in the publishing house for--you guessed it--sex.

If that sounds morally gray, it is. But Tristan is pretty morally gray. The arcs for both characters are well-established and you root hard for them all the way to the end. Plus there's a ball. And there are cats. Many cats. I'm looking forward to Hattie's story next.

I love A League of Extraordinary Women Series! Lucie & Tristian are couple goals. Boudicca stole the show. Can't wait for Hattie's story.

Review posted on Goodreads (July 9, 2020)
Review Linked

3/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for sending me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have very mixed feelings on this book. On one hand, I fell in love with the two main characters. They were so complex, honest, and lovable characters and their romance was so much fun to follow and read about. I also really loved the history of feminism and the suffragette movement in this book—the author gives so much historical background on the movement, and those moments were super impactful and interesting to read about. What I loved most about reading about these two characters was seeing them change and grow as the story went on. One of my favorite things that this book talked about was the struggle that some feminists have with marriage. I think Dunmore expressed perfectly how women can love deeply without giving themselves away and staying independent—which is such a beautiful message. I also really loved how she discussed how femininity and hRa woman's strength/identity can change and be different for women throughout their lives, specifically in terms of how they identify/understand feminism and what it means to them.

I really liked this novel...but there are also some things that the author brought up but didn’t discuss in a fully formed way... she brings up some social issues of the time, but doesn't really go into depth about them and doesn't tackle these issues enough in her story. Specifically in this book, Dunmore brings up the challenges that the gay community of the time faced and the challenges that people of color in England faced during the late 1800s, but she does so briefly, and I felt as if she was not discussing these issues enough, almost skirting around them. Especially on the topic of colonialism. Dunmore hinted at this issue briefly but also didn't really talk about the issues of colonialism. And, even though she is dealing with a period in time where the feminist movement was dominated by white, straight women, I wanted her to bring up the conversation about the importance of intersectional feminism.

So, like I said before, I have A LOT of mixed feelings about this book. I do recommend this series to people, because I love seeing activism and romance together, but I do want to see the author include more diverse characters in a better way in the future and with more respect.

Thanks for reading!
Caden

A delightful sequel to Bringing Down the Duke, featuring two flawed and relatable characters. I experienced moments of pure joy while reading, and it was nice to see the dialogue between our leads, and the understanding that bloomed throughout the narrative. In light of recent reading alongside this selection, I only wish there might be more focus on characters that are even further disadvantaged than our upper class suffragette's, and hope to see that integrated in further installments in the series.

I received this as an early review copy from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.

So timely, funny, heart wrenching. I love Evie Dunmore's characters and the plotting which leads them to their HEA. She is a wonder!

Lucie and Tristan enjoy antagonizes each other, and it's no surprise that they end up channeling that energy into their chemistry in bed together. They each have designs for using a publishing house, and as co-owners in the venture, find their paths keep crossing. In order to get what she wants, Lucie is willing to make a desperate bargain. We meet some former characters again, and see them well settled in their new personal lives. As marriage changes her friends lives, Lucie debates whether it's something she wants for herself, even as she enjoys her new extracurricular activities through her friendship with Tristan. The plot, dialogue, and settings are all smart and well paced, making this an easily enjoyable read for summertime. I look forward to the next title!

Oh my goodness! Y'all this book is the cutest! I was worried because I loved Bringing Down the Duke so much, but this one was just as delightful. It did have a little bit of a slow start for me BUT I think that's because I read it on my Kindle, which makes it harder to go back and reread previous parts, which I do a lot when I'm reading a historical fiction read because the characters all run together for me....all the Lords, Ladies, Dukes, etc. I loved the banter between Lucie and Tristan....it was almost like Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass! Highly recommend this one! LOVED IT :)

This high-brow historical romance is a fantastic sequel to Bringing Down the Duke. Evie Dunmore is great at writing compelling characters, staying true to many romance tropes, but writing them in a really fun, smart way.

In this installment of the League of Extraordinary Women, it is Lady Lucie's turn to accidentally fall in love. Lucinda is the leader of the Suffragist Movement in Oxford in 1879. She has been cast out of her aristocratic family for her politics, and she runs the movement with a singular focus. Her goal is to get her suffragist report published in hopes Parliament will be forced to amend the Marriage Property Act.

Now, you might be thinking-- eh that stuff is not my thing. While there is plenty of feminist politicking, there is even more of our big, bold, hero: Lord Tristan Ballentine. He reminds me a little of Jamie Fraser (Outlander) in that he is a very big, imposing, redhead. His problem is that his awful father has given him three months to improve his reputation and marry. But that's not what Tristan has in mind at all.

Highly recommend for fans of The Guilded Hour by Sarah Donati, and you should read Bringing Down the Duke first!

A Rogue of One’s own follows Lady Lucie and Tristan Ballentine, two people who grew up together but soon turned into enemies. Since then, Tristan has become a war hero and Lucie has championed the Cause with the women suffrage movement. In order to get information to women secretively, Lucie buys half of the London Print only to find out that Tristan Ballentine owns the other half.

Tristan and Lucie had loads of chemistry and it was so fun to watch it play out. They weren’t ever really friends growing up but they did have a lot of history and learning those stories was one of my favourite parts of the book. It was also a brilliant way of forcing each of them to undergo some changes and listen to the other person’s side of the story. Also, the things Tristan would say would often make me smile or laugh.

Evie Dunmore’s second novel in her A League of Extraordinary Women was highly, and I mean highly anticipated for me. I read Bringing Down The Duke in less than 24 hours. It became an instant obsession, and instant favourite for me. Dunmore captivated me with two characters who needed to be together but absolutely couldn’t. There was longing and yearning and so, so much heartbreak. Unfortunately, those are the same categories where this installment fell flat for more.
The romance didn’t even kick in until the 55-ish% mark and there wasn’t really any yearning or longing. I don’t at all think that it is a bad book or a bad romance, but when it comes to me and romance, I absolutely need longing and yearning. Also something to note, this book moves much slower than its predecessor. Again, not a bad thing, but just something to prepare yourself for.

However, I really enjoyed this book regardless. It was a lot of fun being back in this setting and seeing some of the same characters. I really loved what Dunmore did with Ballentine—a character who shows up in the first novel who I really didn’t like at the time. Ballentine makes story made his character much deeper and I appreciated that. He is by no means a favourite of mine, but I did come to like him and enjoy reading about him.
Lucie was an interesting protagonist. I loved hearing about her passionate feminist work, that was probably my favourite part of the book. She’s very confident and strong-minded and it was really refreshing to read in her POV.

I would definitely recommend this book! especially if you enjoyed the first one. But you just have to keep in mind that it does move a bit slower than the first and it also doesn’t have that same epic romantic feel.

I really enjoyed this book so much! Bringing down the duke was great and this second book was no exception!! I loved the romance, the banter and the strong female lead, Lucy. Tristan’s character was great also- totally adorable! I can’t wait for more by this author!!!

First of all, I love the cover art of this series. Secondly, I love that this series delivers well written feminist historical romance novels to us. It’s difficult to find good books in this genre. Courtney Milan got me into this genre but I’ve found it difficult to find more books like hers. Evie Dunmore’s books remind me a bit of Milan. I was blown away by Dunmore’s first book, and eagerly awaited this one. At first I found myself disappointed in it. The main character is a suffragist leader, and I wanted someone like Minnie in Milan’s Duchess War. Someone brilliant, composed, and 3 steps ahead. I found it aggravating that a woman who has been described as so strong in the last book was suddenly gauche, silly, and unprepared in her own book. I was irritated that she kept coming up way short during her battles with the hero. But the writing is very good, and I enjoy the complexly written characters, so I stick with it. And the second half of the story saved it for me. By the end I saw where the author had been going with this, and I felt good about it. The heroine gains momentum and strength as the story goes, and the hero gains perspective and humility. So the road is rocky but the payoff is worth it. By the end I was able to appreciate the heroines vulnerability as real. People are never just one thing, after all, and she learned that she wasn’t just a suffragist. I had been wanting another version of Milan’s Suggragette Scandal, and didn’t quite get that here, but in the end I was glad I didn’t. Who needs two of the same story, after all? I highly recommend this authors work.

3.5 stars rounding up

‘A Rogue of One’s Own’ is Evie Dunmore’s sublime offering to contemporary women readers who have always scrabbled for brave, against-the-grain heroines righteously pushing for justified causes—count me in there.

Meticulously researched and so unusual in pitching a narrative smack in the middle of a time period where a minority of passionate women who wouldn’t just standby and pay lip service to women’s rights, it’s easy to like Dunmore’s story just for the fascinating mix of politics, societal norms and business dealings alone.

In spite of this being a romance, the star of the show really, is Lucie Tedbury, a character so admirably ahead of her time: she is intentionally fashioned so that she soundly resonates with the woke, highly feminist crowd of contemporary society, and serves at the same time, a reminder of how far we’ve come in 2 centuries. Her struggles and her indefatigable fight for women’s rights inevitably raise the comparison of how we live today—not to say that inequality has been fully stamped out—but women’s rights to vote or even to matriculate (all the things she stands for) aren’t quite called into question any more in the civilised world.

Like a hard pole in the sand while the raging current flows around her, it’s empathy that will strike the female reader

Pinning Tristan down is a lot harder in contrast, in the way he seems to vacillate between the ‘useless’ fool who does things without a care and the sharply manipulative, intense, almost-crazed man with single-minded drive to get what he wanted. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of the ‘virgin and rake’ trope that’s still rampant in historical fiction and the irony is that it’s within this feminist historical romance that this has been written into.

Excellent second book. I loved this story and the feminist protagonist. Cannot wait for the next installment!

I really wanted to love this book. I LOVED Evie Dunmore's debut novel, but this one felt like it had way too much going on. From the fight for the publishing house, to being blackmailed by family members, to you name it, this book had it. I liked the two protagonists together, but the book as a whole just felt over worked. I will still await Dunmore's next novel! The preview at the back gave me hope that it will be better!

A truly wonderful read. Full of passion, romance, and lust, without compromising a woman's dreams for a better (and more equal) future. Lucie is the leader of the suffragette movement and not even a man can stop her from fighting for the cause.

I found A Rogue of One's Own to be empowering and a show of true strength, but I loved the romantic elements so much I immediately began reading it again.

Last fall when I read Bringing Down the Duke, I immediately decided that I would do whatever I needed to do to gain early access to the next installment in The League of Extraordinary Women series. Turns out I just had to repeatedly send emails to the publisher and continually gush about the first book in the series. So when my eARC of 𝐀 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐰𝐧’𝐬 𝐎𝐰𝐧 was granted, I started to panic...... what if I don’t love it as much as the first? What if I’m crazy and should take back all of my promises to “LOVE THIS BOOK NO MATTER WHAT” that I made in those emails to publishers.⁣
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Well, I can confirm that I did love it and definitely recommend it to everyone who read the first book (and even to those of you who didn’t because YOU DON’T NEED TO READ THE FIRST ONE TO ENJOY THIS INSTALLMENT.... although I totally think you’ll also love the first book.... wow I’m droning on now).⁣
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Our main heroine is Lady Lucy, who is leading the Oxford section of the Suffragette movement. We were introduced to Lucy in Bringing Down the Duke and having her star in this one was so fun. She is almost one track minded about “the cause” and her entire life revolves around it AND SHE IS HAPPY THAT WAY, OKAY!? I’m formally putting it forth for consideration that Lady Lucy is our resident enneagram 8 in this group of women. ⁣
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ANYHOOOOOO she decided (with the rest of the Oxford Suffragettes) to buy stock in a publishing house so they can print pro-suffrage information in ladies magazines helping secure the vote. Problem? Lord Tristan Ballantine. He grew up with Lucy and has harbored a crush for her for, well, forever, and has gained a reputation as a war hero and all around ROUGE. He also just bought EXACTLY HALF of the publishing house for his own plan (to save his mother from being institutionalized by his dastardly father) and now neither Lucy nor Tristan have full control and are having to learn to work together and battle it out for their causes.⁣
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A Rouge of One’s Own is a classic enemies to lovers trope that is highly satisfying. LOTS OF STEAMY SOUP to be had in this story, and also, an adorable cat named Boudicca (I don’t even like cats, I KNOW, but I loved this one). You may think the build up is slow at first, but its entirely worth it and helps to make the eventual relationship not seem cheap or rushed.⁣
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I already cannot wait for book three in the series and hope you all pick this one up and enjoy it as much as I did. 𝐀 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐎𝐰𝐧 is set to publish on September 1st. Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleyromance for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Such a delight! Loved the first book, so I was excited to read the second. Lucie is such a badass and Tristan is, of course, much more deep than we first think from his brief appearance in Bringing Down the Duke. Can't wait to read Hattie's story next!

I liked this even better than Bringing Down the Duke! Evie Dunmore has really hit her writing stride with the English Women's Suffrage movement setting, and I loved Lucie and Tristan so much as characters. It was interesting to be in Lucie's head as an established suffragette leader and get some more historical depth through her POV, and Tristan was a likeable romantic "roguish" lead right from the get-go. They had believable chemistry and history, and I felt that the plot pacing was nicely balanced as well. Can't wait for Harriet's story next!

Evie Dunmore does it again with Book Two in her "League Of Extraordinary Women" series, A Rogue of One's Own. If you enjoyed Bringing Down The Duke, you will INHALE this one! (Note: you do not have to read Bringing Down The Duke first, but I definitely recommend going back and reading it!).

It's 1880's England and Lady Lucie is an independent woman on a mission: to take over ownership of a London publication house in an effort to perform a coup on Parliament. She will not rest until women are treated equally in the eyes of the government and society. Everything is in order until she learns - at the last minute - that her lifelong nemesis, Lord Tristan Ballantine - has bargained for 50% ownership. A war hero with the heart of a poet, Tristan is famous for his exploits with women and caddish ways. Tristan has been haunted by his attraction to Lucie since he teased her endlessly as a besotted teen. Unwilling to let Tristan thwart her plans, she agrees to his wager: one percent of his shares of the publishing business for one night in his bed.

What I loved about A Rogue Of One's Own:
~This novel is perfectly timed with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment in the U.S. giving women the right to vote.
~Evie Dunmore's writing is incredibly well-researched. I learned so much about women heroes of the Suffrage movement and the appalling laws and social norms of the time. Be sure to read the author's note!
~SPOILER ALERT! An original plot where the woman saves the man! Cue the fireworks!