I loved the romance between the characters so much in this book, and I did not read the first book, because I had not realized it was the second book, but I still enjoyed it a lot. It was charming and witty, and I loved it oh so much

I possibly loved this more than Bringing Down the Duke. I love Lucie’s passion and determination. I also loved the romance and chemistry between her and Tristan. I’m already a sucker for hate-to-love romances but throw in the fact that the characters are childhood acquaintances and it just makes it even better. Tristan was a weaker character than Lucie but I loved how she challenged him and never failed to point out the privilege he has in society. Throughout their constant bickering, the chemistry between the two was excellent. The sexual tension between them was palpable!

Lucie
I think my favorite part of this story is the character of Lucie. She’s not always likable and sometimes she does have a holier-than-thou attitude, but I believe this is what made her the powerhouse leader of the suffragist movement. She breathed, lived, and would die for the cause. Her refusal to compromise her independence was inspirational. There is a moment when she talks about the feminist leaders who came before her to Tristian that made me tear up. She was fully aware that she may not see equality in her time, but she fought for the possibility that it could happen.

Even though I loved the story and characters more than Bringing Down the Duke, my rating was lowered to 4 stars because there were a few aspects of the story that didn’t sit right with me. Obviously, I did enjoy the story as a whole, but I want to go into some non-spoiler details since I can see how these might be dealbreakers for others.

Lord Arthur
First, my biggest issue was the gay character Lord Arthur. He was made out to be this desperate and weak character. He was a plot device to help Tristan see the parallels between the plight between women and queer people and their powerlessness in society, except this point is made in one short paragraph. I felt this could have been done so much better. Lord Arthur shows up in two scenes and was portrayed as weak, but also villanized in the plot. It just felt messy and unnecessary. I would have preferred a strong side character to bring more insight into those who have rights and those who don’t. And if proper attention can’t be given to this, then just don’t include this character and focus on Lucie’s involvement with the cause.

Cecily
Cecily is Lucie’s cousin who lives with Lucie’s parents. They’re pitted as opposites in the story. Lucie is difficult, outspoken, and radical. Cecily is demure, soft-spoken, and listens to her aunt and uncle. I didn’t like the subtle rivalry between the two, especially in a story that has a strong suffragist premise. I don’t need all women to get along and be all chummy since that’s not realistic either. What bothered me is that Lucie seemed to lack sympathy for Cecily. Without going into spoilers, Cecily gets involved in drama and gets into trouble. As someone who often helps other women without a moment’s hesitation, she didn’t seem to care what happened to Cecily. That seemed out of character. It was an opportunity for the author to show that radical and traditional women could have this moment of reconciliation because when it comes down to it, it was the lack of freedom and rights that motivated these two women to make the decisions they did

Tristan’s Tattoo
Tristan is portrayed as a worldly man that eschews societal expectations. He doesn’t take his seat in parliament. He makes deals with shady businessmen. He was in the military and has served outside of Britain, specifically spending time in India. Tristan’s tattoo is featured prominently in the story. I had issues with this since the tattoo design was used as a plot device to show how worldly Tristan was. A British man taking physical aspects of a Hindu god and placing it on a naked (presumably India) woman during a time when India was colonized was really unnecessary to the story. I’m not Indian so I can’t really remark on this too much, but it seemed served no purpose other to make him seem exotic and different.

When it comes to historical fiction or historical romance, I don’t mind when the world has characters who act according to the time they are living in. As someone who was a history major, I appreciate these historically accurate details. I don’t think modern authors have to change societal norms and customs to make things more equal to fit better with our time. What I do have an issue with is when modern authors use ethnic people or cultural aspects as unnecessary plot devices to make their white characters seem more interesting. The tattoo could have been literally any other design and the outcome would have been the same.

Overall, there are aspects of the story that are awesome and outweighed the issues I had. I loved the premise, Lucie, and incredibly swoon-worthy romance. I will continue to read the next book in this series since I’m attached to the group of women we’ve come to know, but I hope these aspects are brought to the author’s attention so they can be avoided or better represented in her following books.

** Thank you to Berkley for providing me with an arc to review.

I'm sometimes wary of sequels for books that I love. This did not disappoint! It was charming, witty and the characters were quite memorable!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book was difficult to get through.
There are certain problematic issues when it comes to the representation of Indian/South asian culture.
Starting from the tattoo of God Shiva look alike on hero to the fact that he was chilling in India.
As an Indian myself, there seemed to be a lack of sensitivity to the realities of Colonialism.

This was a DNF for me. This book had a few problematic issues. I don't think I will continue with this series.

Evie Dunmore has managed to bring a contemporary feel to the classic genre of regency romance. I love these characters she has created and I feel connected to them. I happily anticipate the next book in the series.

DNF as I had a hard time reading this book. After reading BRINGING DOWN THE DUKE, I knew I had to read this one. The story starts strong as were introduced with the main characters of the story. I thought the author knew how to write complex characters and since I LOVE character-driven stories, I thought I should read this one. Unfortunately, I felt I had to DNF this book because it was slow. I was bored. There were too much political aspects in this book (in my opinion) to the point that it took the enjoyment out of my reading. I think this book was just not for me.

I hadn't read the first book in this series, but I'd only heard good things about it so I decided to request this title. I absolutely adored Lady Lucie and the cast of characters around her. I was a bit disappointed at some of the things I picked up on, including a questionable LGBTQIA representation that was bordering on not great. I certainly think this book is more suited to your beach readers or traditional book club readers. It felt like the book was trying to convey a critique or discussion on some very big issues, which is admirable, but not quite effective given the audience that will likely read this novel.

It's definitely well written and I can't fault it for that at all. I'm giving it 3 stars because it is a good novel, but it has some issues for me. I would recommend to a book club, certainly for the conversation on the big themes that are tackled and I would expect a robust discussion!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Yes hello I would like to report a crime. Evie Dunmore has once again shattered my heart.
This is the follow up novel to Bringing Down the Duke and revolves around suffragist leader Lucie and the ~scandalous~ Lord Ballantine. While their story took me a little longer to get into, I ended up loving it even more than BDTD.
The romance was somehow even steamier, the feminist/suffragist themes even more present. It was fantastic. I will read everything this woman writes forever.

This book was wonderful, and I give it 4 / 5 stars. It took me a little to warm up to our characters, but that is only because I was so attached to the leads from the first in the series, BRINGING DOWN THE DUKE. But somewhere around the middle of this one, I realized I was totally cheering for our tough, stubborn, and absolutely passionate heroine, Lucie, and that I had completely fallen for Lord Ballentine aka Tristan.

There are some things in the romance that are predictable, but I like that. It makes the book feel cozy and familiar, and therefore it's a great one to snuggle up with on a rainy day with a coffee in my hand. On the other hand, Dunmore brings in a lot of historical information and really builds the context/political situation in which the characters are living, which helps to understand why Lucie's situation is tricky, particularly once she "falls for" Tristan. I absolutely love the feminist undertones and interesting historical information, and I think it really makes the romance that much more real and emotional.

I do have one qualm and that has to do with the treatment of the gay and shunned lover of Tristan, who turns out to be attempting to bring him down just to get revenge (no spoilers). I just don't like that the only gay character is portrayed as conniving and bitter, when one might argue that Tristan's treatment of him was pretty terrible. I guess I just wonder why the author made the choice to portray a gay man in this way, in this day and age.

Overall though, this is worth a read if you like regency romances with quite a bit of heat.

I great follow up to Bringing Down The Duke! If you love historical with a feminist twist you will eat this up. Lucie really grabbed my attention in the first book and I was delighted to read a story that focused on her. Childhood rivals are all grown up and playing adult games in A Rogue of One's Own.

I enjoyed this second book in the world of suffragettes. It was fun to see the relationship between Lucie and Tristan grow from a battle of wills to more.

This story is historical romance but feels very modern, just like the first. I would definitely recommend to those who enjoy that genre.

“You…you could have had everything. Everything.” Her little shrug was almost helpless. “And yet here you stand, wasting your life—and for what? For what?”

For something you will never understand.
For something she, Lucie, could never go without again.
She looked her mother in the eye. “For freedom.”

A Rogue of One’s Own was an excellent follow up to Bringing Down the Duke. Lucie and Tristan were both equally interesting characters and had some complexities to their character that I enjoyed. At first I was a little unsure how much I’d like Lucie as the main character after reading Bringing Down the Duke, but I actually really grew to like her prickly character.

The chemistry was definitely there with these two. Dunmore definitely has a gift for crafting hate to love romances, and I am here for it. Tristan and Lucie were well paired, and I loved how important equality was for them in their relationship.

This was such a fun read, and I can’t wait to read what Dunmore has in store for us next.

I'm torn between giving this 3 or 4 stars. I really, really enjoyed reading it. It's a fun, fast paced story and Lucie and Tristan are great main characters but there was also a lot that didn't sit well with me (some of these may be considered mild spoilers so tread carefully, dear reader): a villainous and spiteful gay character (though this character does sort of get redemption in the end), using Lucie's "maidenhood" as a bartering chip, the implications of colonialism in Tristan's tattoo, the one person of color being a dull side character, and some of Tristan's predatory behavior.

All of that being said, I still really enjoyed the book and I will absolutely read the next book in the series, though I do hope the author sees some of these criticisms and incorporates better representation into future books.

See this great review for more on the tattoo and colonialism: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3299721565?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

Many thanks to NetGalley for a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 30% in the audiobook. I might try to pick this up later? But the plot is moving SOOOOOOO slowly and I still had so much more to go in the book. At 450 pages, it shouldn't take that long to pick up. I liked the idea of the heroine trying to buy a publishing house for her suffrage activism, but I felt no romance between her and the hero. I also wasn't a fan of the hero at all. Nothing he does is likable and I'm not sure if he ends up redeeming himself, but if I can't get behind the love interest, I have a hard time enjoying a book. I just didn't feel connected to ether of them and having read so much already, I felt like I was forcing myself to read and not enjoying any of it, so I'm putting this down for now.

I had high hopes for this book. Bringing Down the Duke was just okay, but I was excited for the focus to be on Lucie and the women’s suffrage movement. However, there was a handful of problematic issues which quickly put this one onto my ever growing DNF list.

I say this very often I feel, but I absolutely loved this book!

While I am not the biggest fan of historical fiction, this only being my third one, I really enjoyed being taken back to Oxford and seeing the League of Extraordinary Women still kicking ass and trying to change the law. Dunmore did it again with this book because the chemistry between Lord Ballentine and Lady Lucie was amazing.

From the moment both of these characters were introduced in Bringing Down the Duke I was excited to see what would happen between them! And let me tell you Dunmore did not disappoint.

I enjoyed the enemies to lovers aspect of this story as well as know that Lucie and Tristian were childhood friends.

While Lord Ballentine he was a surprise to me because of how he was first portrayed in BDTD. I am glad that he changed my mind and made me love him that much more!

Thank you to Berkely Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Review excerpted from my blog post over at The Titillated Termagant (https://titillatedtermagant.wordpress.com/2020/10/05/a-rogue-of-ones-own-by-evie-dunmore/)

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Library recommendation: Recommended for public library historical romance collections.

Warning: Hereafter, you chance spoilers. I will try never to reveal major plot points, but to review any book, you must reveal some parts of the story.

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Number of titles I have read by this author: 2

Love story speed: Medium burn

Relationship dynamics: The Rakehell Veteran (H) / The Spinster Suffragette (h)

Physical descriptions: Lucie: ice blonde hair, grey eyes; “height, notably short; waist, notably small; bosom, largely absent” ; Tristan: Ginger hair, amber eyes (at times described like they could be hazel), very tall, broad, and muscular, “beautiful”

Sexual content: Some, on-page and explicit

Triggers: Recounted physical and emotional child abuse; recounted animal killing (not by h or H)

Grammar/Editing: My ARC had some typos, hopefully to be corrected in the final version.

Review: This medium-paced novel is set in Victorian Oxford and London. It continues with the same locales as seen in the first book of the series (see my review here). The book features meticulous research, with the inclusion of historical documents and events) with acknowledged artistic license), and significant commentary on women’s social issues of the time.

Lucie and Tristan are the main characters of this installment. Theirs is a relationship that not only needs to navigate a charged quid pro quo arrangement, but also has to overcome long held preconceptions and bad habits in a world of social constraints and familial obligations that both characters fight against in their own ways. One of the things I enjoyed most about their story was seeing at least one historical romance trope flipped on its head with very satisfying results for those of us who enjoy a strong female lead. I also have a soft spot for a hero like Tristan, who likes an intelligent, firecracker heroine, which Lucie certainly is. In terms of supporting characters, Boudicca (Lucie’s cat) is my favourite. I find that animals often are. It was also interesting to view other characters introduced in the first novel through the lens of a different character – especially one who doesn’t like the previous hero, or inspire fuzzy feelings from him, either.

Overall, an enjoyable follow-up to the first book in the series.

Full disclosure: I received a free advance review copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderfully written with a rich vocabulary, A Rogue of One's Own will totally quinch a person's historical romance appetite. Too short and I would loved if it a little longer.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for my free review copy. All opinions are my own. I didn’t love A Rogue of One’s own as much as I loved the first book in the series, Bringing Down the Duke, but it was still an enjoyable read. The fact that this series focuses on heroines that are fighting for the suffragette movement in the 1880s is really ground-breaking in my mind. It’s so nice to see women with a backbone and not simpering damsels in distress. I didn’t love this story of the newspaper owner as much, but I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. 3 stars.