Malcolm Kennedy, the Earl of Cassillis is tasked by his friend, Lord Wilson, to watch Lord Wilson’s wife’s jewellery as they are holding a ball and many of the ton have been robbed recently by the jewel thief known as the Phantom Prowler. When Malcolm stumbles upon Lizzie Barclay with her hands in the cookie jar, he captures her in the very act. Lizzie, to prove her innocence, convinces Malcolm that the jewels she has stolen appear in her grandmother’s portrait hanging in their home and she wants Malcolm to follow her home to produce said proof.

Long story short, lots of travel involved with the MCs in proximity that leads to feelings developing and hearts racing. Sweet story that was good. I received an ARC from the publishers and NetGalley and submit my honest review voluntarily.

Malcolm Kennedy, Earl of Cassilis (Scottish), worked for Wellington in reconnaissance during the war. The most tragic memory of a traitor he captured still haunts him. Hired to guard jewels during a ball, he captures Miss Lizzie Barclay stealing a necklace and earrings. Claiming they were her grandmother's jewels, she convinces him she can prove it by her grandmother's portrait at her family home. It's a journey where an Earl and a young lady discover they maybe different, but they're a perfect fit. Until a devastating secret could destroy their happiness.
With humor, passionate kisses and descriptive sex.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book from NetGalley.

This was an amusing and exciting love story. A young woman is wrongly accused of being a thief. The drama, action, suspense, and blossoming romance made this a very entertaining. I enjoyed the witty and strained banter between the characters. The ending was very happy. I highly recommend reading!

This was a strong fourth book in the Rogues of Redemption series, it had that element that I was looking for in this type of book. It had that historical romance element that I was looking for and enjoyed in this time-period. I was engaged with the characters and was hooked from the first page. Brenna Ash has a strong writing style and left me wanting to read more.

An amusing historical romance with fabulous characters.
Our mischievous heroine has worked out who is the phantom prowler and is determined to get back the jewels stolen from her family. By stealing them back.
Our hero spent his wartime service searching for information and traitors.
Now at home, his life seems boring.
We might not get many surprises in this story but it is very entertaining.
Good fun.

I liked the plot of the story, but while I liked Malcolm from the start, I couldn't warm to Lizzie's character. She behaved like a spoilt, obstinate child most of the time, getting on my nerves with her straightforward and inquisitive nature when she wasn't throwing tantrums.
The plot is well written and has opponents to lovers, close/forced proximity and road trip tropes, a surprising twist, a bit of action, suspense and steam.
Although the story is part of a series, the book can be read on its own.

Malcolm Kennedy, Earl of Cassilis worked in reconnaissance for years during the war against Napoleon, tracking down spies and traitors. Bored since returning to Scotland, Malcolm is all the happier when Viscount Wilson asks him to keep an eye on his guests and his jewels to make sure no one is robbed by the notorious thief Phantom Prowler, who has struck at several estates recently. By chance, he discovers a young woman stealing a necklace belonging to the Viscountess, but she boldly claims that the jewels are hers and that she can prove it.
For some time Annabel “Lizzie” Barclay has been investigating by herself who the Phantom Prowler who stole her late grandmother's jewellery might be and has come to the conclusion that the thief is not just a woman, but the well-known Viscountess Wilson, who was always present when jewellery was stolen. Lizzie accepts the invitation to the Viscount’s party instead of her parents and does indeed find the jewellery she is looking for among the Viscountess's belongings, but is unfortunately surprised by the handsome Earl of Cassilis, who wants to hunt down the master thief. Lizzie manages to persuade him to accompany her back home, where she is able to prove that her family is the rightful owner of the jewels with of a portrait of her grandmother wearing the necklace as proof.
Reluctantly, Malcolm agrees not to hand over the fascinating, albeit cheeky and stubborn young woman to the authorities for the time being and instead accompanies her home to examine the alleged evidence...

I received a free ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and left voluntarily.

An entertaining enemies to lovers romance with a wonderful plot and characters that just sizzle together. Malcolm and Lizzie are great, forced to work together to solve a mystery, lots of undeniable attraction and a forever love neither expected.

Suspend belief!______2.5 stars

Tale of a captured jewel thief who wasn’t, and an earl who’d been one of Wellington’s reconnaissance scouts and was now bored. Malcolm Kennedy, Earl of Cassillis, has been asked to guard Lord Wilson’s wife’s jewellery. They are holding a ball and lately many of society has been robbed during grand events by a thief known as the Phantom Prowler. The Prowler had struck all around Edinburgh.
Yes, it’s set in Scotland, but I hated tussling with the verra’s, the dinna’s and the canna’s. It distracted me from the story.
Malcolm discovers Lizzie Barclay with her hands in Lady Wilson’s jewelry armoire. Lizzie is convinced Lady Wilson has stolen her grandmother’s necklace and earrings. She’s contrived to come to the ball in place of her parents.
Lizzie convinces Malcolm to her home to let her prove her innocence. Of course they fall in love. Lizzie throws herself at Malcolm. He is equally as smitten as Lizzie.
There were a few rough patches to go through, including one huge challenge, until they had their HEA
Honestly I couldn’t wait for the end to come.
I love a good enemies to lovers trope but it just all seemed a tad too formulaic, along with those Scots accents.

A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

After reading several books I did not enjoy, I'm really happy to have stumbled across this one. The banter was entertaining, the chemistry was sizzling and there was delicious tension!

The story of Malcolm and Lizzie is full of life, banter and steam. A bit of a mystery from a very talented author. Loved the plot and the engaging character who had depth and determination.

The romance in this novel builds slowly, despite the main characters' obvious attraction to one another. The face that Malcolm has caught Lizzie with her hand in the jewel case notwithstanding, he is conflicted over whether she is indeed the phantom prowler. Lizzie's desperate plea to prove her innocence leads to a stormy carriage trip with difficult traveling conditions, thereby delaying their arrival at Lizzie's home. Once there, more than one secret is unveiled leaving Malcolm devastated and Lizzie brokenhearted. It takes a brave, stubborn lass to go after what she wants, bringing this novel to a sweet and successful conclusion. I received a copy of this romance as a gift through Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

An entertaining enemies to lovers romance with a wonderful plot and characters that just sizzle together. Malcolm and Lizzie are great, forced to work together to solve a mystery, lots of undeniable attraction and a forever love neither expected.

Malcolm is good at catching the bad guy. Lizzie just wants her jewels back. What happens in between is a banter filled, upside down journey to prove Malcolm caught the wrong person. I adore banter and this filled the bill for me. I will admit, some of the story dragged during the traveling, but the story definitely made up for it with the big twist in the climax. (I never saw that coming-which is unusual for me) Their chemistry was swoon worthy and the characters well developed. I never truly understood how Lizzie figured out who the culprit was, but enjoyed the epilogue. What people will do for a little fun! I adored Mary and the way she handled her “Miss” and the parents were worth their weight in gold. A good story to curl up in front of the fire with.

I received this story for free and these are my own views.

Lizzie is trying to find her grandma's jewels that were stolen. Malcolm has returned from war and been kind of lost ever since. He's seen many terrible things and has a connection to Lizzie via her brother. At a party he discovers Lizzie trying to get her own jewels back. They leave the party and start the journey back, and they start to learn more about each other.

They are very good for each other. She helps him lighten up and mellow out. She discovers that he really IS a good guy and constantly is looking out for her comfort - whether in a thunderstorm or guarding her door while she's sleeping at the inn. The chemistry between them is hot. Good book!
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Destiny, Mystery, Attraction:
Malcolm and expert spy catcher from his army days is now back home taking care of daily duties at his castle. 
Known for his slough work has him using his talents at his friend's request at the holiday gathering where the wicked thief known as the Phantom Prowler could possibly be in attendance. Malcolm feels confident that if the thief shows up, he will catch him.
Lizzie is attending the same house party as she has suspicions of who is the real thief that had stolen her grandmothers' jewels from a previous gathering.
This is where the romance story arrives between Malcolm and Lizzie.
This is a simple run of the mill kind of love story of attraction and undeniable desire and passion, filled with angst, many disagreements, all of usual ups and downs.
This last half of the story is much more captivating and enjoyable when the two characters finely start to realize their desires for each other are deep and love is right on the edge of showing up.
Now we know there has to be a trigger that turns their romance topsy turvy before they can reach their happy ending and Oh My, what a passionate love scene it is. Certainly, fan worthy.
One of my favorite parts of the story is the friends of Macolm's from previous books that come to his aid when needed.
📖Book rating for me is 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
🧓Mature Advisory 🌶🌶🌶

Tropes: enemies to lovers; road trip; forced proximity; Big Secret
Steam level 3:
Language: some "f-"bombs, if that offends you
Part of a series, but fine as a standalone.

3.25 stars. This is a basically sweet, very lightweight, fast read. My favorite elements were MMC Malcolm and the setup. Malcolm is cynical earl who gathered intelligence during the war and has been asked by his viscount friend to keep an eye on his wife's jewelry collection at a party. There is a thief who has been stealing titled ladies' jewels. Lizzie, the MFC, has discovered who the thief is and just wants to steal her grandmother's prized jewelry back. She and Malcolm end up partnering together in order to return to her house to determine the owner of the jewelry and who the real culprit is.

The plot stumbled during the road trip itself. Although there are a couple of exciting scenes I thought they were ultimately mechanisms for the MC's to be tempted by each other or argue, and I didn't see character growth in Lizzie until they got to her house. Until that point, the dialog was fairly repetitive. Lizzie seemed immature and at at times silly.

Once the MC's got to her house the storyline, and her character, improved. There were a couple of twists, one small and one pretty notable, and I liked that the Third Act Conflict didn't involve Lizzie having a big blowup with Malcolm. The main mystery is finally wrapped up in the epilogue. The motivation behind the thefts is a letdown, but I was happy Lizzie and Malcolm got their HEA.

Something that brought this from a 3.5 to a 3.25 star read for me: the Scottish dialect. This is my personal taste, but I'm not a big fan of the phonetic spellings. At some point it started to distract me, because this book is so dialog heavy. There were a few inconsistencies with the use of "knew/kenned" as well. I would have been fine without such a heavy emphasis on the Scottish brogue.

A fun romp with Malcolm and Lizzie.
He is home from the war and assisting a friend in protecting him from a jewel thief.
He finds Lizzie with her hands on the jewels with an excuse and a big story.
He decides to believe her and accompanies her home to discover the whole truth.
Being together through their travel brings them closer and more open to temptation.
Easy to read, tender love story with a couple surprises.