Amy Imogene Reads's Reviews > Gone With the Rogue

3.5 stars

Love always wins, even when the obstacles seem insurmountable. Time for a classic Regency romance!

Pacing: ★★★
Characters: ★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★

Gone with the Rogue is the second in the First Comes Love series, but like many other romances it can be read as a standalone—I, personally, can vouch for that as I'm a newbie to the series with this book.

Julia Fairbright's husband drowned at sea, leaving her with their young son and under the "protection" of her father-in-law, the duke. The duke is oppressive and controlling, and holds Julia's son over her head in order to make her follow his wishes. It's a black and white situation. Julia wants out, but she's stuck.

Garrett Stockton is the owner of a prominent shipping company and a bit of a scoundrel. He's dashing, he's independent, and he's always at the edge of polite society. So when he sees the beautiful Julia stuck in a tree, he's shocked at the surprisingly warm feelings towards her.

Obviously, these two characters are meant to fall in love—it's just Julia's pesky father-in-law and the societal norms of her status as a widow that stand in their way. Will their love find a way?

Now, please take my review with a grain of salt, because I'm pretty sure this was a case of "it's not you, it's me" reader syndrome. Gone With the Rogue was cute and filled with all of the right things, but for some reason I could not fully engage myself in the story. I found Julia hard to fixate on due to her similarity to other romance heroines, and Garrett too reactionary—he didn't seem to have much personality outside of his fixation on Julia. I feel like I might have enjoyed this story more on a different day, or even as a newer romance reader.

However, this story does deliver on its sweetness, so if sweet and chivalrous is your thing, give this one a try!

Thank you to St Martin's Press via NetGalley for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

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