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smoothunicorn 's review for:
Dearest Rogue
by Elizabeth Hoyt
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
SIIIIIIGH. I really wanted to like this better than I did. I loved Phoebe - she was fun and funny and sharp and while her boundless optimism got a little annoying after a while (mostly in that her optimism seemed to run counter to literally any self-preservation instinct she might have), I appreciated her overall outlook on life.
Trevillion, I guess, was everything a middle-class Boy Scout honorable man should be. Heroic and full of integrity and grit and handsome self-loathing and guilt.
I really really loved that this was a sort of dual-disabled romance. Phoebe’s blindness and James’s bad leg made for some very interesting conversations and accommodations both of them needed in order to succeed in their various tasks. The romance itself was a sweet, satisfying slow burn that was grounded in trust and friendship, which I always like.
But goddamn, that PLOT. Let me give you a rundown:
1) she almost gets kidnapped
2) she almost gets kidnapped again
3) she DOES get kidnapped and James saves her
4) James’s NIECE gets kidnapped but it was just a misunderstanding
5) Phoebe gets kidnapped AGAIN
6) Phoebe gets kidnapped FROM HER KIDNAPPERS and James saves her
Meanwhile, during the entire book, Phoebe’s endless joy-seeking and zen-like zest for life seems to completely ignore the fact that she was VERY MUCH in danger the whole book, likening her (clearly MUCH-NEEDED) protection to being jailed and not allowed to stumble and fall?
Like? Ma’am? I think we’re having two different conversations here.
It was just so absurd and the fact that she genuinely seems to feel no fear whatsoever made the stakes feel silly rather than tense.
And this whole B-plot with the other Duke, the smarmy, sneering, mustache-twirling, cartoonishly villainous puppeteer who seems to be concocting some super-complex, multi-phased plan to rule England or some shit, and then it turns out it was justsome petty bullshit grudge he held against Phoebe’s brother for some reason and also wasn’t even that complex or diabolical? Maybe it’s because this is the only book in the series I’ve read, but I honestly didn’t care even a tiny bit about his bullshit, or Eve’s for that matter.
Anyway. Cute romance, very hot spice scenes, and nice main characters who are just nice and never do anything wrong or make any mistakes. The plot, for me, bordered on ridiculous.
Trevillion, I guess, was everything a middle-class Boy Scout honorable man should be. Heroic and full of integrity and grit and handsome self-loathing and guilt.
I really really loved that this was a sort of dual-disabled romance. Phoebe’s blindness and James’s bad leg made for some very interesting conversations and accommodations both of them needed in order to succeed in their various tasks. The romance itself was a sweet, satisfying slow burn that was grounded in trust and friendship, which I always like.
But goddamn, that PLOT. Let me give you a rundown:
1) she almost gets kidnapped
2) she almost gets kidnapped again
3) she DOES get kidnapped and James saves her
4) James’s NIECE gets kidnapped but it was just a misunderstanding
5) Phoebe gets kidnapped AGAIN
6) Phoebe gets kidnapped FROM HER KIDNAPPERS and James saves her
Meanwhile, during the entire book, Phoebe’s endless joy-seeking and zen-like zest for life seems to completely ignore the fact that she was VERY MUCH in danger the whole book, likening her (clearly MUCH-NEEDED) protection to being jailed and not allowed to stumble and fall?
Like? Ma’am? I think we’re having two different conversations here.
It was just so absurd and the fact that she genuinely seems to feel no fear whatsoever made the stakes feel silly rather than tense.
And this whole B-plot with the other Duke, the smarmy, sneering, mustache-twirling, cartoonishly villainous puppeteer who seems to be concocting some super-complex, multi-phased plan to rule England or some shit, and then it turns out it was just
Anyway. Cute romance, very hot spice scenes, and nice main characters who are just nice and never do anything wrong or make any mistakes. The plot, for me, bordered on ridiculous.