How to Love a Dangerous Rogue (Royals and Renegades #1)
Scarlett Scott
From USA Today bestselling author Scarlett Scott comes a dazzling new age-gap Regency romance between a ruthless king and the daring lady who wins his jaded heart...Lady Tansy Francis has been a loyal lady-in-waiting for most of her life. In the eyes of the ton, she has come to London for the formal betrothal announcement of the princess who is like a sister to her. But secretly, Tansy has become caught up in the plans for a revolution in her homeland. She finds herself with no choice but to join forces with the last person she should ever trust, a coldhearted man who is feared by the king to whom the princess is about to announce her betrothal. King Maximilian of Varros has a reputation that precedes him as a brutal, callous ruler who has stopped at nothing to claim his throne. After many long years of war, he has forged peace in his kingdom. But that peace is being threatened, and he’ll burn everything and everyone to the ground to save it. There are only a few obstacles standing in his path, and one of them happens to be a fearless lady-in-waiting he can’t stop wanting. Tansy’s allegiance is to the princess, but King Maximilian has no qualms about seizing whatever he desires, consequences be damned. With the fires of revolution lit and chaos swirling around them, their passion is forbidden and yet impossible to resist. Trapped between old loyalties and new longings, Tansy has to make the most difficult choice of all—risk her heart for a dangerous rogue, or watch as he marries her best friend.Heat Scorching hot! Don't say you weren't warned.
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Your rating:
—royal romance
—age gap
—big grr man/gentle woman
Heat Index: 8/10
The Basics:
In an effort to help her homeland, secretly strong lady-in-waiting Tansy must join forces with the cold, intimidating king betrothed to the princess she serves. The trouble is, working with Maximilian may quickly become something else entirely if she isn't careful...
The Review:
This is one of those historical romances where it's quick, it's dirty, and I like the plot. In fact, I would love to see more historical romances with fake little royal families in fake little countries. I do not want to read about real royal families in historicals. Ever! But give me a fake one, and I'm all over it.
I also love a good love triangle, and while this honestly isn't actually one (Tansy and Maximilian obviously only have eyes for each other from the jump... and I mean the JUMP) I still appreciate the setup of it all. Give me some scheming, give me some illicit affairs, give me some "but alas, we cannot be".
Where I wish this had gone harder was in the character types and development. Maximilian is supposed to be big and scary and gruff, but it felt a lot more like something I was "told" than something I could actually believe in. Tansy is kind of a classic sort of nice, semi-silk hiding style heroine type. Their physical attraction is instant, you believe it, the sexual chemistry is great, I just didn't feel like they seemed very unique or dimensional as people. Which meant the love story was a bit paint by numbers in turn.
That being said—they were solid numbers. I enjoyed the painting. I just kind of wished it had gone a bit further on that level. I've liked the other Scott books I read; I think the characters just had me interested earlier for those entries. But I'll definitely read more from her in the future.
The Sex:
It's Scarlett Scott, so the sex scenes are super hot, fairly plentiful in the back half of the book, and definitely on the racier side compared to tradpub historicals. If you're into sex scenes involving alpha older heroes... you're gonna get what you want here.
While I don't think this will really stick out for me in the long term, it's a cute, quick read. The narration is well-done, and the heat is THERE. If you're new to Scarlett Scott, I'd try other books before this one, but if you're a fan, you'll have a good time.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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