When the Rogue Returns by Sabrina Jeffries
Rating: 4 Stars
Description: This is the second book in the Duke's Men series by Sabrina Jeffries. Victor Cale knew his wife was a talented jeweler with the ability to create beautiful faux gems. He never imagined she would use that skill to steal royal jewels and disappear.
Isa thought her husband was kind and honest but begins to believe his reserve is hiding a more twisted and greedy side than she has seen in their brief marriage. When her husband uses her work to steal royal jewels and then abandon her she is forced to fend for herself. Until they meet again and realize all is not quite what it seemed.
Genre: Romance
My Impression: I have read a few Sabrina Jeffries before but it has been several years. It was a fun surprise to rediscover how much I love her books. Once of my least favorite plot devices in romance is the misunderstanding so I was a little nervous going into this one. I needn't have worried. Despite the fact that the whole plot of the book rests on a giant misunderstanding it was well done. Victor and Isa's reasons for keeping secrets from each other made sense as did their struggle to trust each other again. I found it hard not to like Victor and Isa. They come off as good people who came out of bad families and landed in an even worse situation. There is a heavy vein of suspense and they figure out how to deal with the past without losing their future. I've read several romances where the suspense feels like it was stuck in at random but it's woven beautifully into the story. If anything I thought the romance scenes didn't quite fit. Without giving away anything I do need to say that I absolutely loved the ending. I had no idea how Jeffries was going to wrap this story up but she did a wonderful job.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Yes, I need to go hunt up book #1 very soon and am looking forward to the next entry in the series.
Would I Recommend this Book?: Yes, I think most fans of historical romances would enjoy this.
I am not a fan of misunderstandings as main plot points either, but it sounds like this author handled it well.
ReplyDeleteI hate the misunderstanding! I spend most of the time reading it yelling at the characters to just tell the truth! It ranks right behind secret baby for least favorite plot devices. Jeffries has been a pretty solid author for me in this genre though.
Delete