Review: Any Rogue Will Do

Any Rogue Will Do by Bethany Bennett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Even seven years later, Lord Amesbury, the one who had saved her, then callously ruined her, evoked a visceral response.

Lady Charlotte (Lottie) Wentworth left London after having her reputation smeared by the very man she thought was courting her. In the seven years since, she never got the opportunity to go back and repair the damage as her mother and brother both passed and she had to take over running the estate as her father fell into mourning. Now, her father is finally demanding she marry, even picked out a groom, a James Montague and son of an Earl. Lottie doesn't want to give up her freedom though and makes a deal with her father that she can go to London and pick her own husband but with a deadline. On the way there, she meets the one man she never wanted to see again.

The fact that within moments of her reentering his orbit she'd rekindled his interest made Ethan wonder if there might be something between them worth pursuing---assuming she ever stopped hating him.

Ethan Ridley was a Scotsman who never thought he would inherit a title and when he suddenly became Lord Amesbury, he tried to fit in by drinking and carousing with London's elite. He makes the mistake of calling Lady Charlotte “Paper Doll Princess”, alluding that she's witless and only worth her dowry on a night drunk but when he tries to offer for her hand in marriage to fix his mistake, her father refuses him and claims he's not worthy of her. That and causing a friend to lose his leg due to a drunken race, Ethan decides to give up drinking and focus on his estate. When he unexpectedly clashes with Lady Charlotte again, he finds that she's come into herself and he is even more drawn to her.

Exhibitionism wasn't something he'd ever indulged in, but knowing she watched, remembering the heat of their encounter earlier this evening---he'd wanted just a few more minutes of her attention.

Any Rogue Will Do is a second chance romance with a fake engagement that was enjoyable. I liked how the author showed how Lottie and Ethan grew into themselves as they got older. We don't see a lot of them together when they're younger but I liked how the story focused more on Ethan redeeming himself. His friendship with Calvin, Earl of Carlyle highlighted and brought out his personality so that the reader could get a good look at his thoughts and feelings toward Lottie. I also really enjoyed Lottie's relationship with her godmother Agatha, they were so fun to read about together. Sure, it was a tad too coincidental that Agatha and Calvin were neighbors, giving our leads a chance to meet-up, but the interactions that developed from this made the story better.

“Lady Charlotte Wentworth, will you do me the honor of being my faux fiancee?”

There were times I felt Lottie's loneliness, how any friends she had made while younger had moved away and had families of their own, leaving her out and her father ignoring her in favor of wallowing in his mourning. Wanting to maintain her freedom and be in charge of her dowry made sense for why she didn't want to marry but I thought adding in that she never wanted to love because her parents ignored her because they were so in love and her father mourned so hard made the latter half of the story stagnate a bit as she wanted to keep pushing Ethan away.

The fake engagement comes about because the fiancee Lottie's father picked out, is trying to blackmail her into an engagement, so Ethan steps in they decide to get the villain to back off, they'll get engaged but eventually call it off. At this point, around 40%, Ethan has more than one foot in with thinking he more than likes Lottie. Around 60% they both are thinking their fake engagement could be more and things start to get physical. There's some danger, Ethan all in, and Lottie dragging her feet, the dragging of the feet really caused the story to slow for me as I thought some of Lottie's reluctance could have been edited out.

“I don't understand how you could love me through all that or why you're even here helping me out of this mess again, but I'm begging you to keep showing up. Just show up. Love me, and I'll love you, and we will make this thing between us real. Please. You won't regret it. I promise.”

Overall I found this to be an agreeable debut, Ethan was a pleasing hero with some layers and their relationship had downs and ups that added some emotional moments. The second half could have been stronger with some of Lottie's denying Ethan whittled down and the pace picked up more but I still enjoyed their journey. Ethan's friend Calvin definitely intrigued and I'm looking forward to seeing how this author grows in giving him his happily ever after.

View all my reviews