Never Rescue a Rogue by Virginia HeathMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“Even if I wasn’t in such a precarious position and I was able to offer something— which obviously I cannot— I’d have to be a fool to have a romantic entanglement with a headstrong and opinionated harpy like you. Talk about incompatible.”
“We come from different worlds.” She nodded, playing with the tassels of her shawl for all she was worth. “Not that I have any interest in a romantic entanglement, either, but if I did suddenly feel the urge, it wouldn’t be with a privileged idiot such as you. I barely like you.”
“And I barely like you, too, harridan.” The forced chuckle grated like rusty nails in his throat.
The Merriwell sisters come from poverty, a father who was an alcoholic and forger, and growing up this way has left a mark on the middle sister Diana. When her older sister Minerva marries an Earl (Never Fall for Your Fiancee) their fortunes change drastically but Diana doesn't lose that hardened shell. I had no problems jumping into the series here but I do wonder if I missed some of the beginning building attraction between Diana and our hero Giles, friend to Diana's new brother-in-law. Diana and Giles have a teasing, sarcastic back and forth that has their family and friends side-eyeing them and Diana and Giles doth protesting too much.
Inside, she would always be the scrappy forger’s daughter from Clerkenwell, more comfortable amongst the flotsam and jetsam than she ever would be here in Mayfair.
Diana works for the London Tribune, she claims she just checks the grammar on articles but her family knows she writes the cheeky society columns, using her ability to blend into the background at functions to get the good gossip. What they don't know is that she is also The Sentinel, a column that outs aristocrats and businessmen for their dastardly deeds, a much more dangerous undertaking. Giles is the heir to a duke but has a very strained relationship with his father, while extremely successful in the business world, Giles hides that and pretends to be a ne'er-do-well. Diana sees past this and even though she sasses him about his rogue persona, she sees behind the mask and Giles may poke at her wallflower persona, he is attracted to her sharp mind. Giles also has a secret, four years ago on her deathbed, his mother told him that she wasn't really his mother. Confronting his father, Giles learns his mother was a “harlot” and that he is illegitimate, endangering his claim to the dukedom with this Dirty Secret.
The more he got to know her, the more he became convinced she read him like a book, and that really galled. Because Giles liked to think he was always the canniest person in any room and several paces ahead of the crowd— but she was always hot on his heels. Or more often, he trailed on hers …
What I really liked about their relationship was how much of a solid friendship these two had. The author laid out their background, Diana growing up losing trust in the people supposed to care for her and having to support and protect her two sisters, especially the youngest Venus. Diana also has the pain of a sexual assault in her past, we get the full context of it around the last 15%, but what really bonds these two together is the pain of never having a healthy relationship with their fathers. They also are masters of masks and show the mask to the world and keep their private selves hidden. So when they start to see each other's hidden self, we get that great having someone see the true me, which I think can hit the best in reading romance relationships. I did miss seeing some of the attraction heating up and coming to love the person building blocks as I think these two started off already attracted that way. When we get the “I love you”, it didn't feel particularly moving or sparking.
“I am afraid I come as the bearer of grave tidings. Very grave tidings indeed . . . Your Grace.”
The main plot, which has them hopping from London to Shropshire and back, is Diana coming to Giles to tell him she's uncovered that he's engaged to a debutante. Giles, angry, confronts his father and learns it's actually his father who is engaged. His father is fearing something and wanting to shore up the line of succession with a “true” heir; Giles senses someone is blackmailing him. Unfortunately, Giles' father dies before he can learn more as he takes over the dukedom, it becomes his mission to find out who the blackmailer is and find the proof about his birth. Diana comes along on the mission to help because of her skills as a reporter and we have a reason for our couple to be together.
Dukes and forger’s daughters were a laughable combination. Ridiculous in fact. Why on earth would she want to kiss him when he vexed her so? But of their own accord, her lips tingled at the idea . . .
In the later first half, Giles learns Diana is The Sentinel and is furious because of the danger and insists that his valet/friend Dalton accompany her back to London when she has to leave Shropshire, Diana learns his secret of possibly not being the true heir, and they have tipsy late night make-out session that pretty much convinces them their attraction is real. There is some “I can't marry you!” from Giles because of the uncertainty of his birth and Diana not wanting to lose her freedom but that's more or less just lingering in the background. I really liked the side character of Dalton and wouldn't have minded at least a novella of him but he gets a behind the scenes romance here.
She didn’t want him to care, had never wanted any man to care about her nor care about him in return, but now that she knew he did, it ran riot with her emotions.
About midway the, mostly obvious, villain is revealed to be Giles' uncle, who was banished after kidnapping a woman to Gretna Green to marry, and his son, Galahad. It's a race to get the information about Giles' true mother before them and we add Wales to the hopping spots. Diana's younger sister Vee (Venus) gets added and it seems like her and Galahad may have some friction between them that alludes to a future book three couple. The last twenty percent gives us reveals on Giles' mother, Diana giving into her feelings, a bedroom scene, and a heel turn.
Giles studied her with interest. “I am starting to think that my Goddess of the Hunt is as much a rescuer as she is a Kicker of Hornets.”
The last 10% was a very quick wrap-up, too quick for me, and I wonder if the opium case The Sentinel (Diana) was wrapping up will make an appearance in the third. If you're looking for a couple that had a solid friendship and believable connectivity, if not fireworks, Diana and Giles were very warm in that regard. I also enjoyed the world setting in this, the author brought in elements that helped to set the time period and have me feel it. The alluding to who younger sister Vee might be paired up with has me very excited to read her book, some of that sparking that I felt was missing a little here, seems like it could be in her relationship in spades.
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