Red never shies away from a challenge.
Never.
But when Miss Hannah St. John strides into his life demanding—yes, demanding—he help her, he’s certain she’s more challenge than even he can handle.
Hannah is determined to transport an artifact from France—one that will change everything—even if it means working with a lawless man like Red. Nothing is more important than preserving history.
Nothing.
Not even the touch of a smuggler who inconceivably makes her stomach twist.
When it becomes clear the irritating bluestocking will do anything for this blasted artifact and needs saving from herself, the earl-turned-smuggler steps in.
Carting a cursed stone across the country with a know-it-all woman is not Red’s idea of fun, particularly when their journey runs far from smoothly…so why does he find himself enjoying her company just a little too much?
You’re the Rogue That I Want, by Samantha Holt
The premise sounded interesting: a bluestocking needs the help of a smuggler in order to retrieve an artifact that her father has claimed from the French. She doesn’t realize he’s also an earl. Against his better judgment, he decides to help her when it becomes clear she’s doing this no matter what he says.
I wish I could say this one worked for me but it just …didn’t. I had trouble with writing, which felt overly formal and a little stuffy. I had trouble with some of the character decisions — Hannah in particular makes some poor choices at the start of the book and it feels like these are completely forgotten about less than three pages later.
I had a lot of trouble with the fact that the artifact is described in such a way that makes it clear it’s a stand in for the Rosetta Stone — discovered used as building material in a fort in Egypt by French soldiers, has both hieroglyphics and ancient Greek, considered the key to potentially understanding the hieroglyphics system — and then Red is described as casually picking it up and carrying it when the carriage has to be abandoned. Along with his luggage.
Maybe it’s just because I saw the Rosetta Stone just this month when I got to go to the British Museum but …the Rosetta Stone weighs approximately 1680 pounds.
There really wasn’t any getting back into the story for me at that point, although I tried. I stuck it out until the end.
Some of the side characters were a little more interesting — I liked Hannah’s aunt, and there’s clearly a story or two behind Red’s smuggling companions. I don’t know if that’s enough to make me give the series another shot, but your mileage may vary. The Amazon reviews certainly have a range of opinions, so if you can get it for a deal it might be worth checking out anyway.