In Julie Anne Long’s thrilling new romance in the Palace of Rogues series, an infamous privateer’s limits are put to the test when he’s trapped during a raging tempest with a prickly female at the Grand Palace on the Thames.
He clawed his way up from the gutters of St. Giles to the top of a shadowy empire. Feared and fearsome, battered and brilliant, nothing shocks Lorcan St. Leger—not even the discovery of an aristocratic woman escaping out a window near the London docks on the eve of the storm of the decade. They find shelter at a boarding house called the Grand Palace on the Thames—only to find greater dangers await inside.
Desperate, destitute, and jilted, Lady Daphne Worth knows the clock is ticking on her last chance to save herself and her an offer of a loveless marriage. But while the storm rages and roads flood, she and the rogue who rescued her must pose as husband and wife in order to share the only available suite.
Crackling enmity gives way to incendiary desire—and certain Lorcan is everything she never dreamed she’d wanted, but he can never be what she needs. But risk is child’s play to St. Leger. And if the stakes are a lifetime of loving and being loved by Daphne, he’ll move any mountain, confront any old nemesis, to turn “never” into forever.
Review:
“She is a lady. And he is a pirate.” –Dot, How to Tame a Wild Rogue
I will never grow tired of the people, the drama, or the romances of The Grand Palace on the Thames!
How to Tame a Wild Rogue is the latest book in the series, and it’s a delightful opposites attract/fake marriage/forced proximity romance between two people who are clearly absolutely magic together but who would have never met had circumstances–and the storm of the century (that term still meant something in the 19th century, right?)–not interfered.
Daphne (AKA Lady Worth) is the daughter of a viscount, and Lorcan St. Ledger (AKA “Lordship” on the streets) is a privateer…probably. (Previously a smuggler and possibly a pirate as well, or at least Captain Hardy–and Dot–think so. It’s possible that one of them *might* have a more romanticized view of that profession than the other.) Their first meeting is one for the ages–the description in the book’s blurb doesn’t really do it justice, truly–and circumstances soon have them sharing a suite at TGPOTT (though alas! it does have more than one bed) while a storm rages outside their window for days.
I loved the banter between these two, and the slow burn of their romance is absolutely epic. Ms Long, wizard that she surely is, does an amazing job of putting readers into the heads of both her heroine and hero. Lines like
Not for the first time did she feel as though she were an aghast onlooker on her life. What on earth was she doing?
made me want to give Daphne a hug as well while making soothing, sympathetic noises; Lorcan’s admission of, “I want a life a lot like this one,” to Captain Hardy does more emotional heavy lifting than a simple sentence should really be able to.
Long story short, I loved this book even more than I thought I would. The characters, the romance, the setting–all are top notch. And for anyone who’s ever been dumped when their significant other found someone “better”–the “About a year and a half later” portion of the epilogue may be the most satisfying thing you’ll read this year.
I will never complain about the larger than usual number of POV characters in a Julie Ann Long book, because yes, every one really is necessary. 😉
This is the sixth book in the series, but it could be read as a standalone–and if this is your first one, it’s entirely possible that you won’t start cackling with glee as soon as Daphne and Lorcan hear a tussle on the other side of the door when they first arrive at The Grand Palace on the Thames (and if you’re reading in company, then they will probably thank you because apparently it’s disconcerting when the person sitting quietly next to you starts giggling incessantly?)–but I make no promises about it being your last. Because when it comes to Julie Ann Long books, I am entirely convinced you cannot read just one.
Rating: 5 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
