A powerful handsome rogue finally meets his match in Gone With the Rogue, the second book in the First Comes Love series from bestseller Amelia Grey. She had an acceptable marriage of convenience. Now widowed, can this determined and beautiful mother find true and forever love? The sinking of the Salty Dove took her husband’s life–but it didn’t drown Julia Fairbright’s courage to endure. She … drown Julia Fairbright’s courage to endure. She creates a proper life for herself and her young son. But now, the ton’s most notorious rogue is back, and how he makes Julia feel is anything but proper. She can’t deny the desires he awakens in her, even though she knows that the handsome devil will surely break her heart.
Garrett Stockton owns a successful shipping company and is rumored to have a woman on every continent and half-a-dozen in England. The truth, however, is that Garrett has but one mistress: the wide open sea. That is, until he meets Julia, whose spirit of independence matches his own. What begins as a flirtatious battle of wits turns far more passionate than either of them could have imagined. Suddenly, Garrett’s only desire is to sail into the sunset with Julia as his wife and young Chatwyn his son. But she won’t take his hand–how can he convince her that his love is real and his heart is hers?
“A master storyteller.”–Affaire de Coeur
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I just love how Julia and Garrett met and how their relationship developed. The element of Julia trying to free herself and her son from her tyrannical and powerful father in law was well played out. In the end everything works out well. I received a complimentary copy and I am voluntarily reviewing.
Julia’s father-in-law controls her life by holding the threat of separating her from her young son if she should do anything he deems improper. Julia is desperate to live her life on her terms, so desperate that she is prepared to steal from and blackmail the Duke in order to break free. Due to the Duke being unwell, she and her son are temporarily living apart from him and an unexpected meeting with an adventurer, leads to Julia risking everything just to be with this man who elicits a passion she didn’t know she was capable of. An absorbing story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The beginning of this book set me off with a giggle. Stuck in a tree by the lace collar of her dress, Lady Kitson Fairbright (Julia) was impatiently awaiting the return of her son’s governess so she could cut herself down. While she’s stuck she thinks about the conversation she heard between her father-in-law and his solicitor regarding papers and titles of properties that need to be disposed of. Since she’s alone in London with the Duke in the country fighting illness, she hopes she can find these documents and use them to free herself and her son from under the Earl’s constant watch.
Of course that’s when a gentleman stops under the tree and sees her predicament. Garrett Stockton is the first son of a third son and as such he decided to take on the seas and trade rather than depend on an allowance from his titled third cousin. According to society he has overstepped the boundaries of Gentleman and Tradesman. His company is profitable and he travels with his ships, collecting things all over the world to sell in London.
After rescuing Julia, he can’t seem to get her out of his mind and he knows she has some sort of problem with the Duke of Sprogsfield and would love to help her. Julia has to trust him enough for that as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were fun and intriguing. Julia and Garrett are the perfect couple and relationship grew steadily throughout the book. Julia’s son Chatwyn is a delight and his interactions with Garrett were perfect for his age.
Lots of intrigue, some hold your breath moments, some interesting ways of handling people and a simmer to sizzle relationship that had me turning the pages until I was done.
I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in the next book of this series.
The beginning of this book really draws you in – it is funny and light-hearted (reminded me of Julia Quinn’s books with the funny situations). I loved that part of the book. The rest of the book is okay. It had no real umph. Garrett is not really a rogue, at least we do not see it, but his genuine love for Julia is a delight to read. Julia is also a lovely person just kind of going through the motions. The sensual scenes are pretty much done behind doors. It is a nice read, just not a fantastic read.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
Fascinating story!
Four years after her husband’s death, Julia is ready to move on. Unfortunately, her father-in-law, a powerful duke, won’t let her stop mourning his son and holds her own young son as a means of ensuring her compliance. Just as she’s discovered the old duke’s hypocrisy and figured a way to free herself from his control, she has a truly adorable meet-cute with the dashing rogue, Garrett.
This story charts their love story as well as the intricate story of her fight for freedom. Garrett is recruited to help her and her son, and the lengths he’s willing to go to for her are truly heroic. I was enthralled with every bit of this complex story, and loved the emotional intensity between the two main characters. The HEA is necessarily unconventional yet extremely satisfying. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
1.5/5
This was a new author for me, and I was excited when I was offered the chance to read this ARC (2nd in a trilogy). Unfortunately I couldn’t find much to recommend it.
The writing is very simplistic, repetitive and stilted, and regrettably there are way too many uses of over-the-top trite terms that give this genre a bad rep to many who don’t read much in historical romance. A lackluster plot and characters with no charisma (either personally or as a unit) rounded out my issues with it.
I really wanted to enjoy it, but I felt that it didn’t try hard enough. I’ve definitely read better.
Thanks to #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for providing me the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.
Julia is stuck in a tree and the handsome man who comes to her rescue is none other than Garrett Stockton. It’s an instant attraction that neither one can ignore. Julia isn’t free, even though she’s been a widow for four years. She’s controlled by the Duke, her father-in-law, in every aspect of her life with the threat of taking away her son. Overhearing a conversation between the Duke and his man of business, Julia may have the leverage she needs for her freedom. With Garrett’s help he’ll make sure she gets it. Some laugh out loud moments, a cute, precocious little boy named Chatwyn and the intense heat between Julia and Garrett make a very entertaining book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
Julia is widowed and living under the rules of her father in law. She is determined to live a great life with her son. Garrett lives his life at sea. He has proved he can be a prosperous businessman. When he meets Julia he finds more to his life.
I loved that Julia was proper but also determined. She was brave and did now shy away from what she wanted. Garrett is truly a gentleman. It was refreshing to see two adults who decided their feelings for each other and acted upon them even though there could have been dire consequences.
This read was romantic but also some suspense to see if Julia could find what she was looking for.
Gone With The Rogue is a fun, fast-paced historical romance by Amelia Grey. Ms. Grey has provided readers with a well-written book populated with an outstanding cast of characters. Kitson finds herself stuck in a tree after freeing a butterfly from the net that was also stuck in the tree. Garrett frees Kitson in from the tree, but can she trust him to free her and her son from her father-in-law? Garrett and Kitson’s story is loaded with drama, humor, sizzle, action and suspense. I enjoyed every page of this delightful book and look forward to reading more from Amelia Grey in the future. Gone With The Rogue is book 2 of the First Comes Love Series but can easily be read as a standalone. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
“I’m not like other men who might have sought your hand or heart, Julia. I don’t want you for just an hour in the afternoons, or for a day or two during the week. I love you and want you for life.”
Julia Fairbright has lost her husband in a shipwreck. Finding herself with child and now a widow, she is forced to live under the stringent rules of her father in law. Being a Duke known for his pious ways, Julia is not allowed to move forward with her life. In order to keep custody of her son, Julia must remain in morning and stick to the guidelines the Duke has laid out for the raising of her son. But when Julia overhears a conversation between the Duke and his lawyer, she sees her chance to confront the Duke and gain her freedom.
Owner of his own shipping company, Garrett Stockton is known throughout the ton as a rake and womanizer. While riding through the park, Garrett finds himself acting as a chivalrous gentleman helping a beautiful young woman with climbing down from a tree after retrieving a butterfly net of all things. Not like any other woman he’s ever met, Garrett is determined to learn more about the young widow, for she could be the very one to keep him on the shores of England and turn his life around.
After taking a leap of faith, Garrett and Julia grow closer day by day…in both uncovering the secrets the Duke is hiding, as well as discovering love does offer second chances…
Gone with the Rouge is the second in Amelia Grey’s First Comes Love series, but may be read stand alone. This was an enjoyable enough read, but the characters just kind of fell flat for me. Garrett had so much potential, and I found myself skipping over Julia’s continuous rants over having to do what the Duke told her. That being said, if you are a fan of regency/historical romance, I would recommend giving it a try. While not my fav, it could be yours.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **
I often think I would have loved living in the Regency era but then I read stories like this one and it reminds me how little say women had back then. To be ruled by men like the old Duke (her father in law) would make me want to run away like Julia wants to do!!
Happy is the day when Julia meets Garrett and the attraction is immediate and mutual. He’s so different than the men she’s had in her life, he doesn’t want to rule her but to help her. Passions flare and the chase is on to find the proof she needs to uncover the truth about the old Duke who threatens to take her son away if she doesn’t do and act as he demands.
The story is a bit slow in some places but then you have hilarious scenes like when Julia and her best friend Brina decide to try to bake bread and make soup:)
I was given an ARC of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Julia Kitson Fairbright is the daughter-in-law of the rigid Duke of Sprogsfield. She was married to his son for a while, but he died in a shipping accident, and the duke has made it his mission to ensure that his grandson, Chatwyn, is raised under his control and with the greatest of decorum. He expects Julia to ‘tow the line’ as well and never step out of the bounds placed by society on those associated with the duke. Unfortunately, Julia is beginning to chafe under the strict rules placed upon her and her son. She now knows that the strict moral code that the duke follows in public, is not the same code that he follows in his private dealings, after overhearing a conversation between him and his solicitor. Julia is determined to get her hands on certain documents that will ensure her freedom from the ‘prison’ that the duke imposes upon her and Chatwyn. Garrett Stockton has been roaming the seas for the better part of a decade. He has accumulated wealth and a rakish reputation. However, he is a gentleman in trade, which means many others look down their noses at him. He rescues Julia from a particularly embarrassing situation, and seeks to know her better. Because of her fear of the duke, she shuts him down, knowing he would never approve of Garrett. As the story progresses, they are thrown together through a series of events, and eventually get to know each other better.
There is a steady, low-level tension present as one reads this book. Will Julia find the papers? Will she ever get her freedom? Will the duke return soon and take over her life again? Will Garrett ever find happiness with Julia? Will Chatwyn grow up under the strict guidelines of the duke? As these questions and others find answers, the book progresses steadily. There is much to like about this book! The interactions between precocious Chatwyn and others are delightful to read. The relationship between Julia and Garrett progresses fairly rapidly, but considering that she has been held just shy of being a prisoner for the past four years, that’s somewhat expected. Julia’s character grows steadily throughout the book, and her friend, Brina, does as well. It appears that Brina will be featured in the next story of the series. This looks to be a wonderful set of stories.