The Rogue: A Devil's Duke Novel

In the first instalment of her new Devil's Duke series, Katharine Ashe dazzles with her lush and eloquent prose and THE ROGUE features the most wonderful male protagonist in all of her books. Girls have been disappearing, and Lady Constance Read wants to find them. She was trained at The Falcon Club, a covert organisation whose mission is to find missing persons, so she has an inkling as to how to go about it. The Duke of Loch Irvine is hinted at being the Devil’s Duke, because of shocking soirées rumoured to be taking place at his estate. Only married couples are invited, thus to accomplish her mission, Constance must find a husband, and strangely enough the Duke himself seems rather taken by the beautiful blonde. However Constance would never have predicted that the man with whom she shared a passionate kiss six years ago would reappear in her life and turn her life upside down. Both Constance and Saint had been featured previously in books by the author, and it is not surprising that they would get their own story, given that they are exceptionally strong characters. While Constance is fascinating and she does have a most interesting background, Saint is simply to die for! He is the hero I always wish for, but seldom encounter, and dashing too; fancy that! THE ROGUE is a very complex story, weaving a baffling mystery, startling plot twists – both in the present and in the past – and an unlikely romance between somewhat unconventional characters. Ms. Ashe’s writing keeps getting better, if such a thing is even conceivable; her eloquence is legendary, her ability to convey emotions unsurpassed, and in THE ROGUE, she makes fencing lessons a thing of indescribable sensuality. Once more, the great Katharine Ashe demonstrates that historical romance can be daring and original, while remaining faithful to the Regency era! I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4th Book in a Series a Good Beginning to a New One This is the 4th book in the Falcon Club series and also the start of it’s own series, The Devil’s Duke. As the beginning book in a series, it is an exciting start and I’m eager to read the next one. As the 4th book in the Falcon Club series, it is confusing and frustrating as it does not offer the reader any opportunity for recall but jumps right in as if the last book in that series was published months ago instead of over three years ago. Due to this fact, I not only found myself completely lost in the first half of the book but also due to the complexity of Ashe’s writing, which if you aren’t paying attention to every paragraph, you can miss an important detail that can be referenced throughout the book. I must have done this, as I had a hard time understanding what happened between Saint and Constance six years ago and it’s mentioned briefly in the earlier part of the book and then revealed in sprinkles as the story enfolds. When I went back and re-read the first half and found myself less lost at least. There were too many themes which were not connected well, so this contributed to it being hard to follow as well. The story has a darker element to it as well that is a bit of a surprise as readers who have been reading the Falcon Club have seen Constance as a strong and solid character and eagerly awaiting her story. I won’t spoil the storyline but it does add an edge to an already edgy story. I think Ashe treats this storyline very well, however, it makes the already complex relationship between Constance and Saint even more complex and I think this element did not need to be included in the story. All that being said, this is a good story with a very compelling, mysterious and hot hero who just smolders off the page. He is an enigma yet his desire and love for Constance cannot be denied. He wants to protect her and others who come into his life and that makes him the perfect hero in my mind. Plus, he fences which makes him even sexier. I enjoyed the chemistry between Constance and Saint in the fencing lesson scenes. Definitely a good read and enjoyable, just know that you should be alert when reading it and expect a darker story than that from Ashe’s earlier works. Ashe writes so beautifully and I so prefer eloquent prose over elementary. I am eager for the next in the series and reading more from one of my favorite authors.