Tuesday, September 8, 2015

ARC REVIEW The Rogue You Know by Shana Galen

Book two of Shana Galen's Covent Garden Cubs series. If you know this book is a retelling of Disney's Tangled then this book would be a lot less aggravating. Don't get me wrong I LOVE Tangled but... I didn't know and I was fairly annoyed. From page one up until about thirty percent of the way into the book it is a Regency Tangled.The cartoony cutesy stuff that worked for Tangled really didn't transition well for a romance, Flynn's "smoulder" look was kind creepy and Rapunzel's I have a dream was better with the song and especially since "Flynn" is now a crude foul mouthed bastard. I wasn't expecting it and that kind of made it annoying for me at certain parts to the point that I almost stopped reading it, but after it got more into the story and away from the way to obvious Tangled similarities it got GOOD. It really diverted from the movie and in the end I really liked. I loved Susanna's innocence and that no matter how scared she got she still stood up for what was right even if it meant standing up to some really scary men, even her own mother. Gideon after he stopped purposely acting like an ass ended up very noble.

Lady Susanna feels suffocated by her mother. She wants something more than afternoon tea, ballrooms, trying to find a husband she doesn't want and her mother constantly attached to her hip. In a rare occurrence Susanna escapes to the retiring room without her mother only to told a bit of gossip about her mother. Now that she has that little seed of information in her mind she wants more and she thinks she can find it at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Her mother vehemently refuses, she will never go no if and's or buts about it. But fate has other plans for Susanna and who should show up escaping from a group of thugs none other than Flynn Rider, oops sorry, Gideon Harrow.

Gideon Harrow, is a thief one of the best in London, and he just dug his own grave by stealing a necklace from one person for someone else but keeps it. Now he was half of London's criminal class after him. He shows up at the Dane townhouse in search of Marlowe, the current Lady Dane former thief and old cronie of his, only she isn't there he finds Lady Susanna instead. Lady Susanna takes the necklace and says she'll return it after he takes her to Vauxhall Garden. Nothing goes as planned. They have no ride, no money and Susanna wore shoes not meant for walking. Along with a stray dog Susanna names Beauty, they narrowly escape the villains of  Seven Dials, make friends and fall in love along the way.

Meanwhile back at home Susanna's mother is at her wits end scared out her mind for her daughter and faced with the knowledge that this is her own fault. She is determined to remedy it. Brooke the second son of the family who works with the Bow Street Runners as an investigator is looking for Susanna and gets the truth out of his mother. Gideon doesn't think he is good enough for Susanna and despite his better judgment he falls in love but he is willing to push her away and hurt her before bringing her into his lifestyle.

Overall, despite the beginning I really did enjoy the book. I loved the characters even Gideon after he stopped acting priggish. It really did have a great HEA and a very exciting climactic end.  

No comments:

Post a Comment