The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publish Date: September 3, 2019
Synopsis: The Last Magician meets A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue in this thrilling tale filled with magic and set in the mysterious Carpathian Mountains where a girl must hunt down Vlad the Impaler’s cursed ring in order to save her father.
Some legends never die…
Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s nineteen-year-old protégé—and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life—Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul.
Until Huck arrives from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him. Armed with her father’s travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler—more widely known as Dracula—and that it just might be the key to finding him.
Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren’t the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths—including murder—to possess it.
Disclosure: ARC provided for an honest review. #partner
I was blown away by Jenn Bennett’s The Lady Rogue. I have already been a fan of Jenn’s writing, so reading The Lady Rogue was always a plan for me. I didn’t know too much about the plot, but after seeing the cover, I knew that I had to move this up my TBR. I’m really glad that I did.
To summarize quickly, I would say this is a historical heist with a paranormal twist. So maybe Heist Society mixed with Etiquette & Espionage, but with a lovely love story and such a solid story.
I found myself quickly enthralled with Theo and who she was. Theo is so smart. Given that her father is an adventure seeker, also with the fact that she didn’t have a mother, I found her to be this great puzzle to solve. Her story is one that I related to, but was also surprised at how much I wanted to know. Huck is the love that was sent away. Theo and Huck have had so much history, and through their retelling, we slowly piece together who they are to each other and what happened between them. Just their love alone is fascinating.
The adventure is one of my favorite aspects of this story. Not only do they have to find Theo’s father, they only have one clue to go on – her father’s journal. Figuring out the clues piece by piece was so fascinating to me, it added this extra dimension to the world building. I felt like I traveled alongside Theo and Huck.
I will say that the pacing of the story only picked up its momentum a good bit into the story. While there was a need to finding Theo’s father, there wasn’t a dire urgency until several chapters in. But once the pacing sped up, it continued all the way through.
Overall, I enjoyed this story and the travels into Romania. I appreciated this story, and can’t wait to read more from Jenn!
*Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.*
