“The daring members of the Stud Club are
reckless gamblers and no strangers to risk – until love raises the stakes in Twice
Tempted by a Rogue.
“Luck is a double-edged sword for
brooding war hero Rhys St. Maur. His death wish went unanswered on the
battlefield, while fate allowed the murder of his good friend in the elite
gentleman’s society known as the Stud Club. Out of options, Rhys returns
to his ancestral home on the moors of Devonshire, expecting anything but a
chance at redemption in the arms of a beautiful innkeeper who dares him to take
on the demons of his past – and the sweet temptation of a woman’s love.
“Meredith Maddox believes in hard work,
not fate, and romance isn’t part of her plan. But when Rhys returns,
battle-scarred, world-weary, and more dangerously attractive than ever, the
lovely widow is town between determination and desire. As a deep mystery
and dangerous smugglers threaten much more than their passionate reckoning,
Meredith discovers that she must trust everything to a wager her heart placed
long ago.”
This is the second installment in Tessa
Dare’s Stud Club trilogy and I enjoyed it just about as much as I did the
first. The characters were well-written, but I will say that I far
preferred Rhys to Meredith. Contrary to the first book in the series, I
felt the male lead (Rhys) was far more fleshed-out than the female one
(Meredith). Her backstory not as detailed and I did not care about her as
much as I cared for Rhys – maybe that’s because I have a soft spot in my literary
heart for damaged heroes? Rhys was deep, his background was complex, and
he seemed extremely real. He is one of those characters whose past really
comes alive with dark issues that are relevant to this day – I do love a good,
twisty backstory. The relationship between Meredith and Rhys was
sweet, but I do not know how much stock I put into them actually getting
married (not really a spoiler…we all know how these romance novels end).
She’s an innkeeper and he’s a peer – however impoverished he may be. I just
don’t see their social statuses allowing for a marriage. Also, I found
Meredith’s obsession (because that’s what it is – an obsession) with all things
to do with inns and hotels to be a bit silly and overdone. It’s one thing
to want to run a successful inn (and I applaud Dare’s creation of a strong,
independent female lead who was not scared of working her fingers to the bone),
and quite another to have it dominate her personality and make her act like a
dog spotting a squirrel (think Doug from the movie “Up”). This, however,
did not destroy my enjoyment of the book; it just made me dislike Meredith a
bit more than other female leads I’ve experienced in Dare’s writing.
The same dark undercurrents from the
first book remained in this one, and this kept me captivated. I wanted to
know who really killed Leo! Dare has a way of making you invested in the
story and in the characters. I very much enjoyed Rhys and I liked seeing
characters we’d been introduced to in the first book – I especially liked Lily
and couldn’t wait to see more of her. I mentioned in my review of the
first book how much I disliked Julian; I must say, after reading this book, I
do like him more. He felt more complex and better-written than he did in
the first book, so kudos to Dare for fleshing him out a bit more and making me
care for him a tiny bit more than I had previously.
Would I recommend this book? It is
integral to understanding the overarching plot of the Stud Club series, so yes,
I recommend it. Rhys was an interesting character and the book was a
relatively quick read. Dare’s writing is very pretty and extremely
readable. Most impressive, however, is probably the fact that she managed
to have a surprise in the story’s conclusion. I rather well-read (not
just romance novels, I assure you – I’m a studying to become a professor of
English), so I’m not an easy reader to trick and Dare managed to pull one over
on me. I was definitely impressed.
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