I Kissed a Rogue

Written by Shana Galen

Narrated by Beverley A. Crick

Bow Street's best investigator, Sir Brook Derring, is hailed as a hero by the ton, but he cares little for the praise or the women. He fell in love once, with Lady Lillian-Anne Lennox, and shortly thereafter lost all romantic notions.

As the eldest daughter of the Duke of Lennox, Lila has everything but the freedom to follow her heart. All that is taken away when she's kidnapped by a London crime lord, but she knows that someone must be looking for her. She hopes that it will be Brook, the only man she's ever truly cared for and has never been able to tell.
Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781494584283

Shana Galen

Shana Galen is three-time Rita award nominee and the bestselling author of passionate Regency romps, including the RT Reviewers' Choice The Making of a Gentleman. Kirkus says of her books, "The road to happily-ever-after is intense, conflicted, suspenseful and fun," and RT Bookreviews calls her books “lighthearted yet poignant, humorous yet touching." She taught English at the middle and high school level off and on for eleven years. Most of those years were spent working in Houston's inner city. Now she writes full time. She's happily married and has a daughter who is most definitely a romance heroine in the making.

Reviews for I Kissed a Rogue

[eyes92c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Covenant Cubs continues!In the middle of Mayfair, after a ball, Lady Lillian-Anne Lennox finds herself dragged from her carriage, tied up and hooded, carried into a place of unimaginable odours, thrown onto a hard surface and left frantic and fearfully alone. With the discovery of Lila missing her father the Duke of Lennox hires Sir Brook Derring, a canny investigator, to find her.This is the same Brook Derringer that years before Lila had callously refused when her sought her hand. Why should he assist? However help her he does! As the plot deepens and it becomes apparent that Lila is in real danger he bows to pressure from the Royal Prince and the Duke to go to extraordinary lengths to keep her safe.The thing is, Lila is no longer the autocratic, unfeeling woman he once knew. She has matured and regretted her unfeeling actions of the past.The struggle to keep Lila safe and to keep her at a distance fails as they are thrown closer together when they have to go into hiding in less than salubrious surroundings. Circumstances and desires culminate in Brook and Lila exploring their relationship, admittedly through long, long descriptive passages that became a tad drawn out for the storyline.That aside, there is plenty of action, angst and anxiety for all. I really liked both Lila and Brook. The resolving of their life together held out right to the end. I and they were unsure of the outcome.A NetGalley ARC

[jorgeousjotts · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked that this heroine generally was less of a ninny than the heroine in the last book, and that events were, for the most part, not as preposterous. The hero did a few things that lost points with me, but was fairly likable most of the rest of the time. It was sort of middle of the road for me, not as good as the first in the series, but considerably better than the second.

[kbranfield-837433 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars.

I Kissed a Rogue by Shana Galen is a captivating historical romance with a slight element of suspense.

Sir Brook Derring is an investigator with a kind heart so when Lady Lillian-Anne aka Lila is kidnapped, he looks past their painful history and agrees to search for her. He locates her rather quickly, but not before she witnesses a brutal murder during a rather valiant escape attempt. Although her life is still in danger, Brook is reluctant to continue protecting her but Lila's wily father circumvents Brook's objections by forcing the pair to wed. Retreating to the country in hopes of keeping Lila out of harm's way, Brook entices her into exploring their mutual passion despite their plans to seek an annulment once she is out of danger.

In the seven years since she turned down his earnest marriage proposal, Lila has grown and matured. No longer a silly, shallow nineteen year old, she is much more gracious and thoughtful. As a titled member of society, she still lacks the basic skills to survive on her own, but Lila is unexpectedly willing to pull her share of the weight in the dilapidated cottage. She also demonstrates her newfound maturity by attempting to make amends for her deplorable treatment of Brook years earlier. Lila makes no excuses for her behavior and she is genuinely sorry for her callous disregard for his feelings.

Older, wiser and more experienced, Brook has never quite forgiven Lila for her rather heartless rejection year earlier. He still sees her as the same superficial young girl he once knew and at first, her behavior backs up his opinion. However, once they arrive at his family's cottage, he is rather pleasantly surprised by her willingness to pitch in with chores despite her inexperience. Brook works hard to maintain his anger over those long ago events, and despite their sensual lovemaking, he has not changed his mind about annulling their marriage.

Initially, Lila and Brook's relationship is full of tension and simmering with animosity. Lila is still a little haughty and demanding which reinforces Brook's opinion that she is still the same person who broke his heart. However, bit by bit, Lila's true character is revealed as she faces adversity with a mostly positive attitude although, given her social status, she is completely out of her depth and sometimes harbors unrealistic expectations. Brook certainly holds on to his resentment a little longer than expected and he is quick to think the worst of her. Despite his lingering bitterness, Brook is surprisingly gentle with Lila and he is a very generous and tender lover.

With an appealing cast of characters and an intriguing storyline, I Kissed a Rogue by Shana Galen is a marvelous second chance at love romance. Fast-paced and engaging, this delightfully sensual addition to the Covent Garden Cubs series is sure to be a hit with fans of historical romances.

[bookworm2bookworm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

And we come to the end of Covent Garden Cubs series and what a way to end this wonderful series! As someone that loves second chance tropes, this one was perfect.

Ms. Galen truly outdid herself in bringing us two such complex characters that kept me reading ’till wee hours of the morning. I had a very hard time putting this one down.

To watch these two characters go at each other was fascinating. From that first exciting paragraph to the last, I was captivated and intrigued. Honestly, this story has it all. Adventure, intrigue and plenty of sensual lovemaking. Awesome ending to a series!

Melanie for b2b

Complimentary copy provided by the publisher

[gpangel_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I Kissed a Rogue by Shana Galen is a 2016 Sourcebooks Casablanca publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. So far, I have been enjoying the Covent Garden Cubs series immensely. However, this third installment fell a little flat. Lila, the daughter of a Duke, enjoyed playing games with men’s hearts, flirting and manipulating them, with no care in the world about the consequences of her actions. But, after her mother’s illness and tragic death, Lila changed. But, as far as Sir Brook Derring knows, Lila is the same spoiled, entitled girl that broke his heart. So, when Lila is kidnapped and he is called into service to find her, he is willing to do his job, but no more. But, while Lila is being held captive, she witnesses a murder, and Brook is pressed into marrying her, by the king, no less, in order to keep her safe. It goes without saying that the marriage will be annulled once Lila is safe. Once the couple is living together under the same roof, Brook finds himself sorely tempted to exercise his husbandly rights, and he thinks Lila could be easily convinced to comply. While no love or emotion is involved, they are married after all, so why not give in to their desires? Once Brook begins to pay close attention to Lila, he realizes she is not the haughty, selfish girl he remembers. But, while the couple is busy enjoying the benefits of marriage, a criminal is out there gunning for Lila and it’s only a matter of time before he finds her. This story was entertaining as far as it goes, but lacked the substance of the first two installments. The suspense elements were pushed very far into the background and were pretty cut and dried. Brook’s holding such a huge grudge after all these years was perhaps a bit much, after all, most of us grow up at some point and Lila has obviously paid a high price for her actions. While the first cut is the deepest, and all that, I wondered how much of his ire was wounded pride instead of a broken heart, and felt he was the only one still behaving childishly. Lila, it would seem, will get her comeuppance when Brook woos her, gets her fall in love with him and then unceremoniously dumps her. But, will his plan backfire? Will he be able to follow through with his plan of revenge? For me, there was too much time spent playing sexual games, and not enough time spent on character development or the suspense element of the story, which was sort of rushed through at the very end. Still, a happy ever after is something I always love, and this one is pretty sweet. Overall, this is the weakest installment in the series, so far, a bit of a disappointment, but was enjoyable enough and worth the time spent reading it.

[invincible005 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I RECEIVED THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW 4.5 STARSThis book was amazing. With the way it started i just had to keep going until i finished it. Lila was such a bitch from her own description and i disliked her half the time but she was also a spitfire who didnt go down without fighting. It was interesting to see her grow from her old prissy self and get to like her, i didnt love her in any case but Brook seemed to see something in her. Brook was amazing, after reading the other books where he also played minor roles in it was really nice to see him get his book and know him a little better. Even the goons from the previous books made appearances, i have no idea if this is the end of the series but i would have liked to see a more intense showdown . I hope there are other books in the series because i really enjoy the cubs and their lack of artifice. The writing was tasteful and really easy to follow, this can be read as a standalone THANKS TO NETGALLERY AND SOURCEBOOKS CASABLANCA FOR THIS ADVANCED READER'S COPY