Rebel Without a Rogue by Bliss Bennet (The Penningtons #1)
Released: September 15, 2015
Historical Romance
Self Published
Reviewed by Mandi
A woman striving for justice
Fianna Cameron has devoted her life to avenging the death of her father, hanged as a traitor during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Now, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, only one last miscreant remains: Major Christopher Pennington, the English army officer who not only oversaw her father’s execution, but falsely maligned his honor. Fianna risks everything to travel to London and confront the man who has haunted her every nightmare. Only after her pistol misfires does she realize her sickening mistake: the Pennington she wounded is far too young to be the man who killed her father.
A man who will protect his family at all costs
Rumors of being shot by a spurned mistress might burnish the reputation of a rake, but for Kit Pennington, determined to add to his family’s honor by winning a seat in Parliament, such salacious gossip is nothing but a nightmare. To regain his good name, Kit will have to track down his mysterious attacker and force her to reveal the true motivation behind her unprovoked assault. Accepting an acquaintance’s mistress as an ally in his search is risky enough, but when Kit begins to develop feelings for the icy, ethereal Miss Cameron, more than his political career is in danger. For Kit is beginning to suspect that Fianna Cameron knows far more about the shooting—and the reasons behind it—than she’s willing to reveal.
As their search begins to unearth long-held secrets, Kit and Fianna find themselves caught between duty to family and their beliefs in what’s right. How can you balance the competing demands of loyalty and justice—especially when you add love to the mix?
The blurb sets up the book well, so I’m just going to dive right into why this book, unfortunately, didn’t work so well for me. I love a premise where the heroine shoots the hero to start a romance book. This blurb really intrigued me and this is also a debut author, so I was really hoping for good things. And honestly, I did like both Kit and Fianna. Kit is a good guy and quite young – I like how he had grand aspirations and was not cynical to the world yet. Fianna is set to revenge her father’s death – she starts out the book so set on this and has a desperate edge.
But then it all slows down. Fianna realizes she shoots the wrong man (aka Kit – in the arm so he easily survives). She meets Kit later, and thankfully he doesn’t recognize her as the shooter. Fianna is currently the mistress of a playboy heir, which is how she made her way to London. She befriends Kit, as he helps her decipher some Gaelic on her father’s gun (the one she shot him with, but he doesn’t know it!) They start to become more than just friends, as Fianna tries to hunt down the correct name of the man who wronged her father, all the while Kit is left in the dark about that part.
While this is a cute set up, this book lacks tension and any sort of intrigue to keep the pace of the story going. When you realize Kit doesn’t recognize Fianna as his shooter, there should have been lots of tension. But there isn’t – even when he eventually learns, it’s no big deal. Searching for a name through books isn’t that exciting, so we needed something more in the story to keep me engaged. As I said, they are likable, but the pace was so slow. Things happen but nothing that interesting. Their chemistry is there as friends, but not really lovers. I never felt the two of them madly in love – no wild passion. No wicked banter or giggle-worthy scenes.
I wanted to learn more about Fianna’s past. At one point, Kit escorts her to this home for recovering prostitutes (Fianna was a mistress to a man to make her way to London) and she stays for some time and then she emerges – but the reader has no idea what she did inside this home. This must have made some kind of impact. But we miss it. This author writes very smoothly. I wanted to get lost in her voice. She details the English vs. The Irish and the history well. The feel of the world is vibrant. But it was just too slow for me.
It was nice, but not enough.
Grade: C-
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