Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: September 3rd, 2019
384 Pages
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 alone to sit 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—in order to possess it.
The Lady Rogue is the first book I’ve read by Jenn Bennett, but I knew as soon as I saw the gorgeous cover and read the premise that I had to get my greedy hands on it!
While it was a lot fluffier than I expected, it was a fun read which I found somewhat reminiscent of Romancing the Stone. The pacing was a little uneven at times with a few sections making me want to cheat and skim over them, but other than that, everything worked. The banter between Theodora and Huck had me laughing out loud several times, and I loved the chemistry between the two of them. The storyline with its sinister society, coded journals, and wonderful train rides through early 1900s Romania kept me turning the pages. And while the mystery itself was a trifle predictable, everything else was just so much darn fun that I didn’t care. The ending ties everything up neatly but I’m hoping this isn’t the last we see of Theodora Decker and Huck Gallagher. I think this could be the beginning of a fun and exciting series.
