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Masters at Arms #3
Rogue's Salute
They are the notorious swordsmen of New Orleans, bound by a brotherhood of loyalty, skill and courage—infamous by day, dangerous at night, loyal only to each other and the women they love…
At ease making life-and-death decisions between breaths, maître d'armes Nicholas Pasquale proposes marriage to a beautiful and desperate stranger, a woman who offers comfort to his irascible young charge and calmly tells him the boy needs a mother. It is a challenge he can't resist.
Nor can Juliette Armant. Though pledged to the church since infancy, she's been summoned to save her family in the only way possible...by marriage. Once she is wed, she will claim an ancestral marriage chest—and protect its secret contents from the dubious intent of her twin sister, who wants the treasure all to herself.
Juliette never dreamed such a practical arrangement would explode with heady desire when a rogue's kiss unleashes the sensual woman within. But someone is determined to stop the wedding, willing to go to desperate lengths to claim the chest, plunging Juliette into a fight to claim a legacy and a love worth any price.
At ease making life-and-death decisions between breaths, maître d'armes Nicholas Pasquale proposes marriage to a beautiful and desperate stranger, a woman who offers comfort to his irascible young charge and calmly tells him the boy needs a mother. It is a challenge he can't resist.
Nor can Juliette Armant. Though pledged to the church since infancy, she's been summoned to save her family in the only way possible...by marriage. Once she is wed, she will claim an ancestral marriage chest—and protect its secret contents from the dubious intent of her twin sister, who wants the treasure all to herself.
Juliette never dreamed such a practical arrangement would explode with heady desire when a rogue's kiss unleashes the sensual woman within. But someone is determined to stop the wedding, willing to go to desperate lengths to claim the chest, plunging Juliette into a fight to claim a legacy and a love worth any price.
505 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
43 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Blake
177 books542 followersA pseudonym used by Patricia Maxwell.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 25, 2017
This is the third book in a series Blake wrote about a group of masters at arms (swordsmen) in New Orleans. This series is more recent than Blakes older books, and without the old school tropes of forced seduction (so far), but without that and other older tropes, she's now heavier on the adjectives, not too much but still worth noting.
This heroine in this book is from a family with a mysterious casket that has been passed down over generations to the oldest daughter on her wedding, and since this heroine is a twin and supposedly the older daughter...her twin is in competition for the first to wed and claim the casket and its 'treasure'.
Bonus points in this book is the hero's 'adoption' of a group of street kids with no where to go, and I loved how the heroine took them into her home and her heart. Extra bonus points was including the H/h of the first two books in the story. The one downside is there was an issue/misunderstanding that arose early in the book that wasn't resolved at the end, as other reviewers have noted. If they had just talked to each other...
This heroine in this book is from a family with a mysterious casket that has been passed down over generations to the oldest daughter on her wedding, and since this heroine is a twin and supposedly the older daughter...her twin is in competition for the first to wed and claim the casket and its 'treasure'.
Bonus points in this book is the hero's 'adoption' of a group of street kids with no where to go, and I loved how the heroine took them into her home and her heart. Extra bonus points was including the H/h of the first two books in the story. The one downside is there was an issue/misunderstanding that arose early in the book that wasn't resolved at the end, as other reviewers have noted. If they had just talked to each other...
May 30, 2016
Rated 4.5 "I'm constantly swoooooning" Stars
Nicholas is my favorite hero in this series and his story was superior.
What a man, the perfect Italian lover! He definitely meets his match too.
He basically takes care of a street urchin, who follows him everywhere. Unfortunately, the little thug has zero manners and one day, in front of a church, he deeply offended a Lady, who became outraged and said to Nicholas, "What this child needs sir, is a mother"! Well, Nicholas took this as a huge challenge. Returning her comment, he asked, "Will you then, fair lady, take him on by becoming his mother by marrying me"? The young Miss tells him that, she will indeed think on it (she has secrets regarding marriage of her own as she has had a prearranged marriage in place since her birth, to a fraud of a man) They both intended that it be a marriage of convenience, and it was just that for quite a while.
This is an adventurous & suspenseful book, which I absolutely loved!!!
Nicholas is my favorite hero in this series and his story was superior.
What a man, the perfect Italian lover! He definitely meets his match too.
He basically takes care of a street urchin, who follows him everywhere. Unfortunately, the little thug has zero manners and one day, in front of a church, he deeply offended a Lady, who became outraged and said to Nicholas, "What this child needs sir, is a mother"! Well, Nicholas took this as a huge challenge. Returning her comment, he asked, "Will you then, fair lady, take him on by becoming his mother by marrying me"? The young Miss tells him that, she will indeed think on it (she has secrets regarding marriage of her own as she has had a prearranged marriage in place since her birth, to a fraud of a man) They both intended that it be a marriage of convenience, and it was just that for quite a while.
This is an adventurous & suspenseful book, which I absolutely loved!!!
March 27, 2020
Although I greatly enjoyed this book as I enjoyed the second book in the series, “Dawn Encounter,” I felt the last ~50 pages were quite disappointing. There seemed to be a lot that Blake was trying to fit into the story that made no sense up until that point. I definitely recommend not reading this book first, though it still, in part, can be read as a stand-alone; some aspects may make less sense if the series is read out of order. All that being said, it was an excellent read with a lot of fun and exciting parts!
April 15, 2013
Juliette Armant desperately needs a husband—so she begs the Holy Virgin for one. Within five minutes, she receives a proposal of marriage from Nicholas Pasquale, the base-born maitre-d'armes-slash-Cassanova we've met in earlier books in the series.
Nick was joking, so when she instantly accepts....
Here's the story: There's this old trunk, see, and it supposedly contains a family treasure. But only the oldest daughter is allowed to open the trunk and check it out, and she has to guard it against any others, since if the wrong people open the dam thing, there's this curse….
And speaking of wrong people, Juliette's spoiled and selfish-to-the-point-of-bitchery twin sister and her creepy fortune-hunting boyfriend will do just about anything to make sure they get the trunk—oh, and they also want to be sure Juliette gets dumped in a convent. Because God forbid anybody else should have a life.
Juliette's dumbass mom can't remember which of her twin daughters came first, so it's a race to the altar—whichever of the girls marries first will get the prize. And her hubby will be HOH, meaning he can decide the fate of the other sister (did I mention that the bitchy sister and greedy boyfriend want to put Juliette in a convent?). So even if Jules doesn't care about winning the trunk/treasure, she still needs to hook a groom first if she wants to marry someone other than Jesus. No offense to Jesus (he's not into shotgun weddings anyway, right?).
Nick, meanwhile, doesn't take long to decide this thing with Jules was "meant to be." See, he has collected this passel of street kids and it seems like a good idea to give them a mom. Of course he doesn't bother to ask until late in the game whether Jules, who is from a schmancy family, is OK with adopting a bunch of nameless, misbegotten, and not-so-fragrant urchins.
Now I should mention that in this story, Gretna, Louisiana is just across the river, and is set up with a justice who stands ready to preside over quickie civil unions. Juliette isn't into the idea. She wants the banns read, counseling with the priest, the whole nine. You and I may grasp the obvious—that the bitchy sister and greedy boyfriend won't be quite so choosy, but it doesn't occur to our H/h right off.
The villains in this piece are profoundly unlikeable, which makes the ending surprising—both in the "OMG I didn't see it coming" and in the "WTF" kind of way. While I love "didn't see it coming" surprises, the "WTF" bits left me feeling played.
3 stars.
Nick was joking, so when she instantly accepts....
Here's the story: There's this old trunk, see, and it supposedly contains a family treasure. But only the oldest daughter is allowed to open the trunk and check it out, and she has to guard it against any others, since if the wrong people open the dam thing, there's this curse….
And speaking of wrong people, Juliette's spoiled and selfish-to-the-point-of-bitchery twin sister and her creepy fortune-hunting boyfriend will do just about anything to make sure they get the trunk—oh, and they also want to be sure Juliette gets dumped in a convent. Because God forbid anybody else should have a life.
Juliette's dumbass mom can't remember which of her twin daughters came first, so it's a race to the altar—whichever of the girls marries first will get the prize. And her hubby will be HOH, meaning he can decide the fate of the other sister (did I mention that the bitchy sister and greedy boyfriend want to put Juliette in a convent?). So even if Jules doesn't care about winning the trunk/treasure, she still needs to hook a groom first if she wants to marry someone other than Jesus. No offense to Jesus (he's not into shotgun weddings anyway, right?).
Nick, meanwhile, doesn't take long to decide this thing with Jules was "meant to be." See, he has collected this passel of street kids and it seems like a good idea to give them a mom. Of course he doesn't bother to ask until late in the game whether Jules, who is from a schmancy family, is OK with adopting a bunch of nameless, misbegotten, and not-so-fragrant urchins.
Now I should mention that in this story, Gretna, Louisiana is just across the river, and is set up with a justice who stands ready to preside over quickie civil unions. Juliette isn't into the idea. She wants the banns read, counseling with the priest, the whole nine. You and I may grasp the obvious—that the bitchy sister and greedy boyfriend won't be quite so choosy, but it doesn't occur to our H/h right off.
The villains in this piece are profoundly unlikeable, which makes the ending surprising—both in the "OMG I didn't see it coming" and in the "WTF" kind of way. While I love "didn't see it coming" surprises, the "WTF" bits left me feeling played.
3 stars.
June 14, 2009
I liked it, but it wasn't spell binding. It didn't hold my attention and make a feeling of me that "I have to read it"...though I did read it, so that means something. I liked Juliette and her swords man. I never like it when people don't talk though. "I wonder this and I wonder that and I'd better not tell him this because he might think this"...that makes for crappy story lines.
I'm thinking "Oh for goodness sakes, just ask him or tell him as it'll either work or not"
I did skim read a bit here and there, mostly just past the middle point heading towards the end.
Then it all gets wrapped up. A nice book, not terrific.
I'm thinking "Oh for goodness sakes, just ask him or tell him as it'll either work or not"
I did skim read a bit here and there, mostly just past the middle point heading towards the end.
Then it all gets wrapped up. A nice book, not terrific.
March 25, 2020
The Masters at Arms series never fails to be worth the time - Jennifer Blake does such a wonderful job of recreating the world of these sword-masters, and their New Orleans training schools. The cosmopolitan world of turn-of-the-century New Orleans, its history, architecture and fascinating family sagas are all brought vividly to life. And every couple in the series wins you over, as they surmount the many hurdles to their happily ever after. Enjoy!
October 18, 2017
Good story
This story was pretty good....not quite as good as the first two books of this series though. The story gets a bit convoluted. There's a little too much going on in this plot.
But I do enjoy reading this author's books, especially the historical fiction romances.
I'd recommend this based on the series ad a whole, and because Nicholas is so very sexy.
This story was pretty good....not quite as good as the first two books of this series though. The story gets a bit convoluted. There's a little too much going on in this plot.
But I do enjoy reading this author's books, especially the historical fiction romances.
I'd recommend this based on the series ad a whole, and because Nicholas is so very sexy.
October 23, 2018
Wonderful
I have read this book many times over the years. Such lovely, interesting characters. I've read a few other books by this author but none I've liked so much as this one. Understated romance, insight into norms of the day and a magnificent swordsman for our hero. Perfect.
I have read this book many times over the years. Such lovely, interesting characters. I've read a few other books by this author but none I've liked so much as this one. Understated romance, insight into norms of the day and a magnificent swordsman for our hero. Perfect.
July 13, 2017
Paulette and Mrs. Armand must be two of the most annoying characters I've ever found in books.
Something that I was anticipating and didn't happen in the book is the discussion about what happened at the masquerade ball. Why, oh why???? There were so many hints about that...
Something that I was anticipating and didn't happen in the book is the discussion about what happened at the masquerade ball. Why, oh why???? There were so many hints about that...
May 2, 2018
Nicholas ties the knot...
Nicholas takes a wife ... both are in love... So His orphans have a good mother... But what about their feelings for each other... And a few more surprises for fabulous ending!
Nicholas takes a wife ... both are in love... So His orphans have a good mother... But what about their feelings for each other... And a few more surprises for fabulous ending!
February 18, 2018
3.5 enjoying the series. Off to find the next one.
October 24, 2018
Historical Romance: New Orleans pre-civil war.
Likable characters.
Likable characters.
May 14, 2023
I flew through this book, but I didn't like the ending. The build up of the story didn't match the pay off to me.
Want to read
March 22, 2025winter pile
April 12, 2011
Nicholas Pasquale & Juliette Armant
He is a sword master who has "adopted" a gaggle of street kids who are all orphaned (as he was). She was supposed to be a nun but came home just weeks before committing. Her family had a family chest passed down to oldest daughter. They thought her twin was older but old nanny said it was really her so she must marry ASAP to get the chest before her sister. Sister elopes so Nicholas and Juliette do too.
Review
He is a sword master who has "adopted" a gaggle of street kids who are all orphaned (as he was). She was supposed to be a nun but came home just weeks before committing. Her family had a family chest passed down to oldest daughter. They thought her twin was older but old nanny said it was really her so she must marry ASAP to get the chest before her sister. Sister elopes so Nicholas and Juliette do too.
Review
March 28, 2014
I thought this book was more interesting than the previous two in the series, though the early betrothal was a bit much to swallow. I liked Juliette's character, and that of Nicholas, but I have to say I am still rather intrigued about Gavin Blackford, the Englishman that is featured in the next book.
September 6, 2013
I wish the book would of went into a little more detail on its ending, I was very curious to know how the main characters lives went, but despite the fact the ending was vague with the details I still enjoyed it. There were a few sections of the book where I got bored (where historical details were talked about in some length) but overall I really enjoyed the story and am very glad I read it.
September 30, 2018
Another great historical romance series by Jennifer Blake I read this month. Swords & hot men & mystery, suspense, romance, tied together in awesomeness.
Although I think I liked books 1-3 the best book 4 was very slow going. But the rest of the series was good. Read the series in 2 weeks.
I have enjoyed reading all of her books so far. She is a new author for me in 2018.
Although I think I liked books 1-3 the best book 4 was very slow going. But the rest of the series was good. Read the series in 2 weeks.
I have enjoyed reading all of her books so far. She is a new author for me in 2018.
March 15, 2016
I've long adored just about everything Jennifer Blake has written, but when it comes to hilarious opening scenes, this book is at the TOP of my list. Rogue's Salute is just perfect from cover to cover.
April 15, 2008
This is a great historical romance. It deals with suspense, action, and a bit of a blossoming romance. This is a first I've read of her work.
December 9, 2009
New Orleans story much to long.
August 1, 2013
That's right -- I read a trashy romance novel and I loved it! (:
January 14, 2015
I loved all of the books in the Masters at Arms series. The stories were divine and loved the characters and settings.
January 25, 2016
This book dragged on and on. The story was good but the description of their thoughts and actions took forever. Couldn't wait to finish.
September 15, 2023
book was alright.
i liked the street boys in it. the hero and heroine are ok
i liked the street boys in it. the hero and heroine are ok
May 6, 2023
This is my favourite of this 6book series. I love Juliette and Nicholas. I have read this book about 4 times now and I love it.
April 19, 2017
Excellent. A slice of old New Orleans, superstitions, family curse, betrayal, love.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews