A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie

Rogues and Remarkable Women #3

by Vanessa Riley

Critically acclaimed author Vanessa Riley infuses the ballroom settings of Regency England with Jamaican flair her Rogues & Remarkable Women series featuring a secret society of widows battling society to regain their money and a chance at love everlasting. In this sweeping, swoon-worthy final installment, an English spy must follow his neglected wife through the streets of London as she investigates her sister’s death with the aid of the Widow’s Grace. Can they find common ground and learn to work together? This vibrant and inclusive historical romance is perfect for Bridgerton binge-watcher!

Founded by the ton 's most ingenious countess, the secret society The Widow’s Grace comes to the aid of ill-treated widows and wives and helps them regain their fortunes, their families, and sometimes discover true love…

For adventurous Jamaican heiress Cecilia Thomas, marrying charming military lieutenant Lord Gantry to save him from danger—and herself from mercenary suitors—was a painful mistake. Instead of a passionate life together, she's stranded at his chilly Mayfair mansion with his unaccepting family. Worse, she finds he is actually a spy dedicated to duty over wedlock—and secrets over trust. So when she hears her sister has been driven to her death, Cecilia is determined to expose the powerful man responsible. Assisted by The Widow's Grace, she flees to Covent Garden with a new identity. But can she elude her formidable husband—even as the desire between them continues to flare even hotter?

Always calm, forever controlled, Gantry has put everything aside to hunt down the traitor who nearly killed him. It’s only when Cecilia leaves that he realizes his real duty should have been to her. As she continually outwits him through London's most perilous streets, Gantry realizes his wife is a resourceful, courageous woman he longs to truly know. But when her pursuit threatens influential enemies, will his and Cecilia's only chance to gain justice separate them once and for all?

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Historical, Audiobook, Fiction, Regency

368 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2022

About the author

I'm Vanessa Riley, and I write Historical Fiction of dazzling multi-culture communities of the 1750s to 1830s, The Revolutionary Years. I write for readers who treasure and share with friends books that showcase women, power, strong sisterhoods, and love.

Web: https://vanessariley.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/vanessarile...
FB: https://www.facebook.com/VanessaRiley...

Reviews

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an entertaining, well-written historical romance novel. It has a diverse group of characters, family and relationship drama, secrets, intrigue, and a happily ever after ending. I was thrilled to win a paperback copy of this book from Goodreads!

[eyes.2c · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must admit I had high hopes for Vanessa Riley’s latest novel in the Regency series, Rogues and Remarkable Women. I loved the first in this series, A Duke , the Lady and a Baby. It was a five star read. Like the second in the series, this third title, left me uninvolved. I just did not relate. Maybe because the chemistry between the major characters, Jamaican heiress Cecilia Thomas and lieutenant Lord Gantry wasn’t doing much for me. The Ah! Ha! factor is just not shining through. Others obviously enjoyed it. But then reading responses, like how you take your coffee, is such a personal thing.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ties pretty heavily into the first novel in this series. I definitely think a reread of the first book would help understand what's happening in this book.
I think the 1st & 2nd installment in this series are more stand alone readable.

I'm personally glad I went back and reread the earlier books.

I mostly enjoyed this but some of the conflict felt overly manufactured.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

It felt disjointed. The MCs were meh.

[On the Same Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

CWs: racism, slavery
Tropes: second chance romance
Steam level: 🌶

There's definitely an interesting plot here, but it got lost in the writing and lack of explanation. I felt like I was missing a lot of context related to Jeremiah Gladstone and his role in this story, almost like some of it happened in other books in the series. If I'd known that this series needed to be read in chronological order, I would've definitely picked up the other two before reading this one. This isn't necessarily a flaw in the book, just different expectations I have as a reader when it comes to romance series, where chronological order is usually not critical to being able to follow the story.

I liked the parts related to Demerara and wish we could've seen more of that. However, I wasn't very invested in the main characters. Much of this has to do with dialog; I frequently lost the thread of what they were talking about. This seems to be an issue with the writing in general. We also get way too many scenes where Felton is trying to seduce/beg Celia back to his side while she tries to resist, and after the first few times I wasn't interested in seeing it play out anymore.

[Sarah Shaw]

Well, this was rather disappointing. I usually love Vanessa Riley, but this one was rather confusing in the beginning- then annoying as the characters consistently failed- without any obvious reason- to communicate with each other. Then there was the carelessness, which had "Neanderthal" being used as a description in- what?- 1814, 1815? Long before the discovery of the first skeleton of a Neanderthal, anyway. And 'besiege' for 'beseech'. Unlike her usual careful work this one just seems to have been tossed together in a hurry, without too much regard to whether or not it really hung together.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost don’t know what to say about this.

I kept experiencing secondhand embarrassment while reading, that it was published with so many mistakes, and stilted dialogue and writing overall. It’s a mostly compelling story, but I had to force myself to finish. It reads like a first or second draft, like it’s self-published. Honestly, it’s a travesty. With a good editor, this could have been a four star for me.

I am still cringing. This author needs a new editor and likely a new agent, or they need better mentoring and support.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve sometimes struggled with Vanessa Riley’s characters and writing style, and unfortunately, this book is no different. I simply didn’t like either main character. Neither of their choices made any sense to me. And I found Cecilia’s relationship with her father-in-law very creepy. I’m glad I stuck with the series for the historical and cultural factors, but that’s about it.

[Raegan]

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This book didn't work for me.

The writing isn't good and the relationship was odd. This felt way longer than it is and isn't engaging. I wasn't interested in the romance aspect or how the plot played out.

[Antonella · Rating 2 out of 5]

couldn't get into it

[Rivka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this earc

Unfortunately, this book was no for me. At all

Let’s start with the fact that not at any point of this story I felt like the main characters were good for each other or in love. It started as a marriage of convenience, that turned into a very unhappy wife and should have ended.

I couldn’t understand why Felton had to marry Cecilia in the first place. For money? Okay. It’s understandable that at that time it was very common. But why did he lead her to believe that it would be more than that? Because he was in lust with her from the first sight? Well, that’s just messed up.

And once they were married, he honestly couldn’t explain to her why he was gone all the time? Why the hell didn’t he do something about his job to spend a little more time with his new wife???

And the constant manipulation????
This is an actual quote from the book and it sums up how Felton treated Cecilia perfectly

“Being sweet, helping with my art, keeping me warm, feeding me, that’s how you always did it, twisting me up, pulling me back to the moments I needed and wanted you. We don’t go back to the way things were because you now have time to love me.”

Do that sound healthy relationship to you?
I understood more Cecilia’s relationship with Felton’s father than her relationship with her husband.

This book was frustrating and made me very mad. Felton didn’t want the words from her when all the needed from day one was communication. There was ZERO communication in this book.

Overall, there was nothing in this book that would have saved it for me. Ever the plot twists that happened were unbelievable and a bit ridiculous. Once we have a bad guy, let’s just make him even worse????

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is ridiculously bad...all over the place. Unlikable characters and the whole book just left me cold and uninterested in anything concerning them. What a relief to abandon this torturous read!!

[Robin Jahn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not good, otherwise known as very bad. The plot is SOO boring. There could be an interesting story buried in there but anything exciting happens off page (like Felton actually doing spy work and Cecila going back to Demerara). Instead, all the readers get is the same conversation again and again between the two leads. It's painful. And there's no chemistry between the two leads and Cecilia in particular was so frustrating. She'd get so mad about Felton not knowing stuff about her, which OK valid since he was gone a lot, but then he'd ask and she wouldn't tell him, or worse she'd test him, and for really no reason. It's like she wanted to be treated like a puzzle who Felton was responsible for solving.

The weird love triangle between father and son was also not my thing. Especially since the clear issues between Felton and Tramel are never properly resolved. And Cecilia kept trying to say she didn't want to get between father and son but literally never took Felton's side and constantly went on about how he must be wrong about his father - it all felt very gaslight-y. And in the end only Felton made ammends to win her back and she didn't do or learn anything.

And the villain felt very half-assed. Apparently Gladstone's role is expanded on more in the other books in the series (?) but I don't know how you can have him as the main villain in this book and then have literally none of misdeeds happen on page or be explored better. And the twist of having Helena not actually be dead just makes no sense, I'm sorry, that is so dumb. And then her giving up her son to Cecilia and Felton but still seeing him everyday? I do not understand.

All of this, combined with how poor the writing was, and with no actual smut scenes either, made this one of the worst books I've read this year.

[Briann · Rating 1 out of 5]

… as her perfect hourglass figure tolled that time was up for them, for their marriage, for the dreams he’d begun to imagine before she abandoned him.

Reading the description, this was one of the books I anticipated most in the series, but I was disappointed. This was the book I enjoyed the least.

* I hated that Tramel actually fell in love with Cecilia. It made for a bizarre, twisted love triangle. The author could have just made it so that Cecilia trusted her father-in-law more than her husband. She did not have to make Cecilia actually fall for her father-in-law or have Tramel hanging that fact over Felton.
* Jane was a very flat character that I felt was created solely to advance the plot at times.
* I HATE when men try to distract women from important things like fixing their relationship with sex. Felton never seemed fully dedicated to repairing his relationship with Cecilia by talking. Instead, he was always trying to distract her with food delicacies and sex.
* I was not a fan of Helena being alive. I do not think Cecilia would mistake Helena being dead, especially when she was by what she thought was her sister’s dead body for hours. Helena suddenly being alive at the end of the book was very unrealistic.
* Everything was a bit obvious and the clues were not well hidden. It was obvious that Cecilia and Patience were sisters and that Jeremiah was the villain behind Johnson’s death

It really wasn’t that great of a book. Was not a fan. A quote from the book that summarizes how I feel about it is "My marriage [This book] is the saddest of all my adventures. I deserved better."

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vanessa Riley's latest sees Jamaican heiress Cecilia Thomas in a dead marriage to handsome military man Lord Gantry. What was originally an attempt to save herself from subpar suitors has left Cecilia neglected and dissatisfied, alienated from her husband's family. The discovery that Gantry is actually a spy drives a further wedge between the two of them, especially as he prioritizes his assignments over his relationship with Cecilia.

When Cecilia's sister dies mysteriously, she sets off on an investigation. It isn't long before Gantry realizes that she's fled, and he's off to pursue her--both in the interests of keeping Cecilia safe and in an attempt to revive their relationship.

I wish this one had worked for me. Unfortunately, I found Riley's approach to the novel really stilted. And of course, Cecilia and Gantry weren't supposed to have a good relationship at the start of the novel--but I never got the idea that they had any kind of connection. The transitions between perspectives (the novel isn't a straightforward, consistent third person point of view) threw me off further, and I was never able to connect with either of the leadsI appreciated the inclusiveness in the novel--you could tell that Riley put a lot of thought into writing Cecilia as a Jamaican heroine. But I never believed in the love story. With that being said, I definitely want to try more from Vanessa, as I feel like this could have potentially been a really good read. I just wish the execution had been more... passionate?

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this from NetGalley for preview and this is my freely given opinion.

This is the third book in Vanessa Riley's Rogues and Remarkable Women series. I rather feel that I read the other two books, to lead up to this one, as Lord Gantry, his spy and military history, and his search for his missing wife were interwoven in the stories of the previous two books. As such, I had quite a bit of sympathy for his character leading up to this, since there were allusions to his distractions, distress, and regrets over losing his wife and his search for her.

Vanessa Riley has an interesting writing style from what I am used to and it took me a bit to get into it. In this series, she frequently went back and forth from the perspectives of the two main characters and not only spoke from their points of view, but gave a voice to their inner feelings, thoughts, and fears. There is a lot of vulnerability exposed, at least to the reader, of the characters. But this is not necessarily seen by the other characters. It took a bit of getting used to, how it was written, and I was not sure that I liked it so much in the first two books. But it worked well here because this story was a bit different from the first two.

Lord Felton Lance met Cecilia (Cilia) on the night of a failed mission on Demerara, when he was acting as a spy for Britain, tracking a smuggling operation. Unfortunately one of his colleagues was killed. He meets Cilia, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, by chance while she is out walking, and she saves him from Dutch soldiers by pretending they were meeting outside of a social assembly for a walk. They hit it off and decide on a marriage of convenience. He brings her back to England to live with his family. He spends time with her, but is frequently away on missions, which he doesn't really tell her the purpose of - afterall, he is a spy. But because of his absences, and neglect in establishing her status with his family, she is neglected not just by him, but disregarded by members of his household and family. His sister undermines her status as his wife, and treats her terribly. Cilia seeks to express herself in her art, but for some reason hides her art from Gantry, only showing and involving him in silly things that she does when he is around so he is unaware of her talent and the meaning of her art. The only people who knows what her true art is her step children and her father in law, the Duke of Tramel. Her father in law becomes a pivotal figure because of his complex relationship with his son, and his role as confidante and mentor to Cilia.

As time goes on, she loses contact with her family; her father passes, and she loses contact with her older sister, who had married and also moved to England, and her remaining younger sister was still on Demarara. She and Gantry also start to fall apart, as she is lonely and frustrated, and he keeps going away for long periods, and breaking promises to her because of his missions. Then something happens that causes him to make a terrible accusation of her, and she decides that she has had enough and leaves. He realizes immediately that he was in the wrong, but there were various forces against him, and when he discovers that she really has left, she cannot be found.

There is a section of the novel that expresses what Cilia went through for a period while away from Gantry; a personal tragedy that also shapes her goals and motivations later in the book. Eventually Gantry manages to find her and persuade her to spend time with him, some of it related to helping her reach her goal, and because they believe the Duke to be dying and one of his last wishes was to see Cilia again. Through their time together, Gantry works on reestablishing a relationship with her, and preventing her from going forward with a formal separation.

Their relationship was a mish mash of lies, misunderstandings, and miscommunications, with far to much external interferences. His family is a wonderful example of total dysfunction, even before adding a wife/stepmother to the mix, who happens to be foreign/brown. I can completely see where Cilia would want to abandon the relationship Gantry loved her, but did not express it to her, and did not show it by supporting her status in his household, so she felt neglected and devalued by him. But she also cares for him too, and it was a fight for her with herself, her attraction to him, but realizing her own worth and wants versus how she was treated before. So he had to prove to her that he did value her, and there truly would be change in their relationship, especially in the context of being a trusting couple, and being a united family with the strength to defy negative external influences.

Again, I felt and empathy for Gantry, from the background story and the perspective Riley wrote of him. He was definitely a flawed character, but I appreciated that he also learned his errors, admit to his faults, and became much more self aware and willing to make real changes to win back her trust. His ultimate enlightenment though was when he was finally willing to let her go, because it was her wishes which should be paramount. I also appreciated Cilia's strength in realizing that she was worth more than what she was getting and to leave, rather than fall back into the same cycle of resentment, forgiveness they had fallen into, because ultimately, it eroded her sense of self worth and value, and eroded their trust and relationship.

This was a very interesting story of Cilia and Gantry's personal relationship and a wider, complex story of dysfunctional family relationships, and lost family. It took a bit of getting used to, the writing style, but I enjoyed this story very much. Again, I felt that the first two were the lead up to this third book, with some loose threads in the previous two books finally woven together... though that does not seem to mean that the tapestry is finished.

4 stars out of 5.

[anika · Rating 3 out of 5]

while the title intrigued me, the book was quite slow paced for a while. it bored me for the first half, but the story really picked up towards the end. i did love the characters though, and the characters were what made me keep reading, even when i was bored. 3 stars because of the beginning boring me

[Petticoat Affair]

DNF.

I think I need to read the others in the series first. Will try again after I do that.

[Carissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf audiobook at 20%

#historicalromancereadathon2022

[michelle d adkins]

The story was all over the place, there were no characters that I could enjoy. The two main characters of the story seem so unattached to each other at times the book was boring

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Least favorite in series. Why didn’t he tell her about her older sister? That seemed cruel and denying her resources of support.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although 3rd in the series, this can be read as a stand alone. Characters from the first 2 books make an appearance.

This was a really interesting Regency romance! The tropes are miscommunication & lack of communication. Not my favorite tropes, thus the 4 star instead of 5 star.

The heroine has a white father & a black mother. She's raised in Jamaica, where that is more accepted. She's an heiress, which makes it even more attractive. The hero is a spy for England & a Viscount. He's trying not to get killed when he meets the heroine, but it's love at first sight.
After they're married, the problems start. Although hot physically, emotionally their marriage is stunted. There's little communication & lots of hurt feelings. The hero feels betrayed when he finds out his love has been spending time with his hated father. She's not telling him things that he needs to know.

The beginning & last third of the book are very interesting. The middle drags. I really liked the way she made him work for her love, but I was starting to get impatient with her too.

[Khushi Saha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A regency interracial romance. I loved the challenge that Cecilia gave to Felton, to find what she really wanted in her heart. Did I find it frustrating as the book continued on and she wouldn't relent, yes, even toward the end she tested him. Both of them had issues with communicating with each other, but that my book loving friends, is the key to the slow burn/finding true love - that and social and historical factors woven into the story.
I really enjoyed this and read it in two days. I couldn't put it down. It had all the feels, and I loved that she was not white in Regency England. I'm going down a rabbit hole on google about Demerara and the history of the Dutch Colony, now!

[Sharyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I began listening to this and was very frustrated, so I finished by reading it.
I enjoyed the first 2 books in this series,but this book was just annoying. Cecilia, who I was told in the author's notes, was on the spectrum. I did not get that at all. And Felton, Lord Gantry just came across as clueless.
Instead of confronting each other, they seemed to almost willfully misunderstand each other. I just disliked both of them.
We didn't even get the connection to the series until almost 3/4 through. Then, a very surprise twist at the end was almost ridiculous.

[Shell (booksbythecup)]

Bahni Turpin as he narrator so it was easy to power through this one. Of the 3 books in the series, book 1 I best, book 2 is not bad, but book 3 had a lot going on. I sort of tired the back and forth with Cecilia and Felton.

[Susan McClintock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this book didn’t work for me. The Widow’s Grace, a group of widow’s providing help to women in need featured prominently in the first two books, takes a backseat in this book. Felton is a spy working for the British government. He meets Cecilia while on a mission to Demerara, and they enter into a marriage of convenience, that becomes more. I had a real hard time getting through this book. The first part of the book felt like I started a movie, fast forwarded 15 minutes, then another 15 minutes. I had no buy-in on the relationship, and I really didn’t care for either character. At about the 50% mark of the book, I started to like and understand Felton, Cecilia, not so much. By the end of the book, when Cecilia pushed him away yet again, I was like “let her go, there are other fish in the sea”.

[S. Antoni-Sparks]

Not a fan. This is my first DNF in years. I have chosen not to add a rating bc I only skimmed the last half of the book.

The perspective shift btwn characters wasn't an issue, but the 1st person vs 3rd person was. Why was Cecilia in 1st and Felton in 3rd? It was like getting whiplash while reading. I must admit that i genuinely hated that.

Dialog was difficult to follow in conversations. I mean difficult. I had to reread the same areas multiple times.

Main charcters were not likeable. Cecilia seemed dramatic and silly in any situations alone with Felton. Felton was also pretty dumb about general things in his spy situations, as well as social situations. I don't understand what the author was trying to do with the father in law relationship but it gave me the creeps.

Between the 1st person & 3rd person changes, and the unlikable characters, I just couldnt waste another minute on this book.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

ML is an idiot, rest of book fine

For being a master as spy, Felton is dense as a rock. He knows his best friend's wife is looking for her sisters and he knew his wife was also looking for her sisters. He knows that they are sisters. And somehow he never thinks to tell them about each other after he finds his wife. He spends hours in his wife's company and never says BTW that sister of yours that you haven't heard from in 4years is alive and well and looking for you, fancy meeting her? How do the sisters reunite? The friends wife has to track down her sister herself. If this wasn't the third book in the series I wouldn't have finished reading it.

[Hijinx Abound · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Received a copy for review.*
This book was a difficult read for me. I had a really hard time getting to know the characters because all of the things going on in the world.
The book was not so much about a couple who married hastily and then struggled to connect as it was about a man who was very entangled in his job and I woman desperate to save her family from terrible circumstances.
All of the characters were very one dimensional and thus it just did not work for me.

[Meagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The storyline was intriguing but I found the characters difficult to like. The chapters flip between first person for the female and third person for the male. It felt repetitive at times in that they wouldn’t communicate well and he just gave up trying easily and seduced her instead so their same problems kept being an issue.