13 | August | 2014 | Rebeccabookreview

The seventy-first book I read in 2014 was Have You Any Rogues? by Elizabeth Boyle. This is book 2.5 in her Rhymes with Love series (between Book #2 And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake and Book #3 If Wishes were Earls). I finished this book on 8/13/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book (novella) tells the story of Viscount Crispin Dale (cousin to Daphne Dale and mentioned in book #2 of the series) and Lady Henrietta Seldon/Astbury/Michaels/Juniper (sister to Lord Henry from book #2 and aunt to Christopher, Duke of Preston, from book #1).

As we learned in book #2, the Dale and Seldon families have a long standing feud. Crispin Dale tries with all his might to keep Daphne and Henry apart in book #2, even though he himself is in love with a Seldon as well. Crispin comes knocking at Owle Park (the Seldon family home) to demand that something be done, and instead ends up locked in a wine cellar with Henrietta Seldon, where they proceed to re-hash their entire past together and finally reach the conclusion that they love each other very much.

This novella jumped back and forth between past and present. I thought it was very interesting and I loved learning of the back-story to both characters, but at a couple points I got a tad bit confused. In order to help with the confusion, I found it best to create a timeline of events so I could keep track of the sequence. **SPOILER ALERT** This timeline reveals points of what happen in the book so if you don’t want to know what happens then don’t read it!

Overall I really enjoyed this novella. It was a great addition to the series. Also Henrietta and Crispin’s characters were very interesting to learn more about! Would definitely recommend.

Link to reviews on other books in the Rhymes with Love series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/rhymes-with-love/

Link to author website: http://www.elizabethboyle.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Have-You-Any-Rogues-Novella-ebook/dp/B00ECAUBLM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407962730&sr=1-1&keywords=have+you+any+rogues

The seventieth book I read in 2014 was If Wishes Were Earls by Elizabeth Boyle. This is the third book in her Rhymes With Love series. I finished this book on 8/12/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Harriet Hathaway and the Earl of Roxley. Harriett was introduced in books one and two in this series as she is the third in a close group of friends, the other two were the heroines of books one and two (I read books one and two previous to 2014). The Earl of Roxley grew up in Kempton, near the Hathaways. Since he was an orphan with no relatives besides his aging aunts, he was encouraged to spend time with the Hathaways as they had 5 boys in their family.

Harriett has been in love with Roxley all her life. But Roxley seems to only see her as an annoying kid sister. After a sensual encounter in the garden though, Roxley realizes that Harriett could be the one person who could steal his heart. And two months later they have another encounter that technically ruins Harriett, leaving her with the impression that they will soon marry. However, when Roxley immediately goes to London (apparently to obtain a special license to marry Harriett, which he never tells her so she starts to think that he’s abandoned her) he encounters problems that he learns could end up being life threatening.

Under very nefarious circumstances, Roxley ends up almost betrothed to someone else. And not wanting to draw Harriett into the danger of his current situation, he doesn’t write to her in Kempton to explain. So when she suddenly shows up in London on the same night he is supposed to propose to someone else, he ends up breaking Harriett’s heart. Harriett loves Roxley so no matter how much he might try to keep her out of this, she keeps involving herself in the mess he’s gotten himself into.

Overall I thought this was a very good book. I didn’t want to put it down and couldn’t seem to make myself stop reading it. It was interesting throughout and though Roxley could have prevented a lot of turmoil by just being open and honest with Harriett, the writer did an excellent job portraying both hero and heroine. Their passion lept off the pages and their personalities were fun to read. And the aging aunts were hilarious. Great read, and great addition to the series.

Link to author website: http://www.elizabethboyle.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/If-Wishes-Were-Earls-Rhymes/dp/0062089099/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1407933346&sr=8-1