Linda
Written on Jan 1, 2016
The Rogue's Proposal is a very hot, sensual and mysterious tale! I have no idea why I've let this stay hidden on my kindle for so long!
Luke and Em were quite different from the characters I usually follow in a historical romance, and that made The Rogue's Proposal a unique read. Em, a young widow, was willing to do whatever it took to find the man who had murdered her husband and run away with her family's fortune. Luke was after the same man, but for different reasons, and when Em showed up to tell him she would go on this manhunt with him, all he could think about was how delicate and sweet-looking she was. His thoughts went dirty fast, but Em laid down some ground-rules that made me smile. She knew what she wanted, but there was no way she was going to let Luke walk all over her anyway.
On what seemed to be a wild goose chase at first, Em and Luke leave England for Scotland, then have to go back to London in order to find the man they want to bring to justice. Only, at one point, they are forced to stay inside their room at the inn for several days, and the attraction between them becomes impossible to resist. The Rogue's Proposal is different because Em isn't a virgin - she is fairly innocent, but she also has some pretty hot fantasies. Luke has always thought his own debauched fantasies were way too much for one woman to keep in check, and he can't believe Em might be the one woman who could maybe, one day, become his.
Between the romance and the mystery, The Rogue's Proposal is fairly fast-paced, and there are many situations in which Luke and Em are in danger from more than their strong feelings towards each other. They both have a past that has partly shaped who they are today, and especially Luke has been through hell since he was a little boy. Em's strong convictions when it comes to his honour is what finally helps him see that he might not be as bad as he was told when he was a boy.
Written in third person point of view, the narration shares enough with the readers that I got a very good knowledge of Luke and Em, both their good and their bad sides, and it was refreshing to read about characters who were flawed, but not doomed because of those flaws.
Still, it seemed Lord Lukas was more concerned about her reputation than he cared to admit. That thought gave her a tiny, pleasant flicker inside. A warm, strange glow she'd never felt before.
He was a complicated man. He confused her. Unsettled her. He was nothing like she'd expected him to be. But now she realized her expectations hadn't been fair.
Luke urged the horses into a trot, pretending to take it slow for the gray's sake. He'd lied. The gray hadn't been limping. But he'd needed to get off the curricle for a moment. Put some distance between himself and Emma.
