Once More, My Darling Rogue (Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James Place, #2) (Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James, #2)

by Lorraine Heath

They are England's most eligible bachelors, with the most scandalous reputations. But for the right woman, even an unrepentant rogue may mend his ways ...Born to the street but raised within the aristocracy, Drake Darling can't escape his sordid beginnings. Not when Lady Ophelia Lyttleton snubs him at every turn, a constant reminder he's not truly one of them. But after rescuing her from a mysterious drowning, he realizes she doesn't remember who she is. With plans to bring her to heel, he insists she's his housekeeper-never expecting to fall for the charming beauty. While Ophelia might not recall her life before Drake, she has little doubt she belongs with him. The desire she feels for her dark, brooding employer can't be denied, regardless of consequences. So when Ophelia's memory returns, she is devastated by the depth of his betrayal. Now Drake must risk everything to prove she can trust this rogue with her heart once more.

• ISBN10: 0062276247
• ISBN13: 9780062276247
• Publish Date: 11 September 2014 (first published 1 August 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 15 October 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Avon Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

Here's the thing about this novel; it's not a bad novel. It's a pretty good historical romance.

The problems I had with this novel lies in the fact that I FUCKIN' HATE THE PREMISE! Seriously, just reading the synopsis had me fuming. He lies to her after she losses her memory and makes her his servant??? #nothanks

So why did I read this novel if the premise was so off putting? Mostly because I loved the first book and I am this annoying type of reader that has to read the whole series. It's irritating, really.

That being said, this book did manage to rise above my aversion to the premise. It was really hard to warm up to both characters, what with Phee being so judgmental and conceited for, like, 20% of the book, and Drake being a cool person but a cool person who lies to a woman he found in the fucking Thames just so he could fuck with her because she's been a snotty bitch to him.

But yeah, they were cute. Which made it all the more difficult because you know it's going to explode in their faces when the deception comes to light.

I have to admit, the last 30% of this novel were fantastic. First of all, the explosion wasn't as bad as I'd feared. On a subconscious level, Phee knows that Drake didn't lie about the important things, and he's very honest with her about his feelings. They were so mature about the whole thing. I loved it! It proved theirs wasn't just a fading connection.

I do wish the author would have delved deeper into Phee's past, because that is such an unrepresented part of historical romance, and deserves more of a platform. Rape is something that is rarely mentioned in historical romance. If it's present at all, it's usually just a threat from a character or what not. And while it's in this novel, it's still very unrepresented. For most of the novel Phee doesn't remember her ordeals, and then it's rapped up so neatly and quickly that we're barely given any time to truly talk about it.

All in all, this is a good novel. If I could've just ignored my dislike for the premise for the first 40% or so it would've been four stars for sure.

[wyvernfriend]

He was a cad, he really should have told her earlier who she was, but you could also see that he was enjoying the relationship that was building, that he was reluctant to lose it and that he was so unsure of how to deal with love that he was being stupid about how to cope.

I liked it, liked how he came to terms with her and she to him. Some of it was cringey but overall not a bad read.

[Cocktails and Books]

Lorraine Heath is one of my "go to" historical romance authors. She creates characters and storylines that pull you in and have you dreading the ending because you don't want it to be over. So I was excited to crack open ONCE MORE, MY DARLING.

Lady Ophelia Lyttleton was the belle of society and a rather huge snob. She looked down her nose many times, but there was one person who she subjected to her especially nasty ayer: Drake Darling. So when Drake happens to find Lady Opehlia on the banks of the Thames with no memory of how she got there or who she is, he decides to provide a little payback to her nastiness and tells her she's his housekeeper. While he only meant to keep up the charade for a few days while he tried to figure out what happened to her, he discovers a woman who is much more to his liking than society's darling.

I liked Drake. He was a man who was torn by the way society looked at him and his own perception of how unworthy he was. Those two things would make it difficult for anyone to rise above and prove they are not what everything thinks. But Ophelia's cut of Drake, on numerous occasions, drives home his feelings of unworthiness. Despite being adopted by a family that loves him and having friends who would do anything for him, he still thinks he's this awful man who must pay for the sins of his father. And given how horribly Ophelia treated Drake, I thought I was a bit funny to have him pull this rouse on her. At that point in the story, I felt like Ophelia needed the set down and she learned not to treat others that way.

There is much more to Ophelia than what we see when we meet her. As we learn more about, in her role as inept housekeeper Phee, the ugliness that was Ophelia starts to peel away and we see a woman who rescues abused animals, befriends her neighbors servants and wants nothing more than to please Drake. There is a reason Ophelia was the hard nosed woman she became, but it was a shame that the woman we met as Phee was hiding behind the harsh, hard woman who would cut a man the way she did with Drake (especially given her true feelings for him). It was hard to like her, even when her true self started to come through. I know I should have felt more for what she went through, but it was hard to reconcile that with the nasty woman she was in the beginning.

I enjoyed the bulk of this book, but unfortunately my feelings for Ophelia tainted my view for the entire story. I felt like Drake deserved someone more. Someone who truly appreciated him, from the very beginning.