I Kissed a Rogue (Covent Garden Cubs, #3)

by Shana Galen

[Amanda]

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've read Shana Galen books before... I've even read a Covent Garden Cubs novel before. So I was curious to read I Kissed a Rogue. (A title that also makes me think of I Kissed an Earl by JAL, which inspired a Katy Perry-esque line I won't repeat here, for your sake).

I've enjoyed previous Shana Galen books before, but this one seemed... all over the place. Moody, almost. Her books have never ranked among my favorites, but they've been fun and entertaining, and most of the time, that's all I ask for.

I'm also never sure how much the format of books impacts my reading experience. Many eARCs from publishers don't convert to ereaders all that well, which leaves me struggling to piece together who said what or who was thinking what. There was a bit of that here, but not enough to affect my reading too much, not when there was the aforementioned moodiness taking my attention.

And I'm not talking the characters' moodiness, either. It's the book that seemed to swing into places I wasn't expecting, and while I love a good logical plot twist, that's not what I'm talking about. Like the lengths Brook goes to protect Lila right away when she spurned him? Yeah, I'm not sure I buy it. Especially with the supposed bad blood between the two of them (which, to be honest, felt like it was "told" to us more than shown, and popped up when it was convenient to drive a wedge between Brook and Lila).

There was also a huge chunk toward the middle of the book that was sex-related, and while I never (NEVER) turn down a well-written sex scene, it seemed like a lot of (some might say too much) focus on the sexy times. The sexy times should help to drive the romantic relationship forward (even if that's apart before they can reunite), but I wasn't exactly sure what the point of it was.

I did like finding out who was behind the kidnapping, because it was something I wasn't expecting, but the ending between Brook and Lila left me wanting... more. I generally just wanted more of the characters, period. Brook seemed to know Lila as an awful, spoiled girl, but we never see her that way, so it was almost confusing how Brook viewed her (except for the fact that she broke his heart, which we don't learn the entire story of until much later in the book).

In a weird way, I Kissed a Rogue made me want to revisit other Shana Galen books---like the one before this, or the first one in the series (the latter of which I've not read)---if only to remind myself of how much I've enjoyed previous books by the author.