Tessa Dare: Twice Tempted by a Rogue

The daring members of the Stud Club are reckless gamblers and no strangers to risk–until love raises the stakes in Twice Tempted by a Rogue.

Luck is a double-edged sword for brooding war hero Rhys St. Maur. His death wish went unanswered on the battlefield, while fate allowed the murder of his good friend in the elite gentlemen’s society known as the Stud Club. Out of options, Rhys returns to his ancestral home on the moors of Devonshire, expecting anything but a chance at redemption in the arms of a beautiful innkeeper who dares him to take on the demons of his past–and the sweet temptation of a woman’s love.

Meredith Maddox believes in hard work, not fate, and romance isn’t part of her plan. But when Rhys returns, battle-scarred, world-weary, and more dangerously attractive than ever, the lovely widow is torn between determination and desire. As a deep mystery and dangerous smugglers threaten much more than their passionate reckoning, Meredith discovers that she must trust everything to a wager her heart placed long ago.

Continuing in the rare trend of reading and reviewing a series, in order, and completely, Twice Tempted by a Rogue is the second book (after One Dance with a Duke) in Tessa Dare’s Stud Club Trilogy. Its also a very different book from the first, with a very different H/H.

As usual, I have plugged in the synopsis from the publisher above, so let’s get right to the gravy.

A damaged Rhys, who has had a rough childhood with a lot of baggage, returns to check out the ruins of his childhood manor home. Staying at the local inn, he develops the hots for the innkeeper, a widow. She is also his family’s former stable master’s daughter.

And the widow, Meredith, has had a long standing crush on him. Where other women may flinch from his large size, scars, and gruff manners, all she can think about is taking her pleasure. And she is assertive about it. Which I loved.

Sometimes the ingénue, debutante, virgin thing gets a little old. And its not just in Regencies/historicals. My recent forays into contemporary romance have been finding it there, too. It got me thinking this weekend if we, as a romance community, are doing ourselves any favors by cleaving on to the virgin thing. Sometimes it is accurate, or important to the story. But I would say about half of the time its just darn unrealistic. Not to mention, in about 95% of these virgin heroine books the sex is instantly mind blowing. Its like, sister, who do you think you are talking to? Yes, I get wish fulfillment and fantasy. But pul-leaze. Rant over.

Since her husband’s death, Meredith has taken lovers. And the one she wants now is her girlhood crush. Rhys is resistant, but not because he doesn’t want to. He is just complicated.

There is a little bit of will they won’t they. And in the backdrop, the townsfolk seem out to get him. And there are smugglers!

Rhys and the Stud Club are also still actively investigating Leo’s murder. I think this book the clues gave me a pretty clear indications of what went down with Leo, so that was less interesting to me by the middle to end of the book. The greater twist was the hints of sabotage to Rhy’s work.

This book has a lot going on, including some H/H conflict about whether or not Meredith would give up the inn. Which Dare works out in a positive way, but others may find problematic. That the heroine is working class/middle class was also a divergence from the norm and something I enjoyed, regardless of the resolution. Meredith is portrayed as a strong, savvy entrepreneur.

A fair amount of violence, or at least references to violence, including beating and domestic violence (child) may be also too much for some readers. I didn’t find it to be gratuitous, and most was necessary to the plot (although I thought the villainous subterfuge was a bit silly at the end of the day).

The intimate content wasn’t quite as steamy as Book 1 in this series, but I did love that the heroine had some agency and asserted herself.

I am on the fence about re-readability. I could see revisiting again after re-reading Book 1.

Read my review of One Dance with a Duke.

5 Stars 4.25 out of 6 Sort of second chance romance with complicated mature content