A Rogue to Ruin

Darcy Burke

Feb 2021 · The Pretenders Book 3 · Zealous Quill Press

About this ebook

From USA Today Bestselling author Darcy Burke, your next Regency obsession: The Pretenders! Set in Burke’s popular world of The Untouchables, indulge in the saga of a trio of siblings who excel at being something they’re not. Can a dauntless Bow Street Runner, a devastated viscount, and a disillusioned Society miss unravel their secrets?

Book Three: A ROGUE TO RUIN

Anne Pemberton was one of the Season’s most popular young misses until her betrothed was arrested for extortion at their wedding. Now a social pariah, she can’t help but think back to the dashing gentleman she met before the Season started. Though they spent several afternoons exploring East London together, they never disclosed their names. They did, however, share a kiss, and Anne can’t forget it—or him.

Former thief Rafe Blackwell is now a respectable gentleman with one goal: to take down the man who murdered his parents. Reunited with Anne, their attraction still blazes strong, and he can’t let her get too close, for his heart is forever cold and his mission too desperate. But when Anne seeks to save him—both emotionally and physically—he’ll have to embrace the darkness or risk losing the only light he’s ever known.

Ratings and reviews

Rafe Blackwell has done a lot of things he isn’t proud of, but he did them so that he and especially Selina would survive and find something better. He has changed; he wants to be a gentleman. Most of all wants to find out who he and Selina are and what really happened to his family. He and Selina have been searching for clues to their origins and have found a promising piece of information. Following that clue, with the help of friends, they are going to discover a lot more than they can imagine. We last saw Anne when her betrothed was arrested for extortion at the altar before the wedding begins. Rafe and Anne meet Hatchard’s book store and strike up a wonderful, if anonymous friendship as Lord Bodyguard and Mrs. Dazzling. They enjoy each other’s company and have much in common. After losing track of each other, they meet again when Rafe comes to Anthony to ask for help with tracing the new information. After that, they seem to run into each other everywhere. Pain from the past causes Rafe to resist their growing attraction. Hopefully, Anne will be able to break down the walls he has built around his heart. This is an amazing mystery and adventure, and an absolutely fantastic love story. It is action-packed and full of secrets, danger, betrayal, all kinds of scandal, murder, and attempted murder (multiple times). Rafe and Anne are remarkable. They seem so different; he hard and a little grumpy, and she outgoing and optimistic. But, they are both kind, caring, protective of those they love, just wonderful. Selina and Harry, Thomas and Beatrix, and Jane and Anthony are here to help finally solve the mystery. And solved it is. The villain is shocking, but the truth is delicious! This story, the whole series, is great. Definitely 5 stars! I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Lord Bodyguard and Miss Dazzling. And Aphrodite. Anne meets Rafe at Hatchard’s and they share weekly clandestine explorations of London, but they do so without exchanging names. But, well, things are complicated. Rafe is broken, a bit of a Regency Batman. He’s good at letting things, people go. But he loves books and collects them. Something he shares with Anne. He’s trying to figure out his past. Anne’s groom was arrested at their wedding. A narrow escape, that. Anne and Rafe are adventurous, well matched which of course means that Rafe is his own worst enemy. Recommend.

This was a very worthy ending of this miniseries, pretty much wrapping everything up - even the pretender identities. From book one of this series I was waiting for the origins of Rafe and Selena to be revealed. The hints were very delicate, but the reader could sense there would be something. This as the most suspenseful of the three, with a decades old crime to be solved and the romance did not come up too short, either. Happenstance and reawakened childhood memories help Rafe to find his past. It was all nicely woven in an engaging story, the best of this series. I read an advanced copy and voluntarily post this review; all thoughts are my own.

About the author

Darcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, emotional historical and contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. Join her Reader Club at http://www.darcyburke.com/readerclub.

A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, artist daughter, and imaginative son who will almost certainly out-write her one day (that may be tomorrow). They’re a crazy cat family with two Bengal cats, a small, fame-seeking cat named after a fruit, an older rescue Maine Coon with attitude to spare, and a collection of neighbor cats who hang out on the deck and occasionally venture inside. You can find Darcy at a winery, in her comfy writing chair, folding laundry (which she loves), or binge-watching TV with the family. Her happy places are Disneyland, Labor Day weekend at the Gorge, Denmark, and anywhere in the UK—so long as her family is there too. Visit Darcy online at http://www.darcyburke.com and follow her social media: Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/darcyburkefans, Twitter @darcyburke at http://www.twitter.com/darcyburke, Instagram at http://www.instagram/darcyburkeauthor, and Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/darcyburkewrite.