The Irresistible Rogue by Valerie Bowman (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Lady Daphne Swift comes from a family with two brothers who have proudly served the Crown. She may be a female, but she's willing to do whatever it takes to prove that she's as useful to the war effort as her brothers. She even went so far as to secretly marry a spy. The fact that she just happened to have been pining for Captain Rafe Cavendish for years didn't hurt matters. But after their first mission, when she realized their marriage had been strictly business, Daphne immediately wanted an annulment. The fiery Daphne has always been a multi-tasker and now she's hell bent on two things: finding the men who killed her brother and securing her engagement to another man to forget about Rafe forever.

As a spy for the War Office, Captain Rafferty Cavendish has been on dozens of missions. But one mission haunts him, the mission that resulted in the death of Daphne Swift's eldest brother, Donald. Rafe agreed to work with Daphne once and put her life in danger. Now he must find the men who killed Donald, avenge the family, and convince Daphne to give him one more chance. But Daphne's enlisted her other older brother, Julian, to help her get a quick and quiet annulment so that she can marry a fop who only wants her for her title and money. Can Rafe convince Daphne to give him one more chance, on the mission and with her heart?"

My Thoughts:

I really need more historical romances in my life!  I always forget how much I enjoy this genre until I read a book like this and am reminded of how great they really are.  This book was a such a fun read for me and left me wanting more books just like this one!  It was easy to immerse myself in and very soon after I began reading I found myself swept away into the pages.  I really had a hard time setting this one down mainly because I just didn't want to stop reading!  Was it a perfect read for me?  No, I found it to be a bit far-fetched at times but I loved it all the more because of that.  The author took her liberties and I found the book to such a fun read because of it.  There is one particular scene where Daphne finds herself to be slightly intoxicated and the ensuing scene is just priceless!  I won't say more as you'll have to read it for yourself to see what I'm talking about but I loved it!  This was just a fun read and I cannot emphasize that enough!

The relationship between Daphne and Rafe is one of my favorite types of relationships.  I absolutely love a hate/love relationship where the characters start off despising each other.  Rafe wasn't actually like this in regards to Daphne but it didn't matter as they both started at opposing ends.  It was all of the events that brought them together (and no that isn't a spoiler- this is a romance people) that was so fun for me to read about.  I have said this before and I will say it again:  I love when a romance takes time  to develop over a book.  In the case of this book, even though both main characters had feelings for each from the very beginning they still fought those feelings for a very long time.  It took time for them to start to build up trust between one another.  And when the time finally came- whew!  Those were some steamy scenes that were also very fun to read about.  I found the ending of this book to be quite surprising.  It definitely has me very excited to read the next book in this series.  While I wait though, I think I will go back to the beginning books and read about some of the other characters happy ever afters.  I can't wait!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read more by this author!  It was such a fun read for me and a great way to break up all of the mysteries/thrillers that I have been reading as of late.  I love a good historical romance and this book reminded me just why I feel that way.  Luckily I have more books by this author to enjoy so I won't be waiting long to read more by her.  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A fun read that I found myself swept away with!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher from a Goodread's giveaway!