Title: The Lady Rogue
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publication Date: September 3, 2019
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Format: NetGalley eARC
Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s nineteen-year-old protégé—and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life—Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul.
Until Huck arrives from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him. Armed with her father’s travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler—more widely known as Dracula—and that it just might be the key to finding him.
Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren’t the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths—including murder—to possess it.
This book had me at Vlad the Impaler. Everything else after that was irrelevant.
To be fair, the rest sounded pretty dang good, too. Great comp titles. Female treasure-seeker. Indiana Jones vibes. A magical artifact. Mystery wrapped in adventure. There’s really not a lot here to hate and so much to love.
The Lady Rogue delivers on a fun adventure, complete with a strong female lead, fun teenage banter and sarcasm, danger around every turn, and a treasure well worth it all.
It doesn’t seem like this is intended to be turned into a series, but I so hope it is. Back in my day (*pauses to adjust giant coke-bottle glasses, clear throat, and lean even more on cane*) we had Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys out there having all the adventures. You had to choose between boys and girls. This series conveniently combines the two, with both Theo and Huck bringing their own skills to the table, and I could easily see it being this generation’s adventure series of choice. I’d for sure like to go on more adventures with these two!
❧ Theodora is brash, sarcastic, too hasty to rush into adventure, unladylike, and entirely unwilling to accept her position as a woman in society. In other words, definitely my type of lead character.
This is one of those things that can easily go awry, because she’s obviously a character out of her time, a woman who dares think she can be equal in the 1930s! Yet, I thought it worked well here. She’s young, so she’s got that on her side, and she’s smart. Her father raised her to believe that she could do things (and if he ain’t kicking himself now for it, I don’t know).
I thought her character was delightfully balanced between sarcasm and knowledge, while slowly realizing that she’s definitely lacking in actual follow-through and planning abilities. Each time her shortcomings were highlighted, it made her character that much stronger.
Smart, yes, but perfect she was not, and thank goodness for that because how boring would it be? Even by the end of the book, I felt there was still room for her to grow, so … sequels? *puppy dog eyes*
“Everyone has a talent?” I said sheepishly with a strained smile.
❧ Theo is woefully out of her league here (because surprise, booksmarts does not equal ability). But Huck lets her try anyway.
I just loved this dynamic so much. Theo reads a lot, and she falls into that trap that a lot of us bookish people do: I read it, therefore I know it. Right? It so obviously works like that. Except reading about something and doing something aren’t the same, and time and time again, it becomes obvious that she’s just not quite equipped for this lifestyle.
Theo loves the idea of adventure without ever having actually been on one … and Huck gives her the time and space to learn.
I mean, not that he’s not going to point out what a complete idiot she is at times or what she should actually do in that situation. But for the most part, he lets her make her own mistakes and figure it out.
“This isn’t an adventure. It’s a tribulation.”
“Same difference.”
❧ Theo and Huck banter like only teenagers can.
And you know what? It’s hecka fun to read. I definitely laughed out loud more than once at their antics. Sure, there are times that I find their characters entirely frustrating and want to shake them in the hope that I jog some tiny sliver of sense loose. But hey … teenagers, am I right? For the most part, I just really enjoyed their dynamics and the easy banter and humor between them. They really worked well together.
“Forbear,” I correct. “Bear and forbear.”
“Mine’s better. What requires more restraint than four bears?”
“If we make it onto this train, tonight I’m going to pray that four bears eat you while you’re sleeping.”
❧ This book was ultimately just fun, and packed with enough action and mystery to keep things moving and interested.
There were slow parts, yes, but it never once lost my interest or had me contemplating putting it down. While there were parts of the story I felt were less effective or things I just wasn’t a fan of, the book was freaking entertaining. That’s what I went in expecting, and that’s what I got, and I just thoroughly enjoyed the characters (including the side characters).
I laid sheets of the newspaper over the cot. “Me little woman, cover up skeleton so big man doesn’t get scared.”
“Hey, I’m already scared, so the joke’s on you.”
“If the ghost of Mr. Trapper decides to make an appearance, you can hide behind me.”
❧ Gosh, I thoroughly hated Theo’s father … and I’m not sure if we’re meant to or not?
Sure, Theo is not the happiest with him at the moment, and part of her arc is definitely coming to terms with all the negative things about her father. And trust me, there are a lot of them. So by the end, she seems to have some closure, and that’s great! But I still hate the guy.
The journal entries are a really nice touch to humanize Richard Fox and show him in a more relatable light (a father struggling with a daughter he doesn’t know how to connect to, whom he’s afraid to lose, struggling with the grief of losing his wife). That still wasn’t enough to win me over, though.
Being a parent is hard. I get that. The way that Richard treats his daughter, though, and treats Huck especially is just … unforgivable. I just can’t even.
❧ This story reads very modern, and I had to keep reminding myself that it’s supposed to take place in the 1930s, because it felt like it could easily have been a contemporary read.
I especially felt this in the way the characters spoke. They sounded very modern and not at all like one might expect teens from the time period. There weren’t a whole lot of details to ground it in the proper era, either. Except for the obvious lack of cell phones and Internet, it was easy to forget that this is supposed to be historical fiction.
❧ I was really not a fan of the romance. It seemed to me that the story was often derailed in favor of some angsty romantic moments.
I mean, I get it. Teens are bundles of hormones and angst. We’ve all been there. Which makes writing teen romances hard. But it felt like this kept going in circles, to the point of Theo’s inner monologue becoming a bit repetitive in regards to her relationship with Huck. It felt like they were arguing at each other over and over about the same thing without actually talking to each other. Again, teenagers. I totally get that. But it was frustrating to read.
❧ Theo has a habit of thinking in terms of crossword puzzles, which could have been an endearing quality trait if it was done just a teensy bit different … but here, it just struck me as random.
What I mean is instead of thinking of a word, like, trouble (Oh no, we’re in trouble), she’d think of it more like this: 13 across, a bad situation. Trouble. That’s what we’re in. Maybe that’s a bad example, but you get the point! The biggest problem for me is that this seems so random. I love crosswords as much as the next linguaphile, but I think in words, not puzzles.
This could have been more effective, I thought, if, for example, Theo had a photographic memory and these words were related to specific crossword puzzles she’s done, like citing The New York Times, June, 1933, or something like that.
I mean, that’s tangible, at least, in my mind. And then I’d be like, okay, cool, when she gets stressed, she goes back over crossword puzzles that she’s already done in her mind. I can dig that. But citing just some random down or across and a clue felt so untethered to me that I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it, personally.
❧ This book suffers from a touch of deus ex machina in several places.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if you’re fine with that. I think that tends to be pretty common in adventure stories, especially. There were definitely a few times I rolled my eyes, though, because things lined up too perfectly or there was a revelation that was just too convenient.
❧ Theo refers to her father as Richard “Damn” Fox too many times, and I cringe at every single one.
Once, yes, maybe twice would be fine, in that perfectly bitter tone that teenagers are really good at when they’re mocking you. I would be fine with that. But we’re in her head. This is her story. I don’t understand why she refers to her father by not only his full name but his full name plus his nickname as often as she does. It’s such a little nitpicky thing, and yet it was really jarring for me, and I can’t even tell you why. I’m just odd like that.
❧ This book really glosses over Huck’s suffering and backstory in favor of Theo’s, and this frustrated me to no end.
It’s Theo’s story from her point of view, yes, but when Huck is pouring his heart and soul out, it’d be a really great time for her to take notice. Yet, she does not. Because Huck has one heck of a backstory, which I won’t go into because of spoilers, and of course it comes out at some point. One that’s extremely sympathetic and yeah, I can see why he’s a bit bitter and angry about certain things. But even when this comes to light, Theo somehow makes it about her and how her feelings were hurt when there are so many greater things at stake here. This is another one of those instances of talking at each other. There felt like a disconnect there, where he was talking and she was in her own little world in her mind, and the two didn’t quite meet up.
This sounds like so much fun!! And I have a copy, I should definitely try to read it this month (*cringes as I look at my September TBR*)
What September TBR? *whistles innocently and kicks unread books under the bed* I totally feel you there. xD I also just had TWO holds come through the library today, and I’m just flailing now.
Great review! I haven’t read this one, but I’m really wanting to!!
It was a really fun read! Great if you’re looking for some fun adventure.