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drew281's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Niet sterk boek
zasou_reads's review against another edition
1.0
This historical romance is book 2 in the A League of Extraordinary Women series. I absolutely loved book 1 in the series, but I had to constantly bring my attention back to this one, and I honestly couldn't tell you much about the story. Maybe doing it as an audio book was a mistake, so I will read the rest of this series with my eyes!
kristyloves2read's review against another edition
1.0
I did not like this book I found the FMC very annoying and too much for my taste.
heartscontent's review against another edition
Received an Advanced Reader’s Copy from the author exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
I’m segmenting this review into two portions because that’s the way that I had to look at it because there were parts I really enjoyed and there were other parts that I had to bring to notice.
The plot is very clearly about bringing to everyone’s awareness the struggle that women have gone through (and still go through) on the front of equality. No matter what you believe in or don’t or what you’ve been through in life, you can feel for this cause with every bit of your heart and those wounded moments that you still remember from being treated like less than a person because of your gender.
Lucie has always been on the very forefront of the struggle for Women’s Rights and abolishment of the Married Women’s Property Act and it has been a long long fight with many struggles. Lucie is the very embodiment of a woman who’s got the right questions to ask and someone aware of the sacrifices that they must make to get where they want to. It means they must be ready to be disregarded on many fronts and at the same time disregard many things as well and these things are brought up. The questions that are typical of someone in her place, with this large responsibility and immense passion are asked, addressed and answered. Everything about Lucie will move you.
Tristan, however, is just about straddling the line of an anti-hero. At least that’s how he felt to me. He stays very true to his character from beginning to end. He’s callous in all the places he’s always been, brave, angry, kind, rude, hurting, an all round grey character. But truly, he’s perhaps the perfect match for Lucie simply because he sees her through and through and he knows what he must do for the woman he sees and how he must respect her. He also breaks a few typical stereotypes and that’s definitely a good thing.
The supporting characters, their interactions with the protagonist and the overall growth in the movement towards empowering women one step at the time is a big part of the whole story and the last eight percent tugged so hard at my heart.
But…
(This part is spoiler-y so do click to read. There is also a trigger warning section at the end)
Here are the difficult parts. The representations in this book were not done justice. The one gay character in the book was given a negative role for his affections not being returned and the scene towards the end where there was a conversation between the protagonist and this character was a miss for me. I felt that the protagonist apologises very vaguely for his mistakes and even though he explains to the reader why he’s apologising he doesn’t say any of that out loud which weakened the apology for me.
Also, this is very personal to me, but I do wish that because this book is all about empowerment of women, I would’ve loved to not see that a women attempt to ruin the heroine’s reputation/hard work because her affections not being returned. But perhaps that’s the idealist in me speaking.
Also, the one Indian representation was a butler when as a friend (Dany @Ambivert Words) reminded me, those were the times when Royalty and other influential figures from India travelled to Britain as well–among others. There was also a tattoo in the book inspired from a prominent Hindu God that had a strange callback in the end. Truly it could have been any other tattoo with a specificity that aided the conflict resolution.
I also have to mention that author reached out to me as soon as she found out because I am an Indian reader and apologised for any hurt caused and told me I needn’t read the book at all. I chose to read it of my own choice.
Also, trigger warnings: child abuse, parental abandonment, mentions of domestic abuse and cheating, depression, mood disorder, loss of child, PTSD, subtle mentions of body-shaming.
*lets out a breath* Okay.
Stay safe all of you.
I’m segmenting this review into two portions because that’s the way that I had to look at it because there were parts I really enjoyed and there were other parts that I had to bring to notice.
The plot is very clearly about bringing to everyone’s awareness the struggle that women have gone through (and still go through) on the front of equality. No matter what you believe in or don’t or what you’ve been through in life, you can feel for this cause with every bit of your heart and those wounded moments that you still remember from being treated like less than a person because of your gender.
Lucie has always been on the very forefront of the struggle for Women’s Rights and abolishment of the Married Women’s Property Act and it has been a long long fight with many struggles. Lucie is the very embodiment of a woman who’s got the right questions to ask and someone aware of the sacrifices that they must make to get where they want to. It means they must be ready to be disregarded on many fronts and at the same time disregard many things as well and these things are brought up. The questions that are typical of someone in her place, with this large responsibility and immense passion are asked, addressed and answered. Everything about Lucie will move you.
Tristan, however, is just about straddling the line of an anti-hero. At least that’s how he felt to me. He stays very true to his character from beginning to end. He’s callous in all the places he’s always been, brave, angry, kind, rude, hurting, an all round grey character. But truly, he’s perhaps the perfect match for Lucie simply because he sees her through and through and he knows what he must do for the woman he sees and how he must respect her. He also breaks a few typical stereotypes and that’s definitely a good thing.
The supporting characters, their interactions with the protagonist and the overall growth in the movement towards empowering women one step at the time is a big part of the whole story and the last eight percent tugged so hard at my heart.
But…
(This part is spoiler-y so do click to read. There is also a trigger warning section at the end)
Spoiler
Here are the difficult parts. The representations in this book were not done justice. The one gay character in the book was given a negative role for his affections not being returned and the scene towards the end where there was a conversation between the protagonist and this character was a miss for me. I felt that the protagonist apologises very vaguely for his mistakes and even though he explains to the reader why he’s apologising he doesn’t say any of that out loud which weakened the apology for me.
Also, this is very personal to me, but I do wish that because this book is all about empowerment of women, I would’ve loved to not see that a women attempt to ruin the heroine’s reputation/hard work because her affections not being returned. But perhaps that’s the idealist in me speaking.
Also, the one Indian representation was a butler when as a friend (Dany @Ambivert Words) reminded me, those were the times when Royalty and other influential figures from India travelled to Britain as well–among others. There was also a tattoo in the book inspired from a prominent Hindu God that had a strange callback in the end. Truly it could have been any other tattoo with a specificity that aided the conflict resolution.
I also have to mention that author reached out to me as soon as she found out because I am an Indian reader and apologised for any hurt caused and told me I needn’t read the book at all. I chose to read it of my own choice.
Also, trigger warnings: child abuse, parental abandonment, mentions of domestic abuse and cheating, depression, mood disorder, loss of child, PTSD, subtle mentions of body-shaming.
*lets out a breath* Okay.
Stay safe all of you.
akswhy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Beware the trigger warnings! This one has some dark bits! Once you get past the first quarter-third of the book being pretty grossly harassment-y, the plot is actually pretty good. I almost didn’t keep reading past a certain point of blatant sexual harassment, so I wish the character development began sooner. I preferred this book to its previous because plot was more complex than “we can’t get married because Victorian socioeconomics.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Infidelity
Minor: Sexual assault
wuraoye's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookrecsbyjess's review against another edition
it was a bit too crass, the pacing was slow, and I just wasn’t enjoying it that much anymore. Also, there were a few parts that took me out of the story, and I had a hard time getting past them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Sexism, Sexual content, and Alcohol
aotales's review
3.0
I really appreciate what Evie Dunmore is attempting in her League of Extraordinary Women series - grounding the historical romance within the suffragist fight creates an excellent atmosphere of tension and brings great validity and weight to a sometimes “flighty” genre. A Rogue of One’s Own delivers another intelligent romp with a fiery, bright young heroine fighting for women’s rights against The Women’s Property Act of 1865 and, of course, the “rogue” with a secret heart of gold. I wasn’t crazy however about the chemistry of these two characters and the glacial, uneven pacing (which was my major criticism of book one as well) really failed to launch this romance for me. I took issue with the handling of the bisexual character as it was seemingly used as a minor plot point rather than a genuine character story arc, bordered on bi-erasure, and was used only as the platform to launch the other gay character into the role of “evil, scorned villain.” It was … messy. I liked Lucie and enjoyed the premise of exploring what it would look like if a strong woman fighting for women’s autonomy actually fell in love … but I think the whole work needed more thought and sensitivity readers.