Review: The Rogue's Brazen Lady (The Oxford Set #5) by Ava Bond

Print Length: 261 pages

Publisher:  Ava Bond (December 1, 2022)

From Goodreads.com: The charming baseborn son of a duke.

Michael Trawler is a roguish businessman, focused entirely on growing his wealth in a desire to prove himself. At the wedding of his dear friend's little sister, he is shocked to fall in love with the bride, Viola Lynde.

An exiled belle of the season.

Viola is the petite, vicarious and beautiful of an Earl, with the ton at her feet. However, when she deserts her fiancé at the alter, she is thrown from society, and from her home, by her father.

At a Christmas party, they are reunited.

On Viola's return to England, she attends her brother's Christmas Party in rural Sussex, and is intrigued to find Michael there. Neither of them expects the wild attraction that soon burns between them, but given the disapproval of Viola's brother, Viola's past secrets and Michael's own ambitious for his future, can their affair possibly lead to anything more?

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

I have mixed feelings about this story. 

On one hand, it didn't matter that this was the fifth in the series. I was able to read (and enjoy) it as a stand-alone novel. The relationships were clearly defined, and the cast of characters was small enough that they were easy to keep track of. 

But on the other? To begin with, I felt like I had read this story before. To the point that I went and looked up this author to see if I had perhaps read a different version of this story or others by her that would explain it. I had not.  There was also the issue of Viola being allowed to do certain things that were well beyond the scope of propriety with little to no consequences (and Michael just being an idiot, plain and simple; I mean, I get it his father was a villain meant to be over the top so we would dislike him, but this just went above and beyond that). Another complaint I had with this one is that once these characters did bed each other, that seemed to be all they cared about. I get it. Sex is fun. But I shouldn't have to forgo pages of character development for the sake of them showing time and again how compatible they are in the bedroom. In fact, I found myself skipping those pages altogether out of sheer boredom, hoping there would be a better resolution than the one we ended up with. 

That is not to say that this is a poorly-written novel. Quite the contrary. I enjoyed the novel for what it was; I wish there had been something that made it firmly stand out from the other novels in this genre. However, I would read this author again. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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                                    The Rogue's Brazen Lady is available on Amazon.com

                                             (for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited)