The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett - REVIEW

The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett

Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

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Synopsis:

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 returns 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.

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Thoughts:

I am a sucker for an adventure book. Add in a feisty female lead in a semi-historical setting with a dash of angst and rekindling romance plus a pinch of Indiana Jones? Yes please.

The Lady Rogue is my first Jenn Bennett book which I don’t think is much of a surprise as I do not read as much Young Adult anymore, nor am I a fan of contemporary YA specifically so they were never ‘must buys’ for me. The idea behind this particular story though really intrigued me. First off, the cover is so detailed that it is hard to pass by and, secondly, the plot sounds like something teenage me would have wanted to be a part of.

We start off with Theodora causing a bit of mischief in a market and this alone is a great introduction to our main character. She is smart, curious and always up for an adventure. There are times throughout the book where she was a tad annoying but she has been given the short end of the stick for the last few years so I don’t fully blame her. The introduction to Huck was also fun and you knew right off the bat that these two characters are well matched.

The main plot of hunting down the ring of Vlad the Impaler was an interesting choice for a relic and ended up taking our characters to places that we don’t really see much of in literature. I liked how this story was unique and builds nicely towards it’s final showdown. The synopsis points out that the ring is magical but, for the majority of the book, that is hardly relevant however I did like how it eventually played out. It started subtly but then magical element really kicked in.

It was an interesting choice for Bennett to have Theodora and Huck be old friends/loves. It made for great banter and lend itself to adding more layers to their individual characters. I tend to do this thing when I read YA where I age up the characters in my mind to be in their early 20s and a lot of what is between Theodora and Huck works very well with that age in mind. This YA read could pass for New Adult.

The Lady Rogue is also not without its flaws in terms of convenience of events and smaller details but it was an overall enjoyable read. I would be interested if this ended up being a series to follow these characters on other adventures but it looks as though it will be a standalone… for now.