The Guise of a Gentleman

Rogue Hearts Series, Book 2

By: Donna Hatch

Narrated by: Virginia Ferguson

The widowed Elise is a perfect English lady living within the confines of society for the sake of her impressionable young son. Her quiet world is shattered when she meets the impulsive and scandalous Jared Amesbury. His roguish charm awakens her yearning for adventure. But his irrepressible grin and sea-green eyes hide a secret.

A gentleman by day, a pirate by night, Jared must complete one last assignment from the Secret Service before he can be truly free. Elise gives him hope that he, too, can find love and belonging. His hopes are crushed when his best laid plans go awry, and Elise is dragged into his world of violence and deceit. She may not survive the revelation of Jared's past or still love him when the truth is revealed.

©2010 Donna Hatch (P)2024 Donna Hatch

excellent series

Love this author and series, can't wait to listen to the next two books in the series!

Great series.

Love this series. Wonderful characters. I found speeding it up to 1.1 made the narration better.

Excellent Story

Oh My Goodness -- Donna Hatch and the Amesbury brothers are totally addicting. I haven't been this wrapped up in a series since Stephanie Laurens and the Cynsters. I read the first book in the series, The Stranger She Married, and immediately bought the remaining books.

The second oldest Amesbury brother, Jared, is the hero in this book. You love him from first to last - and -- you better have a full box of tissues for the last few chapters because you will need all of them. Jared is the perfect irreverent foil to Elise. He brings out a whole different side of her. Jared is the most honorable man you'll meet - but he's between a rock and a hard place. He is an agent of the crown and has had to do some bad things because of that - and he's on his last mission. However, his past is catching up with him and threatening those he loves.

Elise thinks she's a happy widow and has absolutely no intention of ever remarrying because she thinks she could never find another man to equal her first husband. However, Jared makes her wonder if she was quite as happy in that marriage as she thought she was. She's pretty repressed -- very prim and proper. The way she and Jared meet shows you that she has a bit of a non-conformist in her, but she keeps it pretty well restrained. You love her from beginning to end as well.

I had a couple of issues with the book (series) -- and you'll notice from my unusual 5-star rating that they didn't really bother me. First -- The oldest brother (Cole - from book one) is an earl and as such, I would have thought that the brothers would have been referred to as Lord Jared, etc. rather than Mr. Amesbury and that the wives and sisters would be Lady xxxxx. Second -- the secret service folks refusing to help when Jared was about to be hanged. I can understand that they would not publicly acknowledge him, but why wouldn't they do anything behind the scenes to prevent the hanging. I didn't like that part at all!!! Thus -- the need for tissues.

I love how the Amesbury brothers always come together to help each other even though they think they are not close. They protect and save each other all the time.

So, now it is on to the next book -- A Perfect Secret -- featuring perfectly, perfect Christian Amesbury. That is how the brothers always refer to him and I'm sure we'll learn why in this next book.

Love this book!

My favorite Donna Hatch book! Their banter is hilarious, but love the swashbuckling adventure, too!

excellent clean story with just enough heat

This is the second book in the Rogue hearts series. Each is a great independent read . I highly recommend reading them in order. You met Jared in the previous book and you know that he is a Pirate.
She is a widow with an endearing son and adventurous spirit that has been repressed into meek submission to society's rigid boundaries for years. Now as a widow, she enjoys freedoms she is remiss to relenquish to a husband. She was content as she was and very admimant to never marry again. besides, how could she ever be so disloyal to her dear deceased husband?
Then Jared Amesbury moves into the neighborhood and his Gentleman Pirate's charm awakens feelings in her. Feelings she realizes her deceased husband never elicited.
Jared needs to focus. He has some very dangerous enemies and the culmination of a three year long mission that needs all his attention. It's more than the end of a long assignment, it is his last. After then he will finally be free. He can't afford distractions. And especially not that Angel with the soft hands, rare courage and excellent shooting skills.

GOOD STORY--NOT SO GOOD NARRATOR

Donna Hatch writes a good story but it is marred by the narrator in this book. The narrator could not assign different voices to different characters, and read fast--diff not pause between characters speaking. So, at times it was hard to tell who was saying what.

Great story, hard to listen to

Great story, can really recommend it, but it's hard for me to listen to. The narrator's voice annoyed me (sorry, Narrator), the modulation of her voice sounded forced. She also kept mispronouncing words like valet- the t is silent (val-ay), not a problem if it only occurs once in the story, but it was in it a few times, and each time made me cringe and pulled me out of the story.

As for the story, I thought the story was great. Jared and Elise were lovable characters, and the plot line kept me guessing throughout.

Best Book Ever!!!!!

This is the best historical romance novel I have ever read. Adventure, love, romance, and just the right amount of passion. Highly recommend!

Totally sigh worthy

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Though her heart longs for adventure, Elise strives to be a perfect English lady living within the stifling confines of society for the sake of her impressionable young son. Her quiet world is shattered when she meets the impulsive and scandalous Jared Amesbury. His roguish charm awakens her yearning for adventure. But his irrepressible grin and sea-green eyes hide a secret. A gentleman by day, a pirate by night, Jared must complete one last assignment from the Secret Service before he can be truly free. Elise gives him hope that he, too, can find love and belonging. His hopes are crushed when his best laid plans go awry and Elise is dragged into his world of violence and deceit. She may not survive the revelation of Jared's past...or still love him when the truth is revealed.

MY TAKE
Oh, my heck! I loved this book! We got to see Jared in the first book in the series (The Stranger I Married--which I really enjoyed). But did I mention that I LOVED this book. Oh, the feels!

Getting to see things through both Jared and Elise's points of view really drew me into what they were each feeling and struggling with. What they were willing to sacrifice. It was a delight to see Jared's brothers again and see the little set ups for future books for Christian and Grant.

I'll be reading this one again for sure. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator.