This was a delightful rom-com with a fun premise and enjoyable characters. I would highly recommend.

"Never Rescue a Rogue" by Virginia Heath is a delightful historical romantic comedy that intricately weaves humor, intrigue, and undeniable chemistry between the captivating duo, Diana Merriwell and Giles Sinclair. With a backdrop reminiscent of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton, this sparkling narrative revolves around the amusingly turbulent relationship between Diana and Giles, who endure each other solely for their loved ones' sake.

Amidst their constant bickering and apparent disdain, the truth of their connection gradually unravels when circumstances force them to confront Giles's familial secrets. As the threat of blackmail looms over Giles, their journey into his family's history not only uncovers hidden truths but also ignites an unexpected attraction that both had vehemently denied.

Virginia Heath brilliantly crafts a tale that balances witty banter, heartfelt emotions, and a compelling mystery, keeping readers engaged till the last page. This book is a testament to Heath's talent for creating lovable characters, the perfect blend of romance and intrigue, making it a must-read for fans of historical rom-coms.

I loved reading this one. I just love this kind of books.
4 stars read for me. I love this author snd her writing style.
Thanks to netgally for this arc.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

If there is a Bridgerton-shaped hole in your life that needs filling, then look no further than Virginia Heath’s sparkling Regency romantic comedy, Never Rescue a Rogue.

Their nearest and dearest might think that Diana Merriwell and Giles Sinclair belong together, but the two of them can barely stand to be in the same room together, let alone contemplate the thought of spending the rest of their lives joined in holy matrimony! Besides, even if they could pause long enough not to exchange scathing comments to one another, the two of them are enjoying life far too much to give up their freedom for the shackles of matrimony. Diana adores working at a newspaper and she will not surrender it for the sake of marriage, while Giles loves the bachelor lifestyle far too much to pack it all in and find a suitable bride. However, when fate forces the two of them together, might they realize that their friends and family have been right all along about the two of them being soulmates?

When Giles’ father dies, the true circumstances of his birth risk being revealed by a nefarious miscreant willing to expose him. Giles needs to uncover the truth fast and decides to ask for help from the best investigator he knows: Diana! Giles knows that Diana will leave no stone unturned to get to the truth and he needs her drive and tenacity to discover the secrets of his past. However, the more time Giles spends with Diana, the more he finds himself attracted to her! As resisting temptation soon becomes impossible, will Giles find himself giving into his attraction to Diana? Will he find the courage to tell her how he really feels? Or will pride, fear and a dangerous enemy intent on maximum destruction end up putting paid to any hope he might have had of a future with Diana?

Virginia Heath never fails to imbue her wonderful Regency romantic comedies with razor-sharp repartee, laugh out loud hilarity, intense emotion and swoon-worthy passion and she has outdone herself yet again with Never Rescue a Rogue. Fun, flirty and feel-good, this entertaining Regency tale is spiced with wit, intrigue and sensuality and will enchant readers and keep them eagerly turning the pages as they find themselves falling in love with feisty Diana and gorgeous Giles.

A first-class Regency romance that will brighten up every reader’s day, Virginia Heather strikes gold yet again with her latest novel, Never Rescue a Rogue.

3,75 stars (rounded up to 4)

This book was exactly what I would describe as “such a fun romp”.

It’s not a particularly deep book, it’s not the kind of book that will stay with me for a long time or that has me wanting to underline every sentence - it’s not literary fiction, it’s entertainment fiction. And as such it did its job superbly well for me. It’s a historical romance, as such I am expecting it to be somewhat liberal with historical accuracy but I also didn’t check or cross-reference as (again) I don’t feel like this is the purpose of the book. I enjoyed the lighthearted, witty banter between our main couple. Prior to reading, I saw the romantic trope described as enemies-to-lovers but quarreling-acquaintances-to-lovers feels more accurate, the main characters are never actually enemies. The romance is quite tame and there is only one scene that gets a little steamer - this was pitched at the exact right level for me as a reader who enjoys a romance with an actual story/plot!

The plot of the book involves a little mystery and while this was really welcome in my eyes - the books definitely has more than “just a romance story” it’s also part of my only real criticism of the book: I really enjoyed the mystery - and I felt so did our main characters, sometimes the love story/attraction seemed a little shoe-horned in, as if the author was advancing the plot and the interesting story she wanted to write but then felt like she had to remind the reader that she was writing a romance. A typical scene would go as follows: The main characters engage in a mystery-solving-related activity, accidentally touch, will think about how attracted they are to the other but how they must not act on it - and then the plot will move on. This got repetitive and hence didn’t feel organic.

Nonetheless, this book was a quick and easy read - I had a good time with it. I started reading it, unaware it was the second in a series - our female lead is the middle of three sisters. I never felt like I lacked context though and although one could say reading this book spoils the outcome of the first… it doesn’t really matter that much as this sort of genre has quite predicting outcomes anyway and the books are probably more about the journey more than anything else. I hope to read the first book and I am certainly curious for the third book, focussing on the youngest sister (I assume we have already met her love interest in this book as well).

A hilarious, sparkling historical romantic comedy, with an irresistible family at its heart, Cancel all plans while reading - I inhaled this amazing book over one weekend and resented everything that kept me away from it! The writing was top notch and the characters were very real.

Virginia Heath has written yet another intriguing historical comedy with a headstrong heroine and a persistent hero. The hilarious and electric sparring, sarcasm, and connection between the main characters captivated me from the start and it just gets better.

Diana loves her independence and her career as the notorious and mysterious Sentinel; exposer of cheats, liars, and swindlers. A secret that she keeps close to her vest and could ruin her. Giles is a rogue and jokester who lives to undermine his nasty father, the Duke of Harpenden. But the Dirty Secret about his dukedom means he’s living on borrowed time. They are opposites who don’t mince words. Will confiding in each other change everything?

I love that Diana is a strong female character who doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind and follow a lead like a dog with a bone. Her dogged determination to help Giles prove his lineage is a testament that her defenses are melting for the aggravating and challenging man. No small feat for a woman who doesn’t trust men due to her father’s nefarious and despicable crimes. Giles is a vulnerable man who loses his hateful father right when he needs to know the truth about his birth. If it weren’t for the beautiful, stubborn, and brilliant Diana, he would be alone and adrift. Her sleuthing savvy is a sight to behold, especially with the assistance of his one-eyed, one-legged, opinionated butler, Dalton. Giles is falling hard for Diana, but he won’t take her down with him when his secret comes out. Little does he know that Diana won’t give up without a fight. There are hilarious moments such as the secret rendezvous they overhear while getting a story for Diana’s paper; there are suspenseful moments when Giles is confronted by his awful past; and there are passionate moments with stolen kisses and delicious female seduction techniques.

My favorite supporting characters are Dalton, Giles’ butler and former pirate, and Vee, Diana’s younger, feisty sister who comes through for the love birds and finds a love interest of her own for the next book in the series.

This is a truly delightful read with fun characters and an enjoyable mystery to solve. Give this book a try, it won’t disappoint.

Thank you to Ms. Heath for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

I need to read the first book about the Merriwell Sisters as I really enjoyed this one. So much action, banter, enemies to lovers? Just overall really enjoyable with a fun story line that had me gripped from the beginning and I can’t recommend it enough!

Never Rescue a Rogue is the second installment in Virginia Heath's Merriwell Sisters trilogy. Diana and Giles have long been some what enemies...not really enemies more like pests to each other. But they have both secretly been harboring admiration and other feelings for each other. When Giles's father, the Duke, passes away Giles's legitimacy is threatened by his good for nothing uncle. Diana is determined to help him get to the other side of this mystery seeing as she is the famous Sentinel which no one knows.

I found Never Rescue a Rogue to be a slow burn romance with loads of humor and entertaining circumstances abound. It took a good 40-50% for me to really get into this book but I think if I had read the first one that might've changed things. I really like Giles and Diana as characters. He had a tendency to just be the fly by the seat of your pants type and definitely more a lover than a fighter. He always had a witty quip at the ready and I adored that. She was so strong and stubborn and her secret job of being the Sentinel was intriguing and I loved how she always wanted to ferret out the truth of things.

Like I said it took a good minute to get into the book but after that the flow was great, I was hooked. And tho there wasn't a whole lot of spice (maybe 1 to 2 not very explicit scenes) I found there was a lot of romance and that was perfectly fine with me!

I did alternate listening to this on audio and reading and I must say that the narrator, Kristin Atherton, did an amazing job. She did so well with developing different voices for all of the characters it was hard to imagine it all being the same person! I will be adding her to my list of narrators to follow after listening to this and to Belladonna which she did an amazing job with as well.

Overall would I would recommend this to any regency romance lovers out there and anyone looking for a good romcom fluff. Thank you so much to Headline publishing for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I'm definitely a fangirl of her writing, and a member of her Facebook group (if you haven't checked it out, you simply must!), but trust me, my love of her past novels never colors the experience of the next, or in this case, the current one. Yes, I go in with preconceived notions of impending enjoyment, laughter, smirks, and heart flutters, but if they don't happen, they don't happen.... but really, they always do! This book was no exception...

The follow-up to Never Fall for Your Fiancé, we get to explore a story with another Merriwell sister. This time around, it's Diana's turn, and can I just say that I so identify with her? I mean not so much in the family history side of things, or the potential love interest that annoys the snot out of you at every turn, but the suspicious of intentions, the curious mind, the need to know, the need to rescue, help, and aid justice when able, but with facts not conjecture...THAT'S where I identify...as well as her stubborn streak, her love of her independence, and close family ties. Yes, Diana is a diamond of the first water, even though we aren't debuting a debutante. But I digress, she's a firecracker that you don't want to cross because she'll out you if it's the right thing to do. That's why when her ever present annoyance that goes by the name of Giles gets into trouble, he knows he can count on her no matter what skeletons rattle loose in his closet. She's get to the bottom of things and protect those she...loathes? Well, I'll let you be the judge, but that ever famous phrase of protesting too much, yeah...TOTALLY APPLIES!

It was wonderful catching up with this family once again, and getting to know this potential couple-to-be was absolutely joyous! The snark, the whit, the mad scrambles in the dark of night to uncover juicy bits of insight, only to get caught exactly where they shouldn't be...listening to things they were never intending (LOL!). The whole lot of it from secrets from the past to secrets of the heart, I was enthralled, enticed, and entertained! (Inside joke for those that read it!) But seriously, I'd say it was my favorite, but I'll go with my favorite to date because pretty much every time a new title is released, I'm adding a new favorite to the list! Do yourself a favor...if you enjoy Historical Romance, YOU HAVE TO CHECK THIS AUTHOR OUT!

Never Rescue a Rogue is thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable to read. .The story revolves around Diana, the second Merriwell sister whom we met in the first book of this trilogy: Never Fall for your Fiancée. Diana is spiky, intelligent and consummate at hiding her real personality and her acute intellect. Dealing with the effects of events in her past, she is filled with a crusading zeal to right wrongs, especially where women have been damaged mentally, physically, emotionally or financially by the men in their lives. She plays down how important her work is to her to conform to both society, and her family’s requirements. Attracted, despite herself to Giles and masks her interest with a sparky, sparkling banter that is a joy to read.. If you're looking for a cosy read, heavy on the humour, with an ultimately satisfying outcome, this is the book for you.

Reading a series out of order is always a risk, but it definitely paid of in this case. So much so, I'm even going to pick up the first book in the series soon. I never felt like I was missing out on something because I hadn't read the first book, so it's very much not required.

Diana and Giles only tolerate each other for the sake of their friends and family, who keep pushing the two of them together at every possible turn. He is all too happy being a bachelor, she enjoys her freedom working for the newspaper too much to get distracted by something as trivial as marriage. But when the truth about his parentage is threatening him inheriting his father's ducal title, Giles knows Diana is the only one who can help him. Working so close together, sworn to keep each other's secrets, their sarcastic snarking turns into teasing and flirting. Soon, it's clear to all but them that there's more at stake than a few secrets.

This was a very fun, very fast read. The chemistry between Diana and Giles grows throughout the story until it's almost tangible, but they never lose the snarky banter as they oh-so-slowly grow from reluctant acquaintances into friends and eventually lovers.

The big mystery they're trying to unravel isn't very surprising. It's quite easy to guess where the story will end up going, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. Mostly because Diana and Giles are very strong characters, and a joy to read about.

This is a likeable enough historical romance with a dash of adventure which sees two friends who insist they are frenemies (even though they clearly have a massive crush on each other right from the word go) trying to resolve an issue with a devious uncle who wants to get his hands on the family inheritance. It's good fun, if fairly formulaic, but personally I enjoy my Regency romances to have that bit more historical detail to place them firmly into a time and place, whereas this was focused much more on the romance and it could really have been set at any time in a vague historical past and it wouldn't have mattered.

An enjoyable romance with lots of humour, strong characters and an air of mystery. This is actually the second book of a series and I haven't read the first instalment, but I didn't feel like I was missing any vital information and the book reads perfectly well as a stand alone story.
Giles and Diana are wonderful characters that spark off each other well, and their banter is humorous as their relationship turns from pretending not to like each other to realising that the love of your life is right in front of you. The story is entertaining as Giles' big family secret threatens to be revealed and the implications of that drive Diana (aided by Giles' scene stealing butler Dalton) to assist with finding the truth before Giles loses everything to his dastardly uncle Gervais who returns from hiding to usurp Giles to the title of Duke. I loved how Diana was an independent woman who works at a time when it wasn't the done thing, and her need to help Giles endears the reader to the character.
The plot progresses well with it's mix of mystery and slow burn romance and you really do root for Giles and Diana to find their happy ending.
Entertaining and enjoyable, the book keeps the reader engaged and wanting to see what happens next.

Never rescue a rogue by Virginia heath

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to netgalley, headline and Virginia heath for the opportunity to read this book

There is nothing I love more than some sarcastic snarky enemies to lovers and this book nails it. I've given this one a higher rating than it's predecessor but I do think that is in part due to the groundwork the author laid down between our main characters in the first book.

I had been hoping the next one would be about them and I was not disappointed. The romance was really well done and the mystery aspect added to it by increasing the stakes.

I'm glad the author decided to keep the family element really tied in and it produced some potential for emotional moments.

I've gone with 4 stars for the rating as it did take 30%, for me to feel invested but I am very excited for the sequel. Especially since the groundwork for that one is already laid I believe.

This is the story of Giles and Diana, which is told over the course of 34 Chapters. Their story is the second book in the 'Merriwell Sisters' Series. The first book is called Never Fall for your Fiancée. Although this is the second book in a series, you do not need to have read the first book in order to enjoy this one.
From the very first moment that the readers meet these characters they will be intrigued by the back and forth banter. Banter that possibly hides the character true feelings. Which is brilliant as you get to watch this pair grow as the book continues in this Friends to Lovers story.
This book is easy to get stuck into and will grip the readers attention from the start. With the hint of mystery in the form of trying to discover the truth. This aspect alone will grip the interest of the readers and not let go until the truth has been discovered.
Overall this is a great story that readers will love. This reader in particular has their fingers crossed for a possible third (their is a third sister). However even if a third book does not come, this reader will be purchasing the first one.

This book was an absolute pleasure, I really enjoyed it! It was joyful, humorous, so nicely written and kept me fully entertained, I wanted to just keep reading. It has the perfect amount of drama, mystery and romance needed.

I was rooting for Giles and Diana to resolve the mystery with winning results and I loved the slow burn romance between them, willing them to be together! Diana is a strong and inspirational woman and Giles is simply splendid and honourable.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, absolutely! It’s a fun historical read.

I am looking forward to reading the first book, as I didn’t realise this was book 2 of 2.

Thanks so much to Net Galley and all who made it possible for me to read this book!

Never Rescue a Rogue is the second book in The Merriwell Sisters series - I definitely want to go back and read the first one now!

I am loving Historial Rom-Coms recently especially when they have slightly modern twists to them and this is no exception.

I really liked Diana and Giles’ Characters, they had great chemistry and their relationship really added to the adventure and fun of the story.

Miss Diana Merriwell and Giles Sinclair are not friends and most certainly are not infatuated with each other, but since her brother-in-law is his best friend, they must spend time in each other’s company and pretend to tolerate each other for the sake of familial harmony – yep – that’s their story and they are sticking to it.

Diana has trust issues thanks to her vile father and has no desire to marry and be “owned” by a man. She has worked hard and has earned her position at The London Tribune, a job she hopes will ultimately support her dream to live independently as a spinster. But for now, she resides with her sister and brother in law, her family knows she works at the paper, and despite her insistence that she is just a copy editor, they all think they know her secret – that she writes for the gossip column - which she does and is happy to let them believe that is her secret, but the truth is she also writes serious, investigative exposes under the nom de plume of the Sentinel.

Since the death of his mother, Giles has known the family’s “Dirty Secret”, but his father never expressed any concern about it, until recently when out of the blue he decides to remarry. But when he dies just days before his wedding, Giles learns why his father was in such a rush to wed when someone threatens to expose the secret and destroy everything Giles has worked for as the new Duke of Harpenden. He isn’t sure how to thwart the villain, that is until he figures out Diana’s secret and wonders if she would be willing to put aside their animosity and help him find out the truth, without revealing his growing regard and desire for her.

This was a well-written, nicely-paced romance story that happened to have a really great mystery. This book is supposed to be a “enemies to lovers” trope, but I don’t feel like that is accurate, I never believed that they disliked each other. Distrusted? Yes. Hated? No. I also found Diana’s constant denial of her true feelings to be a bit too much – to quote the Bard “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” and she doesn’t stop until almost the very end of the book. I understood the reason for her mistrust, but Giles proved himself time and again, and yet, she still refused to let it go, Sigh – I love strong heroines, but Diana’s refusal to even consider any future other than being alone got tiresome. For me, the best part of the story was when they began to investigate Giles’ “Dirty Secret”, it was really well done, very touching, and stuck it to the villain. This is the second book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title. Bottom line; This book was a fun read that is light on the romance, and heavy on the mystery story that ends with a HEA.

3.5 stars - rounded up