Ready Set Rogue by Manda Collins

I started 2017 with the best of intentions. I was going to read more and blog more and run more and do more. I signed up for a couple of blog tours as motivation to get back into it more regularly, and then I missed my post date for Ready Set Rogue by Manda Collins!  But better late than never...

WHO WILL WRITE THE BOOK OF LOVE?

When scholarly Miss Ivy Wareham receives word that she’s one of four young ladies who have inherited Lady Celeste Beauchamp’s estate with a magnificent private library, she packs her trunks straightaway. Unfortunately, Lady Celeste’s nephew, the rakish Quill Beauchamp, Marquess of Kerr, is determined to interrupt her studies one way or another...

Bequeathing Beauchamp House to four bluestockings—no matter how lovely they are to look at—is a travesty, and Quill simply won’t have it. But Lady Celeste’s death is not quite as straightforward as it first seemed…and if Quill hopes to solve the mystery behind her demise, he’ll need Ivy’s help. Along the way, he is surprised to learn that bookish Ivy stirs a passion and longing that he has never known. This rogue believes he’s finally met his match—but can Quill convince clever, skeptical Ivy that his love is no fiction?

Don't miss Ready Set Rogue, the first in Manda Collins' new series set in Regency England!

The plot of this is right up my alley. It's also almost commonplace these days, as every historical has a bluestocking or two. It almost makes me miss the headstrong beauties! That said, when the request came in, I was pretty excited to give it a go. As the story opens, Quill is decidedly against the ladies inheriting his aunt's house. He is rude, arrogant, and unlikable. I really questioned if he would ever be able to turn it around, and to be honest, it takes a while. Ivy is less intimidating from the beginning, but she's also less interesting to me. She's a language scholar, and while that should be interesting it almost feels like a tacked on quirk than something ingrained as part of her. This is one of my pet peeve- the quirky quality- and Collins narrowly skirts it here.   The mystery progresses nicely, if a bit openly for a secret, and the I was happy with the plotting of the book.  My biggest complaint with the book is the dialogue. It can't seem to settle on proper conversation for the time period, and awkward flirting. Collins does a poor job of integrating the tension with the characters natural personalities, and I found that it drew my attention to the fact that I was reading, instead of letting me sink into the book. It didn't make the tension seem real and I was always aware that I was reading a book. I wouldn't mind finding out what happens in the rest of the series though, and will likely continue reading.