Rogue Most Wanted (Cavensham Heiresses Book 5) by Janna MacGregor

Hi ForeverBookers, 

How are you all today! I hope you’re well :).

I’ve just finished “Rogue Most Wanted” by Janna MacGregor, which I really loved and consider a GREAT book for historical romance fans! It’s book 5 in the Cavensham Heiresses series but you can read the books out of order. I explain this more below. 

I received this as an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, so it’s thanks to them that I was able to read it. Rogue Most Wanted releases on 25th June 2019. 

4.5 Stars!!!!

The readathons I read “Rogue Most Wanted” for were:

The OWLS Magical Readathon - I read “Rogue Most Wanted” for Defence Against The Dark Arts, which you need to read a book that starts with the letter R. Luckily enough, I had Rogue Most Wanted sat waiting for me to read from NetGalley so I jumped at the chance to read it! I only need to complete Muggle Studies, which is reading a contemporary book to pass the OWL of Writer/Journalism now, then all of them are add ons, which will help my NEWTS in August.

Popsugar Reading Challenge, 2019 - A book about a family - I don’t want to spoil the events of “Rogue Most Wanted” but the Cavenshams are the main family of this series and all events include a Cavensham in some way.

Reading Rivalry - A book with a three word title. I don’t need to explain how “Rogue Most Wanted” fits this criteria, I don’t think. 

Fiction Feud Society - Candyland - Gramma Nutt: Romance - “Rogue Most Wanted” is defintely a romance novel most, I’d say.  

Litwits - Book Of Your Choice - Again, I don’t need to explain this. 

SPRING-A-THON - A book with friendship/family - the main characters start as friends but do they become more? You’ll have to pick “Rogue Most Wanted” up when it releases to see...

Sailor-Moon-A-Thon - Tuxedo Mask - Romance - I'll be continuing the Sailor-Moon-A-Thon throughout the year!

We follow our lead male character, William/Will to begin with who is a part of the Cavensham family, as all of the books in this series are in some way. He asks Avalon, a girl he’s known for a long time to marry him but is turned down. Can he find forever love with anyone? You’ll need to read to find out! 

“Rogue Most Wanted” is a third person, historical story. I don’t normally like 3rd person stories because I think they’re often cold. However, this one had lots of emotion and humour in it so I didn’t feel that way. The story set in the year 1804, which we know at the beginning. It was believable to have been set at this time as our main female character, Lady Theodora Worth feels she has to marry in order to keep her estate after her Grandfather’s death. There’s a character that’s trying to steal this estate from her, claiming it’s not hers? Is it? You’ll have to read to find out!  

I don’t really want to spoil the whole plot because this isn’t the first or second in the series, it’s #5 in the Cavensham Heiresses series and I haven’t read any but the first and second books but that’s the great thing about this series, the books don’t need to be read in order or at all to understand what’s going on. They’re all about individual couples, who might be brought up but it’s not necessarily spoiled, what happens between them. I would suggest reading “Bride Most Lucky” however, as this is the first book in the series and in “Rogue Most Wanted” Claire Cavensham, the heroine from book 1 plays a big enough role. March, a character from I think, the third book “The Luck Of The Bride” is also mentioned.

NOTE: There are sex scenes in Rogue Most Wanted. They’re romantic rather than dirty and written cleanly, without swearing but they’re still there. 

Spoilers Below

“In one hour, I’m going to be a changed man,” is the first line of the book. This is William Cavensham, our 19 year old hero, in the prologue talking to Devan Ferris, a brother of an Earl that we don’t meet about him asking the love of his life, Avalon, to marry him. He’s known Lady Avalon his whole life, as they’re third cousins. He proposes and it isn’t really a spoiler to say that it doesn’t go how he thought it would, as she declines, within the prologue of the book. This opens the novel up for another girl to become his one and only, though.

Lady Theodora Worth, the new countess of Eanruig (You-reek, The Midnight Cryer (a tawdry paper) tells us to pronounce it this way,) a fictionalised place meant to be in Scotland, is going to loose her estate, it’s revealed, to the new Duke Ferr-Colby. She’s inherited the earldom from her Grandfather, the previous Duke, but because of the time that this is set, 10 years later than the prologue in 1814, women weren’t classed as good enough to own property, so the Duke thinks he should own Eanruig outright, no matter what anyone says.

“In order to save it, she needed help finding a charter and a husband.”  

This is what Thea needs to find to be worthy of ruling Eanruig. William, our male lead is who Thea meets and falls for. They have their issues to begin with but can they make a relationship work? You’ll have to read to find out. 

“She couldn’t give up her home. It was the only thing that tied her to her family.” 

Thea believes that if she looses her home in Eanruig, she’ll lose those that are closest to her. Her grandfather is the only family mentioned in “Rogue Most Wanted.” She gains an aunt like figure in Lady Payne or Stella, as she prefers to be called by Thea. Stella is in fact Will’s great aunt, so that’s how they get introduced. 

“That estate is rightfully yours, along with the title,” is what Stella believes. Stella came across as very modern in “Rogue Most Wanted.” She wasn’t afraid to adopt new ideas or to input her own ideas to the story, which was very impractical for a woman to have done in this time. She is the one who encourages Thea and William to meet and talk to begin with before they realise they even have feelings for one another. I appreciated this as it gave this historical romance a kind of modern twist. It was almost as if Stella was from this millennium, instead of WAAAY before it. Stella tells Thea that she’s “come to the right place.” and that she loves “solving puzzles and fighting injustices.” She can help Thea prepare to go to court to fight for what is rightfully hers with or without a husband. 

“She defiantly tipped her chin—she was an heiress, but more importantly, the Countess of Eanruig. She’d find someone to marry,” is what’s written when Thea makes the decision to find someone to marry, even if she doesn’t love them. She’ll do what is her duty to save her people from Duke Ferr-Colby. We meet a man with twin daughters, who love having Thea as their Duchess. When Will is introduced to them as well, they instantly like him too. He even offers the daughters sweets.     

Thea must go to London to be sworn in as the new Duchess of Ferr-Colby, as “the new duke disagrees that it’s a Scottish title,” apparently. She stays with Will and his family in London. Does the new Duke really disagree with Eanruig being Scottish rule or is he just a sexist pig? You’ll have to read to find out. Before Thea gets to London, she of course meets William. Thea is instantly attracted to William. “He was striking,” is what she thinks when she first sees him. Will this lead to more? You’ll need to read to find out!    

Thea finds more than just Will in London. She finds a family. She had been on her own for six months, when before she just had her grandfather to rely on an he wasn’t very well before his death and didn’t know who she was. She felt alone in the world for ages, it’s implied in the novel. “In truth, she’d been living alone for years.” I was upset for Thea by this line. It’s not her fault that she lost her grandfather, which she also blames herself for, we learn. People die, unfortunately. What Rogue Most Wanted tells us, is that it’s okay to be fearful of new things but if we don’t challenge ourselves and try the things we’re afraid of, we’ll never know if they’re good or right or not. In Thea’s case, she’s very grateful to have been given the chance to go to London, in the end. Why? You’ll have to read to find out! 

Throughout “Rogue Most Wanted,” there are articles from “The Midnight Cryer.” These are basically gossip articles that make fun of whoever they’re about. It just so happens that Thea is who they’re making fun of at the moment. It’s claimed that the Duke of Ferr-Colby is who is writing them. Is it him? You’ll have to read “Rogue Most Wanted” to find out. 

There are comic bits thrown into the story too. For example, “of course,” Devan replied dryly. “Shakespeare is highly overrated.” This is at the beginning when William is going to propose to Avalon, which doesn’t happen how he wants to. They’re discussing how Romeo and Juliette were too young when they tragically fall in love. William loves Avalon at the start, as I’ve summarised above. Does he still feel this way later in the story? You’ll need to read to find out...

Overall, I LOVED Rogue Most Wanted. It was sooooo sweet and heartfelt. I loved to romantic parts to this story. I really appreciated the family feel, the novel gave me too as well as the slant it took on women being more than they were worth in this time period. That’s why I’m giving it 4.5 Stars. The only thing that stopped the full five for me is that the novel didn’t really have anything more than the romance and the dukedom stories. It would have maybe been good to have had a story involving Claire Cavensham or one of the other Heiresses, although I understand that this was William and Thea’s story more than any of theirs. 

Stand by for my next review, coming soon...