The Rogue You Know

Galen's second Covent Garden Cubs Regency (following Earls Just Want to Have Fun) is a passable but flawed story best suited to fans of the series. After the Earl of Dane's scandalous marriage to the former thief known as Marlowe, Dane's sister, Lady Susanna Derring, simmers with resentment under the thumb of her controlling mother. When Gideon Harrow, Marlowe's former associate, breaks into Dane's home to hide his latest stolen prize, Susanna blackmails Gideon into taking her to the famed Vauxhall Gardens, which her mother has forbidden her to visit. Gideon pulled this one last theft to gain money to go straight, but double-crossing a gang leader while doing it was not his best idea. Now he must fulfill Susanna's wish in order to get his prize back as they are chased across the city, ducking and dodging, trying to reach Vauxhall without money or a sensible plan. The class conflicts and pointed calls for social justice offer an interesting variation on the standard Regency romance, but the unsympathetic and underdeveloped characters lack chemistry and end up in absurdly contrived situations. Agent: Joanna MacKenzie, Browne and Miller Literary Associates. (Sept.)