A Gentleman and A Rogue by Stephanie Burkhart

First may I extend my extreme apologies to the author and Goddess Fish who are organizing the review tour. With all the craziness of moving house the day after my holiday this has slipped through the cracks and I just have not been able to do a review. As partial compensation I've included some reviews from Amazon and Goodreads.

Watch this space for more information at a later date.

Blurb

Lady Keira Russell is destined to bring compressed natural gas to Britain. Her inner courage and mental toughness rarely falter – except when Prince Edmund Windsor is involved.

Edmund of Wales is from the future. His last jaunt through history muffed up the time line. Now, he's here to set it straight and win Keira's heart.

For Keira, if it isn't one obstacle, it's another. Queen Victoria has sponsored a competition to find a cleaner fuel source than coal. Keira's father is trying to build a windmill and the Ridgecrofts are working with gasoline. Then there's Edmund, whose sensual kisses and heated stares distract her down to her bones.

Keira has a choice: trust Edmund's notorious mischief-making or put her faith in Queen Victoria to make the right decision, but if Keira makes the wrong choice, the future of Great Britain will be changed forever.

Reviews From Amazon

By Joy Cagil

This is a very readable book that teases the reader's imagination as it underlines the energy and clean-air problems we face today, at the same time, showing the author's true mastery in combining genres.

Time travel, Queen Victoria's time, 2011, parallel universes, science fiction dealing with clean energy, a romance between two people of different centuries...When you put all these aside, the dialogue and the descriptions are surprisingly clear and realistic, as well as the explanation of scientific efforts by the characters who come up with different forms of energy.

The premise of the story deals with a small group of people, mostly of British nobility, who travel from 2011 to the Victorian times to change the timeline, which has ended with petroleum as the main source of energy. On Queen Victoria's orders, different forms of energy innovations, such as wind, natural gas, and oil, are in a contest. The bulk of the story takes place in the Victorian times with time travel serving as a frame in its beginning and end. The realistic part of the premise shows the vulnerability and the power of the individuals when things are beyond their control, like falling in love.

The characters show diversity and the two protagonists draw the reader into caring for them. Most of the female characters are very strong, maybe too strong for the Victorian times, but then Queen Victoria was also a strong woman. Between the male characters a slight rivalry is also alluded to; however, the author stays away from distasteful or demoralizing altercations and fights.

The ending was well hidden to keep the reader guessing, even if, in the beginning of the story, one surmised the main characters would stay together somehow, because of the genre.

I found this second volume in the series enlightening and enjoyable because it is a full story in itself. As indicated at the end of book, the third volume of the series is in the making with another couple among its several characters of different times.

By Regina Andrews

Author Stephanie Burkhart continues her string of writing engaging, imaginative novels in her second steampunk novel in her Windsor Diaries series, THE WINDSOR DIARIES BOOK TWO: A GENTLEMAND AND A ROGUE. Every book this author publishes gets better and better - and that is saying a lot, because from her very first book there's been something extra-special about Stephanie Burkhart's writing.

In THE WINDSOR DIARIES BOOK TWO: A GENTLEMAND AND A ROGUE, the author continues with the well-developed characters Grayson, Alice and Edmond from Book One. The plot centers around their time travel from 2011 back to 1851 Victorian England, where they are invited to attend an applied technology exhibit and explore various sources of energy. (The plot is actually more complex than that, since the energy source will have an impact of the timeline. And, of course, it includes a very satisfying romance, too.) I really enjoyed reading this book, and the author handled the time-travel sections with great ease. She has a real gift for evoking an atmosphere and propelling the reader right into a particular place, time and setting. Her research is flawless and her dialogue flows beautifully. The details all around enhance the reader's experience, never bogging it down. I wish I could project myself into the future so I wouldn't have to wait much longer for Book 3 in this sensational series! This is an author to watch carefully as I am sure she will go far. Great job.

Reviews from Goodreads

Danielle the Book Huntress for Hope Chest Reviews

Synopsis

Time travelers, Alice and Edmund Windsor of the British Royal Family from the Present of 2011, and Alice's fiancé Grayson, from the Victorian age, travel back to 1855 to make right changes that have occurred in the future due to their interference in the past. They are followed by Edmund's brother, Richard, who is the Guardian of the Time Machine, and who is determined to keep them from messing things up in the past. Jonas Byron, the son of the time machine's inventor, beat them to the past, and he is working with an inventor of the time to develop a windmill machine, which will alter the future if the trio cannot prevent him from helping Sir John Russell to win a contest for alternative energy sources put on by Queen Victoria.

His daughter, Lady Keira, has not faded from Edmund's memory of his last trip to the past. He hopes that he can renew their bond, and perhaps convince Keira that they belong together. Since her invention of a natural gas compressor is actually the progenitor of the energy sources used by the United Kingdom in the future, the trio will work hard to make sure that Keira wins the competition, even if they have to resort to some dirty tricks. Richard is determined to stay removed from the past, but he has to go incognito as the assistant to Jocelyn Dunkirk, an unusual woman who helps her father in his inventions. His determination to stay unmoved is tested when he begins to fall in love with Jocelyn. A lot is at stake on the Windsors' return journey to the past, both the future and their hearts.

Review

A Gentleman and a Rogue actually took a while to get going for me. I didn't get fully engaged in this story. The writing is technically well-executed, although it's not as engaging as I would have liked. The story itself was a good idea, but I questioned why the focus was placed on the technicality of building the inventions instead of something more exciting and interesting, considering the subject matter of time travel, which is ripe with possibilities. It slowed down the story for me, because I didn't find it all that interesting. The romance was a strong point of the story, and there was technically three for the price of one. I did feel that some of the interactions between the modern time travelers and their historical counterparts didn't ring true fully, as far as the mores of the time. I could understand the future travelers making social faux pas, but I expected something more in keeping with the Victorian sensibilities for the characters of this time period in their interactions with the time travelers. As far as moments that stood out, I definitely appreciated the cameos of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Overall, A Gentleman and a Rogue is technically well-written, but I didn't find the story that engrossing. The romance makes up for the lack of an exciting storyline, and the time travel concept is interesting. End verdict, this series might appeal to readers who like time travel romance, but I wouldn't call this book a stimulating must read.

Here are the rest of the tour stops

July 25 Queen Of All She Reads

August 1 Nephy's World (kinda)

August 8 Doing Some Reading

August 15 Mixed Book Bag

August 15 The Book Review



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