Title: The Lady Rogue
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publication: September 3, 2019
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Genre: Teen, YA Fiction
Pages: 384
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Some legends never die…
Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s nineteen-year-old protégé—and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life—Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul.
Until Huck arrives from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him. Armed with her father’s travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler—more widely known as Dracula—and that it just might be the key to finding him.
Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren’t the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths—including murder—to possess it.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
When the publisher approached us with this book I read the description and jumped at the chance to read it. When I saw that the book took place in Romania I got excited. My family adopted two of my sisters from Romania. While they are my sisters and that is their home country I know very little about the country aside from what you hear in popular culture like Vlad the Impaler AKA Dracula. So needless to say I was pretty excited to read it.
Theodora is stuck in Turkey waiting for her father to come and pick her back up. Later in the day, she returns up to her room and finds her old friends and crush Huck in her room. He is there to get her out of Turkey. Her father is missing. Together they decide to go and look for him and rescue him. From that point on the book was one adventure after another. It was so exciting. I didn’t want to put it down. I could feel the cold water as they plunged into a river to cross. I could feel the wolves breathing down my neck as they were chased through the haunted woods by Cluj. I rejoiced when she finally found her father. I was sick to my stomach when she put the artifact that they had been searching for so long and became the dragon. I was so proud of her when she chopped her own finger off to destroy the ring so that it can never cause issues again.
I learned a fair amount of folklore that the Romanians have. I will certainly be looking into that more. I will probably be purchasing this book for both of my sisters for a Christmas present. I have one sister that came from Cluj and a sister from Arad. While it may not be historically accurate it does give them a taste of their homeland. I actually traveled with my parents when they adopted one of my sisters and hearing the descriptions of the landscape and they traveled to Transylvania took me back to that time. I don’t know what else to say about this book other than go read it for yourself. It has got to be hands down the best YA book that I have read in a while. I am desperately hoping that with the way the author left the book that there will be a sequel.
STAR RATING: 5/5
Pick up a copy of The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local book store. Also make sure to add it to your To Reads list on Goodreads and leave feedback for the author when you are finished. You can check out more from author Jenn Bennett on her website HERE!
