Sasha Cottman

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting George and Jane and following their journey toward their HEA – not to mention the entertaining internal dialogue each of them carried on within themselves. The story is well-written, well developed, and the characters were interesting – though I still haven’t come to understand why this group of men decided to travel on the illicit side of life. That still didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story.

The Honorable George Hawkins is quite a show more contradiction. He is the son of one of the most powerful men in the judiciary and he is also a master thief. He just couldn’t reconcile himself into a life as a member of the judiciary as his father wished – nor could he become clergy, etc. He’d always loved the thrill of the lie, the chase of the treasure, the planning and flawless execution of the theft, so that became his profession. Though now, he is becoming a bit jaded with that life and would love to make a big enough score to give up the life and become a law-abiding citizen – one of whom his father can be proud. He’s even more rattled when he nearly gets caught during a theft. That really brings home the precariousness of his position – he could very easily end up in the hangman’s noose. Just one more job – something big – something that would allow him to ‘retire’. He knows he’s found it when he sees the advertisement for an exhibit from the Ottoman Empire curated by one J. Scott, Esq.

Jane Scott has had quite an interesting and lively life. Her father was an antiquities expert and they lived in a number of other countries, but mostly within the Ottoman Empire. Jane worked a lot with her father and has been asked to oversee an exhibit in the Ottoman embassy in London. Jane meets a very handsome and interesting man during one of the showings – and he shows a pronounced interest – but she doesn’t trust him at all.

It was entertaining to watch George’s nefarious plans to steal from the exhibit frustrate him to no end while the lady in charge of it intrigued him more and more. Can George have it all? Can he steal from the exhibit, leave crime behind, and still get the girl? OMGoodness – George certainly has his work cut out for him.

I enjoyed this read and I hope you will as well. I will definitely be looking forward to the next book in the series, The Rogue and the Jewel.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less

This is the second book I have read by Sasha Cottman and it is an excellently written and excellently plotted book. It is basically Bonnie meets Clyde (without the bank robbing) – and we all know what an ill-fated relationship that one was!

Freddie Rosemount is the second son of a Viscount who wants to make his mark on the world. Evidently, he doesn’t care if that is a good mark or a bad mark because he certainly gets into some very, very questionable activities. He also doesn’t seem to show more have a thought or care for anyone or anything other than himself. Who he inadvertently hurts doesn’t matter. He has the opportunity to join The Bachelor Club and will do whatever it takes to get enough points in the contest to win that membership. He races bareback headlong through London in the dark of night, deliberately insults members of the ton, takes on an unruly dog and gives it a ridiculous name – each test he is given is more vile than the last and he intends to pass them all with flying colors.

Eve Saunders is the female version of Freddie Rosemount – but without the freedom to act upon that wildness. She does manage to join up with Freddie and help him in his quests. They say they are trying to maintain her reputation, but they flaunt convention at every opportunity. Eve is jealous of her older sister and is determined to beat her to the altar. She is determined to marry Freddy long before she knows him well enough to know if she does/could love him. She is attracted to his wildness because it calls to the wildness within her.

Freddie’s father finally steps in to curb his son, but that doesn’t stop him. What finally stops him is something that is done by the man who runs the Bachelor Club. I don’t believe Freddy would have changed his ways if that hadn’t happened. He certainly wasn’t upset by anything else they had done – no matter how heinous. It was only after something could have affected him personally that he thought he needed to take a look at himself. Had that not happened, I believe he would have continued on with his wild lifestyle. So – I never grew to like Freddie – nor did I grow to like Eve.

The fact that I didn’t care for either the hero or the heroine doesn’t mean that the story wasn’t well written. It was. The plot was excellent and the writer stayed with that plot. So, I’m giving it 4-stars.

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"I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher." show less

Lord Harry Steele is the fourth son of the Duke of Redditch. Harry is definitely a free-wheeling, young man who follows none of the social norms. He’s flamboyant, outrageous, as well as kicked out of the family home and cut off without a farthing to support himself. In the year since his father kicked him out, he has started his own business. Now, instead of always causing scandals, he is managing scandals for others. There was no way he could have kept his sanity and gone into a job as a show more soldier, clergyman, etc. as his father wanted. Along with managing scandals, he and his friends, known as Rogues of the Road, have started a coaching enterprise – which works really well as a cover for their more questionable enterprises.

Alice North is an heiress, the daughter of a man who was very big in trade. He could buy any member of the ton several times over and still have pocket change. In other words, he was very rich. Her father’s wealth is the reason she has to seek out someone to manage a potentially scandalous situation in her family. Her younger sister, Patience, is besotted with a man Alice is sure is a fortune hunter. He’s slick, ingratiating, and sly. That is how Alice finds herself employing Lord Harry Steele to extricate them from the clutches of Cuthbert Saint.

Harry and Alice are immediately attracted to each other, but she is … well, she knows his reputation. Harry does the most outrageous things (even by today’s standards) and he leads her into some really low-life places. Yet, she finds them titillating rather than offensive.

It seems that I have a love/hate relationship with books written by this author. I love the idea of the stories and they are well-plotted. They are also filled with anachronisms and period incorrectness (is that a word?). Basically, it is a very contemporary story that just happens to have a carriage and a chemise thrown in. In this novella, I couldn’t even begin to guess the correct period in which the story is set. Somewhere a date would have been a welcome addition. The heroine wore dresses that buttoned down the front and the hero wore trousers with a button placket rather than a fall-front. So, definitely later than Regency. However, the hero is starting up a new coaching line – which doesn’t seem to be a very good business decision with train travel on the way not too long after the Regency period. Anyway, things like this may not bother you in the least, but they make me crazy. If this doesn’t bother you, you’ll probably love the story.

I found myself remarkably ambivalent about both Harry and Alice. I didn’t really love them, but I didn’t hate them either. I think I just never came to care about them as people or as a couple. My favorite character was actually Patience, and I would have loved more page time with her.

My bottom-line is – I mostly enjoyed the read, but I would not read it again. The other friends in Harry’s Rogues of the Road sound much more interesting than Harry and I’ll look forward to seeing how things go for them.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less

Two of a Kind by Sasha Cottman is a Regency historical romance about James and Leah, a young couple who meet and are immediately attracted to one another. There is a problem however, as she is engaged to his best friend.

Unfortunately the marriage is being forced on her and her prospective groom has plans to use his bride as an enticement to further his political career. James is getting more and more concerned at seeing this dark side of his friend and so on the morning of the wedding when show more she rebels and flees, James is ready to help her in any way that he can.

I found Two of a Kind to be a simple and sweet story, the couple was likeable and although there were a few things that didn’t make sense – such as James being surprised by the true nature of his so-called friend, this was a pleasant read that features trust, kindness and love. show less