THE SAINT WHO STOLE MY HEART by Stefanie Sloane is an exciting Regency historical romance. Book #4 in the "Regency Rogues" series,but can be read as a stand alone. See,"The Devil in Disguise", "The Angel in My Arms",and "The Sinner Who Seduced Me". What an exciting series with sexy,strong,heroes and independent,witty heroines, you can not go wrong with "The Saint Who Stole My Heart". Filled with intrigue,danger,desire,passion,puzzles,a killer,spymasters,humor,mystery,suspense,and did I mention sweet seduction. Join
Dashiell Matthews, Viscount Carrington and Miss Elena Barnes as they try to unravel a puzzle and stop the dangerous "Bishop". Dashiell Matthews, Viscount Carrington, is a member of an elite Young Corinthians spy team,has a brilliant mind,and a love of puzzles. Miss Elena Barnes,a plain spinster with a brilliant mind of her own,who has a love of books. Appearances can be deceiving... A must for anyone who enjoys a bit of wit with their dose of historical romance,puzzles,missions,misunderstanding,and a lot of seduction will enjoy "The Saint Who Stole My Heart" for you will lose your heart also. An amazing and exciting story! I can hardly wait for my next dose of the "Regency Rogues". Received for an honest review from the publisher and Net Galley. Details can be found at the author's website,Ballantine Books,an imprint of Random House Publishing Group and My Book Addiction and More.
RATING: 4.5
HEAT RATING: MILD
REVIEWED BY: AprilR, My Book Addiction and More/My Book Addiction Reviews ( )

I really wanted to like this book. However, the scenes are too disjointed to understand why H&H are attracted to each other, or even where they are positioned. Although the connections are clear to the author, they are not clear to the reader.

The book begins with a childhood scene in which four friends -- Dash Matthews, Sophia Afton, and Langdon and Nicholas Bourne -- discover Sophia's mother has been murdered. Next, we flash-forward in years to Sophia's meeting of the same four friends and a vow for revenge for Lady Afton's murder. The next scene drops the reader somewhere else entirely. Huh?

In brief, Dash is a domestic spy who supposedly tries to act stupid but never seems to. Elena Barnes is spending the Season at Dash's home to pack up his late father's rare books collection and bring the books home to Dorset. For some reason, packing these books takes more than a few days, so Dash's family friend/chaperone decides to sponsor Elena. Elena brings Rowena, who was raised alongside her but is now her maid/BFF. Huh? Meanwhile, Dash and his buddy Nicholas discover a Matthews shirttail cousin killed Lady Afton, so they decide to flush him out. For some reason this endangers Elena. One minute the rogue is threatening Elena in her bedroom, and the next he has somehow escaped the building with the door blocked by Dash. Huh? Also, in a puzzling tangent, Rowena is endangered by someone else for no reason. And so the book continues until happily ever after on page 276. ( )

Reviewed for www.bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com

The story opens up in 1768 with our hero Dash Matthews, his friends Nicholas and Langdon Bourne, and Sophia Southwell playing on the grounds of Afton Manor, Earl of Afton’s and Sophia’s fathers country estate. All are good friends, but now that they are growing up, the boys are having a bit of trouble explaining to Sophia that she’s not ‘fitting’ in with their boy’s games, and to get that across, they’re pulling her hair, making fun of her and she’s not having none of it….

“Sophia shaded her eyes against the sunlight and crowned him with her bouquet, bits of green leaves and white petals showering his shoulders. ‘First of all, you shan’t get near any part of me with those spit-stained hands of yours or I shall kill you. Secondly, it’s not just my braids, you ninny,’ she huffed, sweeping the three with an exasperated look. ‘It’s your treatment of me this summer-as if I’m somehow different…’
‘But you are, aren’t you?’ Dash asked, grinning. ‘Look now, you’re wearing a dress, while we three,’ he paused, punching first Nicholas in the arm, then Langdon, ‘are attired in breeches. And shirts. Nary a dress among us.’

Sophia brained all three with the flowers this time. ‘I’ve always worn dresses, you idiot-I am,
after all, a girl.’
‘Precisely,’ Dash agreed, brushing daisy petals from his hair. ‘ A girl, with …Well, that is to say…What I mean…’ He felt his cheeks grow hot. ‘Come on, Sophia. Don’t make me say it.’
‘With girl parts and such,’ Nicholas offered helpfully as he arched his eyebrows. ‘You’ve ten-year-old girl parts.’

Suddenly, Dash and Langdon couldn’t take their eyes off of a greenish-blue emperor dragonfly that’d presumably followed them up from the lake. To watch the boys expire from embarrassment. ‘Well, it’s true, isn’t it?’ Nicholas added, scrubbing at his sweaty neck. Langdon sighed and shoved his brother up the path. ‘We don’t want to talk about your girl parts, Sophia-well, that is, we would. If it wasn’t rude. But it is, isn’t it?’

‘Of course it is,’ Sophia agreed simply, apparently quite calm about such intimate references. ‘Yes, of course. Anyway, it’s just that we’re all getting older,’ he explained in his steady way, belaying his thirteen years. ‘You’re ten now. Nick and Dash nearly twelve. And I’ll be fourteen soon enough. We’re growing up.’”

That was such a prophetic statement from Langdon, as all four would face a life changing and altering event.

Our hero, Dash Matthews, now Viscount Carrington, is as handsome as a Greek god, very intelligent and yet because of his work as the Corinthians’ best code-breaker, he is forced to hide that intelligence, and to the ton, he appears as someone who is ‘slow’.
Dash’s father left his prized library of rare books to Baron Harcourt, and as Baron Harcourt was unable to take the long journey, he sends his daughter, Elena in his stead.

Our heroine is Elena Barnes and she loves her life in the country. She is definitely her father’s daughter; smart and witty as well as very well read. Upon learning from her father that they would be soon the caretakers of such a great treasure trove of books, she’s willing to leave her comfort zone and go even though the trip would be bringing some unpleasant memories from her come-out season. However, her plan to make this trip short, unravels as her chaperone has matchmaking on her mind.

This is another fast paced story from Ms. Sloane full of action, humor and romance. What made this story so much fun was its hero. He was one of the best Beta heroes I’ve read about in a while. Very charming, witty and passionate.

The Saint Who Stole My Heart by Stefanie Sloane is book 4 in Regency Rogues series and from the first page of the prologue, I knew it would be a story to make me laugh and cry. Guess what? I was right and I’m looking forward to reading Nicholas’ story in The Scoundrel Takes a Bride out October 30, 2012, which promises to be yet another emotional journey for not just our protagonists, but for us too.

Melanie
* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* ( )