MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
The latest installment of the Fifth Avenue Rebels series is narrated by Kit Swann and Tim Campbell. After several thwarted opportunities, the Duke of Lockwood continues his search for an American heiress to be his bride. Nellie, the daughter of a railroad tycoon, happily flaunts her disregard for the expectations of 1890s New York's elite. During a chance encounter between Nellie and the Duke, sparks fly, leading to months of fighting their growing attraction. Swann and Campbell present distinguishable characters and capture their personalities. Campbell's American accents are weaker than Swann's but still serviceable. Swann's slower paced narration, though full of emotion, gives Nellie a somewhat blasé air. Regardless, those who like this series will enjoy the story. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
"Shupe (The Bride Goes Rogue) shines again, offering what may be the best entry as she ties up what was already an excellent series with a steamy story that showcases well-written characters readers have come to love." — Library Journal (starred review)
“Joanna Shupe is the queen of historical bad boys!” — Julia Quinn
“Shupe’s well-loved Fifth Avenue Rebels series returns with a very saucy friends-with-benefits story. As ever, her command of historical details enlivens the story as much as her command of intimate ones… The Mrs. Astor of Gilded Age romances provides another smart and sexy read.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on The Bride Goes Rogue
“Shupe (the Uptown Girls series) opens her Fifth Avenue Rebels series with this effortlessly diverting Gilded Age romance... [Harrison and Maddie’s] sexual chemistry and dynamic banter, especially during intimate moments, convey an alluring blend of love and playfulness. This character-driven historical romance is sure to delight.” — Publishers Weekly on The Heiress Hunt
“Joanna Shupe vividly evokes 1890s New York, from glamorous restaurants to a Bowery boxing hall to the original Madison Square Garden.” — New York Times Book Review on The Rogue of Fifth Avenue
“Swoon! With The Rogue of Fifth Avenue, Shupe continues to build on the sterling legacy she’s building for herself as a gifted weaver of glittering Gilded Age tales (complete with lots of nod to real historical figures), while also deepening the contemporary resonance of her themes.” — Entertainment Weekly
New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn
Joanna Shupe is the queen of historical bad boys!”
New York Times Book Review on The Rogue of Fifth Avenue
Joanna Shupe vividly evokes 1890s New York, from glamorous restaurants to a Bowery boxing hall to the original Madison Square Garden.
Julia Quinn
Joanna Shupe is the queen of historical bad boys!
Entertainment Weekly
Swoon! With The Rogue of Fifth Avenue, Shupe continues to build on the sterling legacy she’s building for herself as a gifted weaver of glittering Gilded Age tales (complete with lots of nod to real historical figures), while also deepening the contemporary resonance of her themes.
Library Journal
★ 11/01/2022
The long-suffering Duke of Lockwood finally gets his happily-ever-after in the stunning closer to the Gilded Age-set "Fifth Avenue Rebels" series. After being jilted throughout the series on his quest to find a proper heiress to marry so he can save his crumbling estate, Lockwood now finds himself falling in love with the scandalous Nellie Young. Her father is a rich railroad baron, but Nellie doesn't want to marry—especially not someone as stuffy as Lockwood. Except, the wild, pleasure-seeking Nellie soon finds that she and Lockwood are compatible, both in the bedroom (and the ocean, and the pool, and anywhere else they can find) and outside of it. A side plot about Nellie's fight for women's rights makes this historical romance feel even more relevant for modern readers. VERDICT Shupe (The Bride Goes Rogue) shines again, offering what may be the best entry as she ties up what was already an excellent series with a steamy story that showcases well-written characters readers have come to love.—Jenny Kobiela-Mondor
MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
The latest installment of the Fifth Avenue Rebels series is narrated by Kit Swann and Tim Campbell. After several thwarted opportunities, the Duke of Lockwood continues his search for an American heiress to be his bride. Nellie, the daughter of a railroad tycoon, happily flaunts her disregard for the expectations of 1890s New York's elite. During a chance encounter between Nellie and the Duke, sparks fly, leading to months of fighting their growing attraction. Swann and Campbell present distinguishable characters and capture their personalities. Campbell's American accents are weaker than Swann's but still serviceable. Swann's slower paced narration, though full of emotion, gives Nellie a somewhat blasé air. Regardless, those who like this series will enjoy the story. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-10-26
A jilted duke finally finds the heiress he needs but not where he expects.
Anyone would feel bad for the Duke of Lockwood. Most broke English aristocrats who sail into New York, looking for an heiress who will trade her fortune to be made a duchess, end up with their pick of eligible debutantes. But by now Lockwood has been connected to and then dumped by not one, not two, but three women. (They all ended up engaged to their love matches instead, but still.) At this point, he can’t help wondering if it's a coincidence that they're all close friends with Miss Nellie Young and if she’s the cause of his misfortune, since they had an amorous midnight encounter by the ocean just before his third engagement fell through. The daughter of a railroad tycoon, her fortune could make her a potential match, but her reputation is checkered, to say the least. Not that she minds—Nellie prefers to be single, free to take lovers when she pleases and to spend her time getting around the Comstock laws to share information about family planning and contraception with other women. As Lockwood begins one last attempt to find a duchess to take home before it's too late to save his family's dukedom, somehow he keeps finding his way back to Nellie instead. Their shared appetite for risky intimacy isn’t sated by repeated encounters, and Lockwood realizes that regardless of Nellie's reputation, she's the future duchess he needs—but Nellie isn’t willing to give up her freedom. This is a satisfying conclusion to Shupe’s Fifth Avenue Rebels series, especially as no reader could fail to feel sympathy for Lockwood by now. The chemistry between Lockwood and Nellie is sizzling; Shupe has outdone herself again in bringing to life the rough-and-ready attraction between her two main characters. The book is also notable for showing a different side of Manhattan, as Nellie’s mother was an Irish maid and her family in Hell’s Kitchen is central to the story. Historically accurate details, especially surrounding the battle for information about birth control in the 1890s, round out this resonant tale.
A strong finish to a strong-willed Gilded Age series.
