A Rulebook for Restless Rogues

By: Jess Everlee

Narrated by: Tommy Hawthorne

A PASTE MUST-READ ROMANCE BOOK OF 2023

“Readers will want to savor every word of Everlee’s splendid debut, the launch of her Lucky Lovers of London series, like a fine vintage wine.”
—Booklist, on The Gentleman's Book of Vices

Jess Everlee follows up her sparkling debut The Gentleman's Book of Vices with this charming queer historical romp, in which two lifelong best friends find romance as they join forces to save the one place where they can truly be themselves.

London, 1885

David Forester and Noah Clarke have been best friends since boarding school. All grown up now, clever, eccentric Noah is Savile Row’s most promising young tailor, while former socialite David runs an underground queer club, The Curious Fox.

Nothing makes David happier than to keep the incense lit, the pianist playing and all his people comfortable, happy and safe until they stumble out into the dawn. But when the unscrupulous baron who owns the Fox moves to close it, David’s world comes crashing down.

Noah’s never feared a little high-stakes gambling, but as he risks his own career in hopes of helping David, he realizes two things:

One: David has not been honest about how he ended up at The Curious Fox in the first place.

Two: Noah’s feelings for David have become far more than friendly.

What future lies beyond those first furtive kisses? Noah and David can hardly wait to find out…if they can untangle David from his web of deception without losing everything Noah has worked for.

Lucky Lovers of London

Book 1: The Gentleman's Book of Vices
Book 2: A Rulebook for Restless Rogues

Even better than the first book

I enjoy this series, the characters are interesting and likable, the story intertwining. Looking forward to more stories from the author!

An okay romance. Needed better narration.

I think I would have enjoyed this book more had the narrator made different choices for the characters’ voices. He made them all sound like lower class, uneducated thugs. Not at all like the dandies they were. As such, I just couldn’t engage well with the characters, because he made them sound so unappealing. I also prefer less serious topics in my romance books. It’s okay to have some jeopardy or mildly tragic events, but David’s past, both with an abusive father and an abusive lover, just brought me down. I guess I prefer my romances to be lighter. So others who don’t mind real-world issues in their romance books might not be as turned off as I was. But I still think the narrator made it very difficult for me to get into the romance story itself. I wanted to like these men and their story, but it just felt “off” to me.

Another sweet, spicy romance from Jess Everlee

I’ve only listened to a couple romance audiobooks and have generally found them to be uncomfortable affairs, with the spicy bits turning hammy or downright gross with the unwelcome interpretations of the reader mucking them up. That was overwhelmingly NOT the case with this performance. The reader is quite prim and does absolutely absurd voices for all the different characters, but somehow, his outlandish delivery was thoroughly enjoyable, and that innocent, effusively emotive primness allowed fairly graphic sex scenes to strike me with the same unobjectionable feeling they have in the quiet of my own head when I read a physical book instead of listening to it. The book flew by and I loved every minute, from the achey, tamped-down longing to the sweetly considerate sex to the settings to the side characters and histories. It was every bit as successful a story as the first book was. Jess Everlee is undeniably a new favorite, climbing the ranks to sit beside KJ Charles and Cat Sebastian. Highly recommend.

Great Characters and Story Arc

Even better than book 1. Looking forward to book 3 with Miss Emily and Jo!

Delightful

A really solid queer romance with fresh characters that gave off warm fuzzies without being sappy. Really nice reconciliation that felt like it delivered without putting us through unnecessary angst. I think this second book was better than the first. Will definitely be looking forward to more from this author!