The Lady Rogue

By: Jenn Bennett

Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky, Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Last Magician meets A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue in this thrilling tale filled with magic and set in the mysterious Carpathian Mountains where a girl must hunt down Vlad the Impaler’s cursed ring in order to save her father.

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 19-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.

©2019 Jenn Bennett (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

A nonstop Indiana-Jones-style adventure

I was a little hesitant about this book at first (I don't remember why) but man oh man am I glad I listened to it. It was so fun! It's an Indiana Jones-style adventure set in the 1930s in Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania. Theo, daughter of treasure hunters, is constantly on the run from occultists as she races to find her father who disappeared while searching for Vlad the Impaler's bone ring. The action is pretty much nonstop and the tension still somehow manages to continue to ratchet up as secrets are revealed. The story is told in Theo's POV as she reads her father's journal and tries to chase him down, but is interrupted occasionally with chapters from her father's journal that give insight into him and the mystery surrounding the bone ring. The narrators do a great job, and the story is a wonderful adventure. Highly recommend.

Never ending action and great narration

I was thrilled with this book both from a context perspective and narration... there was a lot of historical reference in the story (which I love) along with twists and turns as the main character searches Eastern Europe for her missing father. Add a dash of the occult, combined with a little love story, making for a highly anticipated next chapter. The narration was amazing! You can tell that the narrator really embodied each character and only from the voices and accents she used, but also by the inflections in her voice that were so prominent for each scene. A great combination.

YA Dracula variation set in 1930s

This was an okay young adult mystery with phenomenal narration by Ms. Villinksy. She was especially good with all the accents, from Irish to Romanian. I would probably have given the story less stars, but for her narration.

The central mystery surrounds the disappearance of Theodora’s artifact chasing father, as he searches for the legendary ring of Dracula. There are log-book entries every few chapters by father Fox, reminiscent of Bram Stoker, but that’s the only time the male narration comes into play. Frankly, the log entries only solidified the father as a flake and a ne’er do well. The rest of the story follows Theo as she and her old friend Huck travel Europe in search of her father. I found the mystery to be more “traveling with a slow build” than truly “action packed.” When the action hits, its very PG tame, so I never felt any true sense of danger or gothic horror. The bad guys are one-note and generally appear for brief, faceless run-ins before giving way to a cozy, but annoyingly teen romance plot. 17 year old Theo is a spoiled, sheltered child about everything, and gives Huck a hard time because 19 year old Huck didn’t fight hard enough for their HEA a few years earlier (when they were both even younger and stupider).

Other random thoughts:
There’s attempted humor with his mutated idioms and her doing crosswords in her own head. Theo succeeds in winning over everyone she meets on her journey, and they assist her with her quest so easily that it all seems like a walk in the park with rather perfunctory reveals and an obvious conclusion that, finally, brings the action in the last hour of the story. Given the cover, I was expecting a darker, bloodier, scarier tale. But, I would recommend this to the tweens to teens set. Mild treatment of Dracula’s violent history, some themes of racism (against the Irish), religious discrimination, or gender stereotypes, and cozy level cussing and romance.

good story

Honestly I've been reading some books that might not have otherwise because I really like this narrator, Jesse Villinski. I enjoyed this and as always I get lost in her accents in The voice work she does. it makes the story so much richer.

A good listen

The story was pretty interesting and moved fairly quickly. It reminded me of Indiana Jones.

best narrator on audible with a great story

I loved this book! action, adventure, curses and love endured! I couldn't stop listening to this book. I was laughing at out loud and scenes and ready to cry of joy at others. definitely a book that will be listened too more than once!

Amazing

I absolutely love Jenn Bennett's writing, and have been obsessed with her books since I read Alex Approximately a few years ago. I was a little apprehensive about this book because it is so different from her typical YA romance books, but I absolutely loved it. The characters were complex and fun; I couldn't get enough of Theo and Huck. I was enthralled by the mystery of the rings, and the descriptions of the various places the duo traveled. I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised this book would be excellent since all of her other works are, but this one blew me away. Perhaps what elevated it to an even greater level of success was listening to the narrator of this story. She did such an incredible job with the voices, accents, and inflection. I couldn't stop listening! Would recommend this to anyone and everyone. Especially if you're already fans of Bennett or love a good adventure romance story. A must read.

Unique fantasy

I really enjoyed this story. It’s really unique in it’s take on biological magic gifts & I don’t think I’ve read a series based on Vlad Dracul that is like this. Vampires, plenty but just witches basically? No, and I loved it. 5/5, cant wait to read more from Jenn Bennett.