Once a Rogue
Grade : A-

Allie Therin returns to New York City in the 1920s with Once a Rogue, the follow up to Proper Scoundrels, a spin-off from her Magic in Manhattan series. In that book, centre stage belonged to Wesley Collins, Lord Fine, a cantankerous aristocrat and cynical, self-confessed arsehole, and powerful magic-user and dangerous marshmallow Sebastian de Leon, who team up to discover who is behind a series of thefts of powerful magical artifacts which has led to murder. They’re an odd couple if ever there was one, Wesley’s prickly, stiff-upper-lipped arrogance and rudeness a complete contrast to Sebastian’s quiet sweetness and consideration, but somehow they just fit, both of them damaged and believing themselves unworthy of love or affection; and watching them slowly growing closer and allowing themselves to be vulnerable with one another made for a very charming and poignant romance.

Note: Once a Rogue does not stand alone as it shares characters and situations with the previous book and with the Magic in Manhattan series. There may be spoilers for those titles in this review.

Once a Rogue opens around a week after the climactic events in Paris at the end of Proper Scoundrels, and we catch up with Wesley and Sebastian just after their ship has docked in New York, where they’ve travelled in response to cryptic message from Jade Robbins:

MAY WE SEE YOU IN NEW YORK STOP CLOCK NEEDS CURSE TO TICK CAN’T SAY MORE HERE STOP

While Sebastian immediately heads off to call Jade to find out what’s going on, Wesley waits not too patiently on the pier with Mateo, Sebastian’s younger brother, who accompanied them across the Atlantic and is due to return to college in Ohio the following day. Like Sebastian, Mateo is a magic-user – his magic so powerful that it had almost killed him until Sebastian was able to channel his own enervation magic through a relic – a fifteenth-century Spanish brooch – to bind Mateo’s powers and keep him safe. But Wesley is concerned - he’s noticed the dark circles under Sebastian’s eyes, how, no matter how much sleep he gets, he always seems fatiguted – and how the brooch is interfering with Sebastian’s magic and destabilising it.

When Sebastian returns, it’s to inform them that he wasn’t able to get in touch with Jade or with Zhang – and that one of the staff at the Dragon House restaurant said he hasn’t seen Zhang for several days. It’s a little odd that Jade would ask them to come to New York and then not be there to greet them, but maybe she’s just out for a while and will be back later. After arriving at their hotel, Wesley suggests they should go to see Arthur Kenzie and “his surly little antiquarian” – then round up Jade and Zhang and all go out for dinner. But more disappointment awaits when he and Sebastian arrive at Arthur’s apartment building to find out that Arthur left town over a week earlier – and that his nephew hasn’t been around for a while either. (Sebastian’s cluelessness about the true nature of Arthur and Rory’s relationship is quite sweet, really!)

Before they have much time to dwell on the fact that their friends seem to have disappeared, Wesley receives another terse message, this one from his former commanding officer, who basically demands a meeting, and the next morning, he receives an anonymous letter telling him he’s not safe in New York and to “Beware the company you keep.” None of it makes sense, and Wesley’s hope that their paranormal friends will be able to help ease Sebastian’s burden is superseeded by concern for their safety. A handful of cryptic messages doesn’t give them much to go on, but someone is most definitely up to no good, and as the story barrels towards an exciting and nail-biting climax, our heroes find themselves enmeshed in a deadly plot involving magic, murder, and madness.

Once a Rogue is another terrific read with a clever, high-stakes plot and a romance that continues to be both delightful and heartfelt as Wesley and Sebastian fall deeper and harder for each other – despite their hang-ups about not being good enough or deserving of love. Wesley is as wonderfully curmudgeonly and sarcastic as ever, and I simply loved watching him stubbornly trying to insist that feelings are things that happen to other people even as he’s so obviously toast when it comes to Sebastian. He’s spent so long keeping people at arms’ length and believing he’s the cold-hearted, remorseless bastard he’s reputed to be that he struggles to believe there’s any good in him; he insists Sebastian is just seeing him through rose-tinted glasses and is waiting for the day when Sebastian realises it, too, and decides a disagreeable, caustic English aristocrat is not the man for him.

Sebastian’s blood terrors have eased thanks to Wesley’s nightly presence in his bed, but he is still haunted by his past trauma and burdened by guilt over the things he was forced to do while under the blood magic. He’s also worried that Wesley will soon become tired of him – of (what he sees as) his clinginess and the upheaval his life has undergone since becoming associated with the paranormal world. But while there’s an element of ‘he can’t love me because I’m a bad person’ going on on both sides, there are no silly misunderstandings or miscommunication; much as Wesley hates the idea that he actually has feelings, he and Sebastian actually do talk about them and about their expectations of each other and their… whatever is going on between them. I love the way they truly see each other – even if they don’t quite see themselves through such a favourable lens, and that they’re learning to be vulnerable and open with one another; and just as I enjoyed watching Wesley coming to terms with having all those pesky feelings, so I enjoyed Sebastian finally lettimg himself admit that he’s allowed to have good things in his life.

I have a few very tiny niggles, mostly to do with the plot – namely that it takes Wesley and Sebastian so long to clue into the fact that something is really wrong. Some of the Americanisms that creep in are jarring (no English person in the 1920s would use ‘already’ as in ‘come on already’ – we don’t even use it that way today) and Sebastian’s obliviousness about the nature of Wesley’s former relationship with Arthur and Arthur’s current one with Rory is a bit of a stretch – although it’s just about believable (if you squint) given that Sebastian was magically enslaved for three years.

But none of those things impacted my overall enjoyment of Once a Rogue, which is magical, sweet, funny, gripping – and highly recommended. Wesley and Sebastian are compelling, well-drawn characters; their chemistry crackles, their banter amuses and their growing love for and steadfast support of one another is totally swoonworthy and wonderful to read. I love the magical 1920s world Ms. Therin has created and although, at time of writing (in June), nothing has been announced, there are enough questions left unanswered here for me to be hopeful there’s a third book in the works.  Fingers crossed!

ETA:  A few weeks after I wrote this review, the author confirmed that there will indeed be a third book featuring Wesley and Sebastian - although we're going to have to wait until 2025!

Reviewed by Caz Owens
Grade : A-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : August 22, 2023

Publication Date: 08/2023

Recent Comments …

Caz Owens

I’m a musician, teacher and mother of two gorgeous young women who are without doubt, my finest achievement :)I’ve gravitated away from my first love – historical romance – over the last few years and now read mostly m/m romances in a variety of sub-genres. I’ve found many fantastic new authors to enjoy courtesy of audiobooks - I probably listen to as many books as I read these days – mostly through glomming favourite narrators and following them into different genres.And when I find books I LOVE, I want to shout about them from the (metaphorical) rooftops to help other readers and listeners to discover them, too.
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