A Reckless Runaway (The Shelley Sisters Book 2) by Jess Michaels is an intriguing Historical Romance. Book 2, but can be read as a stand alone.
Anne Shelley, the eldest sibling of the Shelly triplets, and considered the wild and reckless one. Jasper Kincaid, the Earl of Harcourt, Anne's unwanted fiance.
Anne runs away with Ellis Maitland. Ellis takes her to Scotland, not to marry her but to drop her off on his cousin,
Constantine (Rook) Maitland, in Scotland. A fun story with a multitude of characters, and yes, a villain or two. Opposites do attract, especially, in A RECKLESS RUNAWAY.
Anne and Rook's journey to their HEA is fraught with danger, mystery, some fun moments included, intrigue and romance, all the time staying one step ahead of the villain.
Well written and well excuted. The cast of characters keeps you turning pages, add in the intrigue, mystery, and romance, makes for entertaining reading.
An enticing family story told in three parts, Anne, Thomasina, and Julianna, the Shelley triplets. Strongly recommended for fans of historical romance, adventure, mystery, fun moments, and steamy scenes. Well worth the time to read, you will not be disappointed. A superb story!

#NetGalley, #AReluctantRunnaway,#JessMichaels

"I voluntarily received a complimentary copy, however, these are my honest opinions. I was in no way required nor compensated to write a review."

Rating: 4.5
Heat rating: Steamy
Reviewer: AprilR ( )

A Reckless Runaway by Jess Michaels
The Shelley Sisters #2

It was wonderful catching up with Anne and finding out what happened after she left with Ellis Maitland – a runaway bride long ago. She was definitely in for a huge surprise as she is dumped with Rook rather than taken to Gretna Green by Ellis.

What I liked:
* Anne – a bit selfish but only looking out for her own happiness. She is a woman to be reckoned with and begins to really see who she is and what she wants as she gets to know Rook better
* Rook – A good man with a horrible past. I really liked him in more ways than one.
* The slow burn and then the sizzling heat between Anne and Rook
* The unveiling of what is really behind what Ellis has been doing
* The knife throwing scene
* Just about everything except…

What I didn’t like:
* The father of the Shelley triplets
* Ellis’s poor treatment of Anne
* Winston Leonard – major baddie
* Having to wait for book three to see how it will all play out

Thank you to NetGalley and The Passionate Pen for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars ( )

The 'Runaway' Shelly sister. The second act.

The Shelly Sisters. Triplets, so unusual an event that the sisters Thomasina, Juliana and Anne are seen more as sideshow entrants than young women in their own right.
Now we find the truth of Anne's leaving. Anne the wild child. She's been beguiled to run away from Jasper, the Earl of Harcourt, by a handsome stranger Ellis Maitland.
But closer to the truth is that Anne feels unseen by Harcourt, "somehow she’d always dreamed that the man she’d married would see her just for…for herself." And she sees Ellis as a viable alternative to the coldness of Harcourt.
Imagine her shock when Ellis hands her off to a brooding stranger, and she finds herself sequested on an island off the coast of Scotland with a man who is Ellis's cousin, Rook Maitland, or more formally Constatine.
Of course nothing is simple. Anne spends days waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then begins to find enchantment on the island whilst the enigma of Rook holds a tantalizing fascination. When Anne discovers that Ellis will not be returning she implores Rook, a man she's come to admire, to help her back to Harcourt's manor and her sisters.
The journey is trying and at times dangerous. Anne and Rook come closer to each other, although Rook manfully tries to withhold truths about himself from Anne. When Anne finally reaches her sisters, things become even more complicated. Ellis reappears. Harcourt and Rook have more to do with other than Harcourt realizes. That desperate business acquaintance of Harcourt's brother Solomon intent on finding a hidden 'treasure', becomes even more venal. And Juliana becomes entangled in a deadly game being played out between Ellis and his business partner, with Harcourt and Rook dragged along as they seek to protect the Shelly sisters.
A family story being told in three parts, this is the enticing second act.

A Victory Editing ARC via NetGalley ( )

Anne’s story is finally here! We met all of the Shelley sisters in the first book, A Reluctant Bride, and, well, I couldn’t decide if I liked Anne or not. That was probably because she was the catalyst for the featured romance, but not the feature of the story. The Shelley sisters are triplets – identical to everyone – and everyone tends to treat them as one entity. Yet, they are very different. Anne is the wild one, the ‘free spirit’ who acts first and thinks later. Juliana is the calm, even-keeled, responsible ‘fixer’, who runs the household. Thomasina is the pleaser, the one who brings peace and comfort to others – even at the cost of her own. Their father is a real piece-of-work who could care less about his daughters other than to consider how they can best benefit him.

This book begins at the same time and place as the first book in the series, but while that book followed Thomasina and Jasper, this one follows Anne and Rook. At the beginning of the first book, Anne runs away with Ellis Maitland – but, then she seems to disappear with another man. Now, we learn what happened when she ran away, why she ran away, and what has happened to her since.

Ellis Maitland is a desperate man – and when he gets desperate, he gets reckless and bad things tend to happen. A very, very, very bad man, Winston Leonard, wants the property that Ellis and his friend, Jasper’s late brother Solomon, stole from him. The thing is, Ellis has absolutely no idea where it is or how to find it. Ellis decided to use Anne in order to put pressure on Jasper – after all, if she was important to Jasper, he’d meet Ellis’ demands. The trouble was, Jasper had no clue what Ellis was talking about and Anne wasn’t all that important to him. If she wanted to run away with someone else, she could.

When Ellis hands Anne off into a rowboat with someone named Rook, she is frightened, but resigned – then frightened again when she finds out where they are going. Anne has never really been physically attracted to anyone before, but something about the dark and attractive man makes her skin warm and her stomach flutter.

Constantine (Rook) Maitland broke ties with his cousin Ellis over a year ago and hasn’t had anything to do with him since then. The break was caused by an awful set of circumstances Ellis became involved in that crossed all of the lines for Rook. Ellis had always been Rook’s hero – he’d save him when he was a young child. Ellis took him in and taught him how to survive – but – now…

Rook and Anne are each attracted to the other, but neither will act on it and they are fairly cool and stand-offish with each other. When Anne finally comes to the realization that Ellis will not be coming for her, nor will he marry her, she asks Rook to see that she gets home. Their journey to their HEA is fraught with danger – after all, there is still a villain out there. The action really picks up at the end of their journey with everything happening fast and furious. Will Anne survive? Will Rook admit that he loves her? Will her sisters forgive her? Will Jasper forgive her? Will Rook and Ellis reconcile? Will they finally thwart the villain? You’ll just have to read this fun book to find out all of that and more!

I assume that the next book is going to feature Ellis and Juliana and I have to say, I think this author is going to have to go some to rehabilitate Ellis in my mind. There have been things to make him more sympathetic, but – well – we can only wait for the next exciting installment!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )