I was very impressed by Jess Everlee’s début, The Gentleman’s Book of Vices, a queer romance set in late Victorian London featuring a superbly written and emotional grumpy/sunshine romance, so I’ve been eagerly looking forward to reading more from her. A Rulebook for Restless Rogues is book two in the Lucky Lovers of London series, but I’m sorry to say it lacks the sparkling chemistry and depth of feeling I so loved in the first book.

David Forrester and Noah Clarke appeared in The Gentleman’s Book of Vices; David is the proprietor** of The Curious Fox – the scandalous gentleman’s club where we first met Charlie Price in book one – and Noah is his oldest and dearest friend, a friendship that goes back to their schooldays when David looked out for Noah and stood up to the boys who were bullying him, even though David got punished for beating them up. After this, the two of them started spending all their spare time together – and sneaking off for heated kisses and fumblings in broom cupboards or hidden in the trees by the lake.

Although his father intended him to be a doctor, Noah went off to Milan after school, to study the art of fashionable mens’ tailoring at the establishment of a well-known Italian designer, while David remained in London. It was always David’s destiny to take over the running of the family business – a swish London hotel – but after a series of financial misjudgments, his father ended up torching the place for the insurance, and the ensuing scandal ruined them. Without family or friends around him, David ended up waiting on tables in a seedy pub in London – which is where Noah found him, pretty, vibrant Noah, who came back to England as soon as he heard of David’s misfortunes.

Now, David runs the Fox, without much interference from the place’s aristocratic owner, Lord Belleville, and despite the risks involved – running a club at which illegal activities take place – he’s worked hard to make it into a safe space for his clientele, even going so far as to play matchmaker with his patrons, setting them up and making sure everyone has a safe, fun time. In fact, as his friends often point out, David seems to expend more energy in organising the love lives of everyone at the club than he does on his own – which he refutes furiously.

Noah is one of the Fox’s regular patrons, and often frequents it as his dragged-up alter-ego Penelope – but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get his share of ribbing from their friends about his non-existent love life, either. Everyone around them can see exactly how Noah and David feel about each other, but they persist in denying it – to themselves, to each other, to their friends – because they’re scared of losing the friendship that has been the one constant thing they’ve had in their lives for as long as either of them can remember.

One night, however, Lord Belleville turns up unexpectedly and tells David to clean the place out completely, because he’s been tipped off about a police raid that’s to take place the next night. David is rattled, but by more than the prospect of the raid; Belleville is a piece of slime whose thinly veiled threats indicate he will not hesitate to throw David under the omnibus (!) should he feel the need to do so, and it doesn’t take him long to realise that Belleville has no intention of re-opening the Fox after the raid. But David cares passionately about the club and the people for whom it’s become a haven, and is determined to find a way to keep its doors open – and Noah is not about to let him go it alone.

I enjoyed the book overall, although it has a couple of big weaknesses that drag it down to the low-B level. David and Noah are likeable, their cluelessness is cute, their mutual pining is really well done and I liked them as a couple, but when they start getting busy, their obliviousness disappears really quickly, and I found myself asking ‘why now?’ – especially after years of dancing around each other. And there were times I felt opportunities for character development were missed. For example, we’re often told about David’s protective instinct and there are hints at a degree of negativity associated with the role he’s adopted for himself, but it’s never explored. I also struggled to become invested in the fate of the club. I absolutely appreciated its being somewhere for people who were marginalised and criminalised for their sexuality to gather in relative safety, but we don’t actually see much of it in this story, so there’s not much time for us to get to know or care about the community or the characters David is so keen to protect, and without that relationship existing between the reader and the community, the plot falls flat.

The weak plotting is compounded by poor pacing and a conflict which never really takes off. The book gets off to a slow-ish start, but once Bellville appears it kicks up a gear, and everything in the first half of the story seems to be heading towards a daring and exciting plan to save the Fox – which then just… fizzles out. David’s past relationship with the Bad Baron is nebulous and somewhat downplayed, Belleville’s evil machinations are kind of dumb, and the anticipated showdown doesn’t happen. The Fox is saved in a deus-ex-machina move by a third party, which completely robs David and Noah of any agency, and the denoument of any tension. It’s rushed and anti-climactic.

Also, David and Noah are not rogues and there’s nary a rulebook in sight!

I struggled to grade A Rulebook for Restless Rogues, but have gone with the B minus because I did enjoy reading it, even as I recognised its flaws. There’s a strong supporting cast – Jo is awesome and I hope Warren is going to get a book – and the romance is full of tenderness and affection, so I’m giving it a qualified recommendation. Fingers crossed Jess Everlee’s next book will measure up to the previous one.