After not enjoying Portraits of a Scotsman too much (Hattie is the worst), I was leery going into the newest installment of The League of Extraordinary Women. Have no fear though because Catriona Campbell has saved us.

We finally get to get inside Catriona Campbell’s head in The Gentleman’s Gambit. Catriona is spending the summer at her family’s remote castle to focus on the writing of her book. When her father appoints Catriona to escort Elias Khoury in classifying ancient artifacts, their forced proximity may just ignite a romance neither can live without.

Phew, I’m so glad that Catriona was nowhere near as insufferable as Hattie, and I was rather excited to get to know her more. I loved that she was smart, kind, and always putting others first. Elias, our male lead, was an interesting addition to the cast of characters. The contrast between him and Catriona was excellent, and I really enjoyed the way they balanced each other out. However, I felt that their romance dragged out a bit. I can understand why Dunmore extended the length of this book but at the same time much of the steam, romance, and development took place in the first half of the story. The second half was filled with non-romance items, and even included a few POVs from Hattie, Annabell, and Lucie. The epilogue as well really tied the bow on this series and I loved seeing how our four leading ladies ended up living their lives. However, while I liked the additions and extra POVs, it completely took us away from the story of Catriona and Elias.

While I enjoyed the story, I do think the historical information really overshadowed the actual story and romance. I love learning about The Suffragist movement but out of all the books this one seemed to be the heaviest on historical facts. It really muddied the storyline, took away from the romance aspect, bogged down the pacing, and ultimately made the book seem long. That alone brought this down to a 3.5 star read for me, rounded up to 4 stars for the series overall. Still recommend picking up this series, but Bringing Down the Duke was by far my favorite of the four books.

BRINGING DOWN THE DUKE REVIEW | A ROGUE OF ONE’S OWN REVIEW

Portraits of a Scotsman Review

AMAZON | GOODREADS |★★★★

The Gentleman’s Gambit comes out December 5, 2023. Huge thank you to Berkley Publishing for my advanced copy in exchange for my review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.