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Rebel Heiress
(The Diamonds #3)
By Amalie Howard
YA Historical Romance
Audiobook, Hardcover & eBook, 384 Pages
May 19, 2026 by Joy Revolution
Summary
A young heiress must disguise herself to attend a prestigious, all-male university, where she unexpectedly falls for her handsome tutor, in this swoony historical romance by the USA Today bestselling author of Queen Bee.
Lady Rosalin Chen has a secret—she isn’t as vapid as she pretends to be. In fact, she’s a computing genius and smarter than most of her peers in the ton, including her own cousin, Ansel. It’s a secret she’s kept for years, not that hiding her intelligence has done her any favors in the marriage department.
In fact, after several dismal social seasons in London, she’s practically considered a spinster. With little to lose, she decides to set her sights on getting a proper education rather than finding a husband. Disguised as Ansel, who truly could be her twin, she attends Cambridge University while he galivants around Europe on a secret Grand Tour.
There Rosalin crosses quills with the Trinity College’s mathematics prodigy and her tutor Tarik St. Clair. For the first time in her life, Rosalin is genuinely intrigued by a boy. His mind seems to be as sharp as hers. Unfortunately, as a commoner, Tarik doesn’t fit her parents’ expectations. But what if he could? What if she concocted one more audacious plan that could raise his station and finally take her off the market? She just has to hope that her lies don’t catch up to her.
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My Review
REBEL HEIRESS is a story about a girl who impersonates her male cousin in order to attend college, set in historical England when women weren't allowed into higher education. What ensues is a rather humorous muddle, especially when she falls for her tutor. Full of friendship, family, a young woman coming into her own, and sweet romance. Recommended to fans of the genre.
The premise for this story sounded so fun, and it was! I couldn't help but laugh or smile at a few of the situations the heroine found herself in. Rosalin "Roz" had a bit of a time not exposing herself. She was an intelligent young woman who just wanted to learn like her cousin was at college. She embroiled her ladies' maid in the scheme in order to pull it off. She also made some friends along the way and developed quite a crush on her tutor. The scheme got a bit out of hand, of course, which created some tension and risk. I enjoyed the friendships in this story. Not only those at the school, but also those Roz has with her cousin and her friends. The romance was sweet with plenty of sparks. There were a lot of references to what she was learning as well as the women at the time who made names for themselves in the math/science/astronomy arenas, which was interesting. I also liked the diversity of the characters. We can never have too much of that! The first half of the story was my favorite, through to when Roz starts meeting with Tarik as herself.
I did want some things to be more realistic to the time period and have characters react accordingly. There were parts where that was basically skipped over or not addressed. There was too much name dropping. I also didn't read the other books in the series and there were a few things that could have been either taken out or developed better with previous main characters that were present in this story. The romance seemed to take the story over towards the end and then go on and on. I personally didn't need the ending, especially as this is YA. I think since the author was sad to finish the series, she tried to extend the story to tie the entire series up.
In the end, was it what I wished for? This was an escape to Regency England. Delightful characters, an entertaining plot, and sweet romance made this a fun read! I'm curious about the previous books in the series and will pick those up as well as check out what Howard publishes next.
Content: Clean
Source: I received a complimentary copy through Toppling Stacks Tours, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
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