The Love of a Rake

At thirty-five, Randall Roderick, Marquess of Reading, wants to trade his life as a ‘rake’ for the life of a married man. Finding a wife isn’t that easy, though, when his reputation precedes him. The eligible ladies in town don’t exactly make him want to settle down either. But Constance, the cousin of the Earl of Norwick, who happens to be in town to settle an inheritance and then wants to live as an independent woman, is intrigued by Randall, and the spark between them is mutual. 

Charles Goodwin, only twenty-five, isn’t yet tired of being a ‘rake’ and doing one scandalous thing after another. All that changes when he meets Eleanor, a woman who wanted to meet her knight in shining armor, but instead got duped by the madam of a brothel and finds herself ruined. 

All four characters were thoroughly flawed, but all of them tried to overcome them. The pairings worked because the characters had sufficient chemistry between them – not an easy feat when focusing on two couples rather than one in a single book. The author did an admirable job on the world building and making the historical setting seem realistic. The dialogue was a bit stilted at times, and although the writing matched the period setting, the narrative was overly drawn out sometimes and the writing was good, but not excellent. The story had some unique and creative elements though, and the characters were the highlight of the book. 

Majanka Verstraete