Tag Archives: Historical

Review: The Sinners Club by Kate Pearce

The Sinners Club (The Sinners Club, #1)The Sinners Club by Kate Pearce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

I have a great fondness for Kate Pearce’s House of Pleasure series, since they were some of the earliest and best books I read back when I was first exploring the erotic romance genre. So when I saw she had a new series with a first book starring Jack Lennox from Simply Scandalous, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. And if this first book is any indication, the Sinners Club books are going to be just as good.

After a troubled life where he never had any true home to call his own, Jack Lennox has come into a surprising inheritance from his no-good father, complete with royal title and stately manor. But before Jack can legally claim his place as the new Earl of Storr, he needs to find out what’s been going on at Pinchbeck Hall since the last holder of that title was laid to rest. Wary of what might await there, Jack decides to masquerade as his own personal secretary, wagering that such a man would have a better chance of being accepted by those who might not be as welcoming to the new lord of the manor. What Jack discovers is even more than what he’d bargained for, in the form of a supposed brother and sister, the latter of whom claims to be the pregnant widow of the previous earl.

Jack finds himself drawn to both Simon and Mary Picoult despite his better judgment and their genuine threat to his birthright. What follows in The Sinners Club is an passionate story of desperate lives and no-win scenarios, ultimately leading to a series of choices that could result in Jack either gaining his first chance at a real home and settled life, or losing it all for the love of a woman who has already sacrificed more than anyone ever should.

Everything that made Kate Pearce’s House of Pleasure books such an enjoyable read for me is here in The Sinners Club: a carefully plotted story with bold and memorable characters who aren’t afraid to take charge of their own destinies, especially with regard to their wide-ranging sexual proclivities. Jack may be the next Earl of Storr but he’s got more in common with Simon and Mary than the members of his own extended family, and his growing relationship with the alleged siblings is what drives the plot for the majority of the book. As their personal histories of these three characters unfold, we see how a need for security can drive someone to do just about anything to keep it, even if it means denying true love in the process. That shared need is what makes the romance between Jack and Mary so special, as they both face the decision to give up their own security to help each other as the one person whose well-being was worth any price. The Sinners Club is an outstanding start to Kate Pearce’s new series of the same name and I look forward to reading each and every book to follow.

Favorite Quote:
He’d never felt so secure and yet so vulnerable before in his life. What if she didn’t like him after all? After tangling with the Lennox family once, didn’t she deserve better? But then how was he supposed to live without her?

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Review: Ripe for Seduction by Isobel Carr

Ripe for Seduction (The League of Second Sons, #3)Ripe for Seduction by Isobel Carr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

Rating:
~4 hearts: I loved it!

Review:

Isobel Carr’s Ripe for Seduction is the third book in her League of Second Sons series, but it was easy to read as a stand-alone. It’s a light-hearted story of how a pretend engagement built on less than honorable intentions somehow manages to bloom into a real love between a notorious rake and a ruined woman of the ton.

While out carousing one night with his fellow secret society members, Roland Devere has too much to drink and agrees to yet another ill-chosen bet. He wakes the next morning to discover he has wagered a pound that he will be the first to bed a well-known lady who has returned to London months after the death of her bigamist husband. What he doesn’t count on is the lady having a secret plan of her own to thwart similar untoward propositions from anyone else during the upcoming season.

Lady Olivia Carlow didn’t know her late husband was already married when they had wed, but now that he’s dead, she’s the only one left to suffer the blame from London society. When Devere’s insulting proposition arrives via a drunkenly scrawled note sent to her father’s house, she seizes her advantage and blackmails Devere into agreeing to a false engagement. With Devere by her side as her purported fiance, Olivia intends to keep all the other less than honorable suitors from forcing their attentions and spreading lies about her even if she should turn them aside. Then when the season is over, she can break with him publicly and retire permanently to the family’s country estate at Holinshed. But as she and Devere spend more time in each other’s company, what started as pretend becomes the real thing, and the consequences of their actions have long-reaching implications for more than just themselves.

The fake marriage trope is one of my favorites and it’s used beautifully here in Ripe For Seduction. Olivia is in London under duress, preferring to stay forever buried in the country instead of in town fending off the disgusting private propositions from the men and frosty public snubs from the women. Roland would never have been so incredibly rude to her when sober, but he’s clearly not unhappy at the fate she’s forced on him in return for keeping his drunken overtures a secret. Their growing attraction was fun to watch, as was the concurrent secondary plot of how Olivia’s not-so-old widowed father became attached to Devere’s somewhat older widowed sister. There were a few villains here and there, and another side plot related to the activity of the Second Sons folding neatly into the inevitable Big Misunderstanding between Roland and Olivia near the end of the story. I found the relative lack of angst and drama to be quite refreshing, preferring the extensive details of how Olivia and her father both found happiness with the unlikeliest of partners. And after the Big Misunderstanding is cleared up and true love wins out for all, the epilogue provided the perfect ending to a lovely read.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ripe for Seduction and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in the League of Second Sons series.

Favorite Quote:

“Livy” — he cupped her face and lowered his head until he was staring directly into her eyes — “let me make myself perfectly clear. I love you. There’s no other reason I’d propose in earnest. Not to get you in my bed, not to enrich myself with your dowry, not to pave the way for my sister and your father. And if you don’t believe me, I’ll just have to work at it until you do.”

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Review: Lady in Red by Maire Claremont

Lady in Red (Mad Passions, #2)Lady in Red by Maire Claremont

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

Maire Claremont is a new author for me, but when I saw the blurb of LADY IN RED, I couldn’t wait to get started reading it. I was immediately sucked in to the plight of Lady Mary Darrel, a woman starved and bedraggled, pleading for help at the doorstep of a London brothel as her last best hope for rescue. She was abused and misused at the hands of those doing the bidding of her monstrous father, the one who had locked her away in a madhouse after she’d witnessed his murder of her beloved mother. Her escape came at a great cost to herself and others, and now her incipient freedom might do likewise to those who will help her seek her vengeance.

When Edward Barrons sees Mary bathing upstairs in a whorehouse bedroom, he initially mistakes her for one of the working girls. After she sets him straight in a most direct fashion, it’s her spirit that calls to him as much as her only slightly diminished beauty. As Duke of Fairleigh, he has the power and social standing to protect her from her father, but only inasmuch as she will allow. As Mary begins to recover and prepares herself to take revenge on those who have harmed her, she and Edward start to bond in a way which could end in their mutual happiness if only they can confront their individual demons in time to see the light.

LADY IN RED was an intense read for me, one where I was so captivated by Mary and Edward and the terrible danger they were in that I was actually afraid to finish the book, deliberately putting it aside after reading a rare happy moment so I could finish it the next day. I especially enjoyed the presence of Edward’s cynical friend, Viscount Powers, who was just as damaged as Mary and Edward, yet was in a unique position to commiserate more fully with them individually than they were able to with each other. Once Mary is set on the path of revenge by Edward, the story hurtles along toward that dread goal, picking up speed along the way and sending me down a foreboding path of not knowing how it all could possibly end well for anyone. Reading THE RED LADY was a fantastic rollercoaster ride of emotions and I’m still experiencing a well-earned book hangover days later. I’ve already bought the first book in the Mad Passions series, THE DARK LADY, to read next, and I’m very pleased to see that Viscount Powers will be the hero of THE DARK AFFAIR. Maire Claremont is now one of my very favorite historical romance writers, and I have LADY IN RED to thank for that.

Favorite Quote:

“Why are you so afraid?” she whispered.
“I am afraid of nothing,” he snapped, bracing his palms on the mantel.
“Fear and I are intimate acquaintances, Edward. You are in its bed.”

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