This story is delightful. It has everything and you’ll feel all of it: love, lust, joy, sadness, humiliation, confusion, despair – and if you keep your fingers crossed maybe even happy ever after!
I love Regency romance. So many rules. Nobody followed them if all the little trysts are any example. But everyone was affected by them, often very negatively and for the rest of their lives. Many of the rules were cold, cruel, uncompromising. No three strikes or second chances. Mess up once and that’s it – you’re out. Who cares how you make a living, or if you go on living. And this is from not just society but your own family. Consequences and punishment were swift and irrevocable. Of course most of these rules applied to women only. Being a rake was kind of a charming thing for a man but get caught accidentally in the garden unchaperoned with a man and that’s the end for a woman. You’re ruined, fallen, you no longer exist. And if someone holds a grudge against you and lies about what caused your downfall it doesn’t matter; they will be believed and you will be shunned. Or erased. And the reason I love Regency romance is because talented authors like Erica Ridley take these dark, dreadful, dreary circumstances and turn them into immensely entertaining stories for us to enjoy!

This unforgiving environment is the one Gladys Bell has grown up in. She’s not drop-dead gorgeous like her younger sister and her marriage prospects are slim, as her mother never hesitates to point out. She’s not old by today’s standards but in Regency eyes she’s practically an old maid. She’s never received a marriage proposal and this is her last chance; if she doesn’t get married now her dowry will pass to her sister and she’ll become the spinster sister who never leaves home. Which is actually more appealing to Gladys than marrying someone she doesn’t love and who doesn’t love her. Her father is trying to arrange a match for her with a man only interested in the property Gladys would bring to the union, but she has reached legal age and does not have to give her consent.

What happens next would make a very funny rom com in today’s world. Not so much for Gladys though. More like the dashing of all her hopes and the ruin of her life.

A (supremely handsome of course) young man approaches her at the ball, tells her she is the woman of his dreams and invites her to meet him in the garden. She’s amazed, mesmerized, charmed – hopeful. A little kissing goes on and there is quite the instant attraction. Only problem is that the young man is Reuben, the most notorious rake in the ton, and he mistakes Gladys for a married woman he is to meet for a secret assignation. He is so taken with the sparks and fire between them that he pays no attention when Gladys tells him her name. Agrees to meet her in the morning at the hotel. He thinks to continue what they started; she thinks for him to ask her father for her hand. Pretty funny case of mistaken identity in this century; not so much in that one. Reuben has figured out his mistake but has no idea who this young woman was and marriage isn’t in his plans anyway. No harm done in his mind. But there is harm. A lot of harm. Gladys waits and waits and waits and waits, and of course there’s a nasty neighbor who saw her come out of the garden and tells all who will listen. Her family immediately cast her out. The potential suitor isn’t even a possibility now. She’s dishonored and shamed the family. Her sister seems slightly regretful but, hey, she needs to get married herself. And her mother and father never look back.

We don’t see the horrible details of Gladys’ immediate struggle when thrown out but meet up with her again five years later. She has done what she needed to to survive and is now a very successful courtesan to the upper crust (she knows all about the ton, right?). She plans to retire after doing one more thing, the thing that has kept her going all these years. And that is to exact her revenge – Revenge with a capital “R” – on that young man who broke her heart, who ruined her life. She is going to reel him in and then discard him and leave him broken just as he did her.

Once Gladys and Reuben meet again and we’re back in mistaken identify land this story becomes utterly charming. Reuben has been going merrily along, ever the rake. Well, not that merrily as he is haunted by that young woman he just can’t forget. He never even considers that Gladys could be her. Gladys, for her part, is single-minded. She knows exactly who Reuben is and what she is going to do, but darn it, she is starting to like him. We learn that while yes, he is a rake, he is a rake with a gigantic inferiority complex, who thinks no one ever could or will like, much less love, him so being a rake is all his life will be, and we start to like him too.

Gladys and Reuben are characters you will love from the start, even when you don’t like them or disapprove of what they are doing. Taming the Rake is funny, witty, surprising, sweet, heartbreaking, sexy and yes, hopeful. You will be transported to the time and beautiful locations they find themselves in. The dialogue is bright and fresh and just snaps and will keep you turning pages, wondering how they will ever avert disaster and get to that HEA.

Thanks to oh so talented author Erica Ridley for providing an advance copy of Taming the Rake. I am voluntarily leaving this review; all opinions are my own. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for the next story in the Lords in Love series. ( )

Taming the Rake by Erica Ridley
Lords in Love by Erica Ridley

Mixed feelings on this one…I had trouble relating to the main characters, the people that raised them, the expectations of the era, and how it all went so wrong in one evening.

What I liked:
* The writing style and premise of the story
* That Gladys was resilient enough to survive when cast out by her family
* The growth shown by the lead characters by the end of the story
* That Gladys and Reuben had more in common than they realized
* The idea that seeking revenge does not always provide what is hoped for or the satisfaction expected
* That there was an eventual happy ending for the couple
* The activities the couple enjoyed in the timespan of the hourglass
* That Gladys was and was not naïve when she came back into Reuben’s life again

What I didn’t like:
* The insecurities both Gladys and Reuben had due to the way they were raised
* The way Gladys’s family turned their back on her and how her sister fared in comparison
* The callous disregard Reuben held for women, and perhaps himself, and that he seemed so immature and clueless more often than not
* That the five-year leap in the story left out a great deal that would have given insight and depth to the characters and story
* Feeling unsettled and questioning the believability of the story when I finished the last page

Did I enjoy this book? Not a favorite of mine by this author though well written
Would I read more in this series/ by this author? Yes, not every book by an author will be a perfect fit

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3 Stars ( )

Long story short: I’m a fan!

I don’t remember when I joined the authors mailing list, but I’m glad I did because one day I got the link to Taming the Rake in my inbox!

Like The Rake Mistake, this book is super fun and goes down easily. It’s also incredibly steamy and we can feel the tension between our mains from the get go.

For someone who came out four seasons ago, Gladys Bell is more innocent than she should be. Of course with no access to the papers and advise like this one can imagine why;

“The gentlemen attending this annual festival know that even something as simple as prolonged visual contact can imply marital intent.”

So when she’s mistaken for a courtesan and kissed throughly by the most handsome man at the ball, she assumes that a wedding is to follow. What follows are spiteful people airing Glady’s dirty laundry (that she didn’t even know was soiled) out to dry. With her family abandoning her, she turn from Lady Dawn to a lady of the night! This is the story of how she gets justice, even if that justice isn’t the revenge she wanted it to be.

This book features some of our favourite regency romance tropes! We have:
A Rake (or a bad boy)
A Compromising Situation
Mistaken Identity
Enemies to Lovers

The book does have flaws. Her parents disown her in a public park, which should be considered quite scandalous in it’s own right. She suddenly has all the money she needs with another patron. She forgives him in the blink of an eye. We hardly ever hear anything about her life as a courtesan and how she became one, even though the author could have written on more. There is no mention of ever reconciling with her sister now that she is in a more respectable position.

All of those things are true, and yet I still give this book 4 stars out of 5, because it was fun and light and I was invested in watching Gladys try to break his heart. I loved that she grew into a strong woman who managed her own affairs. I loved watching our main guy falling for her, and anyone who can hunt a book down like that is a keeper; as far as romantic gestures go, the author knew that this was the one that would send her audience swooning. ( )

Troubling tale of a Wallflower.

Well I’ve got to say that Gladys Bell’s parents were harsh. In fact it seems they’d been contributing to her lack of confidence all her life. A young woman who has spent four years resigned to being on the wallflower part of the ballroom, who then has the life kissed out of her in the gardens at a marriage fair, naively assumes that the cad will approach her father for her hand. She’s wrong and is left dangling. Not only dangling but ruined.
(I actually never knew that a wallflower is called that because of where they stand in relation to the dancing and why. That was illuminating. Oh, I surmised I knew, but Ridley gives a more coherent explanation than I’ve seen before.)
Of course Gladys assumes that Reuben Medford, heir presumptive to a viscount (apparently the ton’s most notorious rake) will approach her father. It is after all an annual May Day Fair Ball at MARRYWELL! A place where people who are looking for a spouse go!
When Gladys returns to the ballroom looking somewhat disheveled her fate is sealed. To compound her errors she refuses the suitor her parents have drummed up (who wants some land in Wales that’s part of her dowry). Gladys innocently supposed the man who kissed her loves her. She supposed wrong.
Her parents cast her off there and then, right at the hotel, leaving her with nothing. What must she do but turn to the streets. I can’t even begin to comprehend her distress and pain during this time. She’s a young woman without guile. I am appalled at her parents actions. I feel a great sympathy for the girlish young innocent, and Oh So Needy, Gladys!
As it is, she becomes a courtesan and some years later ends up wealthy enough to retire. (Call me a sceptic but that right there is a fairytale in itself. Highly unlikely, but I’ll accept it for the sake of the story.)
Then on to the rake (whom we’re told is really is a frightened little boy inside, frightened that all he touches will leave him, or die. Hence his inability to commit.)
Well here were are, back where Gladys life changed forever. It’s now five years later and Gladys has her chance for revenge for her young, foolish and innocent self. She returns to the scene of her shaming, the Marrywell Fair, take two. Gladys runs rings around Reuben. Although as the story progresses we see they really are alike. Both rather curl up with a book than dance the night away.
Their HEA takes a few more upsets but in the end, alls well that ends well.
There’s some amusing moments. If it wasn’t for my distress over Gladys and her parents actions I’d have had more reason to invest in the plot and I’d have given the book a higher rating. But, I don’t.
I was confused by Reuben who is likeable, but I didn’t buy him. I had sympathy for Gladys but the fairytale is just a bit too much for me. I’m having trouble accepting Gladys’ missing years.
Personally, I didn’t enjoy this story, although others obviously have. It just wasn’t for me.

A Webmotion ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher. ( )