A Dozen Rakes to Add to Your TBR: Historical Romance Book Round Up

The Notorious Rake by Mary Balogh (1992)

This one got recommended to me a couple of times by different folks on Instagram. It’s an older historical romance with a bang of a set up. Quite literally. Our two main characters are at the gardens with their friends, total opposites, and get stuck in a thunderstorm while out on a walk together. The lady is absolutely terrified of storms due to a past experience where a tent next to her was struck by lightning and four men were killed, so she inevitably has a panic attack. Our two people have found shelter in a covered picnic area and the gentleman distracts her from the panic by kissing her… and then proceeds to have sex with her. I’m not quite sure that a lady having a panic attack counts as consent in any instance, but this was written in the early 1990s, so let’s suspend disbelief for a second. This is all like the first chapter of the book, and then when the storm eases, he brings her to his mistress den and they do it again (with verbal consent this time). And then he proceeds to spend the rest of the book pursuing her, even though she just wants to say “Thank you, sir, see you again never.” Further on, there’s backstory of how he turned into a rake and it’s actually really sad and it made me really feel for the guy… so aside from the crazypants beginning, it’ll give you all the classic Balogh feels.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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To All the Rakes I’ve Loved Before by Anne Barton (2013)

Historical romance, Regency-era England. Book 1.5 of the Honeycotes series. Novella connected to the Honeycotes, but can be read as standalone. Amelia is the daughter of a tradesperson who hides away at home after a huge embarrassment years ago at a ball. The man she was courting had eloped with someone else, and now is at her home, bringing in tow his injured friend. The friend, Stephen, had shown Amelia kindness in those trying days and now needs some nursing back to health. As a novella, this one was a pretty quick read with a very quick falling in love, but it was fun to read. I adore a cute sickbed romance.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

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And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake by Elizabeth Boyle (2013)

Book 2 of the Rhymes with Love series. Daphne answers a newspaper ad for a wife just to complain about how awful it is. Henry responds to Daphne’s letters since they’re argumentative and intriguing. Both are using false names and don’t know that the person they’re writing to is a family enemy. When they make plans to meet, they are confronted with the person that they really should be avoiding. But somehow, it gets turned into these two seemingly run away together.

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A Rake’s Guide To Pleasure by Victoria Dahl (2009)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Somerhart series. Emma is an orphan who is posing as a widowed baroness to gamble her way through London before the Season begins. She’s trying to save up enough money to escape to a seaside cottage and support herself and her maid. With her scandalous gambling, she’s caught the attention of Hart, who is a stern and serious duke with a history of debauched behavior. He insists that she’ll become his mistress, but she is hesitant and shy about it. There’s a lot of chasing each other and bickering in this story, and it seems like Hart is mostly just a distraction from Emma’s real goals. He does sort of ultimately redeem himself, but it’s a long and humbling road for him.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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The Spinster and the Rake by Eva Devon (2021)

Book 1 of the Never a Wallflower series. Georgiana is hiding out in a library during a house party and gets caught there by Edward. Not realizing he’s a duke, they bicker, they kiss, and they get caught. Now they need to get married, but Georgiana has no idea how to be a duchess, so Edward’s family assists with that. I actually don’t know that the guy is a rake necessarily, but this one is a pretty easy, low-angst read.

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Rakes and Radishes by Susanna Ives (2010)

Historical romance, Regency era England. Standalone novel. Henrietta is a fanciful, foolish, and selfish girl. She basically hates the small village that she grew up in and longs for a life in London and a love like she reads in her gothic novels. When she finds out that her not-quite-betrothed is nearly betrothed to the diamond of the Season in London, she recruits her farmer neighbor best friend (the Earl of Kesseley, who is in love with her and was previously rejected) to wash up, dress better, and seduce the girl away from her beloved. Can she get any more cruel? Somehow, they all find their way to London, and there’s a back and forth of Kesseley and Henrietta fighting their feelings and fighting with each other, to the point where Kesseley is fed up and snaps. He goes to fix his clothes and hair as recommended and sets out to rake his way through London. By this point, Henrietta has realized her feelings for Kesseley, but it’s too little, too late, as he’s been heartbroken and now risen up as a terrible person. There’s drama with his mother and her past love going on in the background, plus whatever happened with Henrietta’s first love. I enjoyed the book overall, but I’ve had enough of spoiled overreaching female main characters for awhile.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas (2015)

Book 1 of Ravenels Series. Devon Ravenel has inherited an earldom when his cousin Theo dies after being thrown from a horse. He finds his inherited estate in massive debt, along with three cousins with no dowries and Theo’s widow, Kathleen. Devon and Kathleen clash over what to do about the estate, the tenants, and Theo’s sisters (Helen, Pandora, and Cassandra – who all get their own novels later on). We get to learn about Kathleen and Theo’s previous relationship (he died when they were only married for 3 days), Devon’s history as a rake, his equally indolent brother West, and see the two hot-tempered leads find their way to each other, even though Kathleen is supposed to still be mourning her dead husband.

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Only Rakes Would Dare by Charlie Lane (2022)

Book 5 of the Debutante Dares series. Childhood friends meet again and strike a deal for a fake engagement. Griffin is avoiding passion and emotions at all cost to prevent himself from turning into his rake-ish father and late brother. Edith is licking her wounds after disastrously trying and failing to compromise another lord. She is much too emotional and spirited to suit Griffin, but he feels his ice walls melting around her. And since he’s the only male in her life to treat her with any kindness and respect, she’s at too much risk of falling in unrequited love (again). Being pushed to marry others by their fathers, they strike a bargain for a fake engagement. Until they realize their feelings cannot be ignored. Super sweet book and I love how Griffin comes to Edith’s defense.

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My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Union of the Rakes series. Lady Grace is a bookish researcher interested in reptiles and amphibians, but unfortunately, the gentlemen of the ton are not interested in her as marriageable material. In order to catch the attention of her long-time crush, she recruits her bookish friend Sebastian to play the part of a rake and pay her court. Shy and awkward Sebastian is willing to go along with it to help Grace, but struggles with crowds and strange people. Of course, as these two spend more time together, they realize their feelings run deeper than friendship (but each thinks the other person is only interested in being friends). It’s just a bad case of both being complete cowards and unwilling to communicate what they really want.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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The Rake of Tamarix Hall by Georgina North (2023)

Historical romance. Regency England. Standalone novel. So this one is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers type of romance with an awkward first meeting. Lucius is a new marquess and on his way to his new estate, he stops in town, and already hears gossip about how horrible the old marquess is and how the new one can’t possibly be better. Of course he finds that a pretty young lady Cressida and her sister are the ones gossiping, and they most definitely get off on the wrong foot when the ladies discover who he is. The first half of the book moves pretty slowly with getting to know the family dynamics of each of our characters: Lucius has a reputation as a rake in London, but he seems to care about his tenants at his new estate; Cressida has an abusive father and three sisters who have been neglected and not considered out in society, despite their ages, plus a shady history with the previous heir to the marquessate. These two argue and bicker every time they encounter each other, until finally, they’re caught in a room together and need to marry to save both their reputations. From there, we have more arguments and misunderstandings with tons of emotional angst. Despite the slow start to the book, when you realize Lucius and Cressida are both emotionally invested in the status of their relationship, so are you.

Advance ebook provided by BooksGoSocial via NetGalley.

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Falling for a Rake by Eve Pendle (2019)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Fallen series. We start with a prim and proper lady who hunts for ferns and a rake of a man following her through the woods and trying to flirt with her, even as she politely puts him off. And then they fall down an abandoned mine and get stuck there overnight. Well, now that they’re basically ruined, they need to marry. But both of them have secrets from the past and neither are exactly what they seem. Lady Emily, daughter of a duke, has been engaged before, but her fiancee had died in a hunting accident, so now Emily doesn’t participate in any physically strenuous activities and only hunts ferns and not foxes. But there’s something more to the story there because she keeps having nightmares about her ex-fiancee. The rakish earl Oscar has admitted the worst of himself to Emily: that he has dallied with the younger sister of a woman he was courting, got her with child, and refused to marry her. The young lady and their illegitimate daughter now live in the country and he is not part of their lives. But he’s also not exactly the rake that he seems to play in the world; he’s kind and caring of Emily and doesn’t actually take advantage of her when they’re trapped together. This book had a lot of interesting reveals of Emily and Oscar’s pasts, presents, and learning to accept each other for who they are. And there’s a meddlesome anonymous gossip writer adding to the drama.

Ebook purchased from Amazon.

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Taming the Rake by Erica Ridley (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Lords in Love series. Gladys the wallflower is at the Marrywell Matchmaking Festival for the fourth time and needs to find a marriage match before her dowry is given to her delightful younger sister. She finds herself kissed in a garden and expected a proposal from the handsome gentleman, but he never shows up, and she was spotted in a disheveled state, so now she’s publicly ruined as well. Her family cuts her off completely and she has to survive on her own. Five years later, she returns to Marrywell to find the man who ruined her and seek revenge. But he’s a lot less rakish than he seemed before and Gladys is at risk of falling in love. I really enjoyed Gladys’ transformation to a confident woman and the development of her relationship with Reuben.

Advance ebook provided by Erica Ridley via NetGalley.

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