I love a regency romance as much as the next gal and I did enjoy the romance. Who doesn't love a reformed rake plot? I just wish it hadn't taken a near-death experience for him to change his ways.

I love a good regency romance and this is up there with the best of them. This is the second Gillian Hawser book I have read and I enjoyed it just as much as the first. Throughly recommended!

A well-written, if a bit too sweet (for me) romance novel. I think that this one would suit fans of Georgette Heyer quite well!

Regency romance as a genre was more or less invented by the late, great Georgette Heyer in 1935. For many years there was a flurry of activity as numerous writers tried to imitate her quality and style but more recently the genre has almost been in mothballs. Now, like manna from heaven, Gillian Hawser has written with quality and skill a poignant story that captures the mannerisms of 1812 perfectly. The author clearly knows a thing or two about Regency England and puts them to good use here. A splendid novel.

The Rake is a regency romance about a guy named Lord Jaspar Heddington. He is rich, charming, and a bit of a rake. After he seduces a woman named Laura he is sent away by his sister. While away he is shot and left for dead. The experience changes him into a caring man. I thought the characters were very well-written and the setting was great. I did find it very slow in spots and found myself skimming through them. However, the writing is fantastic, this author knows how to tell a good story.

A lovely, sweet and warm hearted read. I really did enjoy reading and watching the characters change and evolve over the course of the book. Supported by a wonderful cast of characters- I had a delight reading this!

Jaspar is (supposedly) an incurable rake, known for seducing and abandoning ladies, and when he meets young Laura, he acts entirely within character towards her, seduces her and then abandons her. But his life is turned upside down when a mysterious woman accosts him in an inn and shoots him. Surviving this attack, he begins to think differently about what truly matters - and then he comes into contact once again with the woman who shot him, and finds out who she is and why she did what she did.

It was quite an entertaining story but I never really warmed to any of the characters, particularly not the women. I felt as if the author had to tell us constantly what they were thinking and why they were doing what they were doing, because we never got to know them well enough to know their motivations. The romance between the two main characters was unconvincing and as I hadn't warmed to them, I wasn't rooting for them to succeed.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

I thought the premise of this book was good. It was very abnormal to have a gentleman hook up with an innocent, and not try and marry her. I think it's great that it went in a different direction than normal, but it is also quite off-putting for the die hard romance fans. That was the first hurdle the reader must make it over.
The story is very choppy. I would say this is the second hurdle for a reader. The story jumped around and abruptly ended at times. Most of the time, it was easy enough to understand the closure, but it did make me pause every time it happened which slowed me down.
The next hurdle would be the various characters and story lines outside of the main story. These made following the main story more difficult. I do not mind extra characters and story lines, they just need to propel the main story in order for it to be a good addition. At times, I felt like I was missing a previous book with backstory to understand characters, ie the friend with one arm and his love interest. A couple of authors who have done entwined stories are Mary Balogh with the Survivor series, or Eloisa James with the Desperate Duchesses series. These authors have a tendency to have a lot of characters to keep track of, but the extra people build up the story more than just being included for fluff. Along the same lines, because of these extra stories, I had the hardest and longest time figuring out who the end heroine was. Between Grizelda, Netta, Aurelia, who knew where the story was going, which is not the romance norm. I would have liked to know sooner who I should be falling in love with. One last note on characters, using Nellie and Netta was pretty confusing since they are so close to the same. Also, using first names when the character has only been mentioned by last name previously was difficult, this happened with the fired chaperone.
I did enjoy how the story made a full circle with the main character going from being a villian to redemption to hero. I also really liked the time references throughout to help me know that it took more than a week for this change to happen and for the two main characters to fall in love. I like how Jasper was able to clean up his mess with Laura along with making himself better. I love that the story wasn’t too angsty. I would have loved to have seen Netta and the doctor fall in love rather than Netta being a crazy person in the end.

Overall, it was an enjoyable story, just difficult to get through reading it.

I saw mention of The Arranged Marriage in one review, I couldn't figure out if The Rake came before The Arranged Marriage or after. It would be helpful if it was more clear on Goodreads which book to read first.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the free copy via Netgally in exchange for a review.

The Rake is a ridiculous romp. Lord Jasper is a rich, spoiled but importantly extremely charming rake who spends his time living large and seducing who ever takes his fancy but he goes too far when he charms and deflowers Laura Ludgrove the teenage beauty of the season. His sister tells him to leave until the furore dies down but on his journey he comes across a beautiful but deadly woman who shoots him for no apparent reason. After his brush with death Jasper is back in town and back in society only to find his femme fatale across a crowed ballroom.
This is completely ridiculous but throughly enjoyable. What I like about these books is that they don’t try to shoehorn modern values into history, they are in a weird way of their time. Jasper’s behaviour is despicable and should in no way be condoned or unpunished which makes his happy ending somewhat questionable especially as Laura’s character is denigrated later in the book to sort of make it ok. It isn’t. All of it is completely outrageous and soapy anyway that that is the least of the drama. It is a lot of fun.

Full disclosure - I could not finish this book. I tried, I picked it up multiple times with a "no quitters" attitude, but just could not do it. I found that (pretty much right from the start) I hated every single character in it - even characters I had liked in The Arranged Marriage I ended up really disliking.

The Rake of the title is just a sleazy man who preys on naive young girls. I realize that age differences weren't much of a problem in the time period in which this takes place, but in 2021 I really don't want to read about a guy who (I'm assuming) is in his mid to late 20s going after teenage girls. In most novels taking place in this time period the rakes have tons of affairs, but always with women who are experienced and know what they are getting into (mistresses, married women, widows, etc). That is not the case in this book. Jaspar purposely seeks out young girls he knows he can seduce and who won't see it coming. Within the first couple of pages it points out that he has ruined the lives and reputations of countless young women who are then turned out by their families and have to resort to prostitution. His behavior with Laura in the early chapters pretty much shows what a horrible human being he is. He pursues her with the intent of seducing her, he knows that she is naive as he often refers to her as "stupid", and then after he gets what he wants he pretty much tells her that he didn't do anything wrong and she seduced him (apparently he's really good at gaslighting young women as well). The only reason he wants to change his behavior is because the author needed him to for this book to happen. His sudden change in attitude pretty much comes out of nowhere (the getting shot part is pretty weak) and is immediately called in to question when he believes Laura & Grizelda should be grateful for what he is doing in order to spare them any scandal (which he could have prevented by not pursuing Laura in first place) which shows he still takes no responsibility for his own behaviors. And this is shortly after he was bragging about some of his past conquests - a real class act, this guy. Perhaps this all changes in later chapters and he does become a better person in a believable way, but I just didn't care. And why should he get to have a happy life when he ruined so many young women who will never get that kind of opportunity?

Grizelda I could have liked, but she immediately ruined that chance when she decides that maybe Laura was partly to blame, after all Jaspar is so handsome and her sister is rather "silly". Definitely no sister code here. As we quickly learn Laura has not learned anything from what happened with Jaspar - I truly believe the author did this so we would not see Jaspar in such a bad light for what happened. If Laura is the kind of girl who is always seeking out male attention maybe it was her fault for what occurred between her and Jaspar.

I also hated every single supporting character because they all just enabled Jaspar's behavior. His sister took a 'yes, he treats women terribly, but what can I do?' - oh, I don't know, maybe tell him you want see him and he can't come near your kids until he changes his ways? Also, who was Laura & Grizelda's mother that the women she would choose for the godmothers to her daughters would have any sort of relationship with Jaspar and allow them to spend time with him? Seriously, I was beginning to think this author hated women by how incredibly dumb she made all of them!

As I said at the beginning, I probably only made it about 1/4 of the way through the book (which is probably way too long to begin with) before I just couldn't do it anymore. These characters are all horrible and poorly crafted, as is the plot.

This was a book with a difference as the heroine shoots the potential hero. Now it seems that in his recovery from this wound the Rake turns his life about. At this pint I suspended disbelief as it was all a it too pat. I doubt that his behaviour could do this so quickly but...
Anyway, a nice read with a happy ending with some good vocabulary and idioms included.

This book was a pleasant surprise, not high on steam (mostly closed-door) but has supremely entertaining characters and story. Lord Jaspar Heddington is a terrible rake and human being that seduces the innocent country girl Laura. When he abandons her, Grizelda, Laura's sister decides to take revenge and shoot him. This sort of begins Jaspar's transformation when he finds himself falling for his attacker. Drawn to each other, Jaspar slowly begins to reform, and Grizelda begins to see him in a different light when he helps reform Laura's reputation. I also really loved how the story wrapped up, it was really cute.

I loved this story. I found Jaspar's redemption journey to be well-told. When the book starts, he's sort of this terrible character and as he finds himself drawn to wild Grizelda, he wants to be a better man. There's a couple of misunderstandings that move the story forward instead of hindering it. I found myself just really liking both characters and invested in their HEA.

While this book is low on steam, it doesn't deter the tension and attraction between the characters. I am excited to read more books from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Author and the Publisher with providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

After reading another book by the author, I went into this book a little sceptical. I wasn't sure whether I was going to have more luck with this book. However, the premise of this book appealed to me more, with it including some of my favourite tropes.

I liked this book a bit more than the previous one I read by the author, but it still wasn't my favourite. I found the pacing of the book a little slow for my personal tastes, which impacted on my enjoyment of my book. However, I still loved the author's writing style; she writes about the settings vividly, so it feels like you are watching a major show when you are reading it.

I read this after reading Hawser’s other novel and I really enjoyed it! A decent length means each character and storyline gets a good chunk of time spent on it. Yes it’s a romantic period drama, so if that’s not your thing then stay away. But for fans of Bridgerton it’s a great read. Grizelda was very likeable, even if her sister was rather infuriating!
I’ll be adding the author to my list of those to follow and eagerly await the next novel!

I couldn't get into the book. Got about 43% into it but I felt like the book didn't flow nicely. Characters were brought into the story, POV changed without any kind obvious change in character POV. Plainly put, I wasn't a fan of the writing and I wasn't enthralled with the plot.

An intriguing beginning, but I had to put it down. My copy kept skipping the first few pages of each chapter and i felt like i was missing quite a bit of information. It was quite vexing. But I loved the authors other novel the Arranged Marriage. I will be sure to pick up a hard copy when it comes out to enjoy it in its entirety.

I don’t generally begin reading a book intending to dislike it, however I will say that I struggled with liking the main character, Jasper, from the start of this novel. I still question why I read an entire novel about a privileged, titled man who treats people rather terribly, makes terrible decisions, and ultimately ruins a young girl’s life. What truly floored me is how the narrative places the blame on the young girl, all those around her, and generally everyone else except Jasper it seems. He’s too charismatic apparently to be blamed for anything. Then, just when I thought he was getting a redemption arc and maybe I would start to like him, he goes through a minor shift where he only tries to help others in order to get the woman he wants, ironically enough, the sister of the young girl whose life he ruined. I think it’s safe to say, I was less than thrilled with the narrative. While I fully understand that all of these things more than likely happened during this time period and honestly this story is probably more historically accurate than many regency romances I’ve read, I also think we need to recognize that we live in a modern age where this narrative -- namely the objectification of women, gaslighting, slut-shaming, women shaming women, etc. -- is not the name of the game anymore and quite honestly, it’s not what I want to read about.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for this honest review.

Plot: I think we are at a point in time where, while historical accuracy is important, it is also important to craft a narrative that empowers women, and doesn’t diminish or objectify them and/or provide them with a poor example for the male/female dynamic. I don’t like how the plot seemed to diminish women, quite often, while empowering men and almost feeding into the “boys club” that is still so prominent in our society today.
Writing: I actually did enjoy the writing style. I liked the vocabulary choices and enjoyed the flow of the writing.
Character Development: The characters were, for me, hard to like. The men were arrogant (not in a good way), privileged, and entitled, while the women were meek and wanting, while also constantly degrading one another. Sure, Grizelda stands up for her sister, and props to her for that, but that seems to be the only bit of feminine support throughout the whole novel.
Dialogue: The dialogue was appropriate given the era and it did flow. I never questioned if the dialogue sounded like something someone would actually say.
Scenes: This is a multi-pov novel and at some points, the transitions from one perspective, as they were not denoted, were a bit jarring. It took some getting used to, however I found I did enjoy having so many povs overall.
Other Notes: In general, I don’t like the overarching message of this novel, or the lessons I think it seeks to teach women of any/all ages. This novel was also entirely too long for what it was.

The author is new to me, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up.
I found this to be a nice story about redemption, set in the Regency time period. It was ineresting to see the growth of Jasper from rake to a genuinely caring man. He starts out as a rake of the worst kind, seducing and bedding really any woman, even innocents. One time even his sister thinks he goes to far, and sends him off to the country to avoid scandal. On his journey there he is shot by a beautiful redheaded woman and is gravely injured. Having this near death experience he begins to see life differently and realizes he needs to change his ways. He tries to search for the shooter and in the process realizes that he wants to marry and have a family. He goes back to London and doesn't give up the search for the mysterious lady, and he eventually finds her. This story was an enemies to lover story of sorts and it was quite entertaining to read. I was a bit disappointed that the story was told in 3rd person, as I like reading the character's point of view, but the story was still enjoyable. I would like to read more by this author in the future.

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I am a sucker for a good Duke romance and this one was lovely. I highly recommend all the books by this author which I have enjoyed immensely.

I was attracted to the description of the story and the cover, but I’m afraid I really struggled with the story itself. The Rake, Jaspar was just too unlikeable and his character did not win me over I’m afraid. I really struggled to finish the story as it seemed a bit too meandering, but thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a review copy.