A Beginner's Guide to Rakes [Mass Market Paperback]

I have no idea who named this book, but clearly that person never actually read the book. The heroine is a widow, and really quite familiar with rakes at this point in her life. So, please just ignore it altogether. Maybe it will make sense in the context of the coming series, but certainly not at this point.

The hero and heroine are both sharp and a little angry. He softens before she does, and spends much of the book essentially wooing her in his own way. Diane is working very hard to be her own woman in a world that doesn't really allow for it, so she's a bit tougher than your usual heroine, and she's a bit more bitter. We know the h/h have met before, but we don't get much insight into it in the beginning. As the past starts to be revealed, the hurt and anger Diane feels towards Oliver becomes clearer, and you understand why he has to make amends. I bought their HEA big time because they really seemed to work together.

All in all, it's a great beginning to a series, and I really can't wait to read Jenny's story (if it's ever told).

I suppose it's enough that the hero likes her, but one wonders exactly why that is. In the course of the story, she shoots him in the shoulder, throws a candelabra at him, insults him at every turn and is, in general, just barely civil to him. Well, they have a past that she's not happy about, so we're supposed to understand her somewhat shrewish behavior.

Widowed Diane Benchley, Countess of Cameron, had been married to an uncaring and gambling-addicted earl, who, when he died, left her nothing but heavy debt. She manages (not quite legally) to sell unentailed property to pay off all the debts and keeps one large mansion for herself, which she intends, for some reason, to turn into a gentlemen's gambling club, one to rival all existing clubs by being somewhat special. One of the unique aspects is that it will be staffed only by female employees. To staff this club, Diane places a want ad in the paper and is inundated with educated, good-looking job-seekers. Keep in mind, this is early 1800s England. The chance that she would have so very many fine applicants is highly suspect.

But whatever. Moving on to the remodeling of the mansion to convert it into a club, Diane doesn't have the money to do so, so Oliver, the Marquis of Haybury, is blackmailed into lending her the money and into giving advice on gambling club administrative issues and teaching the female employees about the games. They have maybe 5 weeks to learn about gambling, mind you, and how to run the games and watch out for improper behavior on the clients' part, etc. Fast learners all, apparently.

Now, how could Diane blackmail Oliver? Well, they have a past in Vienna, just shortly after her husband died. They had a 2-week affair and then Oliver takes off back to England without a word to her. Diane is royally upset about his running out on her and when she finds out some information about him which he would not like others to know, she decides to use it now to ensure his cooperation. It works because Oliver has a reputation as an honest gambler and doesn't want anything to muddy this.

To complicate issues further, Diane's ex-brother-in-law enters the picture. He's upset that so much unentailed property was left to Diane, rather than to him. He wants the mansion and is upset about its conversion to a gambling club. So you know he's going to cause problems.

Over the course of the book, you'll watch the club come into being, watch the evolution of the relationship between Diane and Oliver, and see how Diane and Oliver connive to counteract the problems with the brother-in-law. The way they resolve that issue is, IMO, not the most practical or logical, but at least it works for them.

For me, the plot's not all that great, but Enoch's writing is good and I enjoy the way she writes dialogue. She has a good ear for conversation, maybe not 1800s conversation, but then a reader should not expect realistic events and speech in an Enoch book, or, let's face it, in almost any paperback HRs. The banter is good, the romance develops nicely and Oliver is a great hero, with the possible negative that when he sees Diane for the first time since he ran out on her, he's not at all apologetic and he should have been. She is being a horrible b#tch at the same time, so neither one is at their best. But in their interactions with each other in the here and now, Oliver wins hands down in the niceness department. The heroine's behavior and the not-so-plausible plot make this a 3-star book for me.

I am a huge fan of Ms. Enoch, and i started reading this, expecting to love it like I have many of her earlier books. But from the beginning, this plot sounded like something I'd read before, with a woman opening up her own gambling/ gentleman's club. In this story, this woman is bitter and angry from a past relationship with the hero. Which would not be so bad if she hadn't held on to this anger, and bitterness through almost the whole way through, up to the last chapter! The hero of the story, Oliver, hurt her two years ago, after a brief affair that lasted two weeks. Because of this, she seems to hate the whole male race and is determined to live her life to only benefit herself. Which, she doesn't really, since she hires all these disgraced society girls to work in her club.

The amount of bitterness she has doesn't seem equal to the affair. (at one point she actually shoots him in the arm after he tries to kiss her) She was a new widow and he was a known rake, and he'd singled her out after the first night he met her and slept with her... And she expected him to marry her?

Anyway, she blackmails him into helping her, and he does. In the process of course, he begins to examine his own feelings and admits to himself that he left her, because he had feelings for her that scared him. He is so sweet to her, and time after time after time... Literally... She insults him and tries to put him in his place. Which apparently was under her foot!

In a way, it was reminiscent Tristan and Georgiana in The Rake, except Georgiana let go of her bitterness early so the story was more enjoyable.

Then in the mix of all this antagonism between the hero and heroine, there was the brother in law of Diane who was determined to get the house (where the club was located in) from her that was supposedly willed to her by her late husband. I say supposedly, because she'd actually forged this will that left her the house. It was the way this was all neatly wrapped up that was the problem. I just expected something different... BETTER... From Ms. Enoch.

The saving graces in this novel was Oliver the hero, who Wasn't afraid to examine his feelings and bless his heart for putting up with Diana and her constant bitter insults...also liked the intriguing glimpse of the duke of Greaves we meet briefly. I hope he'll be
featured In His own novel.

Even though I didn't enjoy this novel as I have her earlier works, I will continue to be a fan. Ms. Enoch is a wonderful author and if the sample chapter of her next book found in the back of the book is anything to go by, it should be a hit.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 23 reviews  3.4 out of 5 stars