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A review by laurenjodi
Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas
4.0
Cold-Hearted Rake
4 Stars
When a distant cousin falls to his death days after his marriage, Devon Ravenel is saddled not only with an Earldom he has not desire to hold, but an estate riddled with debt, three young cousins and a beautiful widow to boot. Lady Kathleen Treaner takes an instant dislike to the new Earl, but finds it virtually impossible to resist his rakish charm and the devastating way he makes her feel. Can these two opposites find any common ground for the sake of those who need them?
Learning that Lisa Kleypas was returning to her tried and true genre of historical romance was one of the highlights of my reading year and on the whole, she does not disappoint.
Her writing is as smooth and engaging as ever, and Kathleen and Devon’s love/hate relationship is entertaining despite their bickering and minor angst.
The secondary characters are fleshed out well, especially Devon’s brother West and the Ravenel cousins. The twins are particularly charming, and the introduction to Helen and Rhy’s romance is excellent and has me eager to read their story - I love a good tortured hero and Rhys is shaping into one of the best.
Now for the problems, which although minor, do detract somewhat from the story.
First is the fact that Kathleen and Devon’s characters are woefully underdeveloped. Their personal back stories are virtually non-existent and this is particularly lacking when one takes their interactions into account. Much could have been explained with some details about their childhood years.
Second is a glaring factual error that could have been easily remedied with a little research, i.e., the fact that. Perhaps it is the teacher in me, but it is extremely annoying when an author makes an error of this type.
Nevertheless, it was well worth the wait for Kleypas’s return to the genre and the next book can’t come soon enough.
4 Stars
When a distant cousin falls to his death days after his marriage, Devon Ravenel is saddled not only with an Earldom he has not desire to hold, but an estate riddled with debt, three young cousins and a beautiful widow to boot. Lady Kathleen Treaner takes an instant dislike to the new Earl, but finds it virtually impossible to resist his rakish charm and the devastating way he makes her feel. Can these two opposites find any common ground for the sake of those who need them?
Learning that Lisa Kleypas was returning to her tried and true genre of historical romance was one of the highlights of my reading year and on the whole, she does not disappoint.
Her writing is as smooth and engaging as ever, and Kathleen and Devon’s love/hate relationship is entertaining despite their bickering and minor angst.
The secondary characters are fleshed out well, especially Devon’s brother West and the Ravenel cousins. The twins are particularly charming, and the introduction to Helen and Rhy’s romance is excellent and has me eager to read their story - I love a good tortured hero and Rhys is shaping into one of the best.
Now for the problems, which although minor, do detract somewhat from the story.
First is the fact that Kathleen and Devon’s characters are woefully underdeveloped. Their personal back stories are virtually non-existent and this is particularly lacking when one takes their interactions into account. Much could have been explained with some details about their childhood years.
Second is a glaring factual error that could have been easily remedied with a little research, i.e., the fact that
Spoiler
according to the text, Helen is the only sibling named after a mortal from Greek myth when both Casandra and Pandora are also mortals and there is no Theo in Greek mythologyNevertheless, it was well worth the wait for Kleypas’s return to the genre and the next book can’t come soon enough.