A review by itsnotalakeitsanocean
A Rake of His Own by A.J. Lancaster

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As a disclaimer I have not read the rest of the Stariel series as I was informed this book could be read as a standalone. To an extent I agree, but I do think I was missing some context for certain things but that was purely my fault for jumping in here. Also some of the content warnings I included reflected what the author put in the content warning included in the book.

I really enjoyed this book and genuinely got kind of sad when it ended (which is rare for me) because I grew to like the characters a lot. I think my only complaints were:

  • It was set up to be a murder mystery with the main pair solving a crime. Though they did do it, I think a lot of the plot meandered away from the murder mystery and I would have liked to have seen them do more investigative work because it was really fun seeing the magical world being explored that way. Like a lot of people I also found the murderer to be a bit predictable.
  • I think the jump from terse-working-relationship-with-an-old-flame-that-spurned-me to friends with benefits was a bit steep, though I do think the journey from friends with benefits to lovers was a lot more nuanced and better plotted out.
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