Lisa Kleypas is back with a stunning new historical romance!
Readers have long waited for the return of New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas to historical romance—and now she’s back with her most breathtaking yet.
A twist of fate . . .
Devon Ravenel, London’s most wickedly charming rake, has just inherited an earldom. But his powerful new rank in society comes with unwanted … society comes with unwanted responsibilities . . . and more than a few surprises. His estate is saddled with debt, and the late earl’s three innocent sisters are still occupying the house . . . along with Kathleen, Lady Trenear, a beautiful young widow whose sharp wit and determination are a match for Devon’s own.
A clash of wills . . .
Kathleen knows better than to trust a ruthless scoundrel like Devon. But the fiery attraction between them is impossible to deny—and from the first moment Devon holds her in his arms, he vows to do whatever it takes to possess her. As Kathleen finds herself yielding to his skillfully erotic seduction, only one question remains:
Can she keep from surrendering her heart to the most dangerous man she’s ever known?
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I loved it!
Lisa Kleypas is an auto-buy for me. She never disappoints and I devoured this one in one sitting. A must read for the historical romance fan!
I’ve been hooked on Lisa Kleypas’ romances for years but only recently discovered this newer set of historicals. To say I’m addicted would be an understatement! Kleypas handles historical romance with a light hand, making the characters relatable without falling into tired cliches and bodice-ripping. Her female characters are spunky and smart, and her heroes are just strong enough to be swoon-worthy without being overbearing. LOVE this series . . . and this one in particular!
I have to admit, I did not like the hero of this book at the very beginning. In fact, I wanted to plant him a facer, in Regency speak, but it occurred to me in the moment I was about to toss the book across the room that Mrs. Kleypas had done what she set out to superbly. She had wanted to create a story about a cold-hearted rake, and she did it! I am so very glad I kept my anger at the hero in check and kept turning the pages! Truth be told, I was too invested in the story by then, though I wanted to wrap the hero’s cravat around his handsome neck and maybe tug it tight to give him a wake up call.
No need for my intervention, darling readers! Mrs. Kleypas came through brilliantly, as she always seems to do, and created real, three dimensional characters who had a full story arc.
I loved the story, and in the end, well, truly before then, I loved Devon. The chemistry was sizzling, the attention to detail was astounding, and the cast of secondary characters was both meaningful and important to the story. I look forward to reading the next book in the series!
Once again Mary Jane Wells does a fantastic job of the audio version of this story. Lisa Kleypas is always meticulous in her historical research and this lovely story is no exception. Wonderful
Love it!!
What a great story author Lisa Kleypas has an exceptional way of telling a story. This book makes you understand what rules were followed in the historical era. Sometimes it’s better to live by your own rules and be happy.
This is a great story because each character works hard to help their family. They grow as a family their love for each is more important than social standings. They accept and follow their hearts and find happiness that’s what makes this author writing so special.
DNF 53%
Sadly, this book just didn’t work for me. Kathleen and Devon don’t really have a lot of chemistry in my opinion and they barely spend any time together until halfway through the book. She spends more time with his brother West. Also Kathleen is kind of annoying. Her constant need to appear proper in her mourning quickly got old, especially considering she didn’t even like her husband.
I am sad that my second Kleypas book did not work for me but I will still give her another chance.
Devon Ravenel is happy with his life as a carefree rake with no responsibilities. So, when he inherits an earldom with a crumbling estate and crippling debt, his first thought is to sell off as much as possible. But he also must deal with his late cousin’s three young sisters and his lovely widow, Kathleen, Lady Trenear, whose backbone gives Devon an unexpected challenge.
Kathleen may be rather sheltered, but she knows she can’t trust the rakish Devon. Beneath their mutual animosity lies a simmering attraction neither can deny and when Devon finally gets Kathleen in his bed, he knows he must make her his. Kathleen gives in to him, but only so much; she knows the danger he poses to her heart and convincing her to trust him will be no easy feat for Devon.
Lately I’ve been working my way through the backlists of some of my favorite authors on audio. I’ve heard great things about this one and had high hopes, but I must say it was a bit flat. I enjoyed the supporting characters, especially the scenes we got between Helen and Rhys, but the romance between Devon and Kathleen never much manifested for me. Devon showed a tremendous amount of growth and character development, which I loved, but his honesty with Kathleen came very late in the book after my interest had already moved on to the relationship between Helen and Rhys. This just made Kathleen annoying to me as she continued to meddle, albeit good-naturedly, in Helen’s life without ever asking her what she wanted. I know this will all be unpacked in the next book but after Kathleen’s nagging and bleating on about propriety throughout this whole book, she was on my nerves too much for me to really be invested in her HEA with Devon. The sniping between Kathleen and Devon was never very charming to me, especially given they didn’t have much interaction that didn’t involve them being at each other’s throats or succumbing to their mutual desire. Neither really understood the other, but in the end, Devon showed growth and a willingness to communicate that Kathleen never exhibited and though I enjoyed them being flawed and having issues to work through, only one of them seemed to ever do any of that work and the romance suffered.
Overall, Kathleen and Devon spent too much time apart and other characters drew my attention more. I look forward to Rhys and Helen’s story but this one was sadly disappointing. I think the set up for the series and its characters worked, especially the growth and development of Devon and West, both as brothers and as individuals, but Kathleen learned nothing and I expect she’ll continue to annoy me with her presumption in the next book.
Blog link: https://mustreadalltheromance.blogspot.com/2021/03/cold-hearted-rake-by-lisa-kleypas-audio.html
Good start to the series. My favorite two books in this series were Marrying Winterbourne and Chasing Cassandra. They’re probably my all time favorites.
“I know many scientific facts about the human heart–not the least of which is that it’s far easier to make a heart stop beating entirely than to keep it from loving the wrong person.”
The lovely writing and endearing characters of Cold-Hearted Rake made for a delightful historical romance and a promising start to the Ravenels series.
Devon Ravenel is a rake. He avoids responsibility and lives in London sampling the pleasures of life. When a cousin of his dies in a sudden accident just days after getting married, Devon leaves for Hampshire to deal with everything he left behind. Devon has no intention of giving up his selfish ways and taking on the burden of being the new Lord Trenear. He’s surprised by his cousin’s widow, a beautiful young woman audacious enough to call him out and challenge him. Despite a consuming attraction, Kathleen is still in mourning and Devon will never marry. Although the two seem incompatible and are held back by their own ideals, they are drawn to one another inexplicably.
“If I have to wait sixty years, not a minute will have been wasted–because I’ll have spent all of them loving you.”
I liked Kathleen as a character. She has a very kind heart. These two shake each other up and bring out the best in one another. Devon gives her wildness and color and Kathleen shows him the power of love and the joy in helping others.
Devon, a handsome and charming rake, inherits an earldom that puts him at odds with the late earls’ wife (of three days) Kathleen. Kathleen doesn’t trust him and his plans for the estate but she can’t deny their amazing chemistry and her pull toward him. u2063
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I loved these two as a couple! When Kathleen finally gives in to her attraction to him, the sparks fly! There’s nothing like watching a man fall in love with a woman and knowing he has no idea! All the little looks and thoughts Devon had along the way were the perfect little seeds to watch grow!u2063
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The secondary story to set up Helen’s book was a nice addition and I’m looking forward to reading about her!u2063
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It’s been a while since I read a regency romance and I truly forgot how much I enjoy them! u2063
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One of my favorite authors.
The beginning of the Ravenel’s series, it introduces us to a new, quirky family. Her ability to create characters and families you’d want to be a part of is one of the things I adore about Kleypas. Once you finish this book, you’ll want all the rest.
Lisa Kleypas books are always magical!
Where has Devon Ravenel been my entire life?
Cold Hearted Rake is a story about duty, love, and breaking all the rules society in order to find true happiness.
Having never read a true historical romance I decided to give this book a shot based on the recommendation of a few people and I was not disappointed. I was worried that reading something set during this time period would be dull and lack any heat between the characters, but Devon and Kathleen’s love hate relationship drew me in from the very beginning.
The entire Ravenel family captured my heart leaving me wanting to know more about them and how they discover their happily ever afters.
I can’t wait to see what else Kleypas has in store for the remainder of the series.
COLD-HEARTED RAKE is a standalone read with a happy ending. There are sexy scenes if that is an issue for you. Since he is a RAKE you can imagine there will be sexy scenes that are really good. Set in Hampshire, England late 1875. The new Earl, Devon Revenel, 28 is at the ancestral home, Eversby Priory. It is falling apart around his feet. He has inherited a title and a pile of debt. Living in London and never doing a day’s work in his life, he suddenly finds himself responsible for a 100 tenants, a widow and three sisters. His cousin, the recently past earl, killed himself when he fell off a horse and broke his neck. He was drunk at the time. Not unusual for him. The widow belonged to his cousin. They have butt heads from the time they met. Devon and his cousin never got along so it was not surprising he was not invited to the wedding so he is meeting the widow for the first time. The sisters to the dead earl are Helen, twins 19 year old wild girls. Raised totally in the country they have no ideas of the ways of the ton. Kathleen, the widow, has done her best with the girls in the short time they have known each other. She did not really know her husband either. They had met 6 months ago, then married and 3 days later she was a widow.
She had a rather tragic upbringing so it has left her with somewhat of a sharp tongue and little information on the relationship between a man and a woman. She is still a virgin. There is a story there.
Devon, being a rake, has no intentions of taking on all the responsibility. He plans to sell everything and walk away. That is until he is told he cannot.
This is a GREAT story. I loved it. Devon is somewhat of a stinker to start but you will quickly begin to fall for him. Helen is to be married off first. There is no money for a season or to find a good husband preferably with money. Mr. Winterbourne is introduced. I had already read his story. Another GREAT story and a great hero. It seems Ms. Kleypas can’t write a bad book. Highly recommend this one as well as Mr. Winterbourne. Great reads of historical England.
I was not paid for this review. I am not a writer nor do I know one. I am not kin to this author. I am a reader and this is my opinion, nothing more, nothing less. 1/28/2021
I haven’t read an historical romance in awhile, and I’m a big Lisa Kleypas fan. When this ebook went up for sale, I went for it! (I also bought the sequel…which is waiting on my Kindle)
Sadly, this book was not up to the usual Kleypas standards. It is the story of a recently widowed woman who finds herself in a battle of wills with the hot, single, male relative who inherits the family estate. Could’ve been a fun set-up…but it was lacking.
1) For the first chunk of the book I did not know what the main conflict was…is it that she’s a widow and is restricted by ‘tradition’? Is it that she loved her husband and doesn’t want to replace him? Is it about money, since the estate seems to be lacking funds? I wanted to know the main thrust of the story and felt as if I had nothing to really latch onto.
2) At the beginning Kathleen seemed as if she would be following ‘the rules’ about being a widow. The black clothes, the demeanor, etc. But for some reason partway through the book, this idea is thrown out the window and nobody minds. I was hoping for someone to shame Kathleen…perhaps the three female relatives of the dead husband? But only Kathleen seemed to care…weird.
3) Devon was supposed to be a terrible guy. Angry, scary, a ‘rake’ as the title implies…Kleypas kept that going for quite a bit of the book, which was fun, as I enjoy a good ‘enemies to lovers’ theme, but his redemption was uneven. I didn’t believe it. There wasn’t enough about why Devon behaved as a ‘rake’ only to toss it aside at one point and act completely differently. I wanted to be invested in his transformation, and I just wasn’t feeling it.
4) Because there wasn’t enough of a clear purpose at the beginning of the book, the ending was just ‘ok’ for me. I knew it would end up as a ‘happily ever after,’ but it was absent the satisfaction at these characters really having to work for it. The ‘love’ just fell in their laps and ended too easily. There was nothing really in the way of any of it that was clear to me.
What were the good things?
1) I really enjoyed the three sisters…the twins and the older sister, Helen. They had some pizazz and made me laugh a few times.
2) I really enjoyed the sort of ‘second romance’ between Helen and Winterbourne (they are the couple in the next book of the series). Winterbourne seems tortured and difficult. Helen seems innocent and kind. Kinda wished this book was about THEM! LOL.
That’s it. Yeah, disappointing. But I’m glad I got this book on sale. I sort of had to force my way through it at one point and skimmed near the end as I was getting bored. As a writer myself, I wonder if Ms. Kleypas had this in a rather partially-written form when she turned it into her editor. It needed a complete revision to sharpen the story and the characters…and I know Kleypas has the chops to do it as she has written some of my favorite historical romances.
I hope the sequel is more to my liking.
Audiobook Review
Overall 4 stars
Performance 5+ stars
Story 3.5-4 stars
I’ve been meaning to read Lisa Kleypas for a long time and I’m so glad that I finally jumped in. It didn’t hurt that Mary Jane Wells narrates the series and she’s one of my very favorite narrators. She has a way of making the story so vivid and alive. Her ability to voice multiple accents and characters of all different ages is truly remarkable.
Cold-Hearted Rake was a great start to the series, introducing all the players and world to readers. There’s not much I can add to this review that others haven’t already mentioned, but the writing was wonderful and hit me in all the feels. I enjoyed meeting all the Ravenels and this enemies to lovers-ish romance hooked me right in. Devon and Kathleen had such an explosive relationship and their fiery exchanges translated well in the bedroom. I’m not generally a fan of instalove though and was a bit put off by how quickly Devon changed his ways. I didn’t love either of them, but I still enjoyed their romance. It’s West who grew on me the most though. His transformation was remarkable and I loved the brotherly/sisterly relationship he developed with Kathleen. I’m also very intrigued by Winterborne and Helen and can’t wait to start their story next.
A great series
Wonderful first book of an excellent series. Devon Ravenel, a handsome rake, inherits an earldom with the unexpected death of his cousin. Traveling to his country seat with his brother, West, their aim is to sell whatever they could, and spend the money. But he meets the young and beautiful widowed countess, Kathleen, and his cousins 3 unmarried young sisters, along with a debt-ridden estate. Kathleen knows not to trust a ruthless scoundrel like Devon and his constantly drunk brother. But as Devon becomes acquainted with the many people on the estate who depend upon him and his growing attraction to the beautiful Kathleen, he is determined to turn the estate into a prosperous one. Kathleen cannot deny the electric attraction towards Devon. It is an enchanting story which slowly uncovers the true natures of these two people who tempt fate and achieve the impossible with hard work, trust and love!!