After a sheltered upbringing, Lady Lucinda Sutcliffe is finally embarking on her first season, eager to experience everything she’s missed. When Lucy realizes that her uncle plans to quickly marry her off in exchange for a slice of her fortune, she begs a favor of a new acquaintance, Ciaran Ramsey. If Lucy remains single until she turns twenty-one, she–and her money–will be out of her uncle’s … uncle’s power. All the charming Scot needs to do is woo her for six weeks, and then jilt her.
The Ramseys don’t need the scandal of a false engagement attached to their name. But Lucy’s older suitor is both distasteful and dangerous, and Ciaran can’t allow his lovely friend to be forced to marry such a man. And besides, the more time Ciaran spends with his new “betrothed,” the more their ruse begins to feel very much like the real thing. Passion like this is impossible to feign, but how much is a rogue willing to risk for love?
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This was an enjoyable, but perhaps perplexing read. I enjoy the author’s writing style and I liked the premise of the story, but I didn’t care for the resolution. I LOVED that we got three romances for the price of one. I didn’t feel that the two additional romances detracted from the main romance at all since they mostly took place in the background. You knew they were happening, but they weren’t “in your face”.
We first met the Ramsey family in the final book of this author’s Somerset Sisters, More Or Less A Temptress. Three siblings, Lachlan, Isla, and Ciaran had to flee their home in Scotland when Lachlan was falsely accused of murder. At that same time, their mother told them that they had a brother, Finn, in England – and he is the Marquess of Huntington. As she lay dying, their mother urged them to flee to England and find their brother. Since then, we’ve seen Isla find her HEA in The Wayward Bride, and now, finally, the match I’ve been waiting for, Ciaran.
Of the Ramsey siblings, the one who was most affected by having to leave Scotland was Ciaran. In the year since they left, he has only half lived. He’s been listless, restless, bored and unhappy – especially since his siblings wed and they now have lives of their own. Ciaran longs to return to Scotland and to see if he can reunite with his betrothed who jilted him before Ciaran had to leave. His siblings have just encouraged him to accompany a couple of older ladies to Brighton to assure their safety. Little does he know that his life is about to be turned upside down.
Lady Lucinda (Lucy) Sutcliffe is the daughter of the Earl of Bellamy. Her father developed a neurosis after his wife was killed by a highwayman and everybody thought him mad. Basically, he walled himself and Lucy off from the world. Lucy had lived in isolation until her father passed away and she transferred into the care of her Uncle Jarvis. Lucy isn’t wild, exactly, she’s just exuberant to be out of isolation and to be able to enjoy the world. In her enthusiasm, and naivete, she finds herself in a couple of situations that lead someone else (read that Ciaran) to believe that she needed rescuing. She didn’t, she had a plan, but you can’t argue with someone who is the size of a house. And, actually, she does need rescuing, she just doesn’t know it yet.
I loved their first meeting. It was entertaining and funny and sets the pace for many of their interactions. I loved how smart and resourceful Lucy was – with one minor blip when she did the required TSTL action. However, she soon overcame that and was back to her resourceful self – and rescued herself.
What didn’t I like? Well, as I mentioned earlier, I didn’t like the resolution. There was a very, very, vile villain – I mean despicable (just wait until you read all he does) – and he gets absolutely no, none, nada, zip, zilch punishment. Actually, it felt to me as if he were rewarded. At the very least he could have had to flee to the continent – but – I would have preferred that someone hang him upside down from a tree with his nose in a red ant bed – then dribble him with honey and let the ants take care of the rest. Sorry, did I mention he was vile?
The thing that perplexed me was how Jarvis came to be her guardian. Her father was an earl, and whoever inherited the earldom would have been her nearest male relative. So, why wasn’t he her guardian? Jarvis didn’t inherit the earldom, so how could he be her nearest male relative? Jarvis could have been her mother’s brother I guess, but, still, things just don’t run through the mother’s side. If nobody inherited the title, the estate would have reverted to the crown, so how would she have inherited Bellamy House? Maybe Bellamy house was a smaller, unentailed property, but it was where she and the earl lived, so I can’t imagine it being unentailed. It was just that that particular scenario didn’t make sense to me. No real explanations were provided.
All-in-all, it was an enjoyable read with delightful characters, witty moments, tense moments, and a lovely romance – or three.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book starts out slow, building up the friendship between the two main characters. Lucy challenges Ciaran in good ways and with her what you see is what you get. She is refreshing and totally honest. She also has been somewhat isolated and without true friends because of her strange upbringing. But when she meets Ciaran things begin to change for the better. Although at first Ciaran is determined that he doesn’t need another friend and most definitely not a woman friend. But Lucy is way too lively and welcoming to resist forever. In fact I do like that fact that eventually he realizes that she helped bring him back to life. Something that his family has been racking their brains on how to help him.
Lucy’s uncle Jarvis is a top notch villain and just as slippery and evil as they come. However, it didn’t take long to like his daughter Eloisa and Aunt Jarvis. The relationship between the three of them was a good one. Uncle Jarvis had them totally terrified and under his mean thumb. There was also a friendship that developed between Lucy, Eloisa and Lady Felicia. Making Eloisa and Felicia and their possible romances a good addition. There is also some tender moments and humor in the story too. Lucy’s feelings about learning to dance the Quadrille being like the 9th circle of hell being one of them. Having said all of this… although I kind of liked the story, and I did like the M.C.’s, the slow pace pulled the story down for me. I ended up with mixed feelings about it but it does come with a sweet H.E.A. I ended up giving it 3.5 Stars on Amazon.
“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”
For the Sake of a Scottish Rake by Anna Bradley
Besotted Scots #2
Quick easy to read historical romance. It was not my favorite book by this author and I am sad to say that as I have truly enjoyed other books by this author.
What I liked:
* Lucy was not predictable
* Three romances in one
* The friendships
* The thwarting of the bad guys
* That everyone had a HEA
What I didn’t like
* Lucy’s behavior was more than a bit over the top and not in keeping with the times.
*The time being rung in days and weeks and even times on the clock and spelled out repetitively
* Falling back on the gambling relative using the heroine to pay his debts…to a less than admirable holder of those debts
* The predictability
* The lack of a true backstory for the main characters
* Wondering how Uncle Jarvis became her guardian
Did I enjoy this book? Not so much
Would I read another book by this author? Maybe
Thank you to NetGgalley and Kensington-Lyrical for the ARC – This is my honest review.
2-3 Stars
For The Sake Of A Scottish Rake, by Anna Bradley, is available at booksellers on 2-18-20. Rake is book 3 in Ms Bradley’s Besotted Scots series. I’ve been a fan of Ms Bradley’s since her first book in 2015. I discovered that book by accident, it had a hot cover, and have followed every series since then. I’ve given Rake a rare, for me, 5 stars. It’s the most entertaining book I’ve read in some time. I was invested in the characters, their journey, and HEA. I liked Lucy and Ciaran and rooted for them from page 1 to the very end (which is good).
Lucy is a free spirit, finally set, kinda, free. She takes advantage of opportunities for adventures, trying not to get caught & ruin her reputation. I could believe her frame of mind and wish for something more. She meets Ciaran on her 1st big adventure and her lust for life brings Ciaran out of his funk. He’s had to leave his home & start over & hasn’t taken it well. He’s a kind man, handsome too, Scottish with a sexy accent, and drawn to Lucy like a moth to a flame. They start as friends but in reality the relationship was more from the moment they met. Takes them an entire book to finally fess up and admit what we already knew. The journey is fun, witty, and sweet. The secondary characters are terrific and were fleshed out enough to make their love stories interesting too. Watching 3 bachelors taken to their knees is fun. Between the 3 couples there’s a plethora of emotions flying around making for an interesting read. I really loved this book. Already looking forward to Ms Bradley’s next offering.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
#AnnaBradley #ForTheSakeOfAScottishRake #BesottedScots #netgalley #KensingtonPress #LyricalPress #historicalromance #romance
Well realistically I couldn’t have continued a streak of books that I enjoyed, right? I mean I guess on a good week I probably could have been on my merry own way of “darn that’s a good book” lane, however my streak has come to and end…ahhhhh it saddens me so.. Ok let me stop with all the drama just to say that I did not enjoy this book, sadly it bored me and that pisses me off, Because I hate, hate being bored especially when I chose you (this book) out of my list of (I have to catch up on) pile..But by the middle I couldn’t care less if these two Ciaran and Lucy wanted each other if they even spent time with each other, couldn’t have cared less. Then they to do a buy one get two free scenario, what am I talking about well they had three couples all seemed to have the same situation, I mean if you are going to give me three for the price of one, change it up a bit..Ok no more, bad mouthing…
Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author…(netgalley) voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions