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The Reluctant Rake
SCANDALOUS SURPRISEMiss Julia Devere was the most innocent and sheltered of young beauties. Her doting parents had succeeded in shielding her from exposure to the sordid facts of life in society, and now both they and she were delighted with her coming marriage to the handsome and wealthy Sir Richard Beckwith, the very model of righteous rectitude.Therefore when Julia spied the paragon of moral perfection in the arms of a young woman who clearly did not give a fig for the proprieties. Julia was more than shocked. She was awakened to the fact that the game of love could be played by very different rules than hers....And unless she could beat Sir Richard's new light-of-love at her own game. Julia stood to lose all that she suddenly discovered she wanted....
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 5, 1987
About the author
Jane Ashford
53 books404 followersJane Ashford has written historical and contemporary romances. Her books have been published in England, Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Slovakia, Denmark, Russia, and Latvia, Croatia and Slovenia as well as the U.S. She was nominated for a Career Achievement Award by RT Book Reviews. Her latest book, Lost Time, is romantic suspense with a touch of magic.
Her website is https://www.janeashford.com/ and her Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/JaneAshfordW... If you'd like to subscribe to Jane's monthly newsletter go to www.eepurl.com/cd-O7r and sign up.
Her website is https://www.janeashford.com/ and her Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/JaneAshfordW... If you'd like to subscribe to Jane's monthly newsletter go to www.eepurl.com/cd-O7r and sign up.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 5, 2021
A delightful, if dated (you can tell its a 1987 story), historical romance. When Sir Richard rescues Bess, a youthful Irish maiden, from the clutches of less honourable men at the Chaos Club he doesn't really the trials he's about to endure.
This book, while the cover describes it as a romance between Richard and Julia, would be best considered a double romance. Not only must Richard work to prove himself still the trustworthy and loyal man his fiancée Julia now has reason to doubt he is, but also the strong willed Bess also meets an Irishman capable of winning her heart in O'Shea. Both couples find their own kind of happiness in this book.
The actual plot of this book is adventurous. Multiple kidnappings and assaults drive the story as the characters flit in and out of London. Richard manages to find time to attend various social events with Julia for a spot of society between these other plot points.
I don't know if a Lord Fenton has ever existed, but this is the third book I've read where a character of that name features as the villian. So it would be unfortunate if he was a nice gentleman in reality. He is thoroughly ill willed throughout the book and while he drives the plot there's no back story to his evil, he just seemed mean by force of nature.
As a content warning this story does contain assault, hostage situations, attempted sexual assault and murder. There is no consent issues or assault between the lead characters, only on conjunction with villians.
This book, while the cover describes it as a romance between Richard and Julia, would be best considered a double romance. Not only must Richard work to prove himself still the trustworthy and loyal man his fiancée Julia now has reason to doubt he is, but also the strong willed Bess also meets an Irishman capable of winning her heart in O'Shea. Both couples find their own kind of happiness in this book.
The actual plot of this book is adventurous. Multiple kidnappings and assaults drive the story as the characters flit in and out of London. Richard manages to find time to attend various social events with Julia for a spot of society between these other plot points.
I don't know if a Lord Fenton has ever existed, but this is the third book I've read where a character of that name features as the villian. So it would be unfortunate if he was a nice gentleman in reality. He is thoroughly ill willed throughout the book and while he drives the plot there's no back story to his evil, he just seemed mean by force of nature.
As a content warning this story does contain assault, hostage situations, attempted sexual assault and murder. There is no consent issues or assault between the lead characters, only on conjunction with villians.
May 22, 2019
Sir Richard Beckwith goes to a notorious club one night and bids on a lovely young maiden.
He pays 2,000 quid and wins her. His reason is to have the girl free from a degrading experience and he is sadly mistaken. Bess, the maiden wants to become a kept woman, not a woman who has a job. The trouble is that Sir Richard is engaged to the beautiful Miss Julia Devere. Julia has seen Sir Richard with Bess and she suddenly realizes that she will have to fight to keep her fiance'. She is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that they are married! This story is a fun, charming story. Four stars for the characters and clever plot!
Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, for allowing me to read and review this book.
He pays 2,000 quid and wins her. His reason is to have the girl free from a degrading experience and he is sadly mistaken. Bess, the maiden wants to become a kept woman, not a woman who has a job. The trouble is that Sir Richard is engaged to the beautiful Miss Julia Devere. Julia has seen Sir Richard with Bess and she suddenly realizes that she will have to fight to keep her fiance'. She is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that they are married! This story is a fun, charming story. Four stars for the characters and clever plot!
Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, for allowing me to read and review this book.
November 30, 2020
I was not impressed with the beginning of this story. It felt shallow and uninspiring. Then I read a couple of reviews and am so glad I abandoned it before I wasted too much time on it.
Absolutely NOT interested in this kind of content.
Absolutely NOT interested in this kind of content.
November 23, 2018
I liked the characters and parts of the plot, but the book has more content than I would like.
Content: innuendo, sexual assault and rape, fade to black sex of married couple
Content: innuendo, sexual assault and rape, fade to black sex of married couple
December 10, 2019
DNF...so boring
July 17, 2025
2.5 stars
The MMC tried to do the right thing but ended up almost ruining his relationship with the FMC.
The pacing was slow in parts.
The MMC tried to do the right thing but ended up almost ruining his relationship with the FMC.
The pacing was slow in parts.
December 29, 2020
This ended up being a lot different than I was expecting. It sounded like a fun book from the synopsis, but it was kind of a downer. The book opens with our hero Richard entering a gentlemen’s “club” in order to purchase a light skirt. He has recently become engaged to Julia and soon his indiscretion is leaked to her. She also happens to catch him with the girl in front of his house. She quickly calls off the engagement and high tails it out of town. I kept reading to figure out what was going to happen, after that first chapter I had my doubts. I probably should have stopped there, but curiosity got the cat and I kept reading. It turns our Richard is actually a pretty decent guy, I liked his character and even though I thought he went about things wrong, he was trying to do the right thing. The situation soon spirals out of control though and the book takes some pretty dark turns.
While everything works out in the end, I just didn’t care for the story or how far the author let things go (I also don’t know if I bought the reactions of Bess and Julia, they seemed to recover quickly, although it is a short book so I guess they had to bounce back). I guess I’m not used to regencies being so dark or so descriptive. While I suppose it stayed on the clean side, I think the subject matter and some of the details kept it from being a clean read. Overall, not a keeper and not one I would recommend.
Content: Not clean.
While everything works out in the end, I just didn’t care for the story or how far the author let things go (I also don’t know if I bought the reactions of Bess and Julia, they seemed to recover quickly, although it is a short book so I guess they had to bounce back). I guess I’m not used to regencies being so dark or so descriptive. While I suppose it stayed on the clean side, I think the subject matter and some of the details kept it from being a clean read. Overall, not a keeper and not one I would recommend.
Content: Not clean.
February 6, 2016
Julia and Richard are a perfect match, scholarly calm and even tempered, but Richard is a moron.... a good hearted one in the end but a moron none the less.
Richard has taken it upon himself to "save" a young lady being sold at a event, stupidly he thinks no one recognizes him....and he wins against a rather evil man......
However Bess is wanting to be a paid lady, she is spoiled and rotten...and disappointed when Richard doesn't want to make her his lightskirt... he pays a fortune to keep her out of harms way and she thwarts his goodwill at all angles.
Rumors are rampant that he bought her and sadly Julia hears the tales and then later sees him "hugging" Bess and wants to call everything off... Richard being a idiot doesn't know why she doesn't trust his character.... and he even calls into his character when he is at times sexually attracted to Bess....
The villain abducts Bess and later Julia....
There is rape and attempted sexual assault after drugging....
I never managed to like Richard, his excuses with bess were not bright..... Julia at least tried to hold him accountable even in these times.
Richard has taken it upon himself to "save" a young lady being sold at a event, stupidly he thinks no one recognizes him....and he wins against a rather evil man......
However Bess is wanting to be a paid lady, she is spoiled and rotten...and disappointed when Richard doesn't want to make her his lightskirt... he pays a fortune to keep her out of harms way and she thwarts his goodwill at all angles.
Rumors are rampant that he bought her and sadly Julia hears the tales and then later sees him "hugging" Bess and wants to call everything off... Richard being a idiot doesn't know why she doesn't trust his character.... and he even calls into his character when he is at times sexually attracted to Bess....
The villain abducts Bess and later Julia....
There is rape and attempted sexual assault after drugging....
I never managed to like Richard, his excuses with bess were not bright..... Julia at least tried to hold him accountable even in these times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews