What do you think?
Rate this book
The Reformed Rake
Former friends of Lord Philip Sandron attempt to break up his marriage to Thalia Temple, after being one of London's most eligible bachelors
215 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Elizabeth Chater
87 books24 followersElizabeth Chater (1910-2004) was the author of more than twenty-four novels and countless short stories. She received a B.A. from the University of British Columbia and an M.A. from San Diego State University and joined the faculty of the latter in 1963 where she began a lifelong friendship with science fiction author Greg Bear. She was honored with The Distinguished Teacher award in 1969 and was awarded Outstanding Professor of the Year in 1977. After receiving her Professor Emeritus, she embarked on a new career as a novelist with Richard Curtis as her agent. In the 1950s and 60s she published short stories in Fantastic Universe Magazine and The Saint Mystery Magazine, and she won the Publisher’s Weekly short story contest in 1975. At the age of sixty-eight, she began writing in the romance genre and published twenty-two novels over an eight-year period. She also wrote under the pen names Lee Chater, Lee Chaytor, and Lisa Moore. For more information, please visit: https://elizabethchaterbooks.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 6, 2018
Nobility and poor gentry
Really liked the heroine but the hero wasn't honorable until last chapters. He was self-serving, spoiled;she was too good, realistic.
Really liked the heroine but the hero wasn't honorable until last chapters. He was self-serving, spoiled;she was too good, realistic.
March 5, 2023
Clean Regency Romance with kissing; marital sex left to the imagination.
A longish involved read and an interesting follow up of A Delicate Situation. Tally continues to be a champ in every which way. I still didn't much like Philip though he's definitely done some growing up by the end. I dislike how his poor behaviour, jealousy and tantrums are excused by lack of parental affection in childhood. He doesn't once apologise for his terrible behaviour and ugly words. Yes changed actions are very important but it's also important to acknowledge one's errors.
A longish involved read and an interesting follow up of A Delicate Situation. Tally continues to be a champ in every which way. I still didn't much like Philip though he's definitely done some growing up by the end. I dislike how his poor behaviour, jealousy and tantrums are excused by lack of parental affection in childhood. He doesn't once apologise for his terrible behaviour and ugly words. Yes changed actions are very important but it's also important to acknowledge one's errors.
February 3, 2023
Still didn't like the ML.
July 25, 2016
The Reformed Rake by Elizabeth Chater (1984, Fawcett) is a Georgian romance, and is also available in the third Elizabeth Chater Regency Romance Collection. I immensely enjoyed all eight books within the first two collections, and now consider Elizabeth Chater to be one of my favorite authors. The Reformed Rake is Chater’s sequel to A Delicate Situation(1982), which was about the heroine in this book and how she deals with various challenges shortly after completing boarding school.
4 stars
Lord Phillip Sandron and Lady Thalia Sandron are getting along swimmingly, newly into their marriage. They adore each other, and are enjoying the benefits of marriage… quite a bit! However, just as in any romance I’ve ever read that starts off with a married couple, trouble lies ahead! Phillip is immature and has some real growing up to do. And Thalia has not known Phillip long enough to understand the depths of his affection towards her and to be able to rest in that. This, combined with some extremely annoying interfering external sources, sets the stage for a very angsty read.
What I didn’t like:
*I have to admit to being rather shocked at reference to Thalia’s breast and the marriage bed early on in the book. I had (happily) pegged Chater as a consistent author of clean romances! Granted, there is very little in the way of details, but marital relations IS a predominant theme in the beginning of the book. So I can’t consider it a clean read.
*The angst throughout the book made me feel as though I was riding a roller coaster. Up and down. Up and down. I’ve given this book four stars because I think it deserves it, but I was unsettled for most of the book. I don’t like angst-riddled books. However…...
What I liked:
*I liked how Phillip and Tally were able to successfully navigate the challenges, and there is no BIG MISUNDERSTANDING in place from beginning to end. So there is a redeeming quality within the turmoil experienced by the characters.
*I still really love Tally, just as I did in A Delicate Situation. (I didn’t enjoy her as much in this book as in the first one, though.)
----------------------------------
I’d recommend this book to those who like Regency/Georgian romance novels as long as the fact that it is not quite a clean read is acceptable. I’ve now read twelve Chater books, most of which I loved. Even though The Reformed Rake is definitely not my favorite, I will happily keep reading Chater.
4 stars
Lord Phillip Sandron and Lady Thalia Sandron are getting along swimmingly, newly into their marriage. They adore each other, and are enjoying the benefits of marriage… quite a bit! However, just as in any romance I’ve ever read that starts off with a married couple, trouble lies ahead! Phillip is immature and has some real growing up to do. And Thalia has not known Phillip long enough to understand the depths of his affection towards her and to be able to rest in that. This, combined with some extremely annoying interfering external sources, sets the stage for a very angsty read.
What I didn’t like:
*I have to admit to being rather shocked at reference to Thalia’s breast and the marriage bed early on in the book. I had (happily) pegged Chater as a consistent author of clean romances! Granted, there is very little in the way of details, but marital relations IS a predominant theme in the beginning of the book. So I can’t consider it a clean read.
*The angst throughout the book made me feel as though I was riding a roller coaster. Up and down. Up and down. I’ve given this book four stars because I think it deserves it, but I was unsettled for most of the book. I don’t like angst-riddled books. However…...
What I liked:
*I liked how Phillip and Tally were able to successfully navigate the challenges, and there is no BIG MISUNDERSTANDING in place from beginning to end. So there is a redeeming quality within the turmoil experienced by the characters.
*I still really love Tally, just as I did in A Delicate Situation. (I didn’t enjoy her as much in this book as in the first one, though.)
----------------------------------
I’d recommend this book to those who like Regency/Georgian romance novels as long as the fact that it is not quite a clean read is acceptable. I’ve now read twelve Chater books, most of which I loved. Even though The Reformed Rake is definitely not my favorite, I will happily keep reading Chater.
October 9, 2016
I am about to rant here but before I start, let me clarify that this book is by no means a bad read..it's only fault is that it didn't match my expectations..so here goes...
I remember reading the blurb of this book in a Crossword bookstore way back in 2008.. but then I was in a huge Judith Mcnaught & Lisa Kleypas binge..( still am).. so, inspite of the intruging blurb , i ultimately ended up buying another book and promptly forgot the name of this one...but the blurb stayed in my mind..and since then , i have searched for this book innumerable times in different bookstores both on and offline with zero results...until now..the day before yesterday, while searching the net for good books , i suddenly came upon this one..and imagine my delight when i read the blurb and realised that yayyy , i've finally found the book..without wasting any more time , i downloaded it immediately..and found that it has a prequel too..so downloaded that too..the prequel was okay ..nothing special..but i had soo many year's worth of high expectations..that i started it as soon as i finished the prequel.. like it's prequel, this one is also very well written..the characters though were not developed properly and often had the cardboardy elements to them..when I thought of the blurbs through the years, a completely different story took place in my mind..so when i finally read this one..i am obviously very dissapointed to say the least.. there were instances which the heroine handled in ways that totally didnt match with my expectations..my imagined story was wayyy better..i found a very grandfatherish vibe from the way Philip spoke to Tally...clearly not a good thing in a romance novel....then I found all the secondary characters very one dimensional..and Drogo, the less said about him, the better...he is the worst best friend any guy can ever have..and if this was real life, philip could never have remained friends with him after all the stunts he tried to pull on the duo..i know i wouldn't !.. anyway, all things said and done..while this book is okay to read and i might have liked it more if i hadn't been hunting for this book the past 8 years..so ya..after so many years of waiting, this book IS kind of a let down..
I remember reading the blurb of this book in a Crossword bookstore way back in 2008.. but then I was in a huge Judith Mcnaught & Lisa Kleypas binge..( still am).. so, inspite of the intruging blurb , i ultimately ended up buying another book and promptly forgot the name of this one...but the blurb stayed in my mind..and since then , i have searched for this book innumerable times in different bookstores both on and offline with zero results...until now..the day before yesterday, while searching the net for good books , i suddenly came upon this one..and imagine my delight when i read the blurb and realised that yayyy , i've finally found the book..without wasting any more time , i downloaded it immediately..and found that it has a prequel too..so downloaded that too..the prequel was okay ..nothing special..but i had soo many year's worth of high expectations..that i started it as soon as i finished the prequel.. like it's prequel, this one is also very well written..the characters though were not developed properly and often had the cardboardy elements to them..when I thought of the blurbs through the years, a completely different story took place in my mind..so when i finally read this one..i am obviously very dissapointed to say the least.. there were instances which the heroine handled in ways that totally didnt match with my expectations..my imagined story was wayyy better..i found a very grandfatherish vibe from the way Philip spoke to Tally...clearly not a good thing in a romance novel....then I found all the secondary characters very one dimensional..and Drogo, the less said about him, the better...he is the worst best friend any guy can ever have..and if this was real life, philip could never have remained friends with him after all the stunts he tried to pull on the duo..i know i wouldn't !.. anyway, all things said and done..while this book is okay to read and i might have liked it more if i hadn't been hunting for this book the past 8 years..so ya..after so many years of waiting, this book IS kind of a let down..
January 6, 2010
What a refreshing change! This book begins with the wedding of a rake who has fallen completely in love with a kind, innocent young lady. Then explores the real life consequences, like how does he handle a lifetime of friends, both male and female, who still lead the wild life and expect him to. How does she deal with all his (now jilted) lovers? And, how do they make a marriage work under the scrutiny of everyone who waits with baited breath for him to tire and the marriage to collapse. It is such a fresh approach from the usual wooing and winning plot line and is so deftly handled by Ms. Chater that it has instantly become a personal favorite!
October 1, 2012
Tally is a great heroine. Philip needs to grow up.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews