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Never Kiss a Rake (Scandal at the House of Russell, #1)

Anne Stuart

Start date: July 15, 2015

Finish date: August 15, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads

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By Danielle The… , Loves 'Em Lethal · 6 posts · 136 views

last updated Dec 19, 2012 08:46AM

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last updated Jan 06, 2012 03:40PM

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What Members Thought

Jul 11, 2013 Crista rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical, suspense, hot, series, 4-star, arc

Anne Stuart is in a league all her own, so when reading a book written by her, it almost requires it’s own rating system. Never Kiss A Rake, while certainly not her best work, is still written by this master storyteller and therefore is still well worth your time and money.

Never Kiss a Rake is the first book in the highly anticipated trilogy featuring the Russell sisters. Their father has been accused of stealing money from the company that he had part ownership of. A shadow of shame has been ca Anne Stuart is in a league all her own, so when reading a book written by her, it almost requires it’s own rating system. Never Kiss A Rake, while certainly not her best work, is still written by this master storyteller and therefore is still well worth your time and money.

Never Kiss a Rake is the first book in the highly anticipated trilogy featuring the Russell sisters. Their father has been accused of stealing money from the company that he had part ownership of. A shadow of shame has been cast upon their family name and their father has recently been killed in a suspicious carriage accident. The girls all believe that their father was killed and framed for illegal money laundering. The eldest, Bryony, goes under cover as a servant in Adrian Bruton, the Earl of Kilmartyn’s household in order to uncover the truth about her father. Adrian was part owner of the company and his shares in the company have mysteriously been untouched by the laundering. He is the prime suspect and Bryony believes him to be guilty of murder and theft.

Anne Stuart’s are legendary, and Adrian Bruton does not disappoint. He follows the tried and true Stuart formula of witty, slightly dangerous, and unrepentant heroes, and rescues this otherwise mediocre novel.

Interestingly, what’s different about this book is that Adrian is married. Although his wife is a terrible person and the marriage is really in name only, this fact did provide some practical challenges to the romance between Adrian and Bryony. Thankfully this is short lived, and this tension is quickly resolved. For those opposed to “cheating themes”, I don’t think this book will bother most people. Adrian’s wife is truly evil.

I wish I would’ve loved Bryony more than I did. Her character just grated on my nerves. She was scarred from small pox and is constantly bringing this fact up. I felt compassion for her poor self-image (at first), but after awhile it became a character flaw. She is unconvincing as a servant and I wasn’t really sure what Adrian saw in her (and this fact had NOTHING to do with her scars!)

This book has a little bit of everything: suspense, action, romance, and mystery. It sets up the next book perfectly and the next sister gets paired with a dangerous pirate (lucky girl)!

Like I said, although this is no where near Anne Stuart’s best work, it is still entertaining, and meeting the delicious Adrian Bruton is well worth putting up with the slightly annoying Bryony Russell.

4 stars

...more

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Jul 30, 2013 Suzanne (Under the Covers Book blog) rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, heroine-plainjane-bluestocking, genre-historical-romance, hero-rake-man-whore

Miss Bryony Russell is determined to clear her disgraced father's name and proof that his carriage accident was no accident at all but murder. Left with only a cryptic note from her father, she decides to infiltrate the house of his business partner, Adrian Bruton, Earl of Kilmartyn, the only person who wasn't left penniless from her father's supposed fraud. But posing as his housekeeper is harder than she expected, especially when she feels a helpless attraction and connection, one he seems ...more

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Sep 28, 2013 Love love rated it liked it

Shelves: owned, regency, 2013-reads, romantic-suspence, historical, herione-with-tortured-past, heroine-almost-dies, kindle, scarred-heroine, hero-married-to-another-woman

While I've read many of Anne Stuart's books and loved most of them, this one just didn't make it onto my "loved it " list.

Bryony (h) New her father didn't commit the crime he was accused of and he surely didn't commit suicide and leave his daughter's alone to fend for themselves. Now all she had to do was prove it.

Adrien Kilmartin (H) New there was something up with his new housekeeper,New that she wasn't who she said she was. He was going to go along with it for now, let her play her game, unt ...more

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