A Rake's Midnight Kiss (Sons of Sin, #2) in Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn

Nov 07, 2012 Caz rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, 4-stars, romance-regency, aar, romance-1800-1850

I've given this a B+ at AAR, so that's 4.5 stars in my book!

We first met Sir Richard Harmsworth, sophisticated, charming and devastatingly handsome man-about-town, in the previous novel in this series, Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed. Like his friend Jonas Merrick, the hero of that story, Richard is similarly tainted by the slur of bastardy; although in Richard’s case, he is legally entitled to his baronetcy as his mother was married to Sir Lester Harmsworth at the time of Richard’s birth, and Sir ...more

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Sep 02, 2013 Diane Peterson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, rita-finalist, historical-romance

What a great book from Anna Campbell! A Rake’s Midnight Kiss is the second novel in her Sons of Sin series. It is an excellent, well-rounded book with humor, intrigue, passion and sentiment. I was undecided between 4 and 5 stars until near the end. After I sobbed through the last two chapters the book was quickly elevated to 5 stars. I have read and loved all of Anna Campbell’s books, especially the dark and angsty ones. This one has a lighter tone, but there are still issues to be dealt with.

Si What a great book from Anna Campbell! A Rake’s Midnight Kiss is the second novel in her Sons of Sin series. It is an excellent, well-rounded book with humor, intrigue, passion and sentiment. I was undecided between 4 and 5 stars until near the end. After I sobbed through the last two chapters the book was quickly elevated to 5 stars. I have read and loved all of Anna Campbell’s books, especially the dark and angsty ones. This one has a lighter tone, but there are still issues to be dealt with.

Sir Richard Harmsworth was a bastard. The stigma had followed him and haunted him his entire life. He has managed by living the life of a nonchalant rake. He concocts a plan to get his hands on the Harmsworth jewel, a family heirloom, and use it to establish his credibility. It turns out that the jewel was given to Genevieve Barrett, a bookish spinster and secret scholar. When Genevieve refuses to sell the jewel to Richard’s agents, he dyes his hair and takes on a new identity has a student wishing to study with Genevieve’s scholar father. Richard’s growing attraction to Genevieve causes conflict with the lies he has told. Genevieve never wanted to marry, but finds herself attracted to Richard (who she knows as Christopher Evans). Danger lurks as others become interested in the jewel as well. Can Richard and Genevieve find their way out of this complicated web to reach what their hearts most desire?

A Rake’s Midnight Kiss was pure enjoyment from beginning to end. The story itself was nothing unique or special, but the characters were given enough depth to make them multi-dimensional. Richard probably evolved the most, moving from a misguided, selfish dandy to becoming the decent, loving man that he was meant to be. Genevieve moved from a rather defensive old maid to a warm and loving woman without sacrificing her toughness and humor. Yes, there were some clichés we have seen a bit too often – swimming naked in the pond, a greedy evil villain, a really smart dog (I liked him) – but these plot devices were merely icing for a deep-down good story. It was clever, funny, touching and sensual all rolled into one. A book not to be missed. ...more

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Jan 28, 2014 Caz rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-1800-1850, audiogals, audiobook, disappointing

Review from 2014

I had a hard time rating this as an audiobook. I really liked the print edition and gave it 4.5 stars (B+), but as an audio, it only rates 3.5 stars (B-).

I read and enjoyed A Rake’s Midnight Kiss early in 2013 and was very much looking forward to revisiting it in audio format. I’d already listened to the previous book in the series (Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed) and will admit to having reservations about Mr. Ferguson’s narration, principally due to one particular vocal tick tha ...more

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May 14, 2014 Tin rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014

It took me a while to finish this book because I couldn't stay immersed in the story of Richard and Genevieve and this puzzled me a bit because I love Anna Campbell and have enjoyed all of her previous books.

I loved the idea of the Harmsworth Jewel and the quest to restore it to the Harmsworth family, but I did not like the idea of Sir Richard's plan in order to do so. Deception in romance novels never sit well with me, but I usually read through those books because the action is almost always ...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Phoenix77 rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-romance, owned-books

I was a bit apprehensive as I began reading A Rake’s Midnight Kiss. The previous story in the Sons of Sin series was not one of my favorites;however there were particular scenes within the book that just stuck with me well past the initial reading. Anna Campbell is a well-known and loved author so I had to give her stories a second chance to engage me. It may be the lighter tone she brought to book two or it was my own willingness to be open about the story, but whatever the reason I loved A Rak I was a bit apprehensive as I began reading A Rake’s Midnight Kiss. The previous story in the Sons of Sin series was not one of my favorites;however there were particular scenes within the book that just stuck with me well past the initial reading. Anna Campbell is a well-known and loved author so I had to give her stories a second chance to engage me. It may be the lighter tone she brought to book two or it was my own willingness to be open about the story, but whatever the reason I loved A Rake’s Midnight Kiss from cover to cover.

Sir Richard Harmsworth has been called many things: fashionable, witty, desirable; all traits that he has worked for years to perpetuate as he moves within the upper circles of the London elite. Unfortunately all of his efforts can be quickly washed away the moment someone brings up the truth of Richard’s parentage. Sir Richard is a bastard, the product of his mother’s affair while her husband was out of the country. While Richard presents an outwardly cool demeanor about the scandal, inside he cannot get past how his mother’s sin has affected his life. Reaching his breaking point, Richard decides that the only way to prove his right to the title and name he took from his mother’s husband is to seek out the famed Harmsworth Jewel. Family legend says that only the true heirs to the title are worthy to possess the jewel and Richard will spare nothing to claim it as his own.

Tracing the jewel’s path of possession Richard finds the last known owner had willed it to a young woman outside of the Harmsworth family. His agents quickly learn she is not motivated to sell even with money being no object. Feeling that his need is greater than a stranger’s, Richard decides to take the extreme step of stealing the jewel away from Miss Genevieve Barrett. Breaking into her home under cover of night, he manages to find the jewel but cannot grab it as Miss Barrett discovers him in her rooms and he has to make a quick getaway before she can use the gun she has pointed at his head. With buying and stealing off the table the only thing left for Richard to do is use the talents he’s been honing all his life and make an attempt to seduce the jewel away from the very beautiful but apparently on the shelf Miss Barrett.

The Harmsworth Jewel is just as important to Genevieve’s future as it is Richard’s, but for completely different reasons. For years Genevieve has been assisting her father in his scholarly publications to the point of doing all the research and writing but getting no credit for her efforts. Her independent research on the jewel has turned up some startling facts and Genevieve is on the cusp of breaking into those same scholarly circles under her own name. Knowing that the jewel is the only thing of worth in her father’s house, the break in by a handsome sneak thief has her agitated and fearful that someone, most likely the unknown Sir Richard Harmsworth, is trying to take it from her. Genevieve’s world gets another shake up when her father invites a newcomer, Mr. Christopher Evans, into their home to study medieval history.

For Genevieve, Mr. Evans is too much of everything: too handsome, too charming and comes across as too eager to ingratiate himself into her quiet life in the country. There is something familiar about him that keeps bringing to mind a single kiss stolen in the night by a thief and it keeps her suspicious of his motives for being at the vicarage. However there is also something just below the surface of all his perfection that attracts Genevieve on a level she’s never felt before and it scares her. Can she trust a man who seems to present one face to the world while hiding another only she has glimpsed when they are alone? Can she trust her instincts or heart around a man that has stirred emotions and ideas she thought were well buried in her dreams of academic success?

Usually when an author introduces a heroine who is frosty or abrasive towards the hero it immediately gets my hackles up. A friend pointed out that women have a strong tendency to dislike the heroines who can’t love the hero like the reader does (and she has a point). I never got that catty about Genevieve. Even when she was rude, dismissive or angry towards Richard I could understand where that attitude was coming from and I sympathized with the upheavals she was experiencing. Genevieve has never really been one for polite society and most of the time she knows she’s the most intelligent person in the room. A snap judgment to dislike the man there to fawn over her father’s work, which she knows isn’t deserved, or who upends her comfort zone just seems right for who Genevieve is. She also has to work through emotions that she’s never been comfortable expressing, like attraction and lust, so she pushes against that which is making her uncomfortable, i.e. Richard. Her behavior is a defense mechanism as much as Richard’s cool demeanor is his own shield.

Richard was such a pleasant surprise when compared to the dark, brooding and slightly unpleasant hero Jonas from the first book Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed. Both men, along with the next hero Lord Sedgemore, all grew up with society believing they were the bastard sons of their families and yet each man choses a different way to cope with the stigma. Richard creates the affectation that the slurs and scandal don’t touch him or that he doesn’t care about his mother’s promiscuous behavior after the death of her husband. He fights back with a droll humor that perpetuates a casual attitude about what society thinks of him and his parentage. However being with Genevieve makes Richard see how each little cut has taken its piece of flesh from the man he might have been and what it has cost him to keep his emotions bottled up inside.

The storyline of A Rake’s Midnight Kiss was very character driven, with most of the conflict coming from Genevieve’s resistance to her emotions and Richard’s insecurities. There was a small outside conflict introduced that fed into the obstacles standing between Richard and Genevieve, but the crux of everything was how two very strong willed people surrendered to their feelings. I enjoyed Richard’s sense of humor and how he uses it to disarm Genevieve when she tries to bite back at him for some transgression. Another amusing part of the story was Richard’s frustration that many of his well-practiced seduction techniques are easily outmaneuvered by an unskilled bluestocking. Genevieve’s refusal to surrender makes Richard really work at being the kind of man she could fall in love with, and in turn soon realizes that he has fallen for her unintentional charms.

A Rake’s Midnight Kiss is deceptive in its lighter tone as there are just as many deep moments of introspection and growth for these characters as happened in its much darker predecessor. I would consider this the softer side of angst which is just perfect for my tastes. I know that there is more darkness on the horizon as Lord Sedgemore will soon have his story told, yet seeing how his friends have conquered their demons I am very eager to know how he will defeat his own. ...more

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Jul 07, 2014 Sylvain rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It Takes A Lady

Brilliant scholar Genevieve Barrett knows how to keep a secret. Her identity as the author of her father's academic articles has always been her greatest deception—until a charming housebreaker tries to steal the mysterious Harmsworth Jewel from her. She doesn't reveal that she recognizes her father's devastatingly handsome new student as the thief himself. For Genevieve, this will be the most seductive secret of all...

To Catch A Thief

Sir Richard Harmsworth has been

...more

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Aug 10, 2014 Ginny rated it liked it

Loved Richard. I tried, but could not like Genevieve. She spent the first part of the book begging him to leave and then begging him to kiss her, over and over. She was stubborn and contrary so much of the book, even in the last chapter. And she did too many stupid things to be believable as a clever person, let alone a respected scholar.

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Jun 07, 2013 Melissa Vasquez rated it really liked it

The secrets that Genevieve and Richard have make this story an entertaining read.
Richard needs the family heirloom jewel back to make a point in society. He knows who has the jewel so he sets out after it. Richard finds out the jewel he is originally is after is not the one he truly wants anymore.
Genevieve has sacrificed plenty in her life. She keeps her secrets hidden until one fellow shows up at her house. He turns her world upside down. She will end up making the greatest sacrifice again fo ...more

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