Cold-Hearted Rake Mass Market Paperback – October 27, 2015

COLD-HEARTED RAKE is a standalone read with a happy ending. It is quite sexy at times so if that is an issue, better pass on this one. All that being said, and since I am reviewer 1000+ I doubt this one will ever be read. BUT I am so in love with this story that there is no way I could not write and say how much I loved it. I don't think ANYONE can write a historical novel as good as Ms. Kleypas. God, I love her books. It makes me want to live during that time period. Then again, the way some of the live it would never suit!! Course, I probably would have been a kitchen maid so... The time period is 1875 November. Hampshire, England.Devon, 28 a rake of the highest order has just inherited a dukedom that he never in a million years wanted. He is now an Earl and he has inherited many things, one the ancestral home of the Revenel's. Most what he has inherited is a bucket load of debt. The home is tumbling down around their feet. The previous Earl's have been more interested in having a good time at gaming halls, etc. than looking after their properties. Plus, he has no idea how to be an Earl. He wasn't raised to inherit. His stupid cousin had to get his neck broke when he fell off a horse, drunk, and that left the title to come to him. He plans to just sell everything and keep the title.Kathleen was married to his cousin for 3 days when he died. Left her a very young window and responsible for his three sisters. She is barely older than the oldest Helen. And then the 19 year old twins. Raised only in the country they are use to running wild and doing pretty much as they please. But not Helen. She is the quiet sensible one. The one that looks after her mother's orchid collection.Kathleen and Devon butt heads from the very first encounter. He is overbearing and she comes right back at him. This story is so good as Devon totally changes who he is. His brother, who is always with him, has a great wit and he brings a lot of laughter to the story. Not to mention Hamlet.One reviewer said they hated Kathleen. I really don't see how they could. Considering her parents sent her to England to be raised by friends when she was only 5. They put her on a boat with a nanny and left her. The maid let her know if she didn't stop crying she would leave her and she would really be alone. She never saw her parents again. Then she was raised by two people that filled her head with stupid beliefs. She has not had it easy. Then she is to be married off to a drunk that she barely knows. He dies and she is now responsible for his sisters with barely enough money to support them. Her father tells her not to return home and to find her own way. If they are turned out of the only home they have ever know, and the Earl has the right to do that, she will have to find a small place for them to live. Advantageous marriages is out of the question for the girls. They have no money to give them a season and most decent men eligible to marry want a wife with money. Things do not look good.But as always Ms. Kleypas has woven all this into a very good story and a touching, and sexy, love story. I loved it as always. I have never read a book of hers that I did not want to give it a 10. As to the low star reviews, I don't think they understand the period and what life was like for a woman. Could not own property, had no say in anything, was suppose to sit and sew and play the piano. No life really. It is easy to understand how some would rebel. I thought this was a great story and I HIGHLY recommend it.I was not paid for this review. I am not a writer nor do I know one. I am not kin to this author. I am a reader and this is my opinion, nothing more, nothing less. 1/28/2021

Words cannot convey how excited I was to hear that Lisa Kleypas was finally publishing another historical romance. I loved Blue Eyed Devil but the rest of her contemporaries were not my cup of tea. Historical romance, in my opinion, is where Kleypas shines and Cold Hearted Rake is a perfect example of her insane talent.Devon Ravenel was a rake, a wastrel and a scoundrel and he saw no reason to change those descriptors. Until one day his cousin took a drunken tumble off a horse and made him the next Earl of Trenear. His lucky break turned out to include a ramshackle estate, mounting debts, three unmarried girls and the prickly widow of the previous earl. The attraction between Devon and Kathleen is not immediate but comes gradually and then all at once. Suddenly Devon finds that he's not as heartless as likes to believe and his newfound conscience won't let him wash his hands of the enormous responsibility he has inherited. He is unwillingly charmed by his cousins, intrigued by the challenge of turning the failing fortunes of the Ravenels around and captivated by the poised and proper widow.Everything I love in a Lisa Kleypas HR is here: charming, unconventional relatives, characters I cannot help but fall in love with, sparkling dialogue, humor, scorching love scenes and an Alpha hero with a mushy, melt- your- panties- he's-so-darn-sexy heart. Kleypas heroes are unequaled. In fact, three of my top five all time favorites are hers (Sebastian, Derek and a tie between Hardy and Westcliff) they are invariably Alpha, domineering, unyielding and stubborn but hiding an untapped reserve of tenderness and love that gets unleashed all over the lucky heroine. Devon is a Kleypas hero through and through and so of course he (and his brother who steals every scene he appears in) is my favorite thing about this book. Devon was sexy, domineering, sometimes clueless and so stinking sweet I got choked up a few times. I also loved the introduction to the second book in the series Devon's cousin Helen and another classic Kleypas hero, the self made commoner Rhys Winterborne. So much in fact that in the middle of the book I actually became more engrossed in that story and lost interest in the main story which brings me to my main quibble: Kathleen. She ruined the last half of the book for me. At first, she seemed the perfect foil for Devon's uncaring, cold rake. She was prickly and a bit shrewish but her behavior had a good explanation. Then halfway through she turned into a bit of a hypocrite, a meddler and a real shrew. Her concern for Helen and her future with a man like Winterborne was understandable at first. But her continuing opposition to the match and her idiotic concern for reputation and propriety when she herself was being anything but proper smacked of hypocrisy. Her unauthorized meddling which resulted in a broken engagement went beyond the pale. I also thought the end was a bit rushed and Devon's epiphany a tad sudden. That being said, this is still one of the best books I've read this year. I am so excited for the next book in the series Marrying Mr. Winterborne. The epilogue left me breathless and I have no doubt that book will be another stellar effort. Highly recommended.

Love it.

Cold-Hearted Rake é o primeiro livro da série The Ravenels.O ponto central é a bela história de amor entre Devon e Kathleen, porém este romance vai muito além.A trama traz um diversificado mix de romance, ação, com uma boa dose de humor graças as gêmeas Pandora e Cassandra, porém talvez o aspecto mais encantador deste romance esteja no desenvolvimento dos diversos relacionamentos dentro do núcleo familiar Ravenel.Se a história peca por algumas vezes deixar em segundo plano o romance entre o casal de protagonistas, por outro Lisa Kleypas mostra todo o seu talento ao detalhar a dinâmica dentro do núcleo familiar dos Ravenel.Com maestria e riqueza de detalhes a autora tece a história da improvável família Ravenel: 3 jovens irmãs órfãs que foram neglicenciadas pelos pais emocionalmente ausentes, 1 cunhada recentemente viúva e os 2 primos distantes que de repente se veem às voltas com as responsabilidades de assumirem o comando da família. Praticamente estranhos que aos poucos passam a formar uma verdadeira família. Belos momentos em que a autora começa a arquitetar o arcabouço da família, de um grupo de parentes distantes sem qualquer afinidade a um grupo familiar coeso, afetuoso e solidário.Este belo romance pode ser lido stand-alone porém a obra termina no que pode ser considerado um semi “cliffhanger”.Assim, a resolução de alguns conflitos pendentes se dá em Marrying Winterborne, o livro 2 da série.Cold-Hearted Rake leva 5 estrelas apesar das pequenas falhas. Diversão garantida num romance doce, sexy e com a dose certa de ação e conflito.

I loved this. I am not keen on Victorian settings, much preferring Georgian as a more earthy time. But this was excellent, touching on how land was in the descent as a source of power and wealth and how various industries were in the ascent. But this was just the background to wonderful characters and excellent story telling. A love affair to warm to.

心理描写、登場人物がお互いに良い影響を与えて、成長して変貌していく様子が読んでいて心強く、困難に立ち向かって行きていく時、人はどうあるべきか、よくわかります。愛、恋愛に関する食い違いも。現代に通じる男女の感覚の違いですね

Ho iniziato a leggere questo nuovo libro della Kleypas con grande entusiasmo, nonostante fosse disponibile solo in inglese, quando ho saputo che è il primo di una nuova serie romance. L’aspettativa era quella di leggere una nuova raccolta di avventure, come quella delle Wallflowers o della serie Hathaway, che mi sono piaciute moltissimo.Questo primo romanzo però non è niente di particolare, principalmente a causa di una trama molto dispersiva: c’è la storia d’amore, ci sono le sorellastre della protagonista, poi si parla di come gestire una tenuta e della gestione dei fittavoli, e poi di come allevare cavalli, e quindi di come coltivare le orchidee, e dei primi viaggi in treno, e del Natale in arrivo e di altro ancora.Insomma, la trama è fitta di elementi e situazioni che, a mio parere, la complicano inutilmente e appesantiscono la storia centrale, con il risultato di rendere più interessanti alcuni personaggi di secondo piano rispetto ai protagonisti.Per quanto riguarda la storia d’amore, la protagonista, Kathleen, non mi è piaciuta, l’ho trovata noiosa e inutilmente pedante e penso che anche Devon, il protagonista maschile, si sia prestato un po’ troppo al tira e molla della loro relazione. Invece West promette bene (forse perché fa un po’ l’occhiolino a Leo?) e anche la storia nascente di Helen e del burbero signor Winterborne lascia ben sperare per il prosieguo della serie.Le tre stelle sono date sulla fiducia nella capacità della Kleypas di recuperare con i prossimi libri.