Sparks abound in this sizzling new Legendary Lovers tale from New York Times bestselling author Nicole Jordan, in which a seductive rakehell must woo his spirited but love-shy bride while unmasking a mysterious assailant.
Despite his notorious reputation, Quinn Wilde, Earl of Traherne, has mostly honorable intentions. So when beautiful Venetia Stratham boldly enters a gentlemen’s club, demanding that Quinn stop courting her sister, he does what any bachelor would do: He kisses her. With her sharp wit, intoxicating passion, and surprising vulnerability, Venetia is irresistible—except for all this nonsense about threatening to shoot Quinn. But when clandestine enemies make an actual attempt on the earl’s life, Venetia is implicated. To save her good name, Quinn does what any true gentleman must do: He proposes.
Thus Venetia finds herself wed to arrogant, wickedly sensual Quinn, whose devilish ways are as legendary as his rumored skills as a lover. Yet vexingly, her body rebels against her vow to remain immune to his many charms. If only she could reform the infuriating nobleman—without diminishing his undeniable allure. As Venetia discovers that a true rake is hard to tame, Quinn faces an even greater challenge: winning his wife’s fragile trust . . . while defending both their lives.
Praise for The Art of Taming a Rake
“A sweet and tender romance with a perfect blend of adventure and mystery . . . The repartee between the two protagonists—both of whom are struggling to stay detached—is engaging verbal foreplay that captures the heat of their physical attraction. . . . Readers will yearn for the lovers to at last be able to devote their sincere and thoughtful attention to each other.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[Jordan] adds just the right amount of danger and a large amount of passion in this well-written love story.”—RT Book Reviews
“Both sensuous and emotional, this story is a true pleasure.”—BookPage
“Jordan spices up the plot of her Regency romance with an intriguing thread of danger, but longtime fans of this best-selling author needn’t worry about a lack of potent passion, since Jordan also serves up plenty of the lushly sensual love scenes for which she is famous.”—Booklist
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
You know those books that aren’t bad, but there’s something about them that doesn’t really *do* it for you? That’s what The Art of Taming a Rake was for me.
I found this book on NetGalley and was intrigued by the synopsis. A heroine who boldly enters a gentlemen’s club? Yes, please. A suspense plot in historical times? Give me more.
The story, while good, didn’t quite satisfy, at least in the ways that I usually like to read. (And no, this has nothing to do with sex scenes, you dirty-minded readers.) Quinn and Venetia were wildly attracted to each other, and yet both had this firm desire not to fall in love. Beyond the believable point and into the eye rolling point.
In fact, I was pretty sure Quinn was already in love with Venetia, until he developed an aversion to love about 31% into the book. Venetia’s aversion to love was pretty understandable—after all, her former fiance was an asshole—but she judged Quinn unfairly constantly. It got old pretty fast.
Then the ending got super sweet and sugary, and that’s not my cup of tea. I like love that’s shown, not told. Take that how you will. There were also things I would have liked to see: closure with Venetia’s friend Cleo, since that thread was opened and never really closed in the book. Some kind of face off with Venetia’s former fiance, just because he was mentioned so many times (and the number of times Venetia unfairly compared Quinn to him).
That said.
I want Kate’s story, who I assume is next. I liked that Quinn’s family appeared in this book (since it’s the fourth in the series and most have already found their mates), but I was never really interested in them enough to want to read their books, either.
