[Review] My Fake Rake, by Eva Leigh

Title My Fake Rake
Series: Union of the Rakes #1
Author: Eva Leigh
Publisher: Avon
Number of pages: 384
Publication date: November 26th 2019

Synopsis:

In the first book in Eva Leigh's new Union of the Rakes series, a bluestocking hires a faux suitor to help her land an ideal husband only to be blindsided by real desire…

Lady Grace Wyatt is content as a wallflower, focusing on scientific pursuits rather than the complications of society matches. But when a handsome, celebrated naturalist returns from abroad, Grace wishes, for once, to be noticed. Her solution: to "build" the perfect man, who will court her publicly and help her catch his eye. Grace's colleague, anthropologist Sebastian Holloway, is just the blank slate she requires.

In exchange for funding his passage on an expedition leaving London in a few months, Sebastian allows Grace to transform him from a bespectacled, bookish academic into a dashing—albeit fake—rake. Between secret lessons on how to be a rogue and exaggerated public flirtations, Grace's feelings for Sebastian grow from friendship into undeniable, inconvenient, real attraction. If only she hadn't hired him to help her marry someone else...

Sebastian is in love with brilliant, beautiful Grace, but their bargain is complete, and she desires another. Yet when he's faced with losing her forever, Sebastian will do whatever it takes to tell her the truth, even if it means risking his own future—and his heart.

Review:

I received an eARC at no cost from the author, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

I really liked this book. This is a book for nerds, with nerds. Our couple is formed by Grace, a herpetologist (studies reptiles and amphibians), and Sebastian, an anthropologist. They’ve been friends for years, and they enjoy each other’s company. Sebastian has a huge crush on Grace, and Grace is slightly attracted to him, but neither one does anything about it.

Enter Mason Fredericks. He has money (which Seb doesn’t have), society loves him (Seb doesn’t do well in society), and he’s a fellow scholar with a similar field to Grace’s. She’s had a small crush on him for some time, and when her dad makes a request she can’t refuse, Grace asks Seb to help her get Mason’s attention.

Seb can’t say no to Grace. Even if it hurts him, he just wants to see her happy. And this is how he got himself in a situation where he’s helping the woman he loves, get another man.

Beta heroes, anyone? I have to say, each day I love them more and more. They are my kind of people.

I really liked how their relationship evolved from friends to lovers, which is one of my favourite tropes. Their relationship is based on love, friendship, and mutual respect – respect for each other, and their respective fields of study. It made me *swoon*.

It was interesting to see how they each dealt with their feelings, and how Sebastian sometimes was completely blind to how Grace was feeling, and vice-versa. There’s a lot of miscommunication in this book, which I’m not the biggest fan of, as this was pretty much the only thing stopping our couple of getting together, but we can overlook that for all the good stuff.

I also really enjoyed the companionship between the male characters of the Union of Rakes, as they support each other, no matter the circumstances. It’s the kind of friendship we all look up to. Which also means, I’m super excited to read the rest of the series!!!!

[Review] Bringing Down the Duke, by Evie Dunmore

Title: Bringing Down the Duke
Series: A League of Extraordinary Women #1
Author: Evie Dunmore
Publisher: Piatkus
Number of pages: 368
Publication date: September 3rd 2019

Synopsis:

A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford Rebels, in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a powerful duke in a love story that threatens to upend the British social order.

England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.

Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he? Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke....

Review:

I had high hopes for this book, after having read very good reviews.

When I started to read it, I didn’t get why I wasn’t feeling the same as everyone else. I went to look at a few more reviews and found some people whom I agreed with. I just thought “ah, these are exactly my feelings”. And what feelings are those?

Well, Bringing Down The Duke is a book about a woman that wants to go to study at Oxford, but for that she has to join a Suffragist Society so that they’ll pay the tuition. I would have liked if Annabelle was more invested in the cause, because she behaved like it was a hard task to be part of it, like she was just doing it for the support at Uni. To be honest, I did not connect with her. For me, she was a bit annoying.

I mostly liked Sebastian, although he’s definitely not on my top list of heroes.

I don’t even know what else to say about the book, because it took me quite a bit of time to read it, and yet even though I finished it yesterday, I barely remember the story.

All in all, the book did not do it for me. It was just a plain romance, nothing much. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great.