2025 ARC read
Elias (MMC) Viscount Snowden is a rake and has sworn off love from an early age his parents were a love match which was pretty rare for matches in the Ton. At a young age around Christmas time Elias's mother dies tragically after an unfortunate accident his father is heartbroken and he makes a vow at that time to never fall in love after seeing how his father has been grieving the loss of his mother and has never remarried Elias decides it would be too painful to "love" and keeps his relationships simple not tying himself down to anyone and to play the field... yes he is a Rake.
Lydia sees herself if not in love on her way to loving her betrothed at the beginning of the book and seeing as they are getting closer to her wedding with the man of her dreams she feels that she figures it's close enough to let him take some liberties with her. Sneaking out of her home in the middle of the night and into her fiancé's home she finds more than she bargained for when she catches him in a compromising situation... never again will she fall for a smooth talking rake. Thankfully Lydia's father is able to cancel any further arrangements with this cad. Lydia has decided she will marry for love or not at all she needs a man to be faithful not a playboy heartbreaker.
The holiday season is here and everyone loves a good house party so Elias finds himself at his families country estate where his sister (with the assistance of an older family member) is hosting the event. His sister has made sure to invite his friends and hers along with some other members of the Ton that were nice to her this season... but one of them happens to be a young widow that Elias had previous relations with but he ended a few years prior she just hasn't got the hint that things are over.
I enjoyed the banter that Elias shared with his 3 younger sisters and his father you could tell how much they loved each other. Lydia and her parents have also joined the house party while initially Lydia is determined to stay far away from the handsome rakes at the party.
Diana (the sister) has set up many activities to get the single men and ladies to work together and get to know each other better and Elias has his eyes on Diana's beautiful friend Lydia... but even though she finds herself drawn to Elias and knows his reputation would it be more than a house party flirtation... he has been getting around and she wants true love would he ever give up his rakish ways for one woman?
Some extra drama occurs when the young widow gets involved in a plan to try to separate Lydia and Elias thinking that it will push Elias towards her again. When Lydia finds herself in a dangerous situation with her spurned ex will Elias be able to realize his feelings in time to come to the rescue or is their relationship doomed from the start?
This was an enjoyable quick read and once I got into it I couldn't put it down. This was a shorter book so while I know everything had to happen quicker I did find it a bit unrealistic for our Rake to go from "not going to wed for years" to "all in" in a matter of a few days leaving an insta lust/love feel. Lydia once deciding that she couldn't avoid Elias and stating she didn't expect anything more from him then what he could give very soon after was acting jealous and wanting to know how he felt about her you two just met a day or so ago give him time lady!
I did enjoy the leads together and the book had a lot of fun side characters that I hope will make appearances in the rest of the series. Looking forward to the next book in this series!
*Netgalley *reformed rake *quick read *historical romance *spice *house party *holiday romance
*Grief (loss of mother MMC) *insta lust/love *strong independent FMC *drama with exes (ex lovers)
*happy ending
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