Review: The Last Rake in London

This wonderful Harlequin Historical was tucked in my sister's Easter basket and she passed it on to me when she was done enjoying it.

Nicola Cornick's The Last Rake in London was definitely a good mix of interesting characters and a fun plot-line. Jack Kestrel, the rake to out rake any rake, mistakenly thinks night club owner Sally Bowes is the vicious trollop blackmailing his uncle. That vicious trollop is actually her ridiculously childish and annoying sister Connie who attempts to weasle her way into Jack's wealthy family when she isn't working nights as a hostess at Sally's club.

Jack immediately wants to take Sally and winds up later falling in love with her despite his vow to never love again. Sally, who will do anything for vexatious Connie or her other sister suffreget Nell, winds up "selling" her virginity to Jack in order to send much needed money to Nell so she can take care of her children. This act both confuses and infuriates Jack and he decides to secretly buy out Sally's club and bankrupt it to get back at her and Connie for the "scam" they were running on his cousin/uncle.

Long story short Connie gets the shaft and Sally and Jack live happily ever after. But not before jealous fights, near-drownings, and wild goose-chases.

I found this story avidly entertaining and it was the perfect book to read while swinging in a hammock all day. The characters were extremely easy to relate to, even though it was set in the Edwardian era and I enjoyed it from cover to cover.

The ratings:
Raunch Factor: *****
Multiple corsets and dresses were cut and torn off...
Writing Style: *****
Well written. Very similar writing style to No Place for a Lady.
Ridiculousness: *****
It wasn't too ridiculous.
Actual Plot: *****
The plot was pretty interesting.