Her protagonists are deserving and loveable and secondary characters even better. Kleypas loves the genre, loves writing it, and embraces its narrative conventions whole-heartedly, from her “cold-hearted” rake who turns out a softie, to her tiny heroine with nerves of steel. But the fiery attraction between them is impossible to deny-and from the first moment Devon holds her in his arms, he vows to do whatever it takes to possess her.Ĭold-Hearted Rake is great fun because it is conventional. Kathleen knows better than to trust a ruthless scoundrel like Devon.

along with Kathleen, Lady Trenear, a beautiful young widow whose sharp wit and determination are a match for Devon’s own. His estate is saddled with debt, and the late earl’s three innocent sisters are still occupying the house. But his powerful new rank in society comes with unwanted responsibilities. The pub-blurb makes Cold-Hearted Rake sound like any other standard-fare histrom, but the sheer delight and reader-joy I took in it was more than most historical romances I’ve tried to read have offered:ĭevon Ravenel, London’s most wickedly charming rake, has just inherited an earldom. Though I’d read and reviewed Chasing Cassandra (back when the pubs most likely to decline a small-time reviewing outfit like Miss Bates went into pandemic-sales panic and granted ARCs right left and centre), I’m glad I went back and started the series from the first volume. But Kleypas still takes joy in the genre and it comes through in the Ravenel series. It’s sad that I side-eye so much romance these days: afraid I’ll find yet another novel with trite, or formulaic ideas or another trying so hard to do something new that it fails to come alive. If I can say a few things about Kleypas, they would be: she still writes books that made me fall in love with romance in the first place (Derek Craven!) and she’s only gotten better over time (except for the woo-woo books).

Ravenels cold hearted rake