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    My Fake Rake: The Union of the Rakes
    My Fake Rake: The Union of the Rakes
    My Fake Rake: The Union of the Rakes
    Audiobook10 hours

    My Fake Rake: The Union of the Rakes

    Written by Eva Leigh

    Narrated by Zara Hampton-Brown

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In the first book in Eva Leigh's new Union of the Rakes series, a bluestocking enlists 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.

    To further his own research on English society, Sebastian agrees to let Grace 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 asked 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 26, 2019
    ISBN9780062963147
    My Fake Rake: The Union of the Rakes
    Author

    Eva Leigh

    Eva Leigh is a USA Today bestselling romance author who has always loved historical romance. She writes novels chock-full of determined women and men who are here for it. She enjoys baking, spending too much time on the Internet, and listening to music from the '80s. Eva and her husband live in Central California. Eva also writes in multiple romance genres as Zoë Archer and Alexis Stanton. Visit her on the web at http://evaleighauthor.com

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    Reviews for My Fake Rake

    4/5

    84 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This had all the ingredients to be a 5/5 star for me. Mainly because I love friends-to-lovers, a good cinnamon roll and good (amazing) sex scenes. And that's exactly what I got. I also got two socially awkward nerds!
      I loved how their friendship evolved and how they grew closer and more comfortable (and uncomfortable) around each other. And I loved how that was also included during the sex scenes. I swear these sex scenes will live rent-free in my mind for the rest of my existence.
      I must say, there were some things about the ending that weren't precisely my cup of tea. However, at this point, my level of enjoyment was so high that I let it slide.
    • 3/5
      This is the type of book that I usually love: a scholarly hero pretending to be a rake and an independent heroine on the outskirts of society because of her learning who thinks she likes a different man. I liked how the author used inclusion in a historical regency book. It seemed very natural to include intelligent women while discussing some of the obstacles they faced (and still face). People from different cultures were also included organically, which is nice to see in historical romance. Ms. Leigh's descriptions of botany etc. were incorporated without adding too much for the non-scientific person. Where the story failed was in the romance department. Grace and Seb are perfectly nice people, but I never really felt any chemistry between them. She was so intent on the other man, and he wasn't especially enamored with Grace until they both fell suddenly into lust. Then it combusted in a very unlikely manner that still didn't feel romantic. The push by Grace's parents for her to marry also felt implausible; I shook my head when her mother pushed that aside with a very practical solution near the end of the book. So, it's an okay read, but I'm hoping that Rotherby's story in the next book is better.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable read. Loved the characters and the inevitable fake relationship to real feelings journey the author set up. Even though I knew it was coming there was still enough surprises along the way to keep it fresh and new. Also very much enjoyed that the heroine was brainy, it was very cute.
    • 4/5
      This is the first book by Eva Leigh I’ve read and I picked it up because it was recommended in an article for books to read after you’ve watched Bridgerton. It’s a good read and there is lots of chemistry between characters. Will read the next in the series at some stage.
    • 5/5
      It's a she likes him, but he doesn't SEE see her, although the friend likes her, but she doesn't SEE see him, and once a plan is hatched to snag the first "he's" attention for her, all the feelings start to get...muddled. No, that's not right. I think more accurately, though neither wants to admit it at first, their feelings for each other become clearer than fresh washed crystal. The tactics employed to gain our girl Grace the "man of her dreams", serve their purpose...just perhaps not fully in the way they were intended...which leads to some rather interesting circumstances, close calls, flaming kisses, and...well, I don't want to ruin things, but trust me, IT'S GOOD. Does Mason (the object of her long unreturned affections) finally take the hint? Does Grace even want him to at this point? What of dear Sebastian? Oh so many questions, and so many delicious ways to answer, but, you'll have to read it to find out!

      In the end, it's a Historical Romance for time and place, that's for certain, but with all the witty banter, scholarly humor, and scorching glances, there's not a Romance reader that wouldn't LOVE to step into Grace's shoes for a turn. I know I would...IN...A...HEARTBEAT. *sigh* Hey, how can you NOT love a leading lady with a mind of her own, a leading man with enough wherewithal to appreciate a woman for everything she is, and the sparks that fly from a friends-turned-more storyline? Exactly.


      **ebook received for review AND won a physical ARC from GoodReads and Avon Books...woot woot! Opinions are my own!
    • 2/5
      There definitely *are* intelligent intellectuals who are clueless about social mores, but this book didn’t quite carry off that dynamic. These two just seemed like fools. I mean, I guess they deserve each other since they were both smart and dumb in the exact same ways, but one would worry for their children, no?
    • 4/5
      Review originally published at Romancing Romances4.25*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!!!!
    • 2/5
      I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.“There’s no should when it comes to what we feel. There aren’t scientific laws when it comes to the human heart.”With a little inspiration from The Breakfast Club, the Union of Rakes series introduces readers to five boys in detention, identified with similar-ish personalities from Breakfast Club movie characters. My Fake Rake stars “the brain”, Sebastian, and Lady Grace, the woman he has become friends with as they both frequent a library. Grace has always been an outsider as she gets labeled a bluestocking for her interest, love, and study of amphibians. She has a big crush on another member of the library, Mason, a naturalist and a plan gets concocted to have Sebastian play the rake hitting on Grace in public, thus drawing Mason's attention and waking him up to the idea that Grace is desirable. However, as fake relationships are wont to go in romanceland, Sebastian and Grace find their “fake” feelings are very real.Reptile or human, you were guaranteed to make a cake out of yourself when mating season arrived. No, that wasn’t fair—to reptiles.As a child of the '80s, I was very excited about the Breakfast Club inspiration but it turned out to be a very faint one. We get a brief prologue introducing the five boys but no scenes with them all together bonding. Only one of Sebastian's friends from the group is shown throughout the book, giving readers a hint of the emotional connection between those two but not the group, as the other three only make a brief appearance towards the end. I, personally, felt like this could have a been a fun theme strung out throughout the book and gave readers an intimate and male friendship angle. Grace has a couple scenes with a female friend and she seems to have bonded with her romance reading maid (I can't be the only one wanting her to have her own story!) but I felt secondary character emotional additives were mostly missing and the five detention boys bonding angle could have fulfilled this.He was also poor as a churchmouse, which, unfortunately, meant that he hadn’t the financial means to court anyone.When readers come into the scene, Sebastian already has feelings for Grace but he's not an heir and his father disapproves of his anthropological studies, making him feel that he could never support Lady Grace as she would deserve and keeping him from declaring his feelings. Grace has focused all her attention on Mason and though she occasionally sees Sebastian in more than a friend light, until she starts spending more time with him, she never consciously considers it. Grace's changing feelings for Sebastian started popping up pretty quickly but the acknowledge, push away, and “Oh, Sebastian could Never feel that way about Me” goes on for far too long and drags down the pace of the story. There was something external or missing outside forces that made this story a little dull. I liked the outline but there was some spark and emotion missing that made this hard to pick back up. The focus lasts too long on Mason when Grace keeps saying how much she likes Sebastian and the only thing keeping them apart is her thinking he couldn't possibly like her back, even when she points out times he seems jealous and they have intimate moments that should make someone who is brave in going against the grain and fairly self-aware, ask even covertly “Do you like me?”.She realized at that moment that scholars didn’t just read, they knew things, naughty things.Sebastian being an introvert and shy but working to be a rake provided some sweet moments but these two seemed to be forced into cross-purposes when in contrast their personalities probably would have figured it out much quicker. Sebastian and Grace's relationship with their family, Grace's friendship with her maid and other lady, and the group of five, felt too faint to gain any emotion from. Rothbury (one of the five detention club boys and possibly “the princess”) was the only secondary character that I felt pulled his weight and gave something to the story, his friendship with Sebastian helped flush Sebastian's character out.Shouldn’t someone take an interest in her on the basis of who she was, rather than who they believed her to be? Yet that was precisely what she had done, and couldn’t help but feel some regret that she’d set her sights on someone who needed to be shown—by another man—that she was worthwhile.The beginning and Breakfast Club inspiration excited me but the middle dragged and failed to animate the characters and their relationship, there were also some obvious points that the author wanted to make and when you personally agree with them, want them stated and they still feel jarring and take you out of the story, they probably weren't woven in naturally enough. The ending failed to recapture the spark I lost and while I think this series still holds promise, My Fake Rake was a slow start.But, bloody hell, pretend or no, his kiss would haunt her to the end of her days.