Wild, Wild Rake by Janna MacGregor: Review

I received a copy of Jan­na MacGregor’s Wild, Wild Rake through His­tor­i­cal Fic­tion Vir­tu­al Book Tours for review pur­pos­es. As always, this review reflects only my hon­est thoughts on the book.

Wild, Wild Rake
by Janna MacGregor

Pub­li­ca­tion Date: Feb­ru­ary 25, 2020
St. Mar­t­in’s Press
eBook & Paper­back; 368 Pages

Series: The Caven­sham Heiress­es, Book #6
Genre: His­tor­i­cal Romance

 

 

Her first mar­riage was an epic fail.

Lady Aval­on War­wyk nev­er did love her hus­band. Arro­gant, self­ish, and cru­el, it’s a bless­ing when she’s wid­owed and left to raise her son all by her­self. Final­ly, Aval­on can live freely and do the work she loves: help­ing fall­en women become busi­ness­women. She’s lived these past ten years with no desire to remarry―that is, until Mr. Devan Far­ris comes to town.

Can he con­vince her to take anoth­er chance at hap­pi­ly ever after?

Devan Farris―charming vic­ar, reput­ed rake, and the broth­er of Avalon’s son’s guardian―is reluc­tant­ly sent to town to keep tabs on Aval­on and her son. Devan wish­es he didn’t have to med­dle in her affairs; he’s not one to trod on a woman’s inde­pen­dent nature and keen sense of con­vic­tions. But she’ll have noth­ing to do with vic­ar with a wild reputation―even though he’s nev­er giv­en his heart and body to anoth­er. If only he could find a way to show Aval­on who he real­ly is on the inside―a good, true soul look­ing for its oth­er half. But how can prove that he wants to love and care for her…until death do they part?

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My Review

When I first read Jan­na Mac­Gre­gor’s Rogue Most Want­ed (review here), the char­ac­ter of Aval­on quick­ly caught my eye. So, when the chance to review Wild, Wild Rake came along and gave me the chance to fol­low her sto­ry, I was so excit­ed to dive in! After read­ing, I’ve come to one con­clu­sion: I need to some­how get my hands on the full series as soon as I can!

Like Devan and his friends, I was­n’t sure I liked Aval­on at first.  But, the more I learnt about her and her back­ground, I could­n’t love her more.  Even as her sto­ry came to a close, I found myself root­ing for a beau­ti­ful future for her and her family–a long-term hap­pi­ly ever after.  I could pic­ture Devan, too, in absolute bliss, turn­ing a life he did­n’t nec­es­sar­i­ly long for to one he can’t help but love.

And, in what’s becom­ing a trend for me, I was equal­ly invest­ed in the back­ground char­ac­ters.  I want to know more about Sophia and Mar­cus, Pene­lope and Edward, Mary and young Richard, Hen­ri, Flo­ra and Jas­mine.… Every char­ac­ter that so much as pass­es through on the page is so beau­ti­ful­ly brought to life.  I only wish I could sneak into that por­tion of the author’s mind to learn every­thing I can about each one!

Wild, Wild Rake drew me in in so many ways, but anoth­er aspect that espe­cial­ly stood out to me was its tim­ing.  As the book went on, I found myself won­der­ing, “This hap­pened, what else is going on through the next X pages?” Full dis­clo­sure: I stayed up far too late one night to fin­ish the last sev­er­al chapters!

I’m cross­ing my fin­gers to read more of Jan­na Mac­Gre­gor’s Caven­sham Heiress­es series soon, and can’t rec­om­mend this one enough in the meantime.

Praise for the Cavensham Heiresses Series

“Full-bod­ied romance…with intel­li­gence and heart.”―New York Times best­selling author Cathy Maxwell

“Sparkling…MacGregor brings England’s Regency era to life.” ―Pub­lish­ers Weekly

“Beau­ti­ful­ly defined, excep­tion­al­ly appeal­ing.” ―Book­list (starred review) on The Bad Luck Bride

About the Author

Jan­na Mac­Gre­gor was born and raised in the bootheel of Mis­souri. She cred­its her dar­ling mom for intro­duc­ing her to the hap­pi­ly-ever-after world of romance nov­els. Jan­na writes sto­ries where com­pelling and pow­er­ful hero­ines meet and fall in love with their equal­ly matched heroes. She is the moth­er of triplets and lives in Kansas City with her very own dash­ing rogue, and two smug, but not sur­pris­ing­ly, per­fect pugs.

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Blog Tour Schedule

Mon­day, Feb­ru­ary 24
Review at Rose is Reading

Tues­day, Feb­ru­ary 25
Review at Robin Loves Reading
Review at Books In Their Nat­ur­al Habitat

Wednes­day, Feb­ru­ary 26
Review at Chicks, Rogues, and Scandals

Thurs­day, Feb­ru­ary 27
Fea­ture at YA, It’s Lit

Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 29
Review at Read­ing is My Remedy

Sun­day, March 1
Review at His­tor­i­cal Graffiti
Review at Car­ole Rae’s Ran­dom Ramblings

Mon­day, March 2
Review at Gwen­da­lyn’s Books

Tues­day, March 3
Excerpt at What Is That Book About

Wednes­day, March 4
Review at Book­ish Bellee

Fri­day, March 6
Review at His­tor­i­cal Romance Lover

Mon­day, March 9
Review at Amy’s Booket List

Tues­day, March 10
Review at The Romance Dish
Excerpt at I’m All About Books

Wednes­day, March 11
Review at Book­ish Rantings

Thurs­day, March 12
Review at Jes­si­ca Belmont

Fri­day, March 13
Review at A Chick Who Reads

Mon­day, March 16
Excerpt at The Lit Bitch

Tues­day, March 17
Fea­ture at His­tor­i­cal Fic­tion with Spirit

Thurs­day, March 19
Excerpt at Cov­er To Cov­er Cafe

Fri­day, March 20
Review at Cof­fee and Ink
Review at Pen­cils and Pages

Giveaway

Dur­ing the Blog Tour, we are giv­ing away a paper­back copy of Wild, Wild Rake! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Give­away Rules

– Give­away ends at 11:59 pm EST on March 20th. You must be 18 or old­er to enter.
– Paper­back give­away is open to US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All give­away entrants agree to be hon­est and not cheat the sys­tems; any sus­pi­cion of fraud will be decid­ed upon by blog/site own­er and the spon­sor, and entrants may be dis­qual­i­fied at our discretion.
– The win­ner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new win­ner is chosen.

Wild, Wild Rake