Review: Taming a Rake into a Lord

Taming a Rake into a Lord by Tammy Andresen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Taming a Rake into a Lord is the fourth book in the Taming the Heart series, although each book in the series works perfectly fine as a standalone novel. Having read books two and three, I can say they flow nicely from one to the next, allowing us a small introduction to the characters before their story becomes an entire book. Even without these small insights, I would have enjoyed this one – having read two of the three prior books simply made it easier for me to truly appreciate the story. It also highlighted that I really need to go and read book one, so that I have read the entire set of stories.

Compared to the prior books, Taming a Rake into a Lord is a very quick read. All of the books are short enough to be completed in a single sitting, should you wish, but this one felt even shorter. Personally, I would have liked it if this story had been a bit longer. I wanted to be pulled into the story more than I was. As shown by my four star rating, I enjoyed this one, yet it felt as though it was lacking in the depth that I enjoyed so much in the third book. For me, of the three I’ve read, the third book in the series is my favourite. Coming from the third book into this one so soon meant I was still on the high of book three and was expecting great things.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many wonderful things about this one. I’m not saying it’s a bad book, simply that I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I enjoyed the prior book.

Events hit you one after the other, with everything coming together at a rapid pace. This is wonderful considering the length of the book: even though I wished it were longer, the pacing was perfect for a read of this length. There’s plenty of romance to be seen, and the action has a great pace when it occurs. Truthfully, I feel as though the action wasn’t quite as great as it could have been. At the start action filled events were mentioned but we didn’t get to see them play out, and I feel as though I would have enjoyed the book even more had the small action sequences at the start played out in full. Nevertheless, you knew there was a lot going on and that pulled you into the story, leaving you addicted.

Whilst I didn’t enjoy the main characters quite as much as I did in the prior book (I should probably stop comparing the two, sorry), I did have fun with them. As always, I would have been happier if the romance had taken longer to blossom; despite this, I came to enjoy the relationship between the characters. At first I feared I wouldn’t be able to enjoy their story, but as things progressed I became captivated by how things were going to play out.

Not to mention we got to see the characters from the prior books. It was nice to see some more of their chemistry, especially with them being side characters instead of the focal point. This meant we got to see the love between them without the drama of their relationship being the centre of the story. It was nice to see them again, to be given snippets of what I loved about their stories.

My biggest issue with the book is the same issue I had with the prior book: the ending felt as though it was a repeat of what I’ve already read. To paraphrase one of the characters in this story, it wouldn’t be a regency love story without a kidnapping. As always, it was enjoyable; however, I wish that something else had been used as a final action sequence. I just felt cheated is all: there are many different forms of action to be seen across regency romance stories, and I feel as though this series has used up its quota of kidnappings.

As a whole, I enjoyed this one. Whilst not my favourite in the series, it was a nice addition.

As a final note, I would like to thank Aurora Publicity for allowing me to read this in exchange for a review: I had a lot of fun with this one, and plan to read more of the author’s work.

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