Review: The Perfect Rake

There are two types of reading slumps. The first being that every book you as the reader have the misfortune of trying to read turns out to be...not very good. Dreadful, to be sure. But not the worst sort of slump.  Oh no. That slump is the slump where you just don't feel like reading. Anything. At all.  And that's where I've been for the last couple of months. Which has led to me whining to the other SoCal Bloggers - which I'm sure they appreciate beyond measure. Turns out though I'm not alone, we're all struggling - so on our last Zoom chat Tracy recommended The Perfect Rake by Anne Gracie. I did struggle, in parts, with this first book in her Merridew Sisters series but ultimately it won me over.  

The book opens with Prudence Merridew's vile grandfather and guardian beating the stuffing out her youngest sister Grace.  Grandpa Merridew, a Baron, likes to beat all the girls - but saves his most violent thrashings for Prudence and Grace who have the devil's own hair (red, like their mother - whom grandpa despises beyond all reason).  Prudence knows the time has come - they must run away. In a few months she'll be 21, and will become her sisters' legal guardian. The fly in the ointment? Money, of course.  Grandpa holds the purse strings until one of the girl's gets married. Prudence is plainer than unbuttered toast (which everybody harps on....) but her sisters are all gloriously beautiful.  Charity, the next oldest is particular is a startling beauty.  So Prudence concocts a scheme to the get the girls to London to their Great Uncle Oswald, they'll make their debut and seriously - Charity will likely have a husband bagged within the month.  The fly in the ointment?  Great Uncle Oswald insists that Prudence have her come out first.  I mean, once London lays their eyes on Charity and their twin sisters, Faith and Hope, poor Prudence will be overlooked!  

Prudence is desperate. She has a betrothed already, a chap named Phillip, who went off to India (4 years ago) to make his fortune.  But for reasons she can't tell Great Uncle Oswald that.  So she concocts a story that she's engaged to a notorious hermit Duke who never leaves Scotland.  Jokes on her though: the hermit Duke is in London to snag himself a wife - and Prudence soon finds herself partnered up with the man's notoriously rakish cousin, Gideon, Lord Carradice.

If this all sounds hopelessly farcical - it kind of is.  Which is why I struggled with this book for a while.  The "tone" is all over the place.  It's hard to reconcile a book that opens up with an old man beating the snot out of his nieces with the light historical humorous vibe that plays out for most of the book.  Gracie makes it gel slightly better than other authors who have trod down this garden path - but it's still an uneasy mix at times.  Especially at the end when Prudence's Big Secret comes splashing out in the open and you realize that yes, it is possible for her grandfather to be even more monstrous than originally thought.

So what makes it work?  The hero. Gideon, gods bless his soul, is smitten from the word go. The rake falls hard and fast.  So much so that when others mention Prudence's "plain" looks he thinks they're addled-brained ninnies.  I mean, ARE THEY BLIND?!?!?!  SHE'S ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!  It's hard to not love a hero like this. Also, Prudence and Gideon are so delightful together. They're evenly matched in the wits department, their verbal jousting is so well done, and there's the various half-truths, a fake engagement and the general light humorous vibe to keep the whole thing buoyant.

Ah yes, but long long fiance' Phillip and Evil Granddad must be dealt with - and they are in the end, in sweeping high dramatic fashion.  The last 40% of the book worked a bit better for me because of this - mainly because I'm an angst reader over "light fluff" reader the bulk of the time.  Mileage will vary on this though - especially given the full extent of Granddad's sins that come to light towards the end.

I ended up liking this, but not loving it.  Also, as much as I liked Prudence and Gideon - and the inclusion of a secondary romance for sister, Charity - I don't find myself with this burning desire to continue with the series, mostly because I was meh on the younger sisters.  But I would read Gracie again, which is a good thing since I'm pretty darn sure I have a couple of her super early books languishing in the TBR.

Final Grade = B