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ColdHearted Rake edition by Lisa Kleypas Romance eBooks

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ColdHearted Rake edition by Lisa Kleypas Romance eBooks

I love regency romances! I've read many of this author's books and liked them, even loved some. This was a good book which had one flaw that kept me from loving it. The premise was intriguing - nobleman inherits title, estate, widow, and cousins. The heroine, Lady Kathleen Trenear, was initially compelling - pretty and loyal, but inconsistently immature, stubborn, and overreactive toward the end. The hero, Lord Devon Ravenel, was more compelling - handsome, aristocratic, and sexy. They had good chemistry. The storyline was entertaining. The side story of Helen & Winterborne makes me eager for their book. Overall, a good book which could have been great, and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series!


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ColdHearted Rake edition by Lisa Kleypas Romance eBooks Reviews

Whyyyyyy did I wait so long to read Cold-Hearted Rake? Anyone? (And why have I still not read the second two books in the series? Sometimes I'm the worst.) I don't make time to read a lot of historical romance these days, but every time I read one, I wish I did. Lisa Kleypas is my HR queen. 
I wasn't 100% sure I would get onboard with Devon, but after Sebastian became one of my favorite heroes EVER in Devil in Winter, I should've known better than to doubt Lisa. I mean, sure, Devon put me through some ups and downs, but when it was all said and done, I was hopelessly in love with him. Kathleen was pretty special herself. Together they delivered an amazing slow burn romance with many swoons and feels along the way. There are so many interesting secondary characters in this book, I can't wait until I can read their stories. 

I can't say enough about Lisa's historical romances and how much I always end up loving her characters — even the ones I'm convinced I'm going to dislike. She has a special way of redeeming even the most challenging character and I am here for it every single time. 
Since there are already over four hundred reviews for this book I'm not going to go into the plot, however, I still wanted to throw my two-cents in. I put off reading this story because of the earlier, more unfavorable reviews, but I beg to disagree. I did not find Kathleen at all unlikable as some people did. I'll admit she can be bossy and thinks she knows best, but that's not unlike many women I know, lol. Though I didn't always agree with her, I usually understood where she was coming from. It was clear to me early on that she loved her sisters-in-law dearly, was compassionate, and had a big heart. Ditto for Devon who I found neither cold-hearted nor rakish, unlike the title implies. He was a little underhanded at times and was self-involved in the beginning, but that changed soon after meeting Kathleen. I do love a smart, confident, faithful, and possessive rogue, so Devon was just my type of hero. As a couple these two had wonderful chemistry; they fought as passionately as they loved, and their desire and need for each other was practically palpable. I loved the camaraderie that these siblings had and can't wait for them all to get their own stories. In the end I found the book engaging, romantic, and delightful. It made me laugh, smile, and I simply fell in love with the entire Ravenel family. This story reminded me of how much I adore Ms. Kleypas's historical romances and was an absolute joy to read =)
I'm not sure if taking 5 years off from writing historical romances was such a good idea for Kleypas. Reading this makes me feel that she has had so many ideas percolating in her head for all that time that she couldn't decide what to concentrate on for this new book and just threw everything in. We don't have the proverbial 'kitchen sink' in this, but there is the retrofitting of an old house for indoor plumbing.

There are too many people here and all are given short shrift in character development and there are too many little extras and period trivia that divert the reader from the main romance(s). We are treated to bits on mourning and mourning clothes and black dyes; tenants and estate management; horse training; department stores in the 1870s; differences between store-bought and tailored clothing (especially shirts); orchid growing; railroad travel; Christmas decorating; and more and more and more. It's as if Kleypas had been doing lots and lots of research on the period during her hiatus and wanted to include as much of her info as she could. Well, some readers do complain about the lack of historical accuracy in HRs but there is limit to the amount of factoids I want in a romance.

What we don't get enough of is insight into the characters and their lives prior to the beginning of the book. For example, I am left totally bewildered by the three Ravenel young women and their absurdly sheltered lives (not to mention agog at the 19-year-old Tedious Twins who behave as if they were 9).

And nobody's cold-hearted here, but nobody warms my heart either. The hero and his brother, who were rather useless hedonists before the hero inherits the earldom from the heroine's late husband, obviously were actually good souls. The younger brother West seemed to be a dissolute drunkard but all it took was to have a mission in his life to dry him up and set him straight. And all our rakish hero needs to straighten himself out is a good look at the heroine and the idea that she and the three sisters and the tenants, etc., all need his support and help.

So easy. Not much conflict. A bit of a problem with the heroine and her metaphoric hair-shirt and messed-up childhood that keep her from consistency in her dealings with the hero. Many reviewers have said they didn't like her. I didn't know enough about her or anybody else in the story to know if I did or did not like them. This book needed less filler (of unimportant but very interesting information) and more background on the characters and more character development.

The 5-year HR hiatus also did not do Kleypas any favors because in that time we have had a lot of very good authors filling the hole Kleypas left us with. Authors that give us very interesting and complex and well-developed characters. Authors such as Cecilia Grant, Sherry Thomas, Jayne Fresina, Erin Satie, Rose Lerner, Theresa Romain, and more whose names aren't coming to my feeble brain at the moment.
I love regency romances! I've read many of this author's books and liked them, even loved some. This was a good book which had one flaw that kept me from loving it. The premise was intriguing - nobleman inherits title, estate, widow, and cousins. The heroine, Lady Kathleen Trenear, was initially compelling - pretty and loyal, but inconsistently immature, stubborn, and overreactive toward the end. The hero, Lord Devon Ravenel, was more compelling - handsome, aristocratic, and sexy. They had good chemistry. The storyline was entertaining. The side story of Helen & Winterborne makes me eager for their book. Overall, a good book which could have been great, and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series!