Hello and welcome to my review of Wild, Wild Rake by Janna MacGregor! Wild, Wild Rake was released last week, and I was happily provided with an advanced reader copy in exchange for taking part in the blog tour. Being a Janna MacGregor newbie, added to the fact that this is the sixth and final book in her Cavensham Heiresses series, I was a teensy bit worried that I’d be lost, but I caught on fairly quickly and all in all, quite enjoyed myself.

Lady Avalon Warwyck suffered greatly in her marriage to the late Lord Warwyck, a vicious and egotistical man. After being forced to marry him by her social climbing parents, then emotionally abused and humiliated by him during their brief marriage, she vows to never put herself under the power of another person. Enter Devan Ferris, our wild rake, or so the society pages would have you think. Lord Larkham, the guardian of Avalon’s son, has sent his brother Devan to check up on the lady and her son. Avalon has despised Devan and his roguish reputation for years and will have no part in his meddling with her carefully cultivated life and family. Devan for his part has always admired Avalon, always teasing her when they meet, trying to set her at ease, which she was misinterpreted as dislike. Now they’re in close proximity, he’s hot, she’s hot, I wonder what happens next. If you haven’t guessed that they fall in love, what kind of romance reader are you?

I found Devan to be so refreshing, especially in his occupation as the vicar. Don’t get me wrong, I love a duke as much as the next girl, but you just don’t see many vicars in romance, it was a nice change of pace. If you’re thinking, how could a vicar have a reputation as a wild rake, just remember, don’t believe everything you hear. Avalon was harder for me to get on board with. Granted, her parents and later her husband were terrible. Her husband was a total…let’s just say he wasn’t a nice person. That being said, he’s been dead for going on nine years, her horrible parents are gone as well, yet she remains extremely disdainful toward men in general. I hated even thinking it, but during the first 20% or so, she bordered on shrewish and she felt very man hating to me. I could understand her being closed off to love, but her general disregard toward Devan as a person, let alone love interest was frustrating. The intensity of her bitterness almost made her unsympathetic, however, MacGregor opens her up at just the right moment and before I knew it, I was all in.

This is a hard one for me to rate. After a rough start I ended up really liking it, but it did take a while for me to warm up to it. I definitely want to go back and read the other books in the series, so if that isn’t a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is! 4 Stars.

For more reviews like this one, check out my blog www.fosteringbookishness.com

**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I love this authors writing style. Her books are very character driven.
Avalon was forced to wed a man she didn’t love. He treated her poorly, paraded his mistress in front of her, and forced her to live on the country estate. When he died , she was relieved but now has to deal with one of his friends who manages her sons money and estate.
Declan is the 3rd son and thus has little control over his life. He’s a vicar and he’s always been intrigued by Avalon.
I liked watching these two find out that they the other is not who they expected.
It’s a good story, Easy to read. The drama was reasonable and quickly resolved. There were a few places where it dragged but overall it was a good story.