Thursday

The Taming of the Rake by kasey Michaels

August 18, 2011

Road Trip! Road Trip! Road Trip!
Saddle up those ponies we are off on an adventure!

http://www.kaseymichaels.com/links.html
Kasey Michaels has been around for quite awhile. In fact, a number of her older books are some of my favorites, but I've been disappointed in her newer offerings. I opened The Taming of the Rake with a little trepidation. Have you ever picked up a book and from the very first page, just knew that it was going to be a humdinger? Well, my fellow readers, Ms. Michaels' latest is that and I was more than delighted to find a little bit of the old Kasey Michaels hiding in those chapters.

This is the beginning of a new series about the three illegitimate Blackthorne brothers: Beau, Puck and Jack. The first story is about the eldest brother, Beau, and his nemesis, the heroine, Chelsea.

As I read this story, it became hard for me to say which of these two characters I liked best. I love Chelsea - she reminded me a lot of some of the women from a Preston Sturges movie - rapid-fire, snappy, smart dialog - quick witted and always one step ahead of the hero. This doesn't mean she's mean, it's just she has a wise-cracking mouth. However, she has a brain to go with that mouth. She also sees the frailties of the people surrounding her, especially our hero Beau.

Beau. What a wonderful hero. And the moniker of rake is misleading; he's more of a a bad boy. Beau's character is also loaded with fun dialog, but there seem to be more layers to him. And, after being introduced to his mother and father, a lot of his layers are explained. Ms. Michaels has created quite a fascinating dysfunctional family. I'm really looking forward watching the family dynamics unfold. Beau's brother Puck plays a large part in this book and while he seems a bit of a frivolous fellow, I suspect there's a lot that doesn't meet the eye. Jack has a smaller part in the book; however, his character seemed to be a lot darker. And wait till you meet the mother - what an appalling woman!

Back to Beau. I loved watching him as he fell in love - it was a mighty struggle, but pretty funny.

The is also a trio of villains, or as they end up, a trio of not very nice sleazy people. They were even interesting, but I doubt we will see them in the next books.

The Taming of the Rake was a great story of two people who have an adventure and along the way discover love. I was on my way to giving this book a really high rating, except there was just one too many adventures or maybe two to many. And even though there was an explanation given for the enmity between Beau and Chelsea's brother, I found it a little lacking considering how many lives were disrupted. But those were just minor quibbles in an otherwise wonderful book. For those of you who are fans of Ms. Michaels, you're going to like this one. And for those of you who have never read her, this is a good one to start with.

Time/Place: Regency England
Rating:
Sensuality Rating:

5 comments:

Melanie said...

You MINX!

I've just started to read it and I'm skipping your review 'till I'm done with mine! I don't want to find myself using your words:)

LOL! But I did see that you gave it A- and so far I'm LOVING it....

BTW: I just got done with couple of new galleys and you're welcome to stop by, Chick!

Mel
www.bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com

SidneyKay said...

Melanie: Blah ha ha! I got it done first! Hope you like it.

Tracy said...

Ok - now I have to put this on my wish list. Damn that thing's getting long. lol Great review.

Melanie said...

Oh how bad you are!!! I just read your review (and LOVE it :)
I posted mine a couple of hrs ago) and I can't wait for you to stop by and tell me what you think. BTW have you requested the next instalment?! I did, but I haven't gotten it yet.

I'm so glad we both liked it. I'm reading a Charlotte Hawkins (self published on Kindle) book Lady Gisborne: The Love Story and I like it a lot. I read this weekend her The Tempest: Guy of Gisborne and it was really good. If you watched the BBC's Robin Hood. you might like it.

I also am very impressed by Maureen Driscoll's second book (again self published on Kindle) in her Kellington family series and I would love it if you'd read it and tell me what you think. I have it on my Kindle and I wondered if you can take it from there? They have this 'lending' program but I'm not sure how it works...do you?

I see you're reading The Devilish Montague by Patricia Rice and it's on my TBR but I'm not getting there yet:( I strted it and then....I'll see what you say about it :)


Well, on to my next read...Courtney Milan, Shana Galen, Grace Burrowes...

SidneyKay said...

Melanie, Tracy: I love Kasey Michaels, I loved her when she was Michele Kasey also and I'm glad that this one reminded me of her older books. And, I just ordered my Courtney Milan.