It was fun to read another in The Cavensham Heiresses Series. Lady Avalon went through terrible things but was strong and channeled her energies into good things. I love a strong heroine! The characters had great chemistry and I loved the development of their relationship. I'm looking forward to more in the series in the future.

A very good romance in the Cavensham series.
This is about Lady Avalon and Devan who did have a slight history but who were not friends.
Devan was sent to spy on Avalon by his brother who is Thane legal guardian to see how she was spending the money left to Thane.
Avalon wanted to support herself and Thane without a husband or interference.
As they get to know each other a feeling begins.
Voluntarily reviewed

Wild, Wild Rake is the sixth book in The Cavensham Heiresses series. This book grabbed my attention and kept it until the end of the book. I loved all the characters in the book, Devan was such a sweet hero and the banter between Avalon and Devan added wonderful humor.
The widowed Marchioness of Warwyck, Lady Avalon, had been forced to marry Richard, the Marquess of Warwyk. Once Avalon was widowed she wasn't interested in marriage again, all she wanted was to focus on raising her son and her helping fallen women.
Devan Farris was the younger brother of the Earl of Larkton, Avalon’s son’s guardian. Larkton had arranged for Devan to become the new vicar in Thistledown. He wanted Devan to tutor Avalon’s son, Thane, and prepare him for Eton. Also, he wanted Devan to find out how Avalon was funding her charities.
Devan’s respect for Avalon grew as he saw the love and care she provided the town residents. When a false allegation is made against Devan, the only way to save it was marriage between the two.

This is an unlikely enemies-to-lovers story about a noblewoman who was much hated by her husband. After his death, she comes into her own and welcomes ladies escaping a life of prostitution. The hero is a vicar with a much undeserved reputation as a rake. In fact, the title of the book is a total misnomer. To tell the truth, I found the heroine a bit annoying as she constantly spoke antagonistically to the hero. It all got a bit repetitive and didn’t do much to drive the plot forward. I just couldn’t care too much about either of them.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Loved the story. It is well written, entertaining and holds your attention. The story is so well written that the book comes alive in your imagination. The scenes are so graphic that it is easy to envision the story unfolding before your eyes. Avalon was forced, by her parents, into a marriage with a man who did not want her. Now widowed another man comes into her life but she finds it had to trust again. Devan, the new vicar, comes to see Avalon as a woman he could love but sees himself below her in station, even though both of their fathers were Earls. There is a HEA but a lot happens first which adds to the quality of the story. I would highly recommend this book as a great read.

The story does not have too much going for it. Can the widowed Lady make a match with the penniless vicar? This story is fairly predictable and brings nothing new to the genre.

I really enjoyed this book. Avalon and Devan made a great couple and little Thane was really a sweet boy. I’m looking forward to reading more of this series.
It did drag a bit and Thane was a bit more mature at times then his age.

This is the first book that I've read by Ms. MacGregor and I was not disappointed.
Lady Avalon, having been forced into marriage with a Lord that was in love with someone else and also forced by her parents. This caused resentment and made for a very unhappy marriage.
Now a widow, Avalon creates a haven for ex-prostitutes while raising her young son. This is how Devan finds her, after being assigned as Vicar for her lands and tasked with spying for his brother, who is the guardian of her young son. Having a negative history with Gavin, Avalon is not happy to have him there.
Through many negative confrontations Avalon and Devan fight their attraction to each other.
I highly recommend this story and look forward to reading more of Janna's books.
Thank you Janna MacGregor, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

A little cheesy in parts, but a very sweet story about sworn enemies with more in common than they think.

I’m torn about this book. I loved the primary love story; it was very sweet and well-told. I liked the emphasis on second chances and that Avalon and Devan communicated with each other. As a reader who hates the “big misunderstanding” trope, it was refreshing to have a romance in which the couple actually talk and work out their problems.

What I didn’t like—and the reason for three stars—was the drama involving secondary characters, especially the one that happened in London. It was overly melodramatic and added nothing of value to the book. It really took away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

Kindly provided with an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review....

I truly went i to this read with an open mind and I absolutely loved every minute of it !!!
This was Avalon and Devan's tale. Life really is not being good to Avalon, yet right from the out stead despite the crappy hand she is dealt she shows amazing resilience and kindness. She eventually gets the opportunity to change her circumstances and boy does she take control from there !!

Enter Devan.....at first I was not a fan, he for me was the same ilk as Avalon's looser hubby. But wow I judged him wrong. I adored how Janna brought these two unlikely characters together and created a love of the ages.

Quite the steamy read and Avaoln very much for a lady of her times is quite the rebel with a heart !!!.

It's a MUST read for lovers of not only great historical dramas but of swoon worthy romances !!

5 "what a tangled web we weave with our hearts" Stars from me x

Many thanks Janna and Netgalley. Top Read

Later peeps xxx

I have been keeping up with the series so I was glad to have this one. As I think I have mentioned before some of the books in the series I liked and some I couldn't really care for, and this one was partly in that category. I wondered about Avalon and wasn't crazy about her at first but as I continued reading which at times was hard for me because I hate abusers and cheaters I continued and I hated Avalon's first husband as much if not more than she did and I couldn't understand why know one punched him in the face he so deserves it. Avalon was a saint compared to how I would be with the mistress I get this happened back then but she not only accepted her but was there for her, yeah even if she hated her husband the mistress was a little too much for me. Now that Avalon is a widow I could definitely understand if she never wanted another man again, but that changes fairly quickly.

While I was excited for Wild, Wild Rake, it was sadly disappointing. The main character Avalon had a disastrous first marriage. He parents forced her to marry a man she didn’t want to marry, and made it so that he had to marry her as well. While it would make sense for him to be upset, the husband is verbally and borderline physically abusive (he only refrains from hitting her when his mistress, Mary, gets between them). Mary is the woman he apparently wanted to marry, and he dotes on her. Many historical romances have unfaithful husbands with mistresses, and I don’t blame the ‘other women’ as they are simply women in the past doing what they can to survive. I’ve even read really good books where the wife and mistress team up (often after the man’s death) to do whatever. But this is where the story diverges from other narratives. Instead of just being a mistress, she and the husband act as if they were the married couple, and he kicks out the main character. He dotes on her child (because he got her pregnant before the main character) and ignores the child he has with Avalon. He disparages Avalon to everyone he knows, and is generally a jerk. But apparently he’s nice to Mary. Despite the fact that she knows him to be abusive to his wife, Mary loves him. So much so that when the two women are called together by the solicited after the husband dies, Avalon ends up having to comfort the mistress of her abuser. And maybe Avalon is a better person than I am, but she forgives her. Again, it’s not that she was his mistress that was the problem. It’s the active caring and the seeming ignoring that he was abusive to Avalon. He caused Avalon severe emotional trauma. And Mary just acts like he walked on sunshine. And yet there’s no real acknowledgment of this in the text. In short, the book doesn’t adequately handle the abuse it depicts. At times it feels victim blaming, and I worry it could be triggering for abuse survivors. The husband’s actions are never truly condemned and acknowledged as abuse. It feels like there’s excusing and general hand-wavyness about the whole thing. For me, romance books are supposed to be a positive escape, but this caused more negative feelings than good. And maybe I’m just hyper-fixated on a minor subplot, but how the abuse the main character suffered was handled kinda ruined the book for me. While sucking in and of itself, it also sucks because I enjoyed previous books by the author, but after this bad experience, I don’t know if I can continue reading her books.

🥰Book Review🥰
Wild, Wild Rake by Janna Macgregor
Sass-o-meter4.5/5💜s
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Quote: "the end of Song of Solomon is about faithfulness and being one with your spouse. To me, we’re one, and I find absolute strength and salvation in that. You’ll forever have my love , my passion, and all that I am. No matter how old or wrinkled we are, I will only see you as my hearts desire. It’s my promise to you forever.”
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What this book is about:

Her first marriage was an epic fail.

Lady Avalon Warwyk never did love her husband. Arrogant, selfish, and cruel, it’s a blessing when she’s widowed and left to raise her son all by herself. Finally, Avalon can live freely and do the work she loves: helping fallen women become businesswomen. She’s lived these past ten years with no desire to remarry―that is, until Mr. Devan Farris comes to town.

Can he convince her to take another chance at happily ever after?

Devan Farris—charming vicar, reputed rake, and the brother of Avalon’s son’s guardian—is reluctantly sent to town to keep tabs on Avalon and her son. Devan wishes he didn’t have to meddle in her affairs; he’s not one to trod on a woman’s independent nature and keen sense of convictions. But she’ll have nothing to do with a vicar with a wild reputation—even though he’s never given his heart and body to another. If only he could find a way to show Avalon who he really is on the inside—a good, true soul looking for its other half. But how can he prove that he wants to love and care for her . . . until death do they part?
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My thoughts:

I just love a good love story with a happy ending.

Poor Avalon had a horrid first loveless marriage. And after all of the horrid things her first husband did she opened her heart for another.

She also was a supporter for other women who could not control their circumstances with her charity.

Avalon is a strong female character and wouldn’t back down for just anyone.

This book is definitely worth picking up in Feb. when released! Thank you #netgalley and St. Martin’s Paperbacks for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sassiest character - Devon
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Qotd: Historical romance books are my guilty pleasure. What book genre is your guilty pleasure?

I've had my ups and downs with the Cavensham Heiresses series and unfortunately Wild, Wild Rake took the series down once again. 

Nothing about this book really stood out for me. Even the fact that it's a romance between a lady and a vicar (rather than a duke or lord or whatever title you prefer) didn't stand out because the characters came off so exaggerated.

Avalon was in a horrible marriage prior the main events of the story, ten years pass, and she's hellbent on sequestering her young son with her in the country and gods forbid anyone attempt to change her current status quo. And Devan is over-the-top in his "rakeishness" but actually hasn't done any of the things he's rumored to have (but he's like SO great in bed too...). I don't know, neither character felt real to me. They're totally flawed and yet they came off sort of one-dimensional, their decisions all ruled by a singular goal (Devan) or flaw (Avalon).

The romance itself was okay, but not great. There's obviously chemistry between the characters but their refusal to accept it for so long grew annoying real fast. It's one of my pet peeves when it comes to any sort of relationship between characters. If a book is relying on stubbornness or a lack of communication to drive tension for a good chunk of the book, I'm out. Wild, Wild Rake wasn't a drastic case of this but it was definitely enough to make me lose interest in the romance. Combined with my opinion of the characters, I just wasn't super sold on the book.

I don't think Wild, Wild Rake is a bad story and I'm sure there are readers out there who would enjoy it, especially those continuing the series, but it wasn't a win for me.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I received an advanced reader's copy to review.

In this genre it is common to meet the same characters who differ only by their name and (often) their title. Not that this is a bad thing - it's comfortable to know what you're getting into before you open the book.
At the start of this book, it looked comfortably familiar. But not for long. Avalon is not the put-upon wife. Devan is definitely not the overbearing, alpha hero. These are wonderful, interesting and real characters who I loved getting to spend time with.

A sweet sexy story of a delightful naughty vicar and his strong love.
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I love the twist in this story right from the beginning. A naughty vicar is definitely a great addition to the spice factor of any story but then to make him a virgin too? Oh yes.

This story started out strong and the author kept it going throughout. I love so much about this story! The initial hatred of each other. The snark and general dislike that gradually switched to the warm and fuzzy feelings.

I did have a hard time with some spots of the insta-love moments. I know that we had the whole book to warm up to their mutual feelings. But sometimes it just felt off. Like I didn’t get the entire buy-in of their relationship, However, I do love both of the characters overall and they worked really well together. A perfect balance.

MacGregor did treat us to a story that was exciting, with some delicious naughty parts (that vicar was very well read!), and a delightful finish. Beautifully written in the Regency style, a true treat for the historical romance lover. I cannot wait to read her again!

Sweet and spicy!

I went into this book having only read book one of The Cavensham Heiresses series and felt as though it was fine to read as a standalone. The book was a bit rough for me unfortunately. The story neither held my whole attention nor engaged me as it started out slow and never kept me connected. The hero was the brightest spot in the book for me while it took a little longer for me to connect with the heroine. The hero's compassion and understanding had me invested in him and the love he had to give. In historical romances I need really excellent story telling and while this was written well it just wasn't compelling for me. Some lines, word choices and scenes were a little cheesy for my taste. The story is overall sweet and easy to read.

Avalon Warwyck is a widow whose previous marriage ended due to very unfortunate circumstances. Now a new vicar has moved into the area, named Devon Farris. Sparks fly. But that's not my favorite part.

Truthfully my favorite part of this story was watching the characters not only grow to love each other but also how much I enjoyed watching their own unique character development. Jenna McGregor does a fabulous job of character development in this book, probably much better than any work I've read of hers to date.

I also greatly appreciated her incorporating history in a truthful manner, and also a vicar who may or may not be all that he seems. It was very well done. A classy work of romance that is well worth read!

I will see you today free copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

A good historical romance that wasn’t just about a woman of status trying to land a rich husband. I liked Avalon being a strong woman helping others, Devan not being what he seems, and Thane being a wise young kid.