When i got my arc from netgalley, I expected another romance that would be sweet with an obstacle thrown in mix at some point but this was so much more. It had me gritting my teeth wondering what would happen and if they would get their happy ever after. I love her character. The sweet and shy naive girl taken by the charming and conniving man... yet then she stands up and is bold and outspoken which is so out of character but makes her more endearing...I enjoyed this greatly

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Baron and Miss of Folly
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: Walcott
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Slow
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Novel
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Historical Romance
3.2/𝟱

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ ‘Redemption’ of a liar, gambler & drunk
~ More is needed beyond love

Naive, tiny, minuscule, small Emma with a height complex, has 3 months to stop her courtship & eventual marriage to a Viscount 3x her age - HOWEVER the most handsome, gambler, liar, drunk & bankrupt rake Baron, could be primed to woo and conquer, if her lies of wealth can convince him to act fast. Since his lies are as tall and his estate in ruins - he falls… but where exactly can this relationship go? 😬

🌵
Although the ‘love’ came across as somewhat weak & superficial, the story treats recovering from addictions & despair well. There isn’t much meat here, but it can be enjoyed as a light, ‘no-spice’ read for those who enjoy their historical romances this way.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌱THE MEH
~ Lying to ‘protect’ trope
~ Lie and delay trope
~ Unending references to her shortness 🙄
~ Highly superficial attraction
~ ‘You find me beautiful’ being the bizarre reasoning for everything?

♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

Review for the Baron of Rake Street
This is the 2nd book in this series that I have read, and it isn't, in my opinion, as good as the first.
It has a nice concept, in that the Headmistress brings back all the old friends from the school from 20 years past, and in her sick bed asks them all to tell her a story. In each case it turns out to be the story of their romance.
I think one of the main issues I have with this now, is that all the girls are very young. !7 at the most, and with no life experience, so the most they are really feeling is a crush. In this story, Emma is very naive (her height is a total irrelevancy) and has no experience with parties and the social class in which she is expected to to meet there. She comes from a sheltered country background with no riches and thus when she meets people with apparently money, and sees houses which are decorated expensively, she has an unrealistic view of what they must be like to live in them.
This to me, doesn't make for a good story or plot. I read over 50% of the book but got so frustrated with Emma - I just wanted to shake her -that I gave up. The author failed to make me empathize with her situation or to like at all the Rake she was crushing after.

oh boy. Our bad boy hero, Andrew, has been pretty bad and now must marry a rich girl to bail him out. In walks, Emma. He is mutually attracted to her and her money, which he hears about eavesdropping on her convo. Psst, she's not rich at all. Sooo now what. What a lovely story as they figure it out for an HEA. Loved this one.

I Loved It! The second in Sisterhood of Secrets series does not disappoint. From the first page to the last Baron of Rake Street will keep your attention from the moment you begin the journey with Emma and Lord Andrew until the very end. It unfolds beautifully as it weaves a story from beginning to end with angst, uncertainties and overcoming their lack-of-confidence in one's self. With the appearances from characters who you found a special place in your heart. Jennifer Monroe has given readers a book that is well-written and well paced, filled it with great cast of characters that come off the pages and pull you into this emotional ride that keeps you involved until the very end with heartfelt dialogue and an enjoyable plot that brings this read together perfectly!

Lord St. John’s is a naughty gambler, frequenting the Rake Street Gaming Hell and has driven his estate to near bankruptcy. In his wild desperation, Andrew relies on his one saving grace charm his ability to charm vulnerable women into party with money and jewelry. It isn't enough so Andrew decides to set his sights on a young lady with a dowery large enough to get him out of trouble. Emma Hunter never forgot her introduction to the infamous Baron of Rake Street, even though she is promised to another, Andrew has planted the seeds to see his plan come to life.

This is book 2 and I fell in love with Emma! I actually kind of dug the rogue in Andrew. Hapless man that he is.
I felt the story was well written and executed nicely. I was never bored. Really great read, polished it off in one sitting.

This might become my new favorite series.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a copy for my honest opinion

Summary
Andrew St John is in big trouble; he has lost all his family fortune in gambling and is desperate to get it back. He has been talking young girls out of their money by having them invest in his various schemes. When he over hears Emma Hunter telling a tale about her rich father, he thinks he has found a way out of debt: Emma is beautiful and wealthy, so he sets about wooing her for a bride. Emma is infatuated with Andrew and reluctantly plays along with the lie so he will stay interested in her. While spending time together, Andrew realizes that he is falling for Emma, with or without her money, and that she sees him for himself, not a Baron with holdings. Emma gains confidence to stand up for herself and go after what she wants. Between Emma’s betrothal to a mean, old man and Andrews financial woes, they find that love is stronger than money and find their happy ever after.

Tropes: Blackmail, Country life, Secret Identity, Titled hero, Tortured hero, Virgin heroine, Steam clean, Unworthy hero, Forune hunter hero, Betrayal, Redemption

The Plot : I enjoyed the storyline, even if all the lies were incredibly frustrating at times. I also am loving the way Ms. Monroe uses each book as a way to reveal how Mrs, Rutley sneakily helped each of the girls find their happy ever after. Very creative! Emma was wonderful, short of the lying, she was a well developed character and I enjoyed reading her story. Andrew, however, drove me nuts with his lying and wafting between being a drunk, gambling scoundrel and his redemption. I just wished I felt more of a strong pull toward his redemption, instead it felt anticlimactic when he finally figured it out. The story of the prince and princess was a definite highlight for me and made the end that much sweeter!

The Heroine : Emma Hunter is a sweet, shy girl who is picked on at school and embarrassed by her short stature and lack of wealth. She is destined to marry an older man per her parent wishes, but she is infatuated with Andrew, Baron St John. She is desperate to spend time with him, so she carries on with the lie that her father is wealthy. Through the book she grows as a character to a mature young woman who is confident in herself and her choices.

The Hero : Andrew St Johns is a young, naive man who was thrust into being Baron too soon when his father died. Overwhelmed by the responsibilities, he turns to drinking and gambling, bankrupting his estate, Desperate to fix the mess, he swindles people to invest in various schemes. He doesn’t like it, but believes it’s necessary to recoup his loses. Through getting to know Emma, he realizes that she is truly interested in him, not his title, not his holdings, but she found HIM interesting and believes he is a good, honorable man. He finds himself wanting to be that man, for Emma.

The Steam : this was a clean romance, but there was definitely some romantic words exchanged.

Stand Out Moment : When she goes to say good bye and he asks her to run away with him; she wants her prince to face the storm with her!

Who Would Like This : Anyone looking for a clean, sweet happily-ever-after romance.

Final Thoughts : This was a good read, not a favorite but I enjoyed the story.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are mine. This is a sweet, clean read. Both Emma and Andrew have lied to each other about their financial situations. He has gambled away most of the fortune left to him by his father. She is promised to a Viscount in return for her father receiving a property. There are a few twists and turns throughout the story. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes romance novels and a HEA.

Baron of Rake Street follows Emma, a young woman engaged to a horrible old man, and Andrew, a young man desperately trying to save his family's estate. The two meet and both pretend to be rich in order to entice the other, not knowing that the other is just as poor as they are-- or that the other needs to marry someone rich.

Baron of Rake Street is a sweet book about learning to trust yourself and finding love in a world not always built for it.

Baron of Rake Street
Sisterhood of Secrets, Book Two
by Jennifer Monroe

Miss Emma Hunter’s father has arranged a marriage for upon her leaving finishing school. Her marriage will be to a man 3 times her age. Having come across Lord St John, Emma is quite taken by him but she is under the impression that he is financially affluent but he is actually on the verge of bankruptcy. He needs to marry well to someone with a sizeable dowry .

Enjoyable read and the story is a fast moving one with quite a few twist and turners and number of interesting characters good and bad.

This is the second installment of Secrets of Sisterhood series. I enjoyed the first book of the series and this one also did not disappoint. This series is unique in that we already know the couple is happily married and we go back in time as the heroine relays her love story to her former headmistress of the finishing school she attended. This is Miss Emma Hunter's story.
Andrew has been quite reckless with his money and the only way to surely save his estate is to marry a wealthy woman. He overhears Emma boasting about the wealth of her family at a party and decides she is the answer to his money problems. Emma needs to get out of an arranged marriage and doesn't believe the rumors about Andrew and believes him to be just wealthy enough to help her. Can a relationship that begins on lies be successful? Well, in this case, we know that it can, but seeing how they get their with the twists and turns in their story and how they over came the lies was well worth the read. A lovely addition to the series and I can't wait to read the next one!

I received a complimentary copy from Wolf Publishing via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.
a few seconds ago

Agnes Rutley, Headmistress of Miss Rutley’s Finishing School for Young Women, is quite ill and has called her girls back to her side. She asks each of the women to tell her a story, the story of how they fell in love. It’s Emma’s turn to tell the tale of how she and Andrew, Lord St. John (known as the Baron of Rake Street) found their happily ever after.

This is the story of a sweet romance that almost didn’t happen. It started with lies and secrets on the part of the hero and heroine. Each of them thinks the other is rich enough to solve all their problems. Not so. I liked Emma and Andrew, but thought they were immature and naïve. Miss Rutley and Lord Walcott are wonderful and encourage, cajole, and teach the couple how to clean up the mess and look to the future. Mrs. Shepherd is awesome. She is the cook, but she takes care of and protects Miss Rutley and the girls. The villain in the story, Lord Egerton, an unwanted suitor, is a skunk. This is the second story in the Sisterhood of Secrets. It’s a good read and I look forward to the other stories in the series.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Where was she to begin? How did she and St. John get together and fall in love?

A pact made between girls and their headmistress comes to pass when Emma comes back to relate the tale of how she met Andrew and the journey they took... It was definately not the easiest!

It all began with a lie overheard, but then a that lie beget another! He was looking for a rich heiress to get his estate out of the mess it was in and he overheard her say her father was rich.

But it was much worse than that because he was a wastrel and had fallen to the depths of drinking, gambling and being totally unworthy. Plus he told so many untruths. Not a very likable character!

Emma though feels he can be redeemed. Is she up to the task and can he change? You will just have to see how it happens! Entertaining addition to this series!

A story where Emma returns to her finishing school that she attended 20 years ago. There at her Headmistress, mentor and friend bedside she honors her request and tells of her Prince Charming and her love story. Andrew, Baron St. John is a drunk, swindler and a bad gambler on the verge his losing his estate. He sees Emma near the gaming hell and requires a kiss as toll to pass. Emma is shocked, but the man is very handsome and gives him his kiss. They later meet again at a party, the kiss has remained special to Emma, Andrew doesn’t remember it. When he overhears how wealthy Emma father is, he believes that she is the answer to his financial woes.
What he doesn’t know is Emma was just stating her fantasy if she was rich and not poor as a church mouse. They attraction grows between them, but so do the lies. Then there is the evil Viscount who happens to have a agreement to wed Emma in a few months, he is old enough to be her grandfather. The story is about owning up to your mistakes and learning from them, growth in the characters and and HEA. This is the 2nd book in the series and I am a little lost to how the Sisterhood was formed. It is touched upon a few times, but would have been nice if there was a flashback on the promises the girls made. I give it 3.5 stars. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #BaronofRakeStreet

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC copy for review; this is my freely given opinion.

This is a sweet romance and a sequel to Duke of Madness. As with the first book, the heroine, Emma, is called back to the bedside of her friend and headmistress to the finishing school she went to before marrying. She is asked by Agnes Rutley to relay her love story for her, and that is the vehicle through which we go back in time, to when Emma was a student and meets her future husband, Lord Andrew St. John, the Baron of Rake Street.

He is a man in free fall; he inherited estates that were not doing well, and does not have the personal resources, either financially, emotionally, or intellectually, to manage them or improve on them. Perhaps there is a touch of fear of failure, or too much pride to admit to needing help or admitting to his true circumstances. Regardless, he ends up walking the wrong routes for improving his circumstances, including becoming an alcoholic, a compulsive gambler, and a lying manipulator of various members of his social circle. He lies about fraudulent charities and schemes, and uses his looks, charm, and eligibility to woo people into giving him money and jewels. He cannot help but lie even to his mother when she outright confronts him several times about his behaviours.

In other words, he is not a noble hero at all, and most women, especially those looking out for the welfare of naive, impressionable schoolgirls, would not let him near their purses, or their girls. So it is a bit of a surprise to me that Mrs. Rutley has the faith in him to allow Andrew and Emma explore their attraction to each other. For that matter, the entire basis of their relationship was a foundation of lies and misperceptions. All of this screams to me - how can this relationship survive, let along thrive??? Not only that, but he has a lot of baggage in terms of those he swindled, and we saw that he suffered some of those consequences, but really, one would think that, until he makes amends that there would be a lot of challenges from his past that could be barriers for him and their relationship. Lots of red flags on this relationship...

But I guess, this is a story of how truth and love can overcome, and redemption is possible. There is a certain sweetness to it. But again, the real relationships that made an impression on me were the relationships of the girls with Rutley, and even the cook, and each other. I like the sisterhood. I also like how St. John opened up and learned to develop friendships of his own like with his new business partner/mentor. I am very intrigued by some of the history of Rutley that was revealed and she sounds like she has an interesting life story that will be expanded on more.

So, I enjoyed the story as a continuum of the greater story of the sisterhood, but on it's own, lots of huge character flaws and relationship flaws that I felt were glossed over quickly. Andrew reads, for much of the book as a predator of women, using them as easy marks for money.

3.25 stars out of 5.

Miss Emma Hunter is ordered by her father to marry a man almost 3 times her age. Her family is poor and she really has no other prospects until..... Lord St. John overhears a fantastical conversation between two ladies who are dreaming. Lord St. John is also poor but needs to marry wealth.
This is my first novel for this author. I enjoyed the level of detail also the sweet and clean writing. Happy reading.
I enjoyed advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This story has a few twists, turns and surprises along the way. It is the story of Emma who has been kissed in an alley way by "The Baron of Rake Street" He requested a kiss to pay the fake toll and Emma has been dreaming of him ever since.. Emma does not come from a rich family, but has been selected to attend the Mrs. Rutley's School for Young Women.. Agnes Rutley, the owner of the school, makes sure that there are an even number of young women from wealthy families as well as those who are not. She thinks it is a good way for the two difference classes to see how similar they really are. Emma has been thinking about "The Baron of Rake Street" even since the kiss, even though she knows he had alcohol on his breathe.. Upon finally meeting him, she immediately feels she might be in love with him. Baron Andrew St. John (The Baron of Rake Street) has just recently come into his title. He feels unprepared for this duties and has gotten himself a reputation for drinking, gambling and seeing a lot of women. Andrew has quite a bit of gambling debt and has tried very many ways to get the needed money. Many of those ways have been to deceive many to give money for a charity for children that does not even exist. When he formally meets Emma, he does not at first remember her. He is attracted to her and they meet and talk at the school. What will happen when Emma's father, basically sells her to be the wife of elderly Viscount Edgerton for an estate in Dover? What will Andrew do when his debt becomes due? Is there any way for a common young lady and "The Baron of Rake Street" to find a happy every after? You will need to read this story to find those answers out for yourself.

I read this without having read the first book in the series and although I don't think it was completely necessary to have done so, it may have been helpful to know a little more about the characters. I will admit that I found this book tough to get through at the beginning. There really isn't much to recommend Emma at the beginning - she's a naive young woman who becomes enamored with a man because he is really good looking. She knows nothing about him and is sure the rumors about him couldn't possibly be true. Let's keep in mind here that she met him in an alleyway at night when he was drunk and demanded a kiss from her. I wanted to smack her upside the head so many times in those early chapters. She truly believed he remembered her - talk about seeing and hearing what you want to believe. Andrew, despite all of his bad behaviors, is actually easier to like. Even though I wasn't thrilled that his interest in Emma was initially only because he thought she was wealthy and her beauty was just a bonus. Also, I felt like her attractiveness was brought up too much - I get it, she's gorgeous. I also didn't like that Emma never really acknowledged that he had any flaws or hadn't acted poorly in the past. In her mind he was perfect and that was that. I'm not saying she should have broke things off with him, but at least have a moment where she realizes she needs to take him off that stupid pedestal. I thought she was going to this after seeing him with another woman, but she accepted his explanation (which at least was the truth) and put him right back up there. And what is wrong with Emma's father that he would have agreed to marry her off to such an awful person as Egerton? Is he really the type of man who would sell off his daughter in order to cover up his own bad financial dealings? The writing here is pretty good and the story moves at a good pace. The most interesting parts are saved for the final quarter, but isn't that how it is with most stories? I am really looking forward to seeing what happens with Diana's story.

Andrew & Emma’s love story was a pleasant, sweet read. They had a massive amount of obstacles overcome. Though I enjoyed how they each evolved from the other’s influence. Emma was a quiet, insecure girl who gained confidence and strength through Andrew’s love. Andrew was a swindler, a gambler and lacked the strength of character he needed to secure his future. I found his transformation the most extensive. Seeing himself through Emma’s eyes did change him, but I think it was his friendship and the tutelage of Lord Walcott that truly changed him. It was nice to see that relationship and show how a young man can right his life with the guidance of an older friend. There were some wise parables for everyone to take to heart to learn to be better people. Overall, it was a nice read and a sweet, fully enclosed Happy Ever After.

Due to his gambling, Lord St. John faces bankruptcy but the only thing prevent his near ruin, is his charm which allows him to convince naïve, wealthy women to part with both jewellery and money. However, Miss Emma Hunter is besotted with Andrew, but her father has different plans for her. Yet Andrew’s feelings for her mean that he may just have to reveal who he truly is, and deal with the consequences.
I really enjoyed Emma whose innocence, makes her only see the goodness in Andrew. However, I struggled with the character of Andrew, as his immaturity didn’t quite match up to the sincerity and sweetness of Emma. What did make for a difference was the other girls at the school, including Julia, Diana and Abigail. Together with Mrs. Rutley, their backgrounds and friendship made for a lovely story. I especially enjoyed reading about Mrs. Rutley and her past.
An interesting read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.