Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Review: Wild, Wild Rake by Janna MacGregor

Wild, Wild Rake (The Cavensham Heiresses, Book #6)
by Janna MacGregor
Release Date: February 25th 2020
2020 St. Martin's Paperbacks
Kindle Edition; 353 Pages
ISBN: 978-1250296016
ASIN: B07N666Q6Q
Genre: Fiction / Romance / Historical
Source: Review copy from publisher

3.5 / 5 Stars

Summary
Her first marriage was an epic failure.

Lady Avalon Warwyck 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 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 prove that he wants to love and care for her. . .until death do they part?


My Thoughts
Wild, Wild Rake is the sixth book in the Cavensham Heiresses series and I was glad to finally have a book that featured Devan Farris.  I wasn't so sure about Avalon Warwyck but there had been enough mention of her in previous books that I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about her; I figured there was something else going on in her life and it was good to finally know what it was.  However, I have never been a fan of insta-love, and although Devan and Avalon have known each other for years, they actually disliked each other, so to fall in love so quickly just made me want to grit my teeth.

First of all, I am a huge Devan fan; he was funny, kind, loving, and kind of innocent in many ways.  I feared that he would be taken advantage of simply because he was so nice and seemed to always be the one bending over backwards whenever there was a disagreement; I do like a man who can stick up for himself and not always appear as if the woman is right simply so he doesn't hurt her feelings.  Backbones, people, backbones.  And, sometimes he seemed this way with Avalon in order to keep pursuing her as he knew she had been deeply hurt in her previous marriage. And while I am all for sensitivity, I am never for putting everyone else first after yourself all of the time.  Luckily, a lot of dialogue later, and I mean A LOT of dialogue later, Avalon and Devan managed to work out their differences and come to a mutual understanding which led to marital bliss.  All without some silly misunderstandings that create huge drama. I was quite happy about this although for it to happen so quickly was unexpected.

There were times though, when I wasn't exactly crazy about Avalon.  I did think she was sweet and lovely and treated others with kindness and understanding, and I definitely loved the charity work she was doing, but her lack of self-confidence did drive me crazy as she kept questioning everyone's motives, particularly Devan's.  Luckily that didn't create too much drama or I don't know if I would have continued with the book.  However, the drama came from another direction entirely and, to be honest, I felt like the author was just tying to come up with something dramatic for the book as it didn't really fit well with what was happening.  Could the author have used any other way to create drama? Yes, I think so.  Now, I did like one thing that happened out of all this and it has to do with Avalon's son.  Wonder if there's another story waiting there?

Verdict
Wild, Wild Rake was a sweet, romantic novel that moved both a bit slowly and a bit quickly for me.  First of all, I got a bit tired of Avalon's continuous mental dialogue of how she could never let another man rule her or her life, and I was a bit worried that Devan would never grow a backbone.  I did like how both of these characters learned to trust each other over time as they grew to know each other and realized how little they actually knew about each other despite all the years of being thrown together.  And while the pacing was a bit slow, the events actually took place in a short amount of time which I didn't care for.  Overall though, it was an enjoyable read, and I am always happy to see some Cavendish men and women show up at any time.  Always fun to run into a familiar face, so to speak.  Do I recommend this book? Yes, definitely, as well as the whole series.   



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Janna MacGregor was born and raised in the bootheel of Missouri. She is the author of the Cavensham Heiresses series, which begins with The Bad Luck Bride. Janna credits her darling mom for introducing her to the happily-ever-after world of romance novels. Janna writes stories where compelling and powerful heroines meet and fall in love with their equally matched heroes. She is the mother of triplets and lives in Kansas City with her very own dashing rogue, and two smug, but not surprisingly, perfect pugs.



SMP Romance Twitter: @SMPRomance or @heroesnhearts
SMP Romance Website: https://heroesandheartbreakers.com/

3 comments:

  1. i love it when i read a series and the author gets to my favorite character. i have learned to email the author my desire. a favorite author of mine was going to end a series until enough of us emailed her requesting another book...so she wrote it
    sherry @ fundinmental

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    1. I have done that as well, and I know they are very appreciative and like the feedback. I liked the story very much and I highly recommend it, but having read all the previous books in this series, I did feel it was a bit insta-love especially considering their history.

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