A Rake's Vow (Cynster Series) Book

I have a new favorite historical romance series!!
This would have been a 4.5 star if not for the heroine.

I love it when a rake falls in love because they tend to fall the hardest!!



I enjoyed Vane Cynster but was not a fan of the heroine, Patience. She was naive and her actions were unbelievable. Her mother was head over heels in love with her father, to his embarrassment and always bragged about him being an "elegant gentleman". Well her father was a cheating, gambling, drinking, womanizer that never came home. So of course Patience naively believes that all "elegant gentleman" are cheating, gambling, drinking, womanizers.





Vane is handsome, wealthy, and the perfect "elegant gentleman", so Patience was prejudiced against him from the start. She refused his marriage proposal multiple times and offered to be his lover after he popped her cherry. Which made no sense considering she was from a respectable family. And Vane was pissed!!!


"You're a gentlewomen. Born and bred. The position requirements are in your blood. This morning you spread your self for me. You wanted me and I wanted you. You gave your self to me. You took me in and I took you. I took your maidenhead. I took your virginity. What innocence you had I took that too. But that was only the opening act in our script carved in stone. The final act is a wedding. Ours!"


She goes on to tell him that the sex was very enjoyable and she was looking forward to the next time... to the next gentleman that takes her fancy.


"I ask you to be my wife and you offer to be my whore."
The words were low, laced with contempt

Nothing she could have said, nothing she could have done would have hurt him or shocked him so much. Or be more certain to drive him from her. For a man like him, with his background, his honor, to refuse to be his wife but consent to be his mistress was the ultimate low blow. To his pride, to his ego, to his self worth as a man.





Aaaannd that is why Patience drove me crazy. She loved Vane but refused to marry him because all "elegant gentlemen" were to be avoided. The author may have used "elegant gentleman" over fifty times because I got sick of hearing it!

Don't get me wrong. I did like this book. But did not love it half as much as Devil's. The insta love before getting to know Patience was a bit much. There was a mystery and it was solved with zero justice to the villains. Gggrrrr....anoying!

I also felt that this was the same plot as the previous book. Hero meets heroine and instantly knows he wants to marry her but she refuses. Heroine has sex with hero multiple times with total disregard to pregnancy as the hero continues to chase her all while solving a mystery on the side. Everyone knows they are having sex but turn blind eyes for some reason. Heroine gets her shit together and they marry in the final chapter.