Title: The Rake and the Recluse: Freedom, Found, Taken, Ruination, Submission, Retribution
Author: Jenn LeBlanc
Genre: Historical
A woman out of time.
A man stifled by propriety.
A nemesis determined to take her away.
A brother to the rescue.
How will a powerful Duke deal with a woman who doesn’t know her place? How will a woman used to the 21st century survive in time where she is considered property?
Francine Larrabee woke up on the wrong side of the century. She was fairly certain she went to sleep in her own comfy bed, but she doesn’t quite seem to be there now. Only adding to her problems is that she has no voice, is constantly being glowered at by a large, stunning man who is obsessed with propriety, and she is apparently betrothed to another horrid little man, determined to ruin her, and any other girls that get in his way.
How does she find herself in the past, when she couldn’t even find herself in her present? How does a self sufficient businesswoman survive in a time when women were still considered property for the whole of their lives and what is she going to do with this man who draws her to him so fiercely.
When I first got this book last year it was because of a conversation I was having with her on twitter. I very quickly fell in love with the story so when she told me she’d gone back and redone it and made it what she’d originally wanted it to be. The best part? We get to fall in love with them all over again.
Gideon and Francine’s story is one of the best love stories I’ve ever read, and here’s the link to my original review my opinion of the book hasn’t changed I still love it as much as I did the first time around.
The one thing that Jenn did do however was leave us hanging in regards to Gideon’s brother Perry! Finally she has given us the ending to this with Perry’s book.
In Francine and Gideon’s story there is secondary story regarding a maid who is attacked and left for dead. Lily however survived and recovers to vex and plague Perry.
Watching Perry and Lily fall in love was a real treat. Not only do they have the issue of he’s the son of Duke and she’s a maid but the man who left Lily for dead is out there and he’s not happy.
I loved this story every single installment. There are 6 books in this series. Gideon and Francine are books 1-4 and Perry and Lily are books 5-6. There is just something about the way that Jenn tells a story and sucks you in to the point were you don’t want to do anything but ignore everyone and read the books.
If you like time-travel romances and fun and interesting characters you won’t want to miss these books. And I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
Grade A
