Thursday, November 26, 2015

Audiobook Review: 50 Ways to Ruin a Rake by Jade Lee

50 Ways to Ruin a Rake 
by Jade Lee
Series:  Rakes and Rogues #1
Pub. Date:  June 16, 2015
Publisher:  Tantor Audio
Narrator:  Charlotte Anne Dore
Length:  10 hrs 41 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Hoopla


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Mellie has a plan…


Mellie Smithson is trapped in the country with no suitors and no prospects on the horizon except, perhaps, the exasperating—although admittedly handsome—guest of her father. She's looking for any excuse to go to London to meet more eligible men.

Trevor has a problem…

Trevor Anaedsley's grandfather has cut off his funds until such time as he gets engaged. Trevor escapes to the country—ostensibly to visit his old tutor, Mr. Smithson, but actually to duck his creditors—where he meets Smithson's lovely daughter, Mellie. The obvious solution is suddenly before him—but the lady has ideas of her own, and Trevor's going to have to measure up… 



I picked up this book in audio from Hoopla, and it was such a cute little fun story. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it quite so much if I was reading it because the narrator was just really good. She really brought out the desperation of Ronnie and had me cracking up at his ridiculous romantic antics.

The heroine in this story is Melinda Smithson, a bluestocking scientific country cit. Melinda has been sheltered in the country helping her father with his scientific experiments to treat ticks on sheep. Even though Melinda desperately wants to go to London to find a husband, everyone in the family dismisses her wishes because they all believe she will marry her cousin Ronnie. The uber-dramatic nonsensical brute poet. Ronnie was so ridiculous that I could not help but laugh, and the narrator did a fabulous job with his character. Mellie was an interesting character as well. I liked that she was intelligent and an inventor, but still wanted the fairy tale love and romance.

Our hero is Trevor Anaedsley, heir to a dukedom. However Trevor's grandfather has cut off his funds as a machination to get Trevor to marry. Trevor comes up with a scheme to subvert his grandfather, and help Mellie out of her situation as well. I liked Trevor, but felt like he was a dunderhead sometimes. I did not like how everyone, Trevor included, was so stuck on the caste system (even though that is probably historically accurate).

Let me just tell you that Trevor's family is HORRIBLE, particularly his mother and grandfather. I was ecstatic when Trevor and the Duke went head to head; I only wish he would have taken up for Mellie with more people - particularly Elinor. I hated how everyone was treating Mellie like she was beneath them and could not make her own decisions. That would have driven me absolutely batty.

Overall this was a cute love story with a bit more steam than the traditional historical romance. Jade Lee is a new-to-me author and I am happy I gave her a shot.

View all my reviews

Rakes and Rogues Series

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