A twist of fate.

Devon Ravenel, London's most wickedly charming rake, has just inherited an earldom. But his powerful new rank in society comes with unwanted responsibilities . . . and more than a few surprises. His estate is saddled with debt, and the late earl's three innocent sisters are still occupying the house—along with Kathleen, Lady Trenear, a beautiful young widow whose sharp wit and determination are a match for Devon's own.

A clash of wills.

Kathleen knows better than to trust a ruthless scoundrel like Devon. But the fiery attraction between them is impossible to deny—and from the first moment Devon holds her in his arms, he vows to do whatever it takes to possess her. As Kathleen finds herself yielding to his skillfully erotic seduction, only one question remains: can she keep from surrendering her heart to the most dangerous man she's ever known?

Well. I have finally done it. I have finally read Lisa Kleypas. I have been seeing her name and her covers for ages. I have been hearing about her heroes and her worlds for so long, and I finally decided to throw caution (aka my pile of review books) to the wind and jump in to her books! I think Cold-Hearted Rake was a great place to start, and I’ve set myself up for a whole lot of amazing reading in the future because I really loved this book! As always, my main points are bolded.

A great cast of characters will make or break a historical romance for me. I’ve always been a character-driven reader, but the characters are more important to me in historical romances than in any other book genre. Luckily, Cold-Hearted Rake has such an amazing cast that I can’t think of anyone I didn’t like. Devon is exactly what the title proclaims him to be. He’s cold-hearted, but only on the surface. I found him to be very kind and honorable as I got to know him better. His cousin, Theo, dies in an accident and Devon finds himself the earl of an estate that’s in shambles. He is also now responsible for Theo’s younger sisters, Pandora, Cassandra, and Helen, as well as Theo’s widow, Kathleen, who had been married to him for only 3 days before his death. This is a lot for a rake to take on! Devon comes in, sees what he has to deal with, and decides it would be best to sell it all and move on. He quickly changes his mind, though, when he comes to care for the girls and Kathleen, and when he begins to see how many peoples’ lives would be ruined if he sold. Farmers would lose their family legacies and homes, and families would be displaced. He brings in workers to renovate and repair the estate, and begins strategizing on how to bring in more money. One of these strategies includes bringing in his brother, Weston, to help investigate what needs to be done and how they can best support the tenants.

I liked West so so much. I loved seeing what coming and living/working at the estate did to him. He found a sense of purpose, got healthier (he was always drunk before), and fell in love with the four ladies of the estate. He saw all of them as sisters to protect and love, and I thought that his relationship with all of them was very sweet and endearing. Kathleen was harder for me to like because she was quite a stick in the mud. Tradition states that a woman who loses her husband must follow a strict timeline of mourning for over a year, and even though she was only married for 3 days, she is hell-bent on following these rules. So she wears a veil and all black, insists on living behind thick black curtains that are always closed, refuses to allow visitors, refuses to go out and do anything fun or enriching, and makes sure Theo’s three sisters do the same thing. I can’t fault her too much, because she’s trying to be a proper lady and follow the customs of the time, but she was very frustrating. I can’t imagine she was much older than these girls, but she very closely mothered them and I didn’t fell like it was her place to do that (especially since she met them the day of her wedding). She was also very opinionated about what happened to the estate, which bugged me since she had absolutely no ownership over it. She was a Ravenel for three days, but acted like everything was hers and everyone should answer to her. Pandora and Cassandra were silly and immature, and I thought for sure they were 12-13 before finding out they are nearly 20. But they were endearing and I feel like I’m going to see a lot of growth from them over the course of the series. I really loved Helen, and was quite excited to see glimpses of the romance she’s going to get in the next book with Rhys Winterborne. I actually loved Helen’s love story more than Devon and Kathleen’s! 

I loved exploring the estate grounds, sitting with and listening to the ladies chat while they did embroidery, the suspense of a train accident that adds a lot of intrigue and foreshadowing of events to come, celebrating Christmas with the family and decorating their home with them, and reading about this unconventional family whose devotion and love for one another trumps social rules and expectations. There’s so much more I can say, but Cold-Hearted Rake didn’t feel like every other historical romance I’ve read. I feel like for most of my time reading historical romance, I’ve done a lot of glazing over while reading political discussions in between sex scenes, and frequently unlikeable characters who went through little character development. Maybe I’ve been reading the wrong books, or perhaps they just weren’t what I needed at the time. In Cold-Hearted Rake, though, I got to learn a lot about the characters. I got to fall in love with them and I was actually interested in what they talked about and how they spent their time. I grew attached to the family and their lighthearted interactions. I just can’t wait to continue this series!