Isobel and Winter...an unusual couple from the start, though not by looks. He, a notorious rake though heir to his family's title and then some, and she, a beauty without a season desperately trying to escape an entirely unwanted match. It looked good on paper, it certainly felt good on their wedding night, but that is where the potential fairytale ends. He left her for three years with barely a correspondence, which even when received was not directly from him, while building up his business and carefully courting his reputation as a notorious rake. She having caught wind of these affairs some time ago has finally reached a boiling point...and with the help of some good friends, and a boost of confidence from Lady Darcy herself, she's finally ready to call his hand in the ultimate game of life; LOVE.

The tension between these two leaves almost everything feeling like an innuendo, having been made intentionally or not. I was routing for Isobel as I truly felt for her. She entered the marriage thinking one thing, only to be disillusioned, but she wasn't giving up without a fight! Still...I was also behind Roth because, well...I mean, he's who he is with the brains and the brawn, and yet he still can't help but get it wrong with where he places blame. True, it'd help if he listened to some much overly needed explanations that were trying to be given to him concerning the whole situation, but I get it...his heart was hurt and he wasn't risking it again. Or at least, he THOUGHT he wasn't...because as we all know, the heart wants what it wants!

So, if you're a Historical Fiction fan, love witty banter, and don't mind the serious blush factor here, this is SO the book for you!


**copy received for review; opinions are my own ( )

I gave the first book in the series 4 stars, but this one was kind of on the lower end of 3 for me. The heroine was a bit of a ninny, and the hero was one of those willing to sacrifice all chance of happiness because of 'reasons', and the case for why he thinks he must just gets weaker and weaker as it goes, (and he was kind of an ass about it), until I was feeling like 'Hey bozo, get it together already!'. lol.
Everything was just a bit more of a stretch, and how these particular character flaws played out kept me from fully liking them. Not quite down to a 2 though. I'll still read others by this author. ( )

Sometimes I just want a fun, light read. Not that I don’t enjoy my historical fiction books – I do. I truly do but I live with a headache 24/7 so there are times when I don’t want to be dealing with history but really just want to escape into a bit of a love story. The Rakehell of Roth was perfect for that. It gives a reader just what she might want to while away an afternoon; pretty people, a grand love story, magnificent affairs (take that as you will) and not having to think all that hard. Bonus points here for a spunky heroine.

In this tale our rake, the Marquess of Roth marries our heroine, Lady Isobel because if he doesn’t marry by a certain age he loses his inheritance and that is not going to happen if he can avoid it. So he finds himself a suitable woman, marries her, beds her and leaves her in the countryside to go back to London to enjoy his life. Little did he realize that she was not going to stand for this.

What follows is what you would expect but it is done well and with a bit of a twist as our young bride turns out to be far more than he bargained for. OK – maybe that is not so much of a twist but how she manifests herself is – at least as far as the romance novels I have read. I will admit to not having read as many recently as in my early years. It was a fun, fast read that I made my afternoon fly.

The book is explicitly sexy so if you are one that just doesn’t want to go there do go here. ( )

The Rakehell of Roth by Amalie Howard
2nd book in the Everleigh Sisters series. Historical romance. Can be read as a stand-alone.

The Marquess of Roth married Isobel, did his duty and left her alone in the country for the next three years at his fathers estate. She tired of the gossip and heads to London to confront him.

I enjoyed the first book, more than expected since historical romance isn’t a particular favorite. This book was better. Maybe it was just the mood I was in, but the tone was lighter and the man spent hours on accounting and charity work. And he has been faithful while staying away from her all that time. Why not fall in love with him? But he too, had some growing up to do and letting go of the past
Lovely humor and glorious sexual tension. In a naive sort of way. Some old troupes and some kick it heroine.
I don’t know if this is typical of the author but I will be checking out some of the backlist.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley. I also purchased a copy to share and a copy to keep. I love a feisty heroine. ( )

I had a great time with this book! I fell in love with the first book in this series of stand-alone novels, The Beast of Beswick, so I was really eager to read this book. I went into this book with pretty high expectations and I was not disappointed. The story pulled me in right away and I was hooked until the end by this pair of characters.

The book opens with Winter and Isobel's wedding. After their wedding night, he leaves his wife at his father's estate and goes back to London where he remains for the next three years. Isobel has grown up a lot during those three years and now writes an infamous advice column along with her best friend. When she reads the newest gossip headline involving her husband, she is furious and decides it is time to go to London herself.

I loved these characters. Isobel knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to take steps to make it happen. She sometimes does things that would be considered improper which I loved. Winter doesn't feel like he deserves to be loved or truly happy so he has kept his wife at a distance even though he is drawn to her. He works very hard at making his rather scandalous club a success. He has a lot of things to work through and Isobel is more than willing to help him do it. I loved the chemistry between these characters and their banter was a whole lot of fun.

I really liked how original this story was. I don't read a ton of historical fiction but the genre is not new to me by any stretch. This book started with the couple getting married and then we get to see them fall for each other instead of the other way around. Isobel was a lot more assertive than I am used to seeing and I loved her for it. I think that the author did a fantastic job of creating two characters that were perfect for each other in this book.

I would recommend this book to fans of historical romance. I thought that this book was a lot of fun, filled with great characters, and had a good dose of excitement to keep things interesting. I definitely plan to read more of this talented author's work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Entangled: Amara via NetGalley. ( )