The Rake Gets Ravished

December 1, 2021
The friends-to-lovers trope is inverted in the second installment of The Duke Hunt series. When Mercy Kittinger visits The Rogue's Den, a London gaming hell, to steal back the voucher promising the Kittingers' farm and home, which her brother gambled away, owner Silas Masters catches her in his room. Acting as if she was there to seduce him, she realizes she indeed wants to do just that. After a passionate night of lovemaking, she sneaks away before he awakes, voucher in hand, believing she'll never see him again. When Silas realizes Mercy stole from him, he's angry but still determined to find her. He arrives at her country home and demands to stay until she knows whether or not she is with child. As they wait, a friendship naturally develops in the forced proximity. They have both experienced loneliness and had difficult childhoods that forced them to become responsible at a young age. Now, they discover the joy of companionship and support while their attraction continues to sizzle. Mercy and Silas are both soft-hearted people with tough exteriors. They are highly deserving of one another, and the ways they care for each other as their feelings grow are lovely. Big conflicts near the end don't fit with the introspective tone of the rest of the book, but they're exciting nonetheless. The country setting is a nice change of pace from the typical ballroom-set historical romances. A satisfying romance between hardworking characters who ease each other's loneliness.

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December 13, 2021
Jordan’s deliciously scandalous second Duke Hunt romance (after The Duke Goes Down) returns to a vision of the Regency era where sin is in. A spinster at 26, farmer’s daughter Mercy Kittinger is burdened with raising her 17-year-old sister, Grace, and cleaning up after her good-for-nothing twin brother, Bede, whose idea of a good time entails losing the family house and lands in a London gaming hall. Mercy’s not about to let her livelihood go without a fight, so she makes her way to town to confront Silas Masters, the hall’s attractive owner, and get their assets back—through seduction and theft if necessary. To say their first meeting is explosive is putting it mildly, but the real trouble starts when the unflappable and rather stubborn Silas follows Mercy home and shows no sign of leaving. While Silas tends to avoid romance thanks to a complicated past, Mercy captures his interest beyond all reason. Though familiar fare, the decadent seduction scenes and sex-positive message are sure to draw readers in, and the realistically drawn characters and passionate love story will hold their interest. This is a treat. Agent: Maura E. Kye-Casella, Don Congdon Assoc.

January 1, 2022
When her brother, Bede, loses the family farm while gambling in London, Mercy Kittinger comes up with a plan: slip into the Rogue's Den, the notorious gaming hell owned by Silas Masters, and then slip out with the voucher signed by Bede. At first, everything goes exactly according to plan. Dressed suitably for the occasion, Mercy enters the Rogue's Den, and then locates Silas' private apartment above the gamblers. After retrieving the voucher from Silas's business papers in his bedroom, Mercy is just about to slip out with it when Silas unexpectedly turns up. Now all Mercy has to do is figure out a reason she can give Silas as to why a strange woman might be waiting for him in his bedroom. Jordan (The Duke Goes Down, 2021) continues her Duke Hunt series with another richly sensual love story that makes the most of its engaging cast of characters while also offering readers a nice surprise with scenes set on a Shropshire farm.

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