[RFX]∎ PDF The Notorious Rake Mary Balogh 9780451174192 Books

The Notorious Rake Mary Balogh 9780451174192 Books

Download As PDF : The Notorious Rake Mary Balogh 9780451174192 Books

The Notorious Rake Mary Balogh 9780451174192 Books

Back before authors began writing multiple-novel 'family series' romances, Balogh occupied the throne formerly held by the great Georgette Heyer as Queen of Regency romances, relatively short (by today's standards) novels. She eventually emerged as the best of the post-GH authors (although Elsie Lee gave her a real run for the money with "The Nabob's Widow", an amazingly good and funny novel if you can ever find a copy).

Although "The Notorious Rake" is perhaps a hair below her best work "The Temporary Wife", mostly because Lord Edmund Waite is more repellant a character, in the space of a few pages Balogh skillfully flips your emotions in reverse. Suddenly you find yourself rooting for Edmund and even liking him - a trick that few authors can pull off well, even in these days of overly lengthy tomes and endless panting sex scenes.

This is Balogh at her best. It is much more difficult to write a short novel or story than a long one. She hit a peak with "Rake" and "Wife" that she didn't reach again until the creation of the Bedwyn family novels. If you can find either of these two early stories at a reasonable price, get them! I believe, BTW, "Temporary Wife" is being reissued in 2011, but I haven't heard that "Notorious Rake" is due the same treatment. I wish they would; it deserves a new audience.


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The Notorious Rake Mary Balogh 9780451174192 Books Reviews

I am sorry I bought this book based on the reviews it received. The book starts with the love scene between H and h while they wait out a thunderstorm at Vauxhall. Strangers, who end up making love due to her deep fear of thunderstorms and the fact that he is a rake. For me this was already pushing it a bit but I wanted to give the story a chance. After this encounter the H decides he is in love with the h and must have her no matter what, based on what exactly? Beats me. On the other hand, she tries to deny her own attraction to him and keeps saying No, No, No to him in such a weak, polite way that is nothing but annoying. The H becomes a bully after this woman and she is enfuriating for not taking a more firm stand. Some character development is attempted by exploring the H's relationship with his estranged father and brother. This was not effective since the reason for the estrangement is so unbelievable, that you wonder why the H should forgive such an injustice. The characters feel very two dimensional and the storyline is just not convincing. Mary Balogh again not at her best.
I always love books by Mary balogh.
As a Balogh lover, I really enjoyed this one. The action comes fast and furious early on. The rake is so despicable at times that one has to wonder how it's going to work out. A lot of fun!
I can't really praise this book. I've enjoyed a number of Mary Balogh's short Regencies, but this one is sub-par.

I thought the heroine was very under-written. Her main characteristic seems to consist of being afraid of thunderstorms, and, to keep telling the hero "No No No" (when in her heart & other body parts, she's "Yes Yes Yes"). Very shallow.

The hero is drawn a little more interestingly, but I thought the reason for his estrangement from his family was very poor.

(SPOILER ALERT - SPOILER BELOW)

The men in his family get the hero drunk on his 21st birthday. He goes riding, and his older brother breaks his neck trying to jump a fence after him. And the family calls the HERO a murderer, and have nothing to do with him for 15 YEARS? Crazy! Much later in the story, the hero's other brother and his father, FINALLY admit that they have some culpability in the oldest son's death, but that wasn't enough for me. Not for 15 years of their unjustified hatred of the hero, and given his pain over the situation (which is the main reason he becomes a careless rake).

(END OF SPOILER)

Finally, the connection between the hero & heroine doesn't seem logical. It is only based on physical attraction at first, and no later depth gets attached to it. While reading this story, I kept waiting for something richer to emerge --perhaps the heroine becoming a healing force in the hero's miserable life as a rake-- but this never came. The book was getting tiresomely repetitive by the end, despite an interesting beginning (which merits my 2-star rating).

Only recommended for die-hard Balogh fans.
I paid nearly $24 for this book used here on and I don't regret a single penny. I loved it! As far as reformed rake books go, this is one of the very best. The five stars reviews are right on the mark, so I won't summarize. Balogh does a great job with this one, although I wasn't sure there for awhile. In fact, the first one hundred pages or so had me seeing red and ready to give a scathing review. Really, Edmund is a downright scoundrel and not very likable till this point and I wouldn't have blame Mary if she pulled out a gun and shot him -he's that bad. But eventually he does a turn around, well sort of. The beauty of this book is in the subtle details. Its the push and pull of emotions between the two characters. And I have to disagree with the previous review citing the ending. I am very satisfied with the resolution between Edmund and his family. I really don't know what more could have been expected, everyone was to blame and everyone is given forgiveness -just move on.

Highly recommended.
Rakish, dissolute Edmond, a 3rd son, meets prim, widowed Mary. But his reputation is already well known to her and she wants nothing to do with the womanizer. Her fear of thunderstorms and his attempt to calm her during the storm, leads to a (weird to me) sexual encounter. The result is his unwelcomed pursuit of her. He wants her for his mistress, hoping to relive the passion they shared during the encounter. He has a tragic back story explains his current bad boy reputation. Can he become the man she can admire and love......
Back before authors began writing multiple-novel 'family series' romances, Balogh occupied the throne formerly held by the great Georgette Heyer as Queen of Regency romances, relatively short (by today's standards) novels. She eventually emerged as the best of the post-GH authors (although Elsie Lee gave her a real run for the money with "The Nabob's Widow", an amazingly good and funny novel if you can ever find a copy).

Although "The Notorious Rake" is perhaps a hair below her best work "The Temporary Wife", mostly because Lord Edmund Waite is more repellant a character, in the space of a few pages Balogh skillfully flips your emotions in reverse. Suddenly you find yourself rooting for Edmund and even liking him - a trick that few authors can pull off well, even in these days of overly lengthy tomes and endless panting sex scenes.

This is Balogh at her best. It is much more difficult to write a short novel or story than a long one. She hit a peak with "Rake" and "Wife" that she didn't reach again until the creation of the Bedwyn family novels. If you can find either of these two early stories at a reasonable price, get them! I believe, BTW, "Temporary Wife" is being reissued in 2011, but I haven't heard that "Notorious Rake" is due the same treatment. I wish they would; it deserves a new audience.