The Rakess: Society of Sirens, Volume I
For those who don’t read Regency, The Rakess is a gender-flipped invention, a feminine form of rakehell, a person who drinks hard, gambles, and sleeps around. In this Georgian romance, The Rakess is Seraphina Arden, a woman who won’t accept ruination, and instead embraces her scandalous past and present, using it to propel forward the idea of women’s equal education.
The romance is with a Scottish architect, Adam Anderson, a serious man who is trying to prove his worth, both in the workplace and in his own home, raising two children after his wife died in childbirth.
This book is a breath of fresh air for Georgian/Regency romances. An Alpha heroine, prickly and intelligent, must melt a little in order to survive the vitriol she has inspired. So many tropes are turned on their heads, and it is lovely. Seraphina has other “fallen women” friends, together forming The Society of Sirens, which promises a series that must be read in order. In this book alone there is kidnapping, public shaming, insane asylums, lascivious paintings, educational ideals, Cornish pasties, and Scottish brogue. Romance readers will recognize the witty turns of common tropes. If you’ve never read romance, read this one.
