Beauty and the Rake: The Rookery Rogues, #3
By Erica Monroe
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Scoundrels, thieves, and rebels inhabit the rookeries--where dangerous men fall in love with fierce women.
ONCE SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL...
Abigail Vautille dreamed of escaping the Whitechapel rookery and starting a new life until one tragic night left her scarred and penniless. To save her family from debtor's prison, she strikes a deal with the rogue who owns her father's gambling vowels-if he excuses the debt, for two weeks, she'll give him her body, but not her heart.
ONCE HE WAS CHARMING...
Inspector Michael Strickland of the Metropolitan Police has always had a way with women. Success comes easily to him, and he glides through life on his good looks and family name. But Abigail lights a passion within him he never knew existed. He sees the beauty within her, not the beast she believes herself to be.
TOGETHER, THEIR LOVE IS BEYOND A FAIRY TALE.
After a dangerous figure from Abigail's past resurfaces vowing vengeance, things take a sinister turn. But Michael will stop at nothing to keep the woman he loves safe. When the stakes are high and the scars are more than skin deep, passion may be the key to a happily ever after.
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Note: Beauty and the Rake is a dark, gritty, and steamy (heat level 4 out of 5, on page sex scenes) full-length romantic suspense set in pre-Victorian working class London. While it is book three in the Rookery Rogues series, it can be read as a stand-alone historical romance.
Erica Monroe
USA Today Bestselling Author Erica Monroe writes dark, gritty historical romance. Her current series include Gothic Brides (Regency Gothics), The Rookery Rogues (pre-Victorian gritty working class romance), and Covert Heiresses (Regency spies who are the children of a duke). She was a finalist in the published historical category for the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Romantic Suspense, and her books have been recommended reads at Fresh Fiction, Smexy Books, SBTB, and All About Romance. When she's not writing, she's drinking coffee, reading comic books, or watching televison. She lives in the suburbs of North Carolina with her husband, two dogs, and two cats. Visit Erica online at ericamonroe.com and sign up for her new release newsletter at: hyperurl.co/emnl.
Read more from Erica Monroe
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Reviews for Beauty and the Rake
13 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The third instalment in 'The Rookery Rogues' series. I had not read the previous two books but this wasn't a problem. The principal parts pertaining to Abigail and her torture were explained and I felt up to date with all the main characters.It all sounds very exciting and suspenseful with a murderer on the loose and Inspector Strickland wanting to protect her. He is a man with the reputation as a rake and his way of keeping an eye on her is to contract her to his bed in payment of her father's gambling debts. I was expecting Michael to be a man of action but he doesn't actually do much investigating and he takes his time romancing Abigail, allowing her to get to know him and fall in love.I found the pace of the novel to be quite slow. Eighty five percent of the novel is taken up with Abigail and Michael sitting about his house. It takes a while for things to heat up between them. There wasn't enough suspense to keep my interest. The threat from Mr Clowes finally occurs at eightyfive percent of the way through where he makes his first appearance and things get more exciting here. The story concludes at ninety-one percent and the remainder of the book is taken up with author's notes, acknowledgements and a sneak peak at her new series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raw and revealing!What do you do when all you've left to bargain with is your body? When that is all that stands between your father and prison and your younger sister and the streets? Abigail Vautille's father is an inveterate gambler who has gambled away any savings she has and now has lost money he doesn't have in a seedy gambling den. Michael Strickland holds his gambling chits and there is only one way Abigail can see to pay him.Inspector Michael Strickland of the Metropolitan Police and Abigail Vautille both appeared in Secrets in Scarlet. Abigail was tortured by the dangerous rookery Lark's Gang enforcer, Frank Clowes and left with a badly scarred hand. So bad that she wears a glove day and night to hide her disfigurement.Abigail determines that her only way forward is as Michael's courtesan for two weeks. An agreement is entered into. Michael sees the attractive woman he knew from before and reasons that as a denizen of the Rookeries her virtue is gone. He has always admired her and felt guilty about her fate. Now fate has thrown Abigail across his pathway and he will take that advantage.In her afterward Munroe discusses, amongst other matters, her liking of the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, and that love is about acceptance. 'Both Belle and Beast are affected by their new found relationship. Beast is no longer trapped in his past pain, and Beauty has found someone who thinks she is incredible just the way she is.'She postulates that Beauty and Beast co-exist within us--a dichotomy where here, Michael and Abigail harbour both. Munroe continues 'It is our flaws that make us beautiful, as much as our strengths.' No one ever said that the Rookery series is kind and gentle. The situations are raw and untrammelled and fitting the place in which they are born. Yet out of the darkness does flow love and trust.A novel of depth and compassion!A NetGalley ARC
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Damaged by their pasts both Abigail and Michael come together with low expectations for their two weeks together. How the two of them learn, grow and become stronger is the central theme of the story. Though the third book in a series this novel is more than capable of standing alone. Both Michael and Abigail have interesting well developed characters and their growing attraction to one another is well paced and believable. Clowes is a fiendish criminal worthy of being feared and the hope throughout is that he will be recaptured without harming anyone else. Can a young woman move from the grime and drudgery of the rookeries to more upscale Cheapside and live a fairytale life or not? That is the question. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical romances with intriguing facts. I did have to look up some of the terms in a dictionary of slang from the 1800’s but that only made the book more interesting to me. Thank you Net Galley and Quillfire Publishing for offering me the book to review.