⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Was I hooked by that book? For sure. With plenty of witty banter, this light-hearted brother’s-best-friend to lovers romance had me smiling all the way through.

Furious that his son was featured in the notorious Rake Review column, Evander Beauclerk’s stickler father issues an ultimatum: give up his dissolute ways and marry a respectable woman by the end of the month, or the family fortune will go to his dimwitted cousin. Vander knows plenty of courtesans and opera dancers, but only one respectable woman, and that’s his best friend’s little sister, Lady Leticia Daughtrey. Desperate, he asks Letty to help him find a suitable bride. For one heartbreaking moment, Letty thought Vander was asking her to marry him. Now, not only does Letty have to figure out which of her own suitors to marry, she’s tasked with finding a bride for the man she’s pined after for years. But Letty isn’t going down without a fight. If she’s going to help Vander, he can bloody well help her, too. And how can she choose which man should share her bed for the rest of her life if she’s never even had a proper kiss?

MY THOUGHTS

One Fine May is the fifth book in The Rake Review series, one book for each month of the year written by different authors. And reminiscent of Bridgerton, it comes complete with its own scandal sheet, The Rake Review, penned by the Brazen Belle. Mr. May in our calendar of rakes is Mr. Evander Beauclerk, son and heir to an ultra wealthy shipping insurer, and most definitely an unrepentant rake.

I enjoyed everything about this book. Vander and Letty had a connection right from the start and it showed in their frank back-and-forth, which included plenty of teasing. Their attraction was always slowly simmering under the surface, just waiting for Vander to catch up to what was happening. Vander’s inner voice was almost like a whole extra character on its own.

Even though this is a novella, it never felt rushed and their relationship had plenty of time to develop at just the right pace. The details about the insurance company and Vander’s ideas for it were interesting and served to show us Vander’s intellectual strengths.

I can highly recommend this entire series if you like steamy historical romance.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Were you hooked by that book? Let me know in the comments below.

Genre: Historical Romance
Published: May 1, 2024
Sensuality Rating: Warm
Series: The Rake Review
Other books in the series: Jilted in January, The Fake February Rake, Mad Duke March, It’s Raining Rakes in April