Title:  To Catch A Rake
Series:  The Rake’s Handbook #3
Author:  Sally Orr
Genre:  Historical Romance
Published:  February 2, 2016
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
My Rating:  4 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

George Drexel is chased by ladies who desire to have their initials inscribed in future editions of his scandalous handbook,The Rake’s Field Guide. Meta Russell, however, is furious when initials similar to her sister’s is included, resulting in the cancellation of her sister’s engagement.

To help Meta and get revenge, her friends pen their own field guide about London’s rakes and include the initials “G.D.” The scandal damages George’s reputation and hinders his abilities as an engineer to obtain public contracts. So George sets out to convince Meta to destroy all copies of the ladies field guide. Quickly learning how hotheaded and passionate Meta can be, George must prove just how persuasive a true rake can be.

Read on for my thoughts on To Catch A Rake.  No true spoilers, promise.

Sometimes the actions taken as a lark during youthful, drunken stupidity will come back to bit you on the backside years later.  So George is discovering as the publisher of the handbook he penned years ago is looking for a second edition – of new ladies, and newer initials.  George is working on an amazing project, the tunnel under the Thames, and quite honestly all this fuss about that long ago book is threatening his career as an engineer… and a new handbook regarding several rakes about town is certain to cause him even more trouble.

Meta is a young widow who has returned home to tend to her younger siblings.  When her sister, Lily, is jilted by her betrothed because “someone” read her initials in this infamous handbook – to say Meta is livid would be an understatement.  Part of her plan is to confront George and get him to clear her sister’s name – and the other, well let’s just say that turnabout is definitely fair play when Meta and some friends pen their own unique handbook, with the initials G.D. liberally sprinkled about it’s pages.

I enjoyed To Catch A Rake on several levels.  The historical fact aspect of the construction of the tunnel was fascinating.  To get a glimpse of the mechanical age at its very beginning was definitely a treat that we readers do not often get.  It is amazing to me when such a tunnel can be build in our modern day, let alone in this historical time period.

Meta and George were a charming couple, strong, definitely sexy and while at first they were adversaries their attraction to each other eventually became stronger than their arguments.  While I felt badly for Lily’s situation, if a man is so tied to his mother’s apron strings that he’d give up the “love of his life” over some initials that could belong to several ladies of the ton – well, she’s better off without him in the long run.

With strong secondary characters and an enjoyable story, To Catch A Rake is a story that is well worth any Historical Romance reader’s time.

*I received an e-ARC of To Catch A Rake from the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  That does not change what I think of this novel.*

Available in paperback and for the Kindle