The Rake Gets Ravished by Sophie Jordan

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Duke Hunt, #2

Release Date: February 22, 2022

When her twin brother Bede recklessly gambles away their family farm, Mercy Kittinger travels to London and infiltrates the gaming hell, The Rogue’s Den with no real plan in mind other than to retrieve the voucher her brother gave Silas Masters, the hell’s owner. Once inside, Mercy unintentionally draws Silas’ attention and is stunned by her immediate attraction to him. But she has a job to do and drooling over Silas won’t save her family. She searches the club and finds Silas’ private rooms, finding the voucher. But as she is leaving, Silas enters, and rather than run, Mercy pretends that she was there to seduce him, an offer he turns down. Instead of being relieved, she is a bit miffed and starts to leave, but makes it clear that Silas is making a mistake.

When Silas finds Mercy in his rooms, his first instinct is to send her away, but her saucy nature intrigues him. Silas is a self-made man and a bit of a loner and if truth be told, he is a little bored, so he calls her bluff and invites Mercy to stay. And they share an incredible night of passion, but when he wakes, she is gone and he discovers the truth, she is a thief!

He tracks her down and is surprised to realize he doesn’t want to let her go, so he demands to stay at the farm until he knows that their night together didn’t produce any consequences. And they form a friendship, but beneath it all simmers the attraction they experienced in London. Despite their friendship and the respect he has come to have for her, Silas believes that marriage is not for him and Mercy is not willing to be a kept woman, so they are at a stalemate, but when it comes time for Silas to return to London, will he be able to walk away, and will she let him?

This was a great installment to the series and, I loved Silas and Mercy, they had such great chemistry and it was clear from the start, that they belonged together. The book has witty banter, steamyish love scenes, great secondary characters, elopements, shocking surprises, a loser brother who get his due, and finally a HEA. Silas is not a rake – far from it and I do wish Silas’ backstory had gotten a bit more page time, I also wish that he put up more of a fight in the end, but really those things are minor and I loved this story! The book is part of “The Duke Hunt” series but is it very loosely connected and this book can easily be read as a standalone title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*