After failing on the Marriage Mart, Jane Pemberton has two choices: submit to her parents’ edict to marry their boring neighbor or become a self-declared spinster and take up residence in the official headquarters of the Spitfire Society. It’s really no choice at all, and Jane is eager to embrace her newfound independence. She soon finds an unconscious viscount on her doorstep and nurses him back to health. When he offers to compensate her, she requests payment in the form of private instruction of a scandalous and intimate kind.
Having spiraled into a self-destructive abyss following the murder of his parents, Anthony, Viscount Colton, physically recovers under the care of an alluring spitfire. But it is her charm and flirtatiousness that soothes his soul and arouses his desire—until an extortion scheme forces him to face the sins of his past. Now, to save the woman who’s given him everything he lost and more, he’ll have to pay the ultimate price: his heart.
CW: Alcoholism, parental death/murder, grief, parental alienation/abandonment
Third in the Spitfire Society Series, this worked well as a standalone. And despite some of the complex themes, this book did it for me. The intimate scenes were hot (and almost a little spicy), the romance was sweet and well charted, and the characters, although full of flaws, were likeable. I also enjoyed many of the supporting characters which also have their own books.
Jane has had an abysmal run at the Marriage Mart and her parents have now tried to force her to wed someone undesirable. Instead of embracing that path, she has decided to defy them and strike out on her own. With the support of her friends, she establishes her own household (in a now married friend’s former house) and focuses on the Spitfire Society and charitable works.
This is disrupted when Lord Colton appears on her doorstep bruised, battered, and black out drunk.
I want to take a moment to talk about Jane and why she worked for me because, in perusing other reviews I see she didn’t work for others.
First, I think she is not a Mary Sue. She is not the most beautiful, or smartest, or sassiest, or any “most” anything. She is just a woman who knows her own mind and is willing to risk her standing, her relationship with her parents (who are revealed as toxic people), and her future marriage prospects to chart her own path. Other readers found her plain. I get that. Jane is no sparkling diamond. She is, in my opinion, an Every Woman. But you could also see through her actions her character was sound; she was caring, loyal, passionate, and a good friend. I found it refreshing to read a MC who wasn’t “the best” but instead was just generally good.
Others also remarked that they had some trouble with how vocal (they characterized it as aggressive) she is about wanting to have some intimate experiences with Anthony. I found the portrayal to be sex positive and thought it was clear that although Lord Colton had some reservations, he was consenting and interested. Other readers clearly felt she was manipulative, pressuring him, and it ultimately resulted in reluctant consent while he was in his sickbed.
I read back through their first interaction to see if I missed something in my reading. Lord Colton was out of his sick bed and almost ready to return home after a week of bed rest. They had had a kiss the day before, and she goes to him to see if it will be their last night together. What follows is the result of mutual attraction and desire. Lord Colton is reluctant, but the text makes it clear that he is reluctant because he worries his past makes him unworthy of a relationship or more with a lady of quality.
I am usually sensitive about consent, and because I love a good Beta hero, sensitive regardless of the gender. I didn’t find anything objectionable about the intimacy between the two…but I wanted to make sure to include a discussion because some readers were obviously upset about consent. There is a lot of intimate scenes, some kind of lengthy, but I found them to be super hot, not overly graphic, and somewhere between the borderlands of steamy vanilla and hot and spicy. Most was typical cis-hetero sex acts that progress throughout the novel (first base, second base, third and home…) and I found used not overly flowery language, but the breadth and depth may be a bit much for other readers.
Lord Colton is a complicated character who has been burying his grief over the untimely death of his parents by abusing alcohol. He was clearly a rakehell before then, getting in to trouble with gambling and partying, and the grief has just compounded the drinking (although he no longer gambles). This is a theme throughout and I thought very delicately handled by Burke. I liked that the romance didn’t magically cure him, but it did show how vital support systems can be for people battling addictions and grief.
I think both MCs had a nice character arc, the romance was passionate but also deep, and the action towards the second half was interesting without being over the top or melodramatic. This was a book that was easy to burn through and left me satisfied with a great HEA.
I will probably re-read at some point, likely the whole series back to back. I recommend this for readers who are interested in sex-positive Regencies that deal with complex themes and complicated characters who can find atonement, healing, and support in love.
5 out of 6 Rake and the spinster who loves him band together to fight past demons
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Gambling, violence, alcoholism, murder, and other serious adult themes | |
| Intimacy | |
| Lots of intimate scenes | |
| Violence | |
| Mentions of fighting, murder, and other violence | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| With lots of intimate scenes and adult content, this is best for readers who prefer adult themes. Please see content warnings at the start of the review. | |
