My Fake Rake

The Union of the Rakes

By: Eva Leigh

Narrated by: Zara Hampton-Brown

In the first book in Eva Leigh's new Union of the Rakes series, a bluestocking enlists a faux suitor to help her land an ideal husband only to be blindsided by real desire....

Lady Grace Wyatt is content as a wallflower, focusing on scientific pursuits rather than the complications of society matches. But when a handsome, celebrated naturalist returns from abroad, Grace wishes, for once, to be noticed. Her solution: to “build” the perfect man, who will court her publicly and help her catch his eye. Grace’s colleague, anthropologist Sebastian Holloway, is just the blank slate she requires.

To further his own research on English society, Sebastian agrees to let Grace transform him from a bespectacled, bookish academic into a dashing - albeit fake - rake. Between secret lessons on how to be a rogue and exaggerated public flirtations, Grace’s feelings for Sebastian grow from friendship into undeniable, inconvenient, real attraction. If only she hadn’t asked him to help her marry someone else...

Sebastian is in love with brilliant, beautiful Grace, but their bargain is complete, and she desires another. Yet when he’s faced with losing her forever, Sebastian will do whatever it takes to tell her the truth, even if it means risking his own future - and his heart.

©2019 Eva Leigh (P)2019 HarperAudio

Predictable but enjoyable

You know how it will end but the route there is adorable and keeps you listening. The support characters were well developed too.

Beautiful

Sebastian and Grace, this story came together beautifully the writer wove the lives of these 2 scientists perfectly.. Though Grace's affection was elsewhere at 1st she soon realize that love was standing before her all along

Good story if you like fumbling relationships

It was a rather painful story to listen to, and I almost DNF almost three times, but since I purchased it, I really wanted to mire through in the hopes that some element of the story was redeeming. There is, in the last few chapters. I love fiction fantasy and enjoy ridiculous romances. I found myself cringing a lot on this one, even speeding up to 1.5, 1.7, and 2.0 just to get through the awkwardness of the characters and their propensity to misunderstand and not be direct in communication. It was like watching a K-drama with unnecessary angst and misunderstandings. Some people love that stuff. I'm sure that for people who love that, this is a fun, enjoyable book. It's simply not my cup of tea. The physical scenes were great, and the narrator did an excellent job. The writing was good, but not the actual story in my opinion. I hope that people who like stories with awkward romances will love this.

Finally, an Eva Leigh book to love!

Interesting characters I truly cares for; lively story; and great narration. Loved it! Didn’t want to put it down.

Glad I chose it!

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh (Audiobook)  Narrated by Zara Hampton-Brown Series: Union of the Rakes book 1 4 Stars - When choosing this book I was looking for one of two tropes "in love with their best friend" or "Falls in love with the matchmaker" and this sweet love story  was sort of a blend of both!  I quite enjoyed the characters, both lead and secondary. Seb and Grace were a wonderful pair. I am looking forward to the next book in the series. 

Zara Hampton-Brown did a good job with narration. I would listen to her again.

~ Paragraphs and Petticoats ~

Cute... but SO slow

I mostly liked the writing style, and thought the narrator was good. However, the story pace moved way too slow for me. I like traditional romance plots with a twist, and this has that. It's a "fake relationship, set up for a specific reason, that turns into romance" plot. This isn't really a spoiler, it's spelled out pretty quickly. There are some unique elements, which makes the story interesting. And I did lol a few times, which I always appreciate. The problem with the story is the agonizing amount of time it takes to work through the couple's fears of admitting to themselves and each other what is really going on. I like that although you can predict the end, you can't necessarily predict how they will get there, it keeps it interesting... but I found myself skipping forward because the story just didn't have enough mystery or nuisance to hold the listener/reader for over 10 hours.

Awful

I got this on a buy one get one free and now I know why it was free. SLOW and boring story at best. I have over 100 audible books in my library and this one is a struggle to listen to. Also, it’s the only one I felt the need to warn listeners JUST DON’T. It’s truly awful.

So not a Regency

Appropriate for Randy teenagers. The narrator needs to look up the pronunciation of words she doesn’t know.