Rakes and Roses by Josi Kilpack #blogtour #excerpt

Rakes and Roses by Josi S. Kilpack
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Source: Received to review
Genre: Regency Romance

Book Description:  A Mayfield Family Romance

Lady Sabrina endured an abusive marriage, a miscarriage, and early widowhood to emerge as a smart, successful, confident woman who found a way to make her mark in a man’s world. She has friends and purpose, but cannot hide from the emptiness she feels when the parties are over and the friends have gone home to families she will never have.

Harry Stillman may be charming and handsome, but he’s a gambler and a rake who has made a mockery of his privileges. He turns to the mysterious Lord Damion for financial relief from his debts, but still ends up beaten nearly senseless by thugs and left in an ally.

When Lady Sabrina comes upon Harry after the attack, she remembers the kindness Harry once showed to her six years ago and brings him to her estate to heal. Though their relationship begins on rocky footing, it soon mellows into friendship, then trust. But Lady Sabrina needs to keep Harry at a distance, even if he is becoming the kind of man worthy of her heart. After all, she is keeping a secret that, if exposed, could destroy everything she’s so carefully built. 

My thoughts:  I love the premise of this series. A wealthy elderly uncle, who never married and is without an heir, decides to bestow an inheritance to his family on the condition that they marry. He doesn't want them to live as he did. Alone.

This story is about Harry. He has many vices. He's a rake, and alcoholic, and a gambler. He is indebted to a very horrible man and his uncle has cut him off. He has no way to fulfill his obligations until Lord Damion finds worth in him and loans him the money on condition that he reform his life and repay the debt.

I loved the characters in the book. Harry seems at first to be unredeemable until he discovers his own worth and decides to be a better person. His personality is fun and he is full of mischief. I enjoyed the teasing between him and Sabrina. He pulls her out of her lonely life and helps her rediscover happiness. She has also lived a difficult life and seeks to see her worth as a person and friend.

Rakes and Roses was a fun book to read. I look forward to any book that comes out by Josi Kilpack. I hope that there is another Mayfield book to look forward to.

Online Purchase Links:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Book Depository * Deseret Book

Read an Excerpt!

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Malcolm turned to Ward, who stood frozen a few feet behind Harry, reminding him that Ward could very well pay for Harry’s sins even though it was Harry who had chosen this path over and over again, even when the pleasure was gone. Even when he’d burned through his estate’s profits and started to sell off his land in pieces.

“You have this money on your person, friend?” Malcom asked Ward, lifting his eyebrows.

Ward blinked, then licked his lips. “No, sir.”

“But you are going to loan two hundred and seventy pounds to this waste of human flesh?” He waved toward Harry, who was trying to draw a full breath.

Harry stared at the club swinging from the bigger man’s hand. Uncle Elliott’s words from more than a year ago echoed in Harry’s mind: “I am attempting to save you from yourself before it is too late.”

Was this what “too late” looked like? Felt like? Had Harry reached the bottom of the barrel that had once seemed to have no end?

“I have until noon,” Harry said again. “And I’ll have p-payment by then, I p-promise.”

Malcom looked at him again. “And what is your promise to me?”

The big man tapped the club against his thigh, the sound matching the new drumbeat in Harry’s throbbing head.

Get away. Get away. Get away.

Harry thought of the open end of the alley behind him. He might not be able to get the money in time, but he could save Ward and buy himself a few hours to at least attempt a solution. Years ago, Harry and Ward had designated the Cumberland Gate of Hyde Park as a rendezvous spot should they be separated amid what used to be nothing but pranks in Town. Harry cleared his throat and coughed twice, hoping Ward would recognize the signal Harry had ignored when Ward had used it earlier.

What he would not give to go back and relive the last few hours of his life. Last few years, maybe. He heard Ward’s sharp intake of breath as the larger man stepped forward. Harry threw his coat at the men to buy a few seconds and yelled, “Run!”

Chapter Four

Sabrina startled from sleep and lifted her head from the window pane. The moon was still bright in the sky.

There had been too many late nights these last weeks. She stood to stretch her arms over her head when movement drew her eye to the street below. She lowered her arms and leaned forward as a man, dressed in a dirty shirt—she did not think he even wore a cravat—ran hard down the center of George Street.

The height and thickness of her windows blocked the sound of his boots on the cobbles or what she assumed would be his ragged breath torn from his heaving lungs. His quick pace and heightened color in his cheeks showed his fear, however, which made Sabrina wish she could help him.

It was nearly four o’clock in the morning—far past the time a woman could act on her compassionate feelings for a golden-haired stranger.

As quickly as he’d entered one side of the frame of her window, he was gone through the other side.

Sabrina knelt on the window seat and leaned forward to see if she could catch an additional glimpse, but the other houses on the street blocked her view. Another man, this one dressed ominously in black, entered the frame on the same course. Clearly the man in the dirty shirt had not been running to anything, but rather from this man.

The large man slowed near the center of her window view, then stopped. He bent forward, hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. After several seconds, he shook his head and stood up again, though not fully. He kept his hand pressed to his side for another minute as he walked in slow circles, looking in the direction the other man had gone. Finally, he turned back the way he had come and walked out of view.

“And the fox outfoxes the hounding hounds,” Sabrina said quietly.

Men like that would not give up, however. The fox for this hunt looked very much like the kind of man she attempted to save when she could: young, gentle born, with enemies he

could not outrun forever. Would that she could save this one.

The night returned to motionless dark. Sabrina raised her eyes to the moon again, grateful for this fox having reminded her of her purpose and her determination to use her position for something of good.

“But for grace,” she said, turning to her bed.

Another night.

Toward another day.

May God bless the poor foxes.

Chapters Three & Four. Pages 28-33

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About the Author: Josi S. Kilpack is the author of several novels and one cookbook and a participant in several coauthored projects and anthologies. She is a four-time Whitney Award winner —Sheep’s Clothing (2007), Wedding Cake (2014), and Lord Fenton’s Folly (2015) for Best Romance and Best Novel of the Year—and the Utah Best in State winner for fiction in 2012. She and her husband, Lee, are the parents of four children. You can find more information about Josi and her writing at josiskilpack.com.