Hold Fast is a medieval Scottish romance and MacArthur invites and garners a lot of comparisons to perhaps the most famous romance novelist who wrote this subgenre: Julie Garwood. Hold Fast is the story of a woman who was handfasted to an abusive laird and once free of that arrangement, assumes she will never be in a relationship with a man again. Her love interest Ewan is laird of a nearby, rival clan whose lost members of his family in ways that made him anxious to fall in love, so he similarly assumes that he will never marry. Both assumptions get complicated when they meet each other and a ..read more

Maybe a yearly tradition? Where we recommend books to each other. Chels recommended the first in the Psy-Changeling series to Beth because of their shared love of Heather Guerre. Emma recommended a Carla Kelly because she’s quickly becoming a pod favorite. Keeping with last episode, Beth recommended two contemporaries. Emma and Chels did like an uno reverse to each other and recommended two kind of heavy-hitter political histroms. A good time was had by all. Support us on our Patreon! Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com Follow us on social media: Twitter: @refor ..read more

Keeper of the Dream was published in April 1992. Keeper of the Dream has this real threat of danger throughout the book. Arianna is the daughter of the Welsh prince and Raine pledges his fealty to Henry II, who is currently invading Wales. In the first scene, Raine kills one of Arianna’s brothers in a skirmish and the book doesn’t really let up from there. Arianna is a seer and has visions, which include insight into the past and future. Raine is the unloved, illegitimate son of an earl and he is seeking power and status by trying to secure his own lands. Williamson writes an incredibly romant ..read more

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is a Victorian crime novel centered around two young women: Susan Trinder, who grew up in a house of thieves, and Maud Lilly, a lady who is trapped by her uncle in a macabre house called Briar, and compelled to work for him as a secretary. When it was initially published in 2002, Fingersmith made waves for its central lesbian relationship, as well as its shocking twist in the second act. The book was critically lauded: shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, launching Sarah Waters into literary stardom. Through popular adaptations like 2005’s BBC ..read more

In this episode, we’re specifically focused on Waterloo, Napoleon’s last stand and a favorite backdrop of historical romance. Waterloo took place June 18, 1815, when Napoleon’s Army of the North was met by the Seventh Coalition, an army composed of Wellington’s English troops, and various German and Dutch units at a small village just outside of Brussels. Around 50,000 soldiers died in the conflict. The battle led to the voluntary surrender of Napoleon to the British a month later, after a series of increasingly desperate military and political moves on his part, and his eventual final exile o ..read more

Published in 2022, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris is the first full-length historical romance from Adriana Herrera. We follow Luz Alana Heith-Benzan, who travels to the Exposition Universelle in Paris to expand her family’s rum trade throughout Europe. It’s there that she meets James Evanstan Sinclair, the Earl of Darnick, a Scottish man who works in whisky and goes from being her rival, to her friend, to her husband. The book is a really fun twist on marriage of convenience: a business partnership where the partners are so in love they can’t think straight. Join us and Graciella @grapiedeltaco ..read more

Meredith Duran has an unlikely publishing story: at her sister’s encouragement, she submitted her first manuscript, Duke of Shadows, to the Gather.com first chapters contest, and won first prize: Duke of Shadows would be published by Pocket Books. Duran followed up with Bound by Your Touch and Written on Your Skin, two late Victorian novels starring friends: Viscount Sanburne, the happy-go-lucky rake who uses his dissipation to conceal something much darker, and Phineas Granville, a spy-turned-earl who is drawn back into the game by a beautiful woman he’s indebted to. Duran’s one of my favorit ..read more

Newgate prison served as the main punitive facility in London for six centuries until it closed in 1902. If you expect this genre to be limited to country houses and The Ton, you might be surprised at how often authors invoke Newgate in their stories. Newgate as a recurring thematic space becomes shorthand for terror, grime, and pain. What’s the effect then when it’s invoked in a romance novel? In this episode, the rakes cover Newgate itself and several books that fictionalize Newgate. Much of what we talk about stems from Emma’s current research on Newgate. Support us on our PATREON Follow us ..read more

Why can't we just talk to each other? The Reformed Rakes have an honest conversation about why miscommunication is so reviled in romance, and argue that miscommunication is necessary for a genre that is so character driven. In this episode, we go over miscommunication vs miscommunication trope, outline different types of miscommunication, and talk about some of our favorite historical romance books where signals are missed, words are misinterpreted, and assumptions are made. Support us on our PATREON: http://patreon.com/reformedrakes Follow us on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Refo ..read more

Last episode, we covered the rise of Janet Dailey, one of romance’s biggest stars in the 1970s and 80s. A secretary turned millionaire, Dailey was one of the genre’s biggest success stories, but her husband’s work as her manager, and his interest in making her the #1 author in the world fueled “Svengali” rumors. If you haven’t already, go back and listen to Janet Dailey: Part One for the full story, as this is information you’ll need for what’s to come in this episode. This week we’re picking up where we left off: we’ll be talking about Janet Dailey’s plagiarism scandal in 1997, an event ..read more