Book Review: The Rake Mistake by Erica Ridley

Publisher: WebMotion
Format: ebook
Release Date: June 4th, 2021
Genre: Historical – Regency – Humour
Goodreads

I really enjoyed this one. I picked it up purely because I was looking for something relatively short to tide me over from one year to the next, before I could start on my reading challenges. This is a prequel, but it’s book 1.5 in the Wild Wynchesters series, and I really think I’m going to try and dig into all of these! Miss Philippa York lives for her weekly reading circle, with her group of fellow bluestockings. They have formed friendships through their pursuit of knowledge, determined not to let the fact they are women stop them from learning. But when one of her friends arrives distraught, the reading circle vow to set things right. For a particular rake hasn’t just stolen a kiss, but a hairpin, which, if revealed, could ruin the reputation of a young woman about to get married.

But it’s not just the reading circle who are going to get to the bottom of things; they get the help of the Wynchester family, who have a number of resources at their disposal to help pull off a little heist.

This is a Regency novella, but it’s not a Romance novella – there are characters who are in love, get married etc by the end, but not one of the main characters, and the ‘romances’ as such are more off to the sides. Instead, the focus here is on Philippa, her friends in the reading circle, and the Wynchesters, who we meet a few of. They are a really entertaining bunch, and it was fun to read about the family especially, as Philippa is introduced to them. It’s clear she’s kind of smitten with the family as a whole, and it was this aspect that makes me keen to dive in with the rest of the series.

And of course, the heist itself was such a fun element, from the planning, to the late-stage change of plans, to the caper itself, and Ridley did really well with this, even making the word ‘heist’ sound perfectly suited to the time period.

This was a really fun book (if you couldn’t tell already!) with great characters, and if you’re looking for something different in the Regency subgenre, I recommend this.

Thank you to WebMotion for providing a copy of this via NetGalley – views remain my own.