Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas

10 reviews

anamustacho's review against another edition

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challenging emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

đŸ“±
This was a quick and enjoyable read. I liked the characters and their relationships, the plot kept my interest, and I found the writing style to be engaging. 
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micheala's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

My enjoyment of romance is based on if I'm rooting for the couple and I have to say with this one I was not. Both the main characters are assholes at best and truly terrible people at worst. So I guess they deserved eachother, but I didn't think either of them deserves a happy ending.

It gets 2 stars mostly because the actual writing was good. This was my first Kleypas book, and I'll probably give her another go based on writing.
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sydapel's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I really want to say more than that this is fine, but unfortunately that's what I've got. Again, it feels like there's a lot of potential to Devon and Kathleen's dynamic (a la A Lady Awakened) but the pacing is so awkward and the ending so abrupt I just couldn't root for them. Hoping to revisit their relationship more in the next installment as Kleypas often does. 
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beccaand's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

finals thoughts:
- absolutely adored the familial interactions between West, Kathleen and the Ladies Ravenel
- wasn't completely sold on the romance between Devon and Kathleen until after the maybe 60% mark and it was kind of dubious even then
- not sure how I feel on the set up of Helen and Rhys's book being the failed engagement, but am intrigued enough to read it
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frantically's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

has this author ever heard of this thing called 'consistent characterisation'
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_alyssar_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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lilyofthevalley_reads's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Least favourite Kleypas that I have read so far, which I expected coming into this one, knowing that people found it to be the least enjoyable and weakest of her recent novels. It started off with the enemies to lovers trope which if you know me, you know I’m a complete sucker for. However, I just found the only basis for their relationship was their sexual chemistry. Devon is always highly aroused by Kathleen in pants; I know it’s Victorian England and women never wore pants but still, Devon keep it in your pants dude. There was no discernible intellectual or emotional connection between the hero and heroine, other than he let her cry in front of him, even though it makes him uncomfortable because of his unresolved childhood trauma.

The good parts of this book were that I got to go back and read about the beginnings of Helen and Rhys’ relationship. I had previously read “Devil in Spring” and then “Marrying Winterbourne”, so I was curious how it all started between them. In particular, the detail about Helen’s rare, delicate orchid that Rhys’ is in charge of and how good care he takes of it was completely swoon-worthy 😍

Even though I didn’t end up enjoying this book as much as the other two I read in the “Ravenel” series, I think it helps greatly to read it order to get the full context of both Devon and Kathleen as well as Helen and Rhys’ relationships in future books. 
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jujubeees's review against another edition

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lighthearted
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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alikath's review against another edition

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emotional relaxing medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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