Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - The Rakess

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham

4 reviews

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad 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? No

4.5

- I adore the premise of THE RAKESS: combining the tropes of the fallen woman and the rake into one woman character.
- This book touches on so many of the ways patriarchal society hurts women and pushes them down. I felt so deeply for Seraphina and was rooting for her to realize that she deserved to be treated with love and respect, just as she calls for other women in her writings.
- SPOILER! The one thing I found odd about this book is that Seraphina knows so much about pregnancy prevention and yet seemed to know nothing about how or where to obtain an abortion, or that it might even be a possibility. Like, it simply was not mentioned at all?

Content Warnings

meggiemine's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.5

“Fucking is rarely inconsequential.”

While reading The Rakess, I did a lot of comparing and contrasting to The Duke I Tempted, which is fresh in my mind since I just read it a couple of weeks ago. Compared to her debut novel, The Rakess is very well done and it’s obvious she’s grown as a writer. There was a lot of angst in this, but thankfully it’s not the annoying kind that results from too many non sequiturs. The characters’ motivations were clear so their actions and the conflict did not feel contrived and nonsensical. The ending got a bit too melodramatic for my taste. I don’t like when a betrayal or misunderstanding is used near the end as it sometimes feels like character growth is thrown out the window in favor of prolonging conflict. But, for the most part, I was pleased with how smoothly the story progressed and how easy it was to follow the character arcs.

Both books were heavy, yet The Rakess was slower, quieter, and more grounded. Whereas The Duke I Tempted was confusing and frustrating, The Rakess was melancholic. It’s because of this melancholy mood that I can’t bring myself to give this a higher rating. Even though I appreciate the book for its boldness and thought-provoking themes, I did not enjoy the journey all that much. I can handle darker elements in a romance as long as they’re providing fuel for the emotional connection between the main characters. However, in The Rakess, the romance was a bit overshadowed by all the despair.

Still, I find myself drawn to Peckham’s heroes (Adam included) who are the perfect foils for her heroines. On Peckham’s website, her signature heroine archetype is described as: unlikeable, alpha, brooding, and tortured. I think one of the reasons The Duke I Tempted does not work for me is that the hero and heroine fit this same archetype. The destructive behavior from both characters was overwhelming and their dynamic felt too unbalanced and precarious. In contrast, Adam and Seraphina balance each other out in a way that makes their suitability believable. While they’re both grappling with trauma and grief, Adam’s not turned to destructive behavior like Sera has, and is capable of providing the support she needs. His steady and reassuring presence in the story provided some much needed relief when things got dark and uncertain.

Overall, I’m glad I gave this a shot, but I definitely have mixed feelings about Scarlett Peckham. I wouldn’t say her books are hit or miss for me because often they’re somewhere in-between those two extremes. I enjoyed this enough that I added the next book, which is yet to be published, on my TBR. I’m very curious to see what happens with Eleanor and Jack.

Some stray thoughts . . .

The Rakess has a much stronger cast of secondary characters than The Duke I Tempted. Seeing how Adam and Sera interacted with their friends and family really helped flesh out their characterization.
The feminist themes are interwoven with the story well. Peckham is aware of and acknowledges the historical setting. She does not ignore the legal and social constraints on the female characters during this time period. Nor does she shy away from depicting the consequences when they attempt to circumvent them.
Sera was allowed to make mistakes, but always recognized them as such and apologized or made amends. I expected her to be one of those “strong female characters'' whose bad behavior is excused or forgiven simply because she’s a woman. Thankfully, I was proven wrong.
Despite the feminist themes and the heroine-centric story, Adam is not emasculated or belittled in order to elevate the heroine. Often times, an author’s approach to a “feminist” romance involves taking the hero down a peg or two, perhaps to symbolize destruction of the patriarchy. Peckham does not resort to that at all.
The narrator, Sienna Francis, was fine. I would listen to her again, but won't be actively seeking her out. I found a review on AudioGals that puts into words what bugged me about Francis: “repetitive intonation.” Every sentence was delivered with the same flat modulation. This was a detractor for me, but not a major one.
In one of the top goodreads reviews, the reviewer criticized the book for a lack of sex positivity, but I personally found it to be refreshing. Peckham depicts all the complexities of sex. Both the hero and heroine have to find a balance between pleasure and risk. The reason I chose the opening quote that I did is because I think it encompasses the underlying theme of vulnerability in the story. For further reading on this topic, I recommend Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent by Katherine Angel. I think about the book often, especially when reading romance—a genre which mirrors, in its portrayal of sex and sexuality, the consent culture that Angel is critiquing.

Series: Society of Sirens #1

Genre: Historical Romance

Setting: Summer 1797 (Georgian era) in Cornwall mostly, then London, England

Hero: Adam Anderson, Scottish, architect, widowed with children

Heroine: Seraphina Arden, daughter of a miner, radical feminist and writer, age 33

Tropes/Themes: bluestocking heroine, hero is a widow and parent, friends with benefits/no strings attached, tortured/traumatic pasts, ruined heroine, MCs are intellectuals/professionals and not of the aristocratic class

Format: audiobook borrowed from Hoopla

Narrator: Sienna Francis

Length: 10h 27m, 370 pg, 100k words

Read Date: February 15, 2022

Heat Index: 4.2🌡️🌡️🌡️🌡️

5 full, moderately explicit sex scenes and 1 fade-to-black scene. Sex acts include a lot of non-penetrative sex (to avoid pregnancy) and one scene with anal play (a rarity in M/F romance).

Content Warnings

circe813's review

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

isotope_s's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

So good, “I am reduced by the loss of you/your love increases me” I am undone.

Content Warnings

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