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A review by zlibrarian
My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh
5.0
I received a digital ARC of this book from Edelweiss Plus.
Grace and Sebastian, the heroine and hero of this delightful novel, are passionate intellectuals. They navigate life and love with a bit of social awkwardness. Grace has access to appealing men within a small circle of independent researchers, but may lose an opportunity that will change her life forever. Refreshingly, shy hero Sebastian is more of a beta than an alpha; he’s what could best be described as an anthropologist in this pre-Franz Boas world. Happily, he’s unpretentious enough to sing bawdy drinking songs loudly enough to entertain a neighbor on a different floor of his lodgings. Sebastian lacks a bit of town bronze, and it falls to his rakish best friend to help him dress, move, and converse as a desirable gentleman, a process that happens in several humorous scenes.
As an African American Librarian fond of history and romance, I was charmed by the imaginative, almost fantastical research Benezra Library where our hero and heroine have some of their earliest conversations, and where romantic tension first appears in the form of another man. The Head Librarian, Mr. Okafor, is a man from what is known in our day as Nigeria. Grace is able to enter and use the Benezra Library -- accompanied, of course by her maid, as expected of any genteel lady -- despite its preponderance of male patrons. Amusingly, the maid enjoys scandalous novels written by another character in this series.
Pedantic sourpusses may grumble that the library isn’t historically accurate. Neither are happy endings, but I seek out romance fiction -- and recommend it to others -- precisely because sometimes one wants happy endings for intriguing, likeable characters moving through a well crafted genre fiction journey. Leigh’s library touches on true events -- colonization, indirect allusions to the very real life of Sarah Forbes Bonnetta later later British history, the history of people of African descent in women striving to live intellectual lives -- and that’s why it’s fun to read about, especially in the hands of such an engaging storyteller. Leigh’s writing also presents people from the servant and working classes in a sympathizing and humanizing light, and includes moments when upper-class characters -- Sebastian, in this case -- realize how seldom they truly listen and pay attention. This approach gives her stories depth.
Narrative and sexual tension builds through plot twists and turns, leading to an ending with strong visual imagery. No spoilers except to say that it’s fun.
Eva Leigh’s work is a real pleasure. I buy and recommend her novels with confidence.
Grace and Sebastian, the heroine and hero of this delightful novel, are passionate intellectuals. They navigate life and love with a bit of social awkwardness. Grace has access to appealing men within a small circle of independent researchers, but may lose an opportunity that will change her life forever. Refreshingly, shy hero Sebastian is more of a beta than an alpha; he’s what could best be described as an anthropologist in this pre-Franz Boas world. Happily, he’s unpretentious enough to sing bawdy drinking songs loudly enough to entertain a neighbor on a different floor of his lodgings. Sebastian lacks a bit of town bronze, and it falls to his rakish best friend to help him dress, move, and converse as a desirable gentleman, a process that happens in several humorous scenes.
As an African American Librarian fond of history and romance, I was charmed by the imaginative, almost fantastical research Benezra Library where our hero and heroine have some of their earliest conversations, and where romantic tension first appears in the form of another man. The Head Librarian, Mr. Okafor, is a man from what is known in our day as Nigeria. Grace is able to enter and use the Benezra Library -- accompanied, of course by her maid, as expected of any genteel lady -- despite its preponderance of male patrons. Amusingly, the maid enjoys scandalous novels written by another character in this series.
Pedantic sourpusses may grumble that the library isn’t historically accurate. Neither are happy endings, but I seek out romance fiction -- and recommend it to others -- precisely because sometimes one wants happy endings for intriguing, likeable characters moving through a well crafted genre fiction journey. Leigh’s library touches on true events -- colonization, indirect allusions to the very real life of Sarah Forbes Bonnetta later later British history, the history of people of African descent in women striving to live intellectual lives -- and that’s why it’s fun to read about, especially in the hands of such an engaging storyteller. Leigh’s writing also presents people from the servant and working classes in a sympathizing and humanizing light, and includes moments when upper-class characters -- Sebastian, in this case -- realize how seldom they truly listen and pay attention. This approach gives her stories depth.
Narrative and sexual tension builds through plot twists and turns, leading to an ending with strong visual imagery. No spoilers except to say that it’s fun.
Eva Leigh’s work is a real pleasure. I buy and recommend her novels with confidence.