Reformed Rakes reformedrakes

Tom and Sharon Curtis’ most famous work is 1984’s The Windflower published under the pen name Laura London. The Windflower is about a young sheltered woman named Merry who is kidnapped by the pirates on a ship called The Black Joke, and falls in love with her captor, the excruciatingly handsome second-in-command, Devon Crandall. Largely considered a classic of the genre, The Windflower is heartwarming, surprising, and very, very funny. Haley joined us on our discussion! You can find her on TikTok under the username @haleystewfart.

Currently on hiatus from writing historical romance, Mallory has written eleven histroms. Her books often are genre hybrids, with a mystery plot as an undercurrent with the romance. The books are Regencies and edge toward the wallpaper line, with a few historical inaccuracies, almost dollhouse like settings and sometimes some incomprehensible world building. For the Earl’s Pleasure is a mystery-romance hybrid as we try to uncover what led to Valerien Lord Rainewood attempted murder, which now has him unconscious in an undisclosed location. But luckily for Valerian, the object of his longtime teasing and bullying, Abigail Smart has a gift: she can see ghosts and while Valerian is unconscious, he appears to Abigail.

Today we’re going to talk about a sometimes polarizing topic—pregnancy in romance. We think pregnancy poses some interesting narrative questions and conflicts. For historical romance novels, babies and pregnancy bring up questions that aren’t really as much of a contemporary concern like legitimate heirs and who will inherit what estate. What does a person do if they have a child outside of wedlock? More universally, how does this pregnancy affect the relationship? Sanjana (@baskinsuns) join us today to give us some of her thoughts as well!

Today is a very special episode voted on by our Patreon subscribers. A starchy hero is uptight, obsessed with morals and propriety, and often a bit awkward in company. He’s often an aristocrat who puts too much value in his social standing, and doesn’t take enough time to smell the roses. With the help of a love interest, his entire world will be shaken up, until Whites is no longer his favorite club and suddenly, maybe frolicking through the trees seems like a good idea. The rakes categorize some of our top starchy heroes, men who are about to finally meet their match.

Today, the Reformed Rakes discuss Think of England by K.J. Charles along with special guest Mel. Set in the early 20th century, the story follows Captain Archie Curtis as he arrives at Sir Hubert’s estate. This isn’t merely a social call, as Archie suspects Sir Hubert of purposely sabotaging weapons sent to British troops during the Boer War. Once there, Archie meets Daniel, a man who also has a purpose beyond the social. Archie takes an immediate dislike to Daniel, a man so outwardly and obviously queer, yet, as they realize their aligned objectives, Archie begins to evaluate his own thoughts and feelings.

Midsummer Moon features what Kinsale calls the “hedgehog humor” of some of her lighter novels and is the origin of that label. Midsummer Moon is goofy! It does in fact feature a hedgehog, along with an aphrodisiac salt, a pre-Alexander Graham Bell invention of a telephone-like device, an inventor heroine named Merlin and a Duke with so many names that Merlin lands on calling him “Mister Duke” most of the time. Midsummer Moon might sound kooky, and it is, but it still comes with typical Kinsale character driven gut emotional punches that we love so much here. Kinsale’s strength comes from complex characters who, in a genre full of tropes and iterations and reiterations, are singular.