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When a Rake Falls

When a Rake Falls - Sally Orr This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.

1 Star

I found this book to be incredibly disappointing. I really wanted to love it. I was initially drawn to this book because of the cover. I know that my mother has always told me not to judge a book by the cover but let's be real here - I am not one that listens to helpful advice all that often. This book has such a lovely cover. Do you see her beautiful yellow dress? The way her dress is blowing romantically in the wind? Did you notice how the hot air balloon is perfectly coordinated to her lovely dress? The idea of a hot air balloon is just so romantic. The cover of this book promised me a delightfully romantic tale.

It didn't take me long to realize that I had been tricked by the cover. This book didn't live up to any of my expectations. I actually thought about stopping about a third of the way through the book but I pushed forward hoping that it would improve but I just couldn't connect with the story at any point. I found myself constantly looking at how much I had left to read of this book because I just wanted to finish it so that I could move on to something else. This is never a good sign.

Lord Boyce Parker hires a hot air balloon piloted by Miss Eve Mountfly to fly him to France. He is determined to win a race that will win him a lady's hand and restore some of his father's respect. Eve thought she was just taking him up and that they would go back down so she must be talked into continuing with his plan. When they do eventually land, they spend some time recovering with some very entertaining hosts.

I didn't like any of the characters in this book. I think that the author was trying for quirky characters but they just seemed ridiculous. Boyce had a tendency to burst into spontaneous song. Yes, you read that correctly...one of the main characters thought he was staring in a musical or something. Eve wasn't any better. She was supposed to be a scientist who always reasoned through everything but her personality just seemed flat.

This book tried really hard to be funny but I didn't think it was funny at all. I would actually read a passage and then realize that the same thing that had just made me roll my eyes was supposed to be funny. I think that everything that was supposed to be funny in this story just felt dumb to me. There were a few moments where I actually wished that the balloon had simply crashed because I didn't care about a single character in this story.

I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I found no enjoyment in this story at all. This was the second book in the series and I have heard positive thing about the first book, [b:The Rake's Handbook: Including Field Guide|21935754|The Rake's Handbook Including Field Guide (The Rake's Handbook, #1)|Sally Orr|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398141747s/21935754.jpg|41236226], but I don't think I am going to take a chance with that one anytime soon.

I received a copy of this book from Sourcebooks Casablanca via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.