The Rakess

February 7, 2020

Renovating an aristocrat's home in Cornwall, Adam Anderson starts making the wealthy connections his architecture firm needs to support his family and repay a debt. Seraphina Arden, a notorious wanton, is at her family's property in Cornwall writing her memoirs. Instantly attracted, Sera and Adam begin a steamy affair. However, Sera is deeply lonely, troubled by her past, shunned by the local community, and tends to imbibe to cope with some of these stressors. A widower, Adam is also lonely and falling in love with Sera, but her alcohol abuse and feminist politics endanger his family and future work prospects. Will Adam risk his heart with this fiercely independent woman or disavow her to maintain his genteel patrons? The continual angst between Adam and Sera slows the pacing and occasionally overshadows the romance. Regardless, Peckham (The Lord I Left) deserves high praise for bravely creating a darker historical romance, confronting tough subjects such as addiction, gender inequality, miscarriage, and involuntary commitment. VERDICT Highly recommended for those unafraid of a grittier love story.--Eve Stano, Ball State Univ. Muncie, IN

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 30, 2020
A woman more committed to her ideals than to any of her casual lovers feels her heart begin to thaw in the sexy, tumultuous Regency romance that launches Peckham’s Society of Sirens trilogy. The hedonistic Seraphina Arden is one of a trio of women who capitalize on their notorious reputations to promote gender equality. Upon returning to her childhood home to complete work on her scandalous memoir, Seraphina meets handsome, widowed architect Adam Anderson and wastes little time in propositioning him. Adam initially refuses her offer of a purely physical affair, focused on winning an influential client and securing his children’s futures, but he’s drawn to Seraphina and eventually succumbs to her brazen charms. Adam’s struggle to keep his feelings separate from their relationship and Seraphina’s difficulty accepting Adam’s kindness form the heart of the story. Seraphina’s reluctance to let anyone in stems from her painful past, and her eventual reckoning with her trauma propels this romance into heavy emotional territory. The open, exploratory love scenes sizzle with passion balanced by frank conversations about contraception and the risks of pregnancy. Peckham (The Lord I Left) never shies away from the bleak realities facing women of the era while capably making 19th-century sexual politics feel relevant to today. This rewarding love story is fierce, feminist, and full of feeling. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary.

Starred review from April 1, 2020
When the rake is a woman instead of a man, society may not permit a happy ending. Seraphina Arden is loved by her friends but feared by polite society. She's a "rather unpopular figure in most circles," thanks to her writing about women's rights and the rumors about her numerous affairs--all completely true and unacceptable in the 1790s. She's so notorious, in fact, that she's had to return home to Kestrel Bay in Cornwall to work quietly on her most explosive book yet. It's here that she meets Adam Anderson, a Scottish widower who is anxious to grow his practice as an architect so that he can provide for his two young children. She's instantly attracted to him, proposing a no-strings-attached fling, but he resists temptation--until he doesn't. Their attraction grows quickly, but the closer they get, the more painful memories surface for both of them; anonymous town residents keep trying to drive Seraphina away, and she abuses alcohol to cope with her past and current trauma. Adam, scared to abandon his tame but stable life, tries to let Seraphina go. When he succeeds, she is heartbroken. When she finally releases her memoir and all her secrets become public, Adam realizes he can no longer justify his choice--but it may be too late for their love to survive. This is the first book in Peckham's new Society of Sirens series, and like its heroine, it is thrillingly complex and suspenseful. Peckham's previously established talent for creating strong-willed heroines and heroes who respect them shines here along with her knack for creatively spicy scenes of intimacy. Given how well each member of the Society of Sirens is developed in this volume, readers will be anxious to read the next installment. A compelling historical romance from one of the genre's rising stars.

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April 15, 2020
In the summer of 1797, Serephina Arden, notorious women's-rights activist, wanton sybarite, and member of the radical Society of Sirens, retreats to the home where she grew up on Kestrel Bay in Cornwall. It's the first time she's returned since she left in disgrace as a teenager and the community is still dangerously hostile. Her plan is to write a tell-all memoir to raise money for the society to build an institute in London where women can be educated and gain skills to be independent. Adam Anderson, an architect, is in the neighborhood working on a belvedere for a neighbor when she propositions him. Widowed Adam is thoroughly decent and responsible, a devoted father, respectful of women, and unavailable for a relationship, especially if it's only for bed sport. Peckham's extraordinary reversal of traditional romance tropes is a surprising delight, as she launches her Society of Sirens series with a tale that combines authentic historical detail, a view into what women's lives were like, given the mores of the day, and flaming hot, imaginative sex scenes integral to the story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)