The rakess

First Title Value for Searching:

The rakess

Personal Author:

Peckham, Scarlett

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

xiii, 383 pages ; 17 cm.

Series:

Society of Sirens ; volume 1

General Note:

Includes readers' guide.

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Romance fiction.

Summary:

"Meet the Society of Sirens--three radical, libertine ladies determined to weaponize their scandalous reputations to fight for justice and the love they deserve ... She's a Rakess on a quest for women's rights ... Seraphina Arden's passions include equality, amorous affairs, and wild, wine-soaked nights. To raise funds for her cause, she's set to publish explosive memoirs exposing the powerful man who ruined her. Her ideals are her purpose, her friends are her family, and her paramours are forbidden to linger in the morning. He's not looking for a summer lover ... Adam Anderson is a wholesome, handsome, widowed Scottish architect, with two young children, a business to protect, and an aversion to scandal. He could never, ever afford to fall for Seraphina. But her indecent proposal--one month, no strings, no future--proves too tempting for a man who strains to keep his passions buried with the losses of his past. But one night changes everything ... What began as a fling soon forces them to confront painful secrets--and yearnings they thought they'd never have again. But when Seraphina discovers Adam's future depends on the man she's about to destroy, she must decide what to protect ... her desire for justice, or her heart."--Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Women -- Sexual behavior -- Fiction.

Scandals -- Fiction.

Women's rights -- Fiction.

Widowers -- Fiction.

Architects -- Fiction.

Single fathers -- Fiction.

Man-woman relationships -- Fiction

Publication Info:

New York, NY : Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2020]

Subject:

Women -- Sexual behavior -- Fiction.

Scandals -- Fiction.

Women's rights -- Fiction.

Widowers -- Fiction.

Architects -- Fiction.

Single fathers -- Fiction.

Man-woman relationships -- Fiction

England -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Fiction.

Great Britain -- History -- 1714-1837 -- Fiction.

Historical fiction.

Romance fiction.

Female sexuality

Rights of women

Women -- Civil rights

Women -- Rights of women

Women's rights -- Law and legislation

Great Britain -- History -- House of Hanover, 1714-1837

Great Britain -- History -- Personal Union, 1714-1837

SAILS ISBN:

9780062935618

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Foxboro - Boyden Library	PBK ROM PECKHAM	PAPERBACK	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Swansea Public Library	PBK PECKHAM, S	PAPERBACK	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Named one of the Best Romance of 2020 by EW, Washington Post, NPR, and Bookpage!

Meet the SOCIETY OF SIRENS--three radical, libertine ladies determined to weaponize their scandalous reputations to fight for justice and the love they deserve...

She's a Rakess on a quest for women's rights...

Seraphina Arden's passions include equality, amorous affairs, and wild, wine-soaked nights. To raise funds for her cause, she's set to publish explosive memoirs exposing the powerful man who ruined her. Her ideals are her purpose, her friends are her family, and her paramours are forbidden to linger in the morning.

He's not looking for a summer lover...

Adam Anderson is a wholesome, handsome, widowed Scottish architect, with two young children, a business to protect, and an aversion to scandal. He could never, ever afford to fall for Seraphina. But her indecent proposal--one month, no strings, no future--proves too tempting for a man who strains to keep his passions buried with the losses of his past.

But one night changes everything...

What began as a fling soon forces them to confront painful secrets--and yearnings they thought they'd never have again. But when Seraphina discovers Adam's future depends on the man she's about to destroy, she must decide what to protect... her desire for justice, or her heart.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

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. (May)

Kirkus Review

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. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

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.