"Ah," he murmured, his voice very low. He shifted fractionally closer. "But, you see, I'm not a gentleman. I'm a Cynster." As if letting her into some secret, he gently informed her: "We're conquerors — not gentlemen."This is the second book from the Bar Cynster series, and another great one too The storyVane Cynster is running away from fate. After seeing how the mighty have fallen (Devil in love with Honoria), he decides to go as far as possible, away from any temptation (as in women he might marry ). BUT, fate has her own plans. To avoid a thunderstorm, he seeks shelter at his godmother's house, and there he meets Patience. She's the niece of Lady Bellamy, Vane's godmother, and is staying at her house with her brother Gerrard (so nice to see him, he'll get his own book too). So, back to the story... They are very much attracted to each other, and Vane has seduction on his mind (don't they always ). The strange happenings at the Bellamy manor only help his cause, he was asked to stay and investigate. "Why did you stay?"He tipped her face up so that her eyes locked on his. He studied her, her eyes, her face, for one instant longer. "I stayed to help Minnie, to help Gerrard… and to get something I want."Well we all know what he wants khm khm BTW Minnie is the godmother :DAnyway, what are they investigating? Well, there are thefts at the house, random things gone missing, and frequent appearances of the "Spectre", someone lurking in the ruins near the main house. And I have to say, this was a re-read, but I actually forgot who done it! Maybe because it was very Agatha Christie-like, you know, loads of characters in one house, something shifty going on, everyone's a suspect and all...PatiencePatience is trying to raise her brother to adulthood (with no family she is the only one to do it), so she comes to her aunt's house in hope that he would be influenced by some of the men residing there. She has a very strong aversion to polished, elegant gentlemen rakes, and in Vane Cynster she sees only bad things and doesn't want him anywhere near her brother, and she tells him exactly that . Oh boy, when she insulted him, I thought he'd really do something he would regret hahah, hell, I'd have hit her if she said something like that to me! BUT, lucky her, she sees she was in the wrong and decides to explore their sensual relationship. What she doesn't know is that Vane has his sights on her, she's what he wants, and he'll have her, even if it takes marriage to get her. "I asked you to be my wife, you offered to be my lover. I still want you as my wife." Her eyes flew open. He met her gaze, his face set, etched with passion, hard with determination. "But if I can't have you as my wife, then I'll have you as my lover." Forever, if need be.VaneVane is a typical Cynster. A gentleman, a rake, a conqueror. He fears tying himself to one woman and giving up control to her. After witnessing that exact thing happening to Devil, he decides to run away from women, from marriage, but ends up right at destiny's path. Patience is a woman that suits him perfectly. He can't resist her, and doesn't want to, really. He plans a seduction untill he realises he must have her forever, not just as a temporary lover. So he offers for her hand, and she flatly refuses . Did I mention Vane's a typical Cynster? So that, of course, means they always get what they want, and they get it through careful seduction (and loads of sex , but hey, I ain't complaining). He then finds out what will it take for her to accept him, and it's a price he's not sure he could make. He sighed, and rested his forehead on hers. "It's not that." After a moment, he went on, "I don't like losing control—it's like losing myself—in you."She felt him gather himself, felt the tension swell and coalesce about them."It's giving myself to you—so that I'm in your keeping." The words, low and gravelly, rolled through her; closing her eyes, she drew in a shallow breath. "And you don't like doing that.""I don't like it—but I crave it. I don't approve of it, yet I yearn for it." His words feathered her cheek, then his lips touched hers. "Do you understand? I haven't any choice."Why 4 stars?Two things. Patience and her ramblings about the "elegant gentleman" as the personification of all evil in the universe , that being the reason she constantly refuses Vane.Vane being unable/unwilling to admit to himself/her that he loves her (although that doesn't take that long, but still)Other than that, I really enjoyed their story, how they fell in love and slowly began to trust each other. Beautiful.The love scenes. Hmm.
The second of the Cynster novels, this is in many aspects a much better effort than the first one. Central to all of them (or at least the first six) are the Bar Cynster: six men of around the same age, all brothers or first cousins and all in want of wives, even if they do not know this or want to admit to it.This is Regency England, shortly after the Napoleonic Wars, and the Cynster clan encompasses your typical alpha males. Outwardly they are perfect gentlemen, always turned out to perfection and looking frightfully dashing. They are arrogant to their fingertips, never prepared to admit that they are wrong or to bow down to anyone, certainly not a woman. The leading male in this book, Vane, summarises this to the leading lady early in the book: “I am not a gentleman,” he drawls confidently to her. “I am a conqueror.”If you can handle your men this testosterone-laden, then this book is a joy to read. Vane is much the same as his cousin Devil (subject of the first book), but thankfully our heroine, Patience Debbington, is sufficiently different from Devil’s wife Honoria, and this isn’t just a repeat of book one but with different names. The whodunit subplot is also much better handled, in that this time I didn’t figure out the culprit until much, much later in the book.The plot is pretty simple. Vane, on his way to somewhere or other, is forced to seek shelter with his godmother Minnie by an unexpected thunderstorm. As an aside, this appears a popular theme with this author: book one featured a thunderstorm, and there is another thunderstorm later in this book. I’m wondering whether this is a veiled way of showing that the Cynsters only bow to forces of nature, but I digress.Minnie always plays hostess to a variety of people, and this time her strays include her niece Patience, who has taken her seventeen-year-old brother Gerrard with her to prepare him for introduction into the aristocratic ton. Vane sees Patience, desires her, and the rest is pretty easy to predict. The subplot revolves around a petty thief who steals objects of minor value and someone wandering the nearby ruins at night with a light, but it’s all just window-dressing to the centrepiece of Vane and Patience’s building desire for each other. I found most the secondary characters fairly interchangeable, which wasn’t helped by two of them being called Edgar and Edward, so I could never remember who was who, but again this did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.The romance is sizzling, the sex is searing. I’m always curious as to how the men in this era manage to be so confidently experienced in the carnal arts when a woman is considered fallen if she has sex outside of marriage, but I haven’t often seen the whole ‘experienced man with green virgin’ trope this well-executed. I must also give Vane credit for actually being able to utter the words ‘I love you’, since Devil was too much of an alpha to do so.All in all a gem of a romance, even if most of the other characters take second or even third fiddle, and while I hope that the whole range of manly Cynster men won’t start to get boring, I’m very much looking forward to the next book in this series.More reviews on Silk Screen Views.
Do You like book A Rake's Vow (1998)?
3.5 stars I feel guilty saying I "read" this one since it was an audiobook, but that counts, right? This was about a rake (obviously) falling in love with a girl who never ever wants to get married to an "elegant gentleman", such as the H, because her elegant-gentleman father was a cheat who neglected his wife and children. The majority of the book was the H chasing the h hot and heavy, trying to convince her to change her mind while they solve a little mystery on the side. The story is cute and sexy (she had no problem with fornication ;D) with hardly any heavy angst. If you love stories with a dashing hero who is madly in love with the heroine with very little conflict of the dark and despairing variety (at least in my opinion, so take that from the source), then you'll like this one.
—Julz
Better on Second ReadA RAKE'S VOW is the second book in the Cynster series. It is the story of Vane Cynster who is determined to avoid matrimony unlike his cousin Devil (this book starts immediately after DEVIL'S BRIDE). Fate has something else in store for Vane who ends up taking refuge at his godmother's home where he ends up meeting Patience Debbington. There is also a mysterious thief and a ghostly spector. I liked this book better the second time I read it. It is not nearly as good as DEVIL'S BRIDE and the first time I read A RAKE'S VOW, I compared it unfavorably to that book. Reading it again, however, I was able to do less comparing. DEVIL'S BRIDE is an amazing book and why this one is not as good, it is still a good story on its own. I liked how Patience had Vane all twisted up. He couldn't just demand what he wanted and in fact had to surrender himself to gain her. Laurens has a special way of making these Cynsters bow down to love.
—Sheila Melo
This is the second book in the Cynster series. I liked Vane better than Devil - he's more human, less domineering. He fell in love with Patience at first sight although it took a while until he realized it. I liked Patience a lot. She wasn't quite as stubborn as Honoria. I enjoyed Myst, Patience's cat.Once again, the villains were transparently easy to deduce. Forget "the butler did it:" it's always the most outwardly pious, judgmental character(s).Some comments on the series so far.1. Ms. Laurens writes REALLY REALLY LONG sex scenes. I'm always tempted to skip them, but just when I do, something really important to the relationship happens, so at least there's that.2. The thing I like best is the family scenes (I know that's grammatically incorrect). I love the camaraderie between the men and the affection and support among the women. THAT, more than anything, is what keeps me reading these books.3.5 stars
—Pamela Shropshire
