Review: RAKE I’D LIKE TO F Anthology.

Thanks to Adriana Herrera for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

I just finished the Rake I’d Like to F anthology and the first thing I want to say is whew is it steamy!

Featuring five anthologies written by Sierra Simone, Joanna Shupe, Eva Leigh, Nicola Davidson, & Adriana Herrera, Rake I’d Like to F offers a multifaceted Rake-tumbling-into-love experience. It’s a real trope-gasm, not to mention that the collection offers a rich feast of settings from a highwayman’s den to a Parisian sex club to Mayfair.

Some quick thoughts about each story:

🖤 Sierra Simone’s The Last Crimes of Peregrine Hind gives me Cat Sebastian Kit Webb vibes, with a highwayman out for revenge who inadvertently captures the brother of the Duke he’s out for instead of the Duke himself. One of the leads is grumpy & the other is irreverent & bratty. Delish & oh so hot—very quickly. 4.5 ⭐️.

🖤 Eva Leigh’s Two Rakes for Mrs. Sparkwell has an intriguing set-up w/ a widow approaching a known rake to ruin her….& then becoming involved in a ménage with him & an enforcer/boxer. Brava to Leigh for writing such a resourceful & unabashedly turned on heroine & also for including some interesting class dynamics w/ the heroes—but while presumably these three are of equal importance in the relationship, it feels like the aristocratic hero is privileged more in the narrative itself and that rubs me the wrong way. 3.5 ⭐️.

🖤 Nicola Davidson’s A Rake, His Patron, & Their Muse is another threesome romance that works better for me because they seem on equal footing. The leap one of the leads—a famous playwright—has to make from physical intimacy to emotional is a nice touch & I really appreciate how each of the leads ultimately communicates their needs. 4 ⭐️.

🖤 I’m a big fan of Adriana Herrera & her story Monsieur X hits the right balance of passion & emotion for me. Focusing on two leads w/ mothers from the Caribbean—one a Black portrait artist whose clients are the aristocracy & the other who’s a member of the aristocracy—this story compellingly explores how each man seeks to indulge his specific needs & how that’s made more difficult / dangerous on account of the ton’s prejudices regarding sexuality & race. 4.5 ⭐️.

🖤 & finally there’s Joanna Shupe’s Sold to the Duke which is a stirring conclusion to the anthology. Maybe my fave thing about this one is how independent & proud the heroine Eliza is of what she’s made of her & her sister’s lives after they were cast away from their privileged Mayfair existence & had to survive in another part of London. There are some funny moments in this one & my heart was captured watching the rake hero as he fights to resist Eliza’s determined efforts to give him the virginity he paid for. 4.5 ⭐️.

All things considered this is a really fun & HOT collection with a few standouts for me!

Release date: 11/30. Please check out CWs from trusted reviewers for this collection.