The Rake (Nexus) [Paperback]

Aishling Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999 | Series: Nexus

Henry Truscott is a dissipated rake even by late-18th-century standards. When his eye catches the beautiful Eloise, he gets more than he anticipated in every way, trading seduction and revenge and using her and her maids in a perverse manner as they are chased across France by revolutionaries.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: BBC Pubns (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0352334347
• ISBN-13: 978-0352334343
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,764,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historical S&M Romp Through Revolutionary France, December 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rake (Nexus) (Paperback)

This is a light and pleasant romp through Revolutionary (1700s) France.

French aristrocrat Eloise taunts and torments a jaded English nobleman with her physical charms while at the same time ensuring that her maids know their place in the world. But the French Revolution changes Eloise's position in the world and she finds she must turn to that same English gentleman she humiliated to rescue her from France. Her former servants enjoy abusing her, as does the Englishman, but although Eloise is debauched, she never will learn humility.

This features many very erotic S&M scenes, though the urine and dirt fetishes may be a bit strong for some. Pleasantly light on the bondage and more directed towards submission and passion.

This is a fun, amusing, and light read for those hours you just want to relax and enjoy a steamy book in the bath.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good first novel, November 25, 2009

By 

Gradient Vector Field (MA, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Rake (Nexus) (Paperback)

Based on what I could find this is Aishling Morgan's first novel. I made the mistake of reading a novel she wrote years after this one and the writing has improved dramatically since the release of "The Rake". Unfortunately I think this has put me in a bit of a biased perspective for the quality of this novel. I don't think this really competes with her later works.

First off I would like to say I enjoyed the setting. This takes place during revolutionary era France. Aishling uses period slang in parts, but she includes a little glossary in the book so you'll be able to easily figure out what is really meant. This story is centered on a rather uncouth fellow named Henry Truscott whose main passions in life seem to be sex and drinking. However, Henry usually likes to be in control of his situations and this takes a turn out of his control when he meets Eloise. She is from the uppity realm of higher French society, so her sense of entitlement runs in conflict with Henry at times. He doesn't seem to believe people are entitled to the same things she does. "The Rake" takes us through a great journey these two have to embark on when the Revolution starts to get out of control. Henry winds up in a situation where it's in his best interest to escape England for a while and it just so happens Eloise could use some help... whether she wants it or not. Eventually these two find that their lives crossing paths was one of the best things that happened to them. They can fulfill each others needs sexually as well as other things.

Now don't get confused, this book has plenty of erotic scenes in it. One of my personal favorites was the one involving Eloise and a mud pit. Henry's depravity is quite whimsical in the sense that he doesn't seem to "plan" his sexual escapades. Rather he chooses to embark on them in the spur of the moment. There are some corporal punishment scenes in the guise of mostly spanking. There isn't very much bondage and anything related to the human toilet fantasy is actually kept fairly low key, though it is included in parts. There is a decent amount of f/f activity and one of Henry's goals is to be in a situation of m/f/f, where he does succeed in getting this. The majority of the scenes are built around submission, usually in the form of Henry getting what he wants from a willing woman.

For me the first part of the book was kind of hard to get into. It seemed like the whole point of "The Rake" was to get into whatever wanton erotic scene could be thought of without actually crafting a story. Eventually, about half way through, the story takes off a bit more. The characters are developed more fully and the book actually becomes quite adventurous. If Aishling could manage to balance this out a bit more in her writing she would be a tour de force in the genre of erotic writing. She is clearly quite skilled at crafting stories, but I don't think "The Rake" is a culmination of her actual abilities, rather a glimpse at her potential. It is an admirable first effort, but I'm more eager to see what else she has in store for us in the future as her writing prowess begins to develop with experience.