A Rake's Vow (Cynster Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "You want to get a move on..." (more)
Key Phrases: tatting bag, elegant gentleman, desperate breath, Miss Debbington, Vane Cynster, Bellamy Hall (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

To this second book of her Bar Cynster series, Stephanie Laurens brings a thorough command of Regency style, as well as graphic, uninhibited love scenes. Elegant, commanding Vane Cynster graciously bows to fate when he seeks shelter from a storm and meets the woman he realizes he's destined to marry--Patience Debbington, the spinster niece of Vane's kindhearted godmother. Although her attraction to Vane is immediate and electrifying, Patience distrusts "elegant gentlemen" like her father, who broke her mother's heart by failing to return her love. To pursue Patience, Vane settles into his godmother's household, which consists of various poor relatives and assorted hangers-on, and is caught up in the search for a petty thief and occasional "Spectre" who is harassing them. It requires all of Vane's investigative abilities to catch the criminal, and all of his considerable powers of persuasion--as well as many ardent couplings with Patience--to convince her that family, loyalty, and love come first for him. Laurens is especially skillful at capturing Regency males, aristocrats whose refined restraint barely masks their powerful underlying urges. Appearances by others of the extended, devoted Cynster family ensures that readers will become increasing attached to this ongoing series. --Ellen Edwards

Product Description

With both of her parents gone, Patience Debbington is accustomed to managing her own affairs, and those of her teenage brother Gerrard. To her love is dangerous, men uninteresting and faithless. Gerrard needs a suitable mentor, but when tall elegant Vane Cynster rides into her life, Patience sees nothing but an arrogant, presumptuous dandy -- a man who drinks in her very soul like a fine wine and intoxicates her in the bargain.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Avon (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380794578
• ISBN-13: 978-0380794577
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,792 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #33 in	Books > Romance > Historical > Regency
  #47 in	Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( L ) > Laurens, Stephanie

• This is item 2 in The Cynster Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Scandal's Bride" was better, March 30, 2000

By	Uqob (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

The Cynster stories continue, this time with Vane Cynster fleeing the likelihood of match-making directly into the arms of a woman; one Patience Debbington. Now I like a romantic lark as much as the next person but this lacked the substance of the first book I read from Stephanie Laurens. While this one does include a bit of a mystery and a cast of characters, the romantic couple don't seem true to their original description at all. The book would have been much more palatable if Vane had actually remained for a longer period of time the "rake" he clearly appears to be 8 pages into the book. The female character Patience doesn't seem to have much going for her beyond her cat and her brother and as a reader you're lost as to how one conversation can toss out the preconseptions of a lifetime she, which she has against the smooth and cynical type of gentleman he appears to be. It's as if she has little if any backbone or real opinion of anything beyond caring for her 17 yr old brother and lusting after Vane.

Laurens still writes a good-great love scene but her editor is obviously not getting paid much or just figures this is a romance book, so why bother. I say this because if "humphed" made more of an appearance in this book (and Scandal's Bride) you would think Laurens received money for each time it was used. She's a good writer so, it's surprising she doesn't stop herself from using this "word" all through a book and distracting to the person who is reading it.

In short, characterization is weak, love scenes pretty good and maybe she needs to take about a year off to come up with a stronger plot.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Same plot as Devils Bride..., February 15, 2003

By	Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Vane Cynster, Devil's cousin and closest friend, has his turn at meeting his match in this book. An enforced stay at his godmother's house brings him into contact with her niece, Patience Debbington, and a mystery: who is the magpie thief stealing all and sundry, and who is the Spectre who appears at night, in shadow, and appears to haunt the place? The primary suspect is Patience's young brother Gerrard, but Vane doesn't believe that for an instant. His godmother begs him to stay and sort it out, and as he is already very intrigued by Patience he agrees.

Patience is alarmed by Vane and does her best to avoid him; she's also worried about the effect he's having on Gerrard. ...

The plot of this book follows exactly the same direction as Devil's Bride. Vane - determined not to marry - encounters a woman and knows that he's met his fate. He wants to marry her. He proposes; she refuses him. He determines to persuade her through sensuality and at the same time find out why she won't marry him. And in the background there is a (not very interesting and pretty transparent) mystery plot - again, I'd worked out who was behind it pretty early on; ... Maybe Laurens wanted him to be seen as an idiot?

I found Vane's approach to Patience unconvincing; in one scene - when he'd just met her - he was aware that she had the power to attract him in a way no woman had before. And he was determined to resist that: he didn't *want* to marry. And yet barely a half-dozen pages later, with nothing having happened in the meantime, he was suddenly reconciled to his fate and determined to marry her. ...

And Patience's antipathy to Vane in the beginning was simply not explained until some way in the book. I can accept her stereotyping him as a certain type of man - and not being told what she meant by an `elegant gentleman' until almost halfway through the book did not help! - but we need to know *what* stereotype she's using, and why it bothers her. That took some time to convey.

Again, a lot of detailed sex scenes, which is fine if you like that kind of thing; they're too numerous and technical - as well as lengthy - for my preference. I prefer my lovemaking scenes to focus on the emotions rather than descriptions of sex organs. Of course the extent and locations of Vane and Patience's amorous encounters are all wrong for the period, and I'm not sure why Laurens seems to assume that engaged, or near-engaged, couples of the - quite Puritanic, remember! - Regency period would naturally have sex. This has come across in three of her books now; her heroes seem to make an automatic assumption that an engagement means free sex. ...

I do have the rest of the Cynster series and will keep reading - Laurens has a readable style, even if I do skim some scenes - but I do hope that she varies her plots for later books.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keep introducing me to the Cynster men!!!, May 9, 1999

By A Customer

This was the first book I read of Stepjanie's Lauren's or the Cynster series. I am hooked!! Vane was so refreshing, and so real in his reactions. I thought Patience was wonderful!! I was surprised to read that the majority of the other reader reveiws found her boring. I have a very busy day with work and family, and found this book to be fun, engrosiing, a wonderful story, and not at all insulting of my intelligence. I loved this book, the story line, the characters, Vane, and the incredible love scenes. Maybe because this was the first of the Ms. Lauren's books, I was not set up for diappointment. I have since purchased "Scandals' Bride" and LOVED it am now ordering Devil's Bride. These Cynster Men are awe-inspiring!! Let me say that I would like to thank Ms. Lauren's for doing more for the lovelife in my 11 year marriage than anything else - Stephanie Lauren's writing is the most wonderful aphrodesiac!!