The Rake by LJ Shen

February 2022

**SPOILER ARLERT**

I was extremely excited to finally get the 4th and final book, The Rake, of the Boston Belles series by LJ Shen.

LJ Shen's books have always been an automatic one-click authors for me, and it truly pains me to say that this book fell short in so many ways. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind when I read this book because I really believe that LJ Shen is a great storyteller.

The book lacked the intensity and connection that I usually get from this author's books. It took me 3 days to complete the book when it always took me 1 in all her other books. I was tempted to quit reading on, but I really had hopes that it would grab me at some point. And to be honest, I did get more interest in the story about 70% in. The only reason I finished in 3 days was because I needed to start another book that had a timeline and I hate leaving off in the middle and try to remember when I started back up again.

I didn't get the usual heat with Emmabelle and Devon. Emma and Devon said one thing and did the opposite throughout the story. Their first romantic encounter wasn't explained so that we could have a stronger connection to the characters. It was just basically mentioned that they had been together 3 years prior.

Devon seemed wimpy and indecisive. Where there should have been strength and grit, he was weak and without substance. One minute he's distanced and formal, the next minute he's.... I don't even know what he was! I didn't feel the love and the need for Emmabelle.

Emmabelle, well, was a lot like Devon. I didn't feel the emotions of her troubled fertility struggles, I didn't feel the pain of her past. Which is a surprise for me, seeing that I was in the same position years ago and is usually a trigger for me. But I didn't feel the emotional torture or her love for Devon.

Getting pregnant so quickly really shortened the road for a real connection between the two. I would have liked there to be more struggles. It just happened so easily that it denied me the ability to really forge a deep connection to their relationship. It's such a shame, really. It had great potential to be such a gripping storyline.

The threat for Emma's life gave a little mystery and suspicion but it wasn't enough to save the story for me.

The main suspect was a bit confusing for me as a true motive and the strength of what drove him to do what he did. Blaming part Emma not recognizing the death of his mother and getting fired, was not a strong reason for the things he did. Yes, he was wrongfully accused and terminated, but he didn't even really try to explain the situation. If my lover accused me of sexual abuse when it was actually consensual, I would have spoken up and did whatever I could to set the situation straight. He would have fought harder for it. Not just walk away without a fight. Especially at the level he was willing to go at the end.

The whole story was fragmented, and it felt rushed, not giving enough to really hold on to. I hated the flashbacks occurring in 1 chapter inserts through the story. I would have preferred to get it all in one chapter.

I'm really so sad to post this. This was something I never would have thought I'd write when it came to LJ Shen. I strongly recommend skipping this one and would highly recommend all her other books. The Kiss Thief, The Sinners of Saints series, the All Saints High series and her standalones, such as Playing with Fire, are extremely well written and provokes so much emotion, you will not be disappointed.

Check out LJ Shen's site to get her other books. Please don't count LJ out from this one review. She is a very talented romance writer that will have you rooting on, laughing out loud and ugly crying, that they leave you with a book hangover and adding these men to your book boyfriend list.