Elisa Braden

Anything but a Gentleman

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️

Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻

Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️

Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒💒

Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂

Anything But a Gentleman is the seventh installment in the "Rescued from Ruin" series and in this one we get a bad boy type of hero. And I was all in for this one. And this author immediately pulled me from the first page, I was so hooked and literally kept me up late reading, that is how delectable this story was. I do think the writing style of Elisa Braden is my catnip and is ruining me for all other historical romance authors haha I am not sure why I was sleeping on this author, but I am all in for her and will always support her if her stories are anything like this here. I really adored this one and moments in which we see our couples come together. And this story does feature two couples. We have our primary couple, and then a side couple involving Augusta's sister and Reaver's best friend.

"I keep it? The whole lot." Thick, dark grime upon the boy's face failed to mask his skepticism.

Augusta has come to London to help protect her sister. Her sister became pregnant and she is determined to bring the father to heel so her child isn't born a bastard. So she knows that Reaver holds the notes for the gambling debts and needs to attain those to issue some justice of her own. But what she doesn't count on is entangling herself with Reaver or that he would be so exasperating or a will to match her own. But what starts out as some healthy competition turns into something more when Reaver offers her a solution, become his mistress for 6 weeks and he will hand over the notes or leave. So she is determined to do whatever it takes and before Reaver realizes it, this tiring woman is controlling his life, furnishing a home he never lives in and even housing a pickpocket and he is falling hard for this strong woman who has a heart to match his own...

 I feel like I am really getting into the Elisa Brade vibe and these books are just like catnip for me. I absolutely adored everything about this one here. It was delectable, sexy and so much heart was being conveyed here. I loved the moments that we see with this couple and their chemistry was so well built. And this is what I love and miss in modern age historicals. And this is why I am really wanting to explore more indie authors. (so if you know of authors like this one here who write this type of historical please send me to them). Anything But a Gentleman is a story of a grumpy heroine and a feisty heroine who calls his bluff haha their bantering is delectable and I couldn't get enough of seeing them build a relationship together. And the heart felt moments between these two just delivered so much for me. I couldn't get enough nor could I put this one down. This author has such a beautiful talent in easily sweeping you up in a story and its done so well. In fact, once I finish with her backlist, I am going to do a reread of these books especially the earlier books.

Honestly??? Nothing haha It was perfect in every way for me

Anything but a Gentleman was brililantly mastered, with charm and elegance and soul touching romance to leave you breathless and eager for more!

Loving someone meant standing in stinging rain and bellowing wind, knowing how much it hurt and doing it anyway. Because the one who needed shelter mattered more.

Perhaps he did, because when he returned to earth, he felt as though he’d been reassembled into a new form. Broken into pieces and remade by Augusta’s gentle, callused hands.

Sub Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Era

Character Types: Bad Boy, Gambler, Self Made Hero

Themes: London Underground, Laughs, Gambling Hell

Tropes: Forced Proximity, Grumpy Sunshine

Lover of Romance 

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨✨


First Impressions
Anything But a Gentleman is the seventh installment in the "Rescued from Ruin" series and in this one we get a bad boy type of hero. And I was all in for this one. And this author immediately pulled me from the first page, I was so hooked and literally kept me up late reading, that is how delectable this story was. I do think the writing style of Elisa Braden is my catnip and is ruining me for all other historical romance authors haha I am not sure why I was sleeping on this author, but I am all in for her and will always support her if her stories are anything like this here. I really adored this one and moments in which we see our couples come together. And this story does feature two couples. We have our primary couple, and then a side couple involving Augusta's sister and Reaver's best friend.

First Line
"I keep it? The whole lot." Thick, dark grime upon the boy's face failed to mask his skepticism.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Sebastian Reaver
-Alpha Self Made Hero
-Connected to Aristocracy
-Bad Boy and Grumpy

The Heroine: Augusta Widmore
-A genteel lady
-Protective of her baby sister
-Feisty, hardworking and strong willed

Summary
Augusta has come to London to help protect her sister. Her sister became pregnant and she is determined to bring the father to heel so her child isn't born a bastard. So she knows that Reaver holds the notes for the gambling debts and needs to attain those to issue some justice of her own. But what she doesn't count on is entangling herself with Reaver or that he would be so exasperating or a will to match her own. But what starts out as some healthy competition turns into something more when Reaver offers her a solution, become his mistress for 6 weeks and he will hand over the notes or leave. So she is determined to do whatever it takes and before Reaver realizes it, this tiring woman is controlling his life, furnishing a home he never lives in and even housing a pickpocket and he is falling hard for this strong woman who has a heart to match his own...

What I Loved
This book sigh I feel like I am really getting into the Elisa Brade vibe and these books are just like catnip for me. I absolutely adored everything about this one here. It was delectable, sexy and so much heart was being conveyed here. I loved the moments that we see with this couple and their chemistry was so well built. And this is what I love and miss in modern age historicals. And this is why I am really wanting to explore more indie authors. (so if you know of authors like this one here who write this type of historical please send me to them). Anything But a Gentleman is a story of a grumpy heroine and a feisty heroine who calls his bluff haha their bantering is delectable and I couldn't get enough of seeing them build a relationship together. And the heart felt moments between these two just delivered so much for me. I couldn't get enough nor could I put this one down. This author has such a beautiful talent in easily sweeping you up in a story and its done so well. In fact, once I finish with her backlist, I am going to do a reread of these books especially the earlier books.

What I Struggled With
Honestly??? Nothing haha It was perfect in every way for me

Overall View
Anything but a Gentleman was brililantly mastered, with charm and elegance and soul touching romance to leave you breathless and eager for more!

Favorite Quote(s)
Loving someone meant standing in stinging rain and bellowing wind, knowing how much it hurt and doing it anyway. Because the one who needed shelter mattered more.

Perhaps he did, because when he returned to earth, he felt as though he’d been reassembled into a new form. Broken into pieces and remade by Augusta’s gentle, callused hands.

Book Details (also on my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Era
Character Types: Bad Boy, Gambler, Self Made Hero
Themes: London Underground, Laughs, Gambling Hell
Tropes: Forced Proximity, Grumpy Sunshine

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
Relationship Conflict

Recommendation For Reading Order
I do recommend reading in order if you can, but can be read as a standalone if needed

Steam/Spice Explanations

Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.

Tori Jarrett

Sebastian. Reaver. That is all. That’s the review. 
Jk but seriously I loved this book so much. 

Sebastian is a gambling hell owner and self proclaimed “rough sort” whose world gets tipped on its axis by Augusta Widmore, a country spinster just trying to save her sister’s reputation. 

What’s so great about this is that we get two love stories: Augusta/Sebastian and Shaw/Phoebe!

Sebastian is gone for Augusta almost the second she offers to be his mistress. It’s so funny to see his letters from Lady Wallingham with advice on how to court a lady and then turning around and seeing Augusta notice all the things he’s been doing to win her over on Lady W’s advice. I thought it was so sweet! Augusta was such a strong heroine. She’s had to fight for her and her sister’s survival and it took a lot for her to shift some of that burden to Sebastian. This was more of a slow burn with a good bit of pining on both sides. Their romance was perfect! Passionate and all consuming. 

Phoebe and Shaw’s friends to lovers journey was wonderful to see. When he tells her that her baby is his child too even though he’s not the father, I wanted to cry with Phoebe. It was just precious. I did like that realistically, he was worried about how society would treat them as a family, Shaw being half Indian and Phoebe being white. But I also loved that They loved each other enough to not throw it away on the opinions of others. They were so sweet and cute together. 

I want a book about Sebastian and Augusta’s little adopted street urchin, Ash. Little dude was ready to kick Sebastian’s ass if he so much as looked at Augusta wrong. I loved him!! 

5⭐️