Never Trust a Rake is a book that starts out with a few good ideas, but unfortunately they are never executed well. The secondary characters are interesting, but they back up a hero and heroine who are both too flawed to carry the book. Add a choppy writing style, and you have a book that reads like a first draft.

As a result of a stupid bet gone awry, Gabriel Sinclair finds himself on the gallows awaiting his death. Just as he’s about to die, someone cuts him down and drags him away. When he awakens and sees Louisa Peabody, he thinks he must be dead and in heaven. As it happens, he’s alive, and she’s none too happy to see him. Louisa is a crusader who rescues women who are victimized by the justice system. She had gone to rescue Alice Wentworth, a woman who stole a loaf of bread, but rescued Gabriel by mistake.

When Louisa finds out who he is, she believes the manufactured testimony that landed him on the gallows, which is that he raped several nuns in a convent. Still, she lets him stay in her home while he recovers. While he’s there, he meets the women she has rescued, who have all taken new names of a floral nature. As Gabriel is about to leave, Louisa comes up with an idea: if Gabriel can rescue Alice Wentworth from the prison ship to which she has been moved, she will pay him handsomely. Gabriel is a jaded sort who lacks Louisa’s crusading zeal, but he can’t resist the money, so he agrees to help. He does rescue Alice, then stays with Louisa for a few weeks awaiting his payment. During this time the two dance around having a relationship, but it is very much of the love-hate variety. Louisa was soured on all men by a brutal husband who died after assaulting her. Gabriel is bitter because his mad father made his childhood a nightmare. Still, they are both attracted to each other.

Alice Wentworth, the woman rescued from the prison ship, turns out to be a criminal who has no intention of changing her ways. But before she leaves Louisa’s home she reveals that four other women were on the prison ship. The crusading Louisa becomes obsessed with these women and is determined to free them also. At first Gabriel wants nothing to do with it, even though Louisa offers to pay him handsomely. Then in a distasteful scene, Louisa offers her body as payment for Gabriel’s aid. He has no intention of rescuing the women, but he can’t resist Louisa’s charms, so he sleeps with her anyway. From this point the book descends further into the love-hate quagmire with the “walking wounded” hero and heroine. The book has the requisite happy end, but I had to grit my teeth to get to it.

This book has some things going for it, most notably the secondary characters who are likable and interesting. There is also a lot of action. But most of the time the time it feels like too much of everything – too much action, too many wounded people, too much loveless sex, and too much hate.

And having both the hero and the heroine be so wounded is really just too much for one book. After a while the reader loses sympathy with both of them – I really wanted to shake them and shout, “Get over yourselves!” Louisa is the hardest to take. She seems to care much more about the women on the prison ship (who could very likely be hardened criminals, since they are in fact on a prison ship) than Gabriel or his welfare. Then when she sacrifices her body – not for love, but for the sake of these women – it is very difficult to respect her. Gabriel is a little better, but he still spends most of his time feeling sorry for himself and complaining about the misery of his life. Perhaps if you are into love-hate couples that duke it out till the last page, you will have more patience with these two than I did. But in a romance so much is riding on the hero and heroine; if you don’t like either of them, you are very unlikely to enjoy the book.

Never Trust a Rake has some elements of a good story, but you really have to dig to find them. With an extensive rewrite this could be a much better book. As it is, I wouldn’t recommend wasting your time on it.