Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Ruin of a Rake
    The Ruin of a Rake
    The Ruin of a Rake
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Ruin of a Rake

    Written by Cat Sebastian

    Narrated by Gary Furlong

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Rogue. Libertine. Rake. Lord Courtenay has been called many things and has never much cared. But after the publication of a salacious novel supposedly based on his exploits, he finds himself shunned from society. Unable to see his nephew, he is willing to do anything to improve his reputation, even if that means spending time with the most proper man in London.

    Julian Medlock has spent years becoming the epitome of correct behavior. As far as he cares, if Courtenay finds himself in hot water, it's his own fault for behaving so badly-and being so blasted irresistible. But when Julian's sister asks him to rehabilitate Courtenay's image, Julian is forced to spend time with the man he loathes-and lusts after-most.

    As Courtenay begins to yearn for a love he fears he doesn't deserve, Julian starts to understand how desire can drive a man to abandon all sense of propriety. But he has secrets he's determined to keep, because if the truth came out, it would ruin everyone he loves. Together, they must decide what they're willing to risk for love.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 5, 2017
    ISBN9781541481398
    The Ruin of a Rake
    Author

    Cat Sebastian

    Cat Sebastian writes queer historical romances. Cat’s books include We Could Be So Good and the Turner series, and have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Before writing, Cat was a lawyer and a teacher and did a variety of other jobs she liked much less than she enjoys writing happy endings for queer people. She was born in New Jersey and lived in New York and Arizona before settling down in a swampy part of the South. When she isn’t writing, she’s probably reading, having one-sided conversations with her dog, or doing the crossword puzzle.

    More audiobooks from Cat Sebastian

    Related authors

    Related to The Ruin of a Rake

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Radical Class Consciousness of Queer Regency Romance

      Jun 29, 2022

      Queer desire threatens the logic of all forms of social hierarchy. The post The Radical Class Consciousness of Queer Regency Romance appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Winter Sun

      Feb 6, 2020

      Winter Sun
      4 min read

    • Article

      Winter SUN

      Oct 4, 2022

      Winter SUN
      4 min read

    • Article

      Just good FRIENDS

      Nov 2, 2022

      Just good FRIENDS
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Plagues Steph Cha

      Sep 29, 2020

      The Plagues Steph Cha
      9 min read

    • Article

      Hotel ROMEO

      Oct 13, 2021

      Hotel ROMEO
      8 min read

    • Article

      Great Scot

      Oct 22, 2021

      Great Scot
      10 min read

    • Article

      Billy Connolly: ‘It Might Be Lovely On The Other Side’

      Oct 17, 2021

      A fostered-off schoolboy going nowhere fast, turned apprentice welder on the Clyde. A welder turned regionally popular musician. A musician turned nationally popular comic. A comic turned Hollywood actor and an actor turned New York artist, then a re

      10 min read

    • Article

      Lay Your Burden Down

      Mar 1, 2019

      Lay Your Burden Down
      15 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Cruel Means, Bitter Ends

      Nov 10, 2021

      “In order for this speech to mean anything to me, I’ll need to dispense with the usual demagoguery and, instead, make an attempt at honesty. With this in mind, there is one thing I have to make clear. I’m not in this race to serve your interests, but

      12 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      Finding MONTALBANO

      May 31, 2022

      Finding MONTALBANO
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Glass Ceiling

      Aug 21, 2023

      ‘You’re late.” Evangeline glanced up from her workbench, neck already aching from the intricate creation before her: a hat decorated with no fewer than six hummingbirds, pinned to netting so fine it would look as though the creatures were, indeed, fl

      6 min read

    • Article

      Reaching OUT

      Jan 17, 2024

      Reaching OUT
      6 min read

    • Article

      The heartbeat OF PARIS

      Apr 24, 2024

      The heartbeat OF PARIS
      9 min read

    • Article

      Suspicious Minds

      Apr 7, 2022

      Suspicious Minds
      5 min read

    • Article

      Decluttering

      Dec 9, 2020

      Decluttering
      6 min read

    • Article

      Part Three - The Engraver And Printer

      May 14, 2021

      It was now late evening and Noella tentatively tapped an impeccably glossy front door to a grand terraced house in Barclay Square. Her excitement of the day, and the thrill of meeting Count Ferrari, had evaporated into a weary need for food and a bed

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Way Things TURN OUT

      Jun 3, 2020

      The Way Things TURN OUT
      7 min read

    • Article

      True Colours

      Mar 1, 2022

      True Colours
      11 min read

    • Article

      Echos

      Jan 10, 2019

      Before Corrine’s husband abandoned her in Berlin, he liked to say that her name reminded him of the word “corrupt.” But ending in a twist rather than a split. Her last name was the French word for “swimsuit” but he never mentioned that. This seemed s

      17 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      Clifton’s Place

      Mar 1, 2018

      THE SIGN outside the bar had appeared only recently. It announced the bar’s name and hours of operation, clear indications that this was not just another townhouse basement. Still, despite the listed business hours, no one got in before the sun went

      32 min read

    • Article

      Abandoned

      May 24, 2022

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • Article

      It Happened to Me…

      Jun 16, 2022

      A genuine miracle occurred at the art opening of the Blinky 40th Anniversary Exhibition at California State University Northridge Gallery in Southern California on 2 February 2019. An artwork by Erika Ostrander of the “Shroud of Blinky” was found wee

      6 min read

    • Article

      Diary of Remorse

      Sep 6, 2022

      I was plagued by remorse, but my remorse seemed inspired by insignificant dumb things—things not really worthy of bona fide remorse. That didn’t make it any less painful or plague-worthy, as I was still riddled with disgrace on a minute-by-minute bas

      20 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Ruin of a Rake

    4.5/5

    198 ratings12 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Excellent narration of a very enjoyable opposites attract story, and a lovely wrap up for the series.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      a fun, lighthearted read with plenty of romantic drama and loveable characters. and it’s Gary Furlong so of course it’s well read :))
    • 5/5
      I love this series, and this is my favourite among them. I've listened many times- they are a comfort to me
    • 5/5
      The plot and delicacy of aristocracy in this period in time
    • 3/5
      I usually don’t mind prickly characters, but Julian was disagreeable for so much of the book, that I couldn’t really warm to him. So it felt like watching the relationship from a distance rather than being right there in the midst of the feelings and everything. So overall just okay for me.
    • 5/5
      Great fun, super steamy. I love that annoying each other is part of how these characters display their affection -- that is a core tenet of several of my loving relationships, and I adore seeing it in print.
    • 5/5
      Real Rating: 4.75* of fiveIt's proving difficult for me to arrange my impressions into a shape more useful than "me likee" because I'm so conflicted by Julian Medlock's yuck-ick-ptui personality. A classic climber. Those people annoy me, as in "die monster die" annoy.Every breath brought him into acute danger of one of his limbs meeting one of Courtenay’s. And that was a fate he ardently hoped would not come to pass, for reasons he chose not to dwell on.–and–He had arrived where he was by making a study of how people responded to everything he did, by calibrating his every decision—from the cut of his coat to the company he kept—to achieve a favorable reaction from society. And it had worked.Sounds like a movie star's life, doesn't it...the constant calculation, the relentless ON-ness of performing one's life as well as for one's career.Courtenay, his love object, is a wishy-washy sort but I get past that by understanding entirely his pathology: He's an abused boy trying to make his mama love him, little understanding that he can't because she's incapable of mothering.It had been years since anyone had thought to defend him, even longer since he had believed he merited any kind of defense. And having a man like Medlock—stuffy, prim Medlock—take one’s part made it worth even more.–and–For some reason—likely his own perverse nature—Medlock's criticism delighted Courtenay almost as much as his stingy scraps of praise.–and–If he went long enough without thinking about it, the memories would fade, or at least be covered up by more layers of protective varnish, and it would be like it never happened in the first place.Why can't I move past Medlock's climberishness, when his equally valid (and well-drawn, it must be said) pathology explains his behavior so well? Because social climbing is so, frankly, distasteful to me. A man of Courtenay's unusually progressive ideology should revile Medlock. (I certainly do.)Ay me, we'll have to table the truncheoning for the moment, because this book's a happily-ever-after romance and those are delights to be savored. I'm happy to report that Medlock and Courtenay do indeed heat the sheets, climb out of them, and pine for each other in the approved romance-novel fashion.Love was somebody aiming a pistol at your heart while you sat there and acted like it was perfectly fine.–and–Falling in love wasn’t like a bird hatching from an egg, for all both events were rather messy and fraught with vulnerability.–and–Yes, that was how it was when your soul was in pieces and somebody else had one of them. Only when you were together would the pieces fit into place and become whole.–and–You can’t possibly mean to kiss me. I’m revolting.” Please kiss me.“You aren’t. And even if you were, you’d be other things too.”It was a gentle kiss, the sort of patient and meandering kiss Courtenay liked and Julian had never understood before. It wasn’t a prelude to fucking, it wasn’t even a prelude to a more thorough kiss. It was a conversation, without the burden of words. Please, Julian wanted to say. Let me try again. Julian’s heart felt full of something terrifying, something more dangerous than anything he had ever thought possible. And he didn’t care. He was throwing himself into an abyss he couldn’t even see, and that was fine, at least for the duration of the kiss.That's the stuff that keeps me hitting the "BORROW NOW" button, the "BUY NOW" button, and the "PAGE TURN" button.
    • 4/5
      This started off so slow and quite frankly boring that I stopped and started this three times over the course of several months. I almost thought I couldn't hate listen to it, then on a rain commute home, I put it on and it actually got better.Not a favorite, but worth a listen. The fact that it is historical, high society M/M romance, hit my buttons. The narration was meh, but the plot ended up being enjoyable.A Lord, having a terrible childhood with crappy parents, takes up debauchery. He unfortunately involves his sister with some of his less than savory friends and things end terribly for her. Filled with guilt, he stops caring what people think of him. He makes best friends with a Lady and causes gossip. Enter the lady's protective brother, who's good name is of the highest standards. She enlists her brother to help better the name of her wayward bestie. Romance ensues. Standard historical romance plot, but with dudes. Enjoyable, but one listen was enough.
    • 5/5
      Reread #7 completed. No surprise here, this one holds up just perfectly. Is it wrong for me to say I hope I see this Cat Sebastian again?

      Courtenay pulled him close then, because there was nothing else to do with such a sharp tongue than to silence it with a kiss.

      Original Review:
      There's an alternate title of this book: The Ruin of a Reader

      Dear. Let me be honest, since I always am, I guess I don't need your permission. I don't often take my time with books. With audio, I can even be kind of less patient in a way, bouncing back and forth, etc. to get the story read. I do enjoy the journey of reading, but ultimately, I also like finishing books. I guess what I'm saying is I'm not really a savor-er of books. I rip through them, love them or whatever, and throw them back on the stack moving to the next one. In recent memory, there's only a couple of exceptions-no matter how much I have adored some of the books I have read this year:
      TWICE: Shadowdance (side note, I can't insert the books for some reason, whatever the f*W@ goodreads. How about stop emailing ppl about their reviews and just fix some shit)
      More than twice:The Hating Game
      The Duke of Shadows
      Wild at Whiskey Creek (yep, apparently I'm the weirdo of the JAL bunch)
      ...I think I had one more but I might have forgotten. No matter. You get the point.

      By this, I mean I read the words, and then go back and reread the words, and have no desire to actually finally finish said book. As a status update here mentioned, I listened, then I read, highlighted (aka LICKED), reread/relistened.

      Well, I think you are getting the point that the Ruin of a Rake fits RIGHT into this category. (Thanks to delicious narration-I may have even swooned to hear Georgie again, I'll never tell)

      This is basically a love story between a cat and a hedgehog. In human form. Both of whom will go straight to my heroes-to-lick shelf. I don't know why (a little I do) but it was so ridiculously perfect, I couldn't even handle it. There was something beautiful about how easily they fell into step with one another after a contentious beginning. And there were the slow bites and savoring and tastes of such a delicious book, filled with such beautiful sentiments...well, it kind of undid me. Then there was the heart breaking part, and that destroyed me too. What was it here? Was it Courtenay's openness and vulnerability tucked inside a sleek,predatory smooth operator, or was it Julian's defensiveness and fixer tendencies for everyone he loved? Or was it seeing both of them a little undone. Yes...there's that. Because the best romances for me are the ones where you can't really pick who you love more in the couple, you can't imagine them without the other, and they challenge each other to be better. This was all that.

      I have a sickening amount of highlighting and quotes, which I'll likely store here...or go see if others have already added them in an attempt to bring the lazy...
    • 5/5
      This is only the second romance novel I've ever read and finished - I'm trying to read outside of my comfort zone - and I really enjoyed it. It's very nicely balanced, the characters have motivations outside of the romantic, but those motivations don't distract from the romance at all, and the romance doesn't distract from them.
    • 4/5
      Although I enjoyed the previous book in this series, this one was even better and it's all down to the quality of the writing. The prose here was stronger and smoother and felt more period-appropriate. Plus, Courtenay had a kind of wounded-puppy vulnerability to him that was charming and endearing, which is something I love to see in a reformed (or reforming) rake.
    • 5/5
      OMG, this series. (As an aside, it really needs to be classified as a series, Ms. Sebastian--it'll be much easier to say, "You really need to read that ___ series by Cat Sebastian" instead of "You really need to read those interconnected m/m Regency romance books by Cat Sebastian...they're called The Soldier's Scoundrel , The Lawrence Browne Affair , and The Ruin of a Rake." Because OMG I want to tell everyone to read them ASAP.)(Just sayin'.)I have no idea how she does it, but Ms. Sebastian once again gave us a group of characters here that I absolutely dare you not to fall hard and fast for. Admittedly, at first I wasn't too sure about these two--the labels "prickly and difficult" doesn't even begin to describe, well, both of them, to an extent and at various times--and I honestly don't even know when it is that I went from thinking, Ugh, these two... to thinking, Oh! These two... :) but at some point I just knew they had to find a way to be together or....I don't know what. It wasn't going to be pretty, though. Fortunately, both Ms. Sebastian and her heroes came through for us on that one, and she did it with style.Favorite line:"Missing you is profoundly inconvenient, I'll have you know. I have things to do and places to be, and all the while I feel like I've mislaid a piece of my soul and I won't get it back until I see you again. That can't be normal."See? Sigh...So now I'm left anxiously awaiting whatever Ms. Sebastian writes next, and seriously contemplating a binge-reading of all three books, just so I can enjoy the interconnected awesomeness of these characters and their stories.Rating: 4 1/2 stars / AI voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.