Title: My Regelence Rake (Sci-Regency #3)
Author: JL Langley
Publisher: Samhain
Length: 93,564 words
Genre: m/m Science Fiction Historical Romance
Heat: 3 – Sexy & Mild
Sex Frequency: 2 – Few and Far Between
Keywords/Tags: Series, Futuristic, Regency, Royalty, Military, Horses, Family
Rating: Pretty Good
BLURB
Before you find your prince, you have to kiss your share of rakes.
Sci-Regency, Book 3
With his days occupied with duties as Captain of the Guard, and nights consumed with upholding his reputation as a rake, Lord Sebastian Hastings’s schedule is filled. There’s no extra time to be anyone’s bodyguard, but the royal family’s safety is a task he sees to personally.
Prince Colton Townsend has loved Sebastian for as long as he can remember, but he’s done pining for a man who has vowed never to remarry. So he consoles himself with the second love of his life—horses. Stable building and horse racing consume his every thought, at least until he’s stuck with Sebastian dogging his every step.
While looking over the prospects at an auction, Colton is trying to ignore his sexy, pesky bodyguard when he feels compelled to take on a bully to protect an abused horse. Sebastian is dragged into the fray, and their good deed sparks a string of nasty rumors.
There’s only one way to quell the political storm: marry. But instead of solving everything, Colton realizes his new husband is a bundle of secrets, none of which he’ll give up easily. Unless Colton makes one, last-ditch effort that could break his heart for good.
Warning: Contains an obnoxious filly, a love-struck prince, a meddling king, a matchmaking duke, vicious rumors and hunky ex Special Forces soldiers.
REVIEW
Has it really been FOUR YEARS since the second book in this series came out? It seems so. I read this series back when I first started reading m/m in early 2010 and it has remained at the top of a very competitive list of all time favorite series. I’ve been so excited to read it that I spent all day yesterday reading as soon as I got the book, eager to read more about the royal family, the amazingly awesome world and to find out more about the overarching plot that was left up in the air at the end of the last book. The problem with waiting so long for a book is that it’s almost impossible to live up to the overlong expectations. While it mostly did, I still found some problems with it that didn’t work for me and left me unsatisfied, especially since I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait to get more of the story. Part of that is that I have much higher standards now than I did when I read the first two books — if I read them now they might not be five star reads, I’m honestly not sure. Overall, though, I liked it and it was wonderful to go back to this world and visit these characters who I really love.
Colton, the fourth child of the King and King-Regent of Regelence has watched two of his brothers make love matches. He could only dream that the man he has fallen in love with as he’s grown up could ever feel the same for him and that they could have a similar life together. The problem is that the man Colton loves, Sebastian (known as Wentworth for the name of his previous husband) is a rake and has quite the reputation of bedding easy men. That reputation, combined with his seeming disregard for Colton’s rather obvious feelings, convinces Colton to take charge of his life, especially after witnessing Wentworth in a compromising position with another man at a ball. He decides to give up his pitiful unrequited romance and devote himself to a new career — the breeding of racehorses.
The change in Colton’s behavior puzzles Sebastian. As the Captain of the Guard, he knows the royal family well and the new Colton along with his now direct and driven behavior (not in his direction, as he is used to) worries him. Trying to guard Colton is more difficult now that he has changed and he sees him differently than before. Colton, like his brothers, has a problem with getting into trouble, and Sebastian is the type of trouble that a prince should be kept away from.
Through their dance of attraction, his own heavily guarded secrets threaten to come to light, along side a possible danger to Colton. Combined with the escalating tension among the political alliances of the government and the danger to his own family, the situation is set to explode in one way or another.
Maybe I don’t remember the first two books well enough (it has been a long time since I read them), but my biggest problem with this book was there was just so much going on. So much of the story is devoted to the relationship between Colton and Sebastian that there is very little time for the overall plot arc to move forward. This saddened me because there are continuing references to things about to happen that seemed to get pushed off to the next book. I felt like… I had to wait so long to read more of this series and then I only got teasers. How much longer will I have to wait for a progression in the series? That’s not to say that the story itself wasn’t good. It works really well as a standalone book, I just wanted more of the overall plot.
The best part of reading this book, for me, was simply returning to this world. I absolutely adore the characters — all the brothers and the consorts a few of them have (esp. Nate, from the first book, I LOVE Nate). Then there is Trouble and Rexley, the brothers’ father and sire who are one of my favorite couples of the series even though they haven’t gotten their own book (I would love to read it though!). They really have a lot of fun, which I like. You can tell that they’re really a family who loves each other. The world itself is fun to read about and would never get old for me.
I thought the relationship between Colton and Sebastian worked really well. They deal with a lot of the issues you’d encounter in a contemporary story and the story is really focused on their relationship, with only little pieces of narration throughout the story from other POVs. There is a steadily building tension throughout the story. Their relationship is founded on secrets and lies, something that we know but Colton doesn’t. The pressure builds and builds over the story, teasing up and up with all the other serious things going on. Sadly, in the end, it just didn’t seem like a big deal to me. The ending fizzled. It really couldn’t deliver unless Sebastian was hiding something utterly horrible because there is so much emphasis put on his secret and his past. That rather anticlimactic revelation along with the absence of more information about their trouble with the I.N. made me a little upset with the ending. Perhaps I wouldn’t be as disappointed if I knew I might find out in a few months, or even within a year, but I’m afraid it will be at least another one or two years, maybe even more. I can’t fault this author for her writing pace, but it does make it difficult to become invested in a series that is rarely updated. For me to be satisfied to wait, I wanted to be given a little more.
I know that nearly everyone who reads m/m will be reading this book and there will be nearly as many opinions, but I have to say that even though 80% of the book (roughly) was really satisfying to read, the last 20% let me down because my expectations had grown so high, because of both the wait and the lead up during the story. The story was really enjoyable to read either way. I hope that your opinion differs, I truly do, but I’d say everyone should read it anyway, and I know that almost all of you will be, very soon. 
Tam
I know that nearly everyone who reads m/m will be reading this book
Ummmm. Maybe? I am once again and outlier. I never really got the fascination with this series. Maybe it’s the people who loved traditional historical romance and it fits that but with men and a touch of sci-fi? I don’t know. It was okay, but I’m afraid I’m not running out to grab this one. I will likely read it sooner or later, but I’m kind of neutral on the whole thing. Sorry m/m fans. Forgive my lack of enthusiasm.
Cole
Yeah, maybe not, you’re probably right. It’s just that in the past ANY JL Langley book seems to be a big draw. I admit that I read almost all of her books when I first started reading m/m, and now that I’m reading more I think I may have liked them mostly because I had less experience in reading romance. I still liked the book, and like her others, but they don’t stand out anymore
You’re an iconoclast! You just have to stand apart from the pack, don’t you?
I like it because it is “like” a historical but without all the numerous crazy detailed settings and stuff. You get the regency feel but it could be a contemporary in many ways. Scifi barely comes into it at all, except for a couple little past details. So I like the setting a lot.
reggie1987
Yep, just finished it. I gave it “I liked it” a 3. It was enjoyable but not memorable, good or bad. It was an ejoyable brainless read, which I needed last night. So it did it’s job. It’s also not over-priced. So yeah, I’m glad I bought it and I enjoyed reading it. but worth waiting for or dwelling on? Not so much {shrug}
Cole
Yes, exactly. I felt the same way. But it does disappoint me that the wait is so long in between books when there isn’t much overall progress. I won’t be so excited waiting for the next one, besides, who knows when we’ll get it?
Amanda
Without Reservations was my first m/m book so I think I will always prefer her werewolf series to this one but I still look forward to reading it very soon.
Cole
Yes, I read WR first as well, but while I LOVED that first book I wasn’t that into the others, even the second one who a lot of people seem to like. I read the first Sci-Regency right after that and I really liked both books, so it became my favorite series of hers
Chris
The problem with waiting so long for a book is that it’s almost impossible to live up to the overlong expectations. While it mostly did, I still found some problems with it that didn’t work for me and left me unsatisfied, especially since I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait to get more of the story. Part of that is that I have much higher standards now than I did when I read the first two books — if I read them now they might not be five star reads, I’m honestly not sure.
Isn’t this the truth?! *sigh*
Cole
Yeah, it’s just not enough to get worked up over, you know? The wait means that the book really needs to blow me away…
Karen
Once again J L Langley gets it so right for me. I love that her men are not all burly he-men. I like that there is diversity in her characters, because it battles a stereotype in the genre. I like the loving two dads too. So timely.
Cole
Yeah that is the one thing that I REALLY love about this series in particular, is the characters and the royal family. They’re funny and they never grow old to me. I just wish that there was either more progress in the overall plot arc or there wasn’t one at all. There’s too little progress when the wait is so long between books. I mean, to get worked up over, I still enjoy the series, I just don’t think I’m a rabid fan anymore.
Sadonna
I liked the book too, but not in the same way I liked the first one and especially the second one of the series. I only read them last summer, so I’ve been waiting a bit over a year. This book strikes me a having a much different balance between the relationship (Colton and Wentworth) and the rest of the story of Regelence and Englor and the conspiracy than the previous books. While I enjoyed the building of the relationship between them, I kept waiting for some big push or clue about the rest of the story and I didn’t get it
Hopefully this means the next book is going to be coming out soon???
Cole
You’re right that much of the story between these two characters seemed isolated from the rest of the story, the world, and even the family — there was less time with them than I was hoping. I think that the differences are fine, it’s just that it feels a little like we’re being strung along in the overall plot. I know that isn’t the case, but a long wait is hard when you aren’t getting much. The progress in this one seemed especially short. So I definitely agree. I don’t mind changes, and the relationships can’t all be similar, but here it just didn’t work for me as part of the series.
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