Reformed Rakes – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

Reformed Rakes

Arts

Frequency: 1 episode/17d. Total Eps: 58

Reformed Rakes is a historical romance novel podcast steeped in dissipation. Hosted by Beth, Emma, and Chels, this podcast is perfect for every pirate, second son, bluestocking, and viking who wants to hear more about the kissing books we love. We update every other Tuesday.

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Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - books
21/11/2025
#94
🇨🇦 Canada - books
19/11/2025
#79
🇨🇦 Canada - books
18/11/2025
#90
🇨🇦 Canada - books
01/09/2024
#74

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.

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https://theloosecravat.substack.com
55 shares
https://restorativeromance.substack.com
55 shares
https://reformedrakes.com
55 shares

https://www.tiktok.com/@bethhaymondreads
49 shares
https://www.tiktok.com/@chels_ebooks
49 shares

RSS feed quality and score

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RSS feed quality

Good

Score global : 73%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

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Fingersmith

Season 2 · Episode 36

Tuesday, August 20, 2024 • Duration 01:31:22

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is a Victorian crime novel centered around two young women: Susan Trinder, who grew up in a house of thieves, and Maud Lilly, a lady who is trapped by her uncle in a macabre house called Briar, and compelled to work for him as a secretary. When it was initially published in 2002, Fingersmith made waves for its central lesbian relationship, as well as its shocking twist in the second act. The book was critically lauded: shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, launching Sarah Waters into literary stardom. Through popular adaptations like 2005’s BBC miniseries directed by Aisling Walsh, and 2016’s The Handmaiden, directed by Park Chan Wook, the story of Fingersmith has found a broader audience, and is widely beloved to this day.

Support us on our Patreon!

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Thank you for listening!

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Waterloo

Season 2 · Episode 35

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 • Duration 02:12:28

In this episode, we’re specifically focused on Waterloo, Napoleon’s last stand and a favorite backdrop of historical romance. Waterloo took place June 18, 1815, when Napoleon’s Army of the North was met by the Seventh Coalition, an army composed of Wellington’s English troops, and various German and Dutch units at a small village just outside of Brussels. Around 50,000 soldiers died in the conflict. The battle led to the voluntary surrender of Napoleon to the British a month later, after a series of increasingly desperate military and political moves on his part, and his eventual final exile on St. Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. The battle happens right in the middle of the Georgian and Regency periods, a favorite setting for historical romance. This, of course, means Waterloo has a huge presence in the genre, as a setting, as a disabling event for characters, as a fulcrum pushing England over the cliff into the modern age. We’re going to talk about the history and impact of the battle on real life and in fiction.

Support us on our Patreon!

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Starchy Hero Gets Unstarched

Season 2 · Episode 26

Tuesday, April 2, 2024 • Duration 01:05:34

Today is a very special episode voted on by our Patreon subscribers. A starchy hero is uptight, obsessed with morals and propriety, and often a bit awkward in company. He’s often an aristocrat who puts too much value in his social standing, and doesn’t take enough time to smell the roses. With the help of a love interest, his entire world will be shaken up, until Whites is no longer his favorite club and suddenly, maybe frolicking through the trees seems like a good idea. The rakes categorize some of our top starchy heroes, men who are about to finally meet their match.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Thank you for listening!

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Think of England

Season 2 · Episode 25

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 • Duration 01:25:12

Today, the Reformed Rakes discuss Think of England by K.J. Charles along with special guest Mel. Set in the early 20th century, the story follows Captain Archie Curtis as he arrives at Sir Hubert’s estate. This isn’t merely a social call, as Archie suspects Sir Hubert of purposely sabotaging weapons sent to British troops during the Boer War. Once there, Archie meets Daniel, a man who also has a purpose beyond the social. Archie takes an immediate dislike to Daniel, a man so outwardly and obviously queer, yet, as they realize their aligned objectives, Archie begins to evaluate his own thoughts and feelings.

Mel’s TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes:

Midsummer Moon

Season 2 · Episode 24

Tuesday, March 5, 2024 • Duration 01:27:15

Midsummer Moon features what Kinsale calls the “hedgehog humor” of some of her lighter novels and is the origin of that label. Midsummer Moon is goofy! It does in fact feature a hedgehog, along with an aphrodisiac salt, a pre-Alexander Graham Bell invention of a telephone-like device, an inventor heroine named Merlin and a Duke with so many names that Merlin lands on calling him “Mister Duke” most of the time. Midsummer Moon might sound kooky, and it is, but it still comes with typical Kinsale character driven gut emotional punches that we love so much here. Kinsale’s strength comes from complex characters who, in a genre full of tropes and iterations and reiterations, are singular.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Thank you for listening!

Bow Street Runners

Season 2 · Episode 23

Tuesday, February 20, 2024 • Duration 01:24:05

The Bow Street Runners, like Newgate Prison, are one of those setting markers that tells historical romance readers “oh we’re in a historical romance in London, probably in pre-Victorian.” A few different authors have written whole series centered on Runners as heroes—Lisa Kleypas, Kate Bateman, Jillian Eaton, and they pop up in quite a few different standalone books as well. But like how we investigated in our Newgate Prison episode, we’re interested in the why and the how of Bow Street becoming a part of the historical romance canon of setting markers. The proto-police force existed for a little less than a century, initially differed greatly in their mission than police forces of today, and would be nearly obsolete by the time Queen Victoria was crowned.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Thank you for listening!

The Silver Devil

Season 2 · Episode 22

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 • Duration 01:22:58

The Silver Devil was published by Jacqui Bianchi, under the pen name of Teresa Denys, in 1978. We’ve talked before about bodice rippers with a cult reputation, and The Silver Devil, set in the “opulence and intrigue” of Renaissance Italy, is perhaps the moodiest, bloodiest, most devilish bodice ripper of them all. Denys only published two books: 1978’s The Silver Devil, and 1980’s The Flesh and the Devil, before her death in the late 1980s. While most out of print books fade into obscurity, both Denys’s books remain cult classics to this day.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Thank you for listening!

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Forever & Ever

Season 1 · Episode 21

Tuesday, December 19, 2023 • Duration 01:40:27

We’re finishing our journey through Patricia Gaffney’s Wyckerley trilogy. Published in 1996, the final installment in the trilogy, Forever & Ever, is an enemies-to-lovers class difference romance between Connor Pendarvis, a man who goes undercover in copper and tin mines to expose shoddy working conditions, and Sophie Deene, the young and beautiful owner of Wyckerley’s copper mine. What do you do when the woman of your dreams is also the source of your suffering? Is this a gap that can, or should, be bridged? Forever & Ever takes on the difficult questions but doesn't provide easy answers – there’s no refined neatness to life and love, and labor is at the center of everything.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Thank you for listening!

To Have & to Hold

Season 1 · Episode 20

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 • Duration 01:31:15

This is our second episode in our trilogy on Patricia Gaffney’s Wyckerley series. Published in September 1995, To Have & to Hold is the story of Sebastian Verlaine, the new Viscount D’Aubrey and Rachel Wade, an outsider to Wyckerley. Rachel, until very recently, had been incarcerated for ten years for killing her abusive husband. Sebastian and Rachel meet in strange circumstances for a romance novel: she is being arraigned for vagrancy, having no place to live after her release from prison, and Sebastian, in his new role as viscount is one of the magistrates overlooking this procedure. Sebastian is immediately struck by Rachel’s story and appearance and rather than have her sent back to prison, he offers to employ her as his housekeeper. But do not mistake this act as one of beneficence—he makes it clear that he has less honorable intentions toward Rachel. Join us on a fraught journey as we discuss prison, justice, and redemption.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Thank you for listening!

To Love & to Cherish

Season 1 · Episode 19

Tuesday, November 21, 2023 • Duration 01:11:55

The first of the Wyckerley trilogy, To Love & To Cherish came out on January 1, 1995. To borrow the subtitle from Middlemarch, it’s a study in provincial life. Set in 1854 in the fictional village of Wyckerley is alive with Dickensian characters and glimpses of heroes yet to star in their own books. Patricia Gaffney has said the favorite among her historical romances is To Love & To Cherish and it’s easy to see why. The romance centers on the vicar Christian Morrell and the wife of his childhood best friend Anne Verlaine. Anne’s husband Geoffrey, a man struggling with illness, doesn’t care for his wife and wishes to return to the adventure of soldiering. Anne piques Christy’s interest. Anne finds him equally fascinating and doesn’t think her marriage should be any impediment to a relationship between them. Join us for the first installment of the Reformed Rakes reading the Wyckerley trilogy.

Support us on our Patreon!

Twitter: @reformedrakes

Instagram: @reformedrakes

Visit our website for transcripts and show notes: reformedrakes.com

Thank you for listening!