Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: The Rake’s Regress
SERIES: To the Manor Reborn #1
AUTHOR: Lollie Plantagenet
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 102 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 23, 2019
BLURB:
North Yorkshire, 1905
Impoverished aristocrat Archie Blankley is saved from rack and ruin when he marries the formidable American heiress Alexandria Applebaum. But when she disappears the day after their wedding, he quickly realizes that something is amiss at Denton Manor…namely the new valet his wife hired, who can’t keep his hands off of him.
Boer War veteran and former asylum attendant Hans Pierce has always wanted a young man of his own to force into regression and bend to his will. When the opportunity presents itself, he seizes it. But he knows that the young lord in his care is more than just a brattish, pretty creature—they are bound together by a tragedy that brings out the worst in both of them.
As though being held captive in an oversized nursery isn’t enough, Archie must contend with the web of secrets, schemes, and scandals that enshrouds his new life—and his unwilling place within it.
At last, ageplay erotica meets literary historical fiction in Lollie Plantagenet’s riveting debut series set in Edwardian England.
A must-read for kinky fans of Downton Abbey!
REVIEW:
I’ve been branching out a lot and reading new kinks and fetishes in erotica. While I can’t see myself participating in ABDL play, I understand the appeal, and I think it provides a rich background for both erotic content and character development. In this short novel, this kink is ramped up to a million, all while taking place in an ornate mansion in North Yorkshire at the turn of the 20th century. And while ABDL fanatics will appreciate the risks the author takes, I can’t say I was happy to go along for the ride.
First of all, the historical aspects of this book are lovely, and they feel authentic without being stuffy. The dialogue is well-done and the characters feel pretty real. Archie Blankly, a wayward heir to a large estate he has no idea what to do with, marries spunky American heiress Alexandria Applebaum to save face and provide funds to keep the family home afloat. But only moments after the vows are said, Archie finds himself without a wife and within the care of Hans Pierce, a too-familiar “valet” hired by Alexandria who soon reveals much more sinister intentions.
My plot description feels more like the beginning of a psychological horror film, and honestly, from the moment Hans and Archie meet, that’s what it is—nonstop torture and humiliation. I was not expecting every aspect of the story to be explicitly non-consensual. This isn’t even a case of “showing him hidden desires”—Archie consistently begs to be let go, to be treated as an adult. Even when his body becomes aroused during spanking or bathing, he doesn’t want to be there, and he is ashamed of the reaction. I don’t even think he has much attraction towards men, which is a huge turn-off for me as a reader. When a character doesn’t want to be there, I don’t want to be there.
This choice is a shame, because some of the kinks the author digs into are superb, and she goes all out to push boundaries. Some ABDL works I’ve read play it very safe, but this book throws all that out the window. Archie’s humiliation consists of both wetting and messing diapers, daily enemas, figging, spanking, sensory deprivation, and total bondage—and none of it is for the faint of heart. If this was a consensual erotic story, or even a dubiously consensual one, I would think this book is a scorcher. But Archie is just never enjoying himself, and that pulls me right out of the story.
There are also some confusing plot choices. We’re supposed to suspend our disbelief that both Alexandra and Hans are in agreement as how to handle Archie. They both seem to think de-aging and infantilizing Archie is totally normal, like they’ve done this before, and it made me more baffled than anything, since the story felt pretty realistic thus far. And there’s a disturbing running theme of the few female characters having violent or tragic birth experiences, furthering the horrific tone. There’s also a surprise scene of Archie being breastfed against his will, which I can’t say did much for me.
This is a really hard book to rate and review. Lollie Plantagenet, a generally new author with an awesome pen name, is a capable writer who takes risks, which I admire. And I think the kinks themselves are written pretty well. But I need my kink consensual, and in the end, the constant non-con torture and humiliation felt more like punishment for the reader than guilty pleasure. I know there are some readers who find a save haven for non-con fantasies in erotica, and that is perfectly fine, and they may enjoy this book. But in my opinion, this is horror, not erotica, and I have to rate it lower for that purpose.
RATING: 
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