Recently, guest reviewer Lisa submitted a review for Isabella’s Rake, a 1997 Signet Regency by June Calvin that has been rereleased from Histria Press.
Lisa didn’t see the cover, nor did I, until I looked it up after editing and formatting the review for publication. The new cover is most likely generated by AI.
We refuse to host or promote generative AI content at SBTB. We all hate Gen AI. Hate it a lot. Speaking personally, AI stole my books, for which I’m getting part of the Anthropic settlement, and has scraped this entire website for use in language model training and for Google’s AI summaries, which have in turn decimated traffic to independent sites like this one.
Learning that the cover for the new release from the new publisher was very likely gen AI put us in a strange position, which led to this post.
On one hand, we want to help our community find books they might like, and Isabella’s Rake seems like a book many of you might like!
On the other, we do not want to host, promote, or profit from the use of generative AI book covers.
As many of you have said in your comments over the past few years, a cover that appears to be AI-generated indicates a deep disrespect for artists and designers while also signaling that the content of the book itself may involve generative AI.
We didn’t know anything about this publisher, and had no way of determining if the author generated the cover or if the publisher did. We know that authors don’t often have a say in cover art, but we have no idea to whom the gen AI cover can be attributed. Amanda and I have been discussing what to do, and she made a few discoveries.
Other re-releases from Histria seem to have received generative AI covers, such as this set from Barbara Metzger. And all of June Calvin’s Regency re-releases seem to have generative AI covers, too. So there may be some degree of comfort with allegedly generative AI covers in general at this house.
So what to do in this case? We want to introduce you to good review writers and to books you may want to read, but we don’t want to promote or host generative AI, or promote folks who use it.
In this case, we have a specific solution.
First, I’m going to share the review in this post. Because it’s a post and not a review, it will not appear in the BookFinder, and it won’t appear listed on our Review catalogue
But, if you would like to read it, fear not! There are used copies of Isabella’s Rake with the original Signet cover available secondhand, and possibly in some libraries. So we can link to them – please note, we have no affiliate agreements with these secondhand booksellers.
And if you’d like to read about this book so that you can decide whether you’d like to track down a vintage copy, here is the review:
Isabella’s Rake by June Calvin
Grade: A-
This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviewed at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at _@thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next good freelance job.
…
June Calvin has been re-releasing her vintage Signet Regencies digitally, and I’ve been having quite the fun time revisiting them. Isabella’s Rake is quite the standout from the pack: a fun breeze of a Regency, light as a feather but a wonderfully crisp journey that left me giddy with bliss. It’s a happy book filled with plenty of wit that had me grinning as I read it. Blessed with a funny hero and a heroine who grows along with the story, Isabella’s Rake held me captivated on every page and it gets a very high rating for a reason.
Isabella “Bella” Eardly is an artist stymied both by the ton and her gender. She yearns to paint seriously, and schemes frequently with her best friend Virginia to get her work displayed in various places under a pseudonym. She also wants to find someone willing to teach her how to paint landscapes. Isabella’s grandmother sighs at her behavior: she wants Isabella to behave like a lady, but Isabella is not interested in “poise, grace and dignity” as her grandmother is.
Out of desperation, Isabella presents herself disguised as Clarence, the page of “Lady Virginia Douglas” (Virginia also pretending to be what she’s not) to Jean Maillot, a renowned teacher. They’re discovered and scorned by Jean until Harrison “Harry” Curzon, the Earl of Brantham, is suggested as an alternative. A friend of Jean’s and a member of the aristocracy, he, too, is a painter. Though much social pas de deux must happen, eventually Isabella lands her teacher. But naturally Harry’s initially not happy to be saddled with a young chit like Bella.
Student and teacher begin growing closer, with art as their joining medium. Bella is not one to think in terms of romance — the only thing she wants out of life is her art — but her father wants to marry her off to the odious Winkham – better known as Winky.
In desperation, Bella’s father tells her grandmother that he will finally release Bella’s mother from their tortured marriage if his daughter goes through with the union. They high-handedly agree to this bargain behind her back and try to push Bella to accept it. Bella knows she must do the right thing and grant her mother freedom. And yet Harry stirs her blood as no other has. Is it possible for them to find love and have an artistic career, or will she be forced to follow duty?
It’s lovely to have a Regency where the heroine gets to have her true calling AND true love, and every single word here had me spellbound because the book was wholly committed to Isabella’s happiness. Isabella’s Rake loves art, believes in the high art of romance, and won’t let its heroine compromise. I couldn’t help but be thrilled for everything Bella gets to accomplish in this book.
One forgets how revolutionary Signet’s Regency line could be – but this book goes full out with its heroine’s feminism and doesn’t force her to back off, make a compromise or give in. Her mind is antic, though not childish, and her schemes are funny but not overly ridiculous. She gets to reject the ton’s moral limitations upon her, gets to fly high – and gets Harry to boot. She is winning and lovable, and I just wanted her to do nothing but succeed.
Harry — the French-sponge-technique-for-birth-control mastering hero — is one handful of a fellow. Handsome and swoonworthy, he’s more than just a pretty face. He matches her mood for mood and lust for lust and dream for dream and that made me love him. She is his intellectual and emotional equal, and he recognizes that. He sees Bella’s worth and talent right from the start, which makes us like him and makes all of his titanic experience boil down to nothing while he’s near her. While Bella might initially seem innocent and unsophisticated, she proves easily that she’s more than his match. And while she loves landscapes, he loves portraiture — and hopes to reflect the world around him in all of its accuracy.
Their relationship defies so many expectations that it had me guessing right up to the last page as to how Harry and Bella would ever manage to get together. That’s quality writing, and that’s what kept me turning every single page. Those twists and turns and the truly romantic ending all had me smiling as it all unfolded. Isabella’s Rake is such a fun, expected gem of a romance, well worth a revisit.
You can find a pre-AI 1997 copy of this book at the following locations:
ALIBRIS | ABEBOOKS | THRIFT BOOKS | WORLDCAT (US Libraries)
