Fortune Favors the Duke by Kristin Vayden | ARC Review

Series: The Cambridge Brothers, #1
Traits & Tropes: friends to lover; grieving; titled hero; bookish hero
Publication Date: 12.28.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London, England
Heat Level: 0
Rating: 3/5

Quinton Errington was very satisfied with his work as a professor of economics at Cambridge, only to be devastated by his brother’s death on the night before his wedding. Now Quin is left to grieve his loss and deal with the responsibilities he now has as the new Duke of Wesley.

The former duke’s almost bride, Lady Catherine Greatheart, is left in a difficult position with only her aging grandmother for protection from unscrupulous characters who would seek to take advantage of her in hopes of getting to her fortune. When her grandmother becomes ill, Quin steps in to be the friend and helper Catherine needs and she enjoys having the help of someone who understands how she feels.

Quin is struggling with his brother’s death and his new duties, and also trying to resist his feelings for his late brother’s betrothed, but thankfully he’s got some help to see him through.

Given the recent loss of my own brother-in-law, this book was incredibly hard for me to read, and I likely wouldn’t have agreed to review it if I had known what would happen in my personal life. That said, the examination of grief and healing from grief together with a loving partner was rather lovely. It definitely took me a while to get through this book, both for reasons stated above and because the heroine frustrated me. She seemed rather too perfect at times, but I was utterly charmed by her banter with her grandmother. Then, of course, the grandmother suffered an illness, and I was back to being annoyed by the heroine. Things definitely moved slowly between Quin and Catherine as well, which eventually dulled the charm of their flirting and made it seem just like gameplaying. The villainous aspect here was well done and thankfully resolved quickly and without too terribly much angst, which I appreciated especially given that there was plenty of angst about for other reasons. Given the depth and emotionality of this story, I was rather disappointed that it turned out to be closed door; after such a long, slow build up to finally see Catherine and Quin together, it was a little jarring to not have any sort of on page culmination of that relationship and having read this author before, it wasn’t what I had been expecting. There was definitely more focus on storytelling than on romance here, but I did enjoy the emphasis on healing from grief with love.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/770837786
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3910642370



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