Series: Once Upon a Dukedom, #3
Traits & Tropes: revenge; spies; hero out to clear his name; enemies to lovers; hidden identity
Publication Date: 07.26.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; London, England, 1874
Heat Level: 4
Rating: 5 stars!
Since his father, the Duke of Wolfford, was hanged as a traitor after an attempt on the life of Queen Victoria, Marcus Stanwick and his two younger siblings were stripped of their titles, wealth and way of life. Raised to be the heir and later a duke himself, Marcus has struggled to find his footing for the past year, delving into London’s seedy underbelly in search of the others involved in the treasonous plot, determined to bring them to justice and restore at least a scrap of his family’s honor. After a year of searching has yielded mostly dead ends, he’s forced to turn to the woman who disgusts him most, a lady known as the heartless harlot.
Esme Lancaster is a woman full of secrets, but she also wants to discover the truth about the plot against the queen for her own reasons. She doesn’t trust Marcus, but she can’t help her attraction to him, and he does begin to make her wonder if her heart isn’t as frozen as she thought.
As Marcus and Esme team up to learn the truth, their search leads them into dangerous situations and Marcus realizes Esme is far from the cold and conniving woman he thought her to be. She’s just as determined and courageous as he is, a perfect match for him, and soon neither can deny their mutual desire. But even as they give in to that draw, they both know their relationship can only be temporary and they must decide if the potential for heartbreak is worth the risk to explore a connection like neither has ever known.
This book made my heart happy. My family is going through a particularly difficult time at the moment and this book has provided me with a happy escape just when I needed it, and I savored the reading of it. The suspense here kept my attention, and the romance was on point. Shockingly, I even loved the initial coolness Marcus understandably had towards Esme. I think this aspect gave their relationship extra depth and really made the development of trust and love between them something special. This was also bolstered by Esme’s isolation and the wall she’d kept around herself for so long, hesitant to trust anyone, until Marcus came in and chipped away at it. Marcus’ diligent pursuit of answers and some sort of restoration of his family name made it impossible not to root for him. Similarly, Esme’s unconventionality as a heroine made it impossible not to want her to have her HEA, especially after all the struggles she had to face. I didn’t even mind having a slight separation between these two at the end because Esme’s insecurities were well-founded, it actually was a show of just how much she loved him, and it didn’t last long on the page. There was a wealth of growth and development demonstrated by two MCs who had never experienced love and never thought they’d have a chance to. This book was probably the highlight of the series for me, and I loved seeing Marcus and his family get their happy endings and be restored to a place of stability. This book left me with a happy little sense of hope that I really needed right now, and I’ll be hunting for a physical copy now to put on my comfort reads shelf.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1627326599
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4726842381
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