Series: Daring Dukes, #3
Traits & Tropes: shipboard; spies; titled hero; enemies to lovers; brother's friend
Publication Date: 11.08.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; Philadelphia/Paris/London, 1865
Heat Level: 4
Rating: 4/5
Valentine Medford, the Duke of Thornbury, a semi-retired Crown agent never lost a target and he doesn't plan to now that he's come out of retirement to help his former partner find a rogue agent. His mission requires him to keep his target close and uncover all the secrets that cold keep them apart.
Lady Bronwyn Chase is not the airhead she presents to society. She wants to be much more than society expects of a young lady which is why she's found herself on her brother's passenger ship on the way to America in possession of a packet of information that could get her into serious trouble, the kind that could ruin even a duke's sister and which has set Valentine in pursuit. As he gets closet to Bronwyn and her secrets, Valentine soon realizes that more is going on here than meets the eye and he must find a way to marry his loyalty to the Crown with his desire for more with Bronwyn.
This story sucked me in early on and had me eager to get to the next scene. I loved the spy element and the fact that our characters traveled around to various settings. Valentine brought a lot to the story just by the nature of his experience as a former (now semi-retired) spymaster. He's grumpy and jaded but full of fire underneath that tough exterior. Bronwyn wiggled right under his skin without much effort, having quietly longed for him for years, and despite his reluctance to reveal his entire self to someone else, he couldn't help himself when it came to her. I loved that she acknowledged her feelings for him and refused to settle for less than everything he had to give without being forced into a marriage of convenience. The downside of that for me was that she also was cutting off her nose to spite her face a bit, because much of the time Valentine was viewing this as a rejection. She just needed to give him a little time to catch up and be willing to take the risk of exposing himself to another person. The obvious effort it took Valentine to open himself up to Bronwyn made their relationship really special and made it clear that they weren't just reacting to the adrenaline bonding of having been through several dangerous situations together. I think these two were a good match with Valentine curbing some of Bronwyn's naivete and her bringing him out of his shell a bit and helping him not dwell so much on all he'd seen and done in his espionage career. I also enjoyed seeing Bronwyn challenge her mother a bit, though I definitely wanted to see more of her standing up to that awful woman. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to more of this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3491945945
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4958697930
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