My Darling Duke by Stacy Reid

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Title: My Darling Duke
Author: Stacy Reid
Series: Sinful Wallflowers #1
Published by: Entangled: Amara
Release Date: December 31, 2019
Format: ebook
Pages: 352
Genres: Fairy Tale Retelling, Historical Romance
Source: Overdrive
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 1, Lenoreo's 2023 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

Miss Katherine Danvers has always been a wallflower. But now, with her family on the brink of financial ruin, she finds herself a desperate wallflower. To save her family, she'll do anything. Luckily, she has the perfect plan...

She’ll impress the ton by simply announcing she is engaged to the reclusive and mysterious Duke of Thornton, Alexander Masters, and secure strong matches for her sisters. No one has heard from the duke in years. Surely he’ll never find out before her sisters’ weddings, and she can go back to her own quiet life.

Soon, though, everything is out of control. At first, it’s just a few new ball gowns on the duke’s accounts. Then, it’s interviews with reporters eager for gossip. Before she knows it, Katherine has transformed herself into Kitty Danvers, charming and clever belle of the ton—with everyone eager to meet her thankfully absent fiancé.

But when the enigmatic Alexander Masters suddenly arrives in the city, dashing and oh so angry, he demands retribution. Except not in the way Katherine expected…

My Review:

4.5 stars — You know what I love??  Truly good main characters, who, despite their flaws and missteps, I still can’t help but love.  And yeah, I DEFINITELY loved Alexander and Kitty.

I marked this one as a fairy tale retelling, but it is VERY loose.  They even mention the story in the story, which amused me greatly.  My favourite parallel was the delightfully invested and meddling servants — totally a highlight.

I started this one in audio, and while the narrator seemed okay, she was a bit quiet and I found her cadence distracting for some reason, so I switched to the ebook.

Kitty was such a delightfully contrary mix of characteristics.  She could be sweet and caring, but she was also a spitfire!  As Alexander was fond of saying, she enjoyed being impudent.  I really loved how she settled in to her role of no longer caring for society’s conventions…not in a crazy dramatic fashion, just in a lot of little ways.  She was curious, feisty, and empathetic…she was Lenore’s catnip in heroines.  I loved seeing her grow and change over the course of the story, becoming more comfortable and confident in who she was and what she wanted.

I wasn’t expecting Alexander at all.  For his part, he definitely had the stubborn idiotic doesn’t accept help or want pity part down for his “beast”.  But he wasn’t an ogre, he had just been beaten by life and was reluctant to trust good things.  I appreciated what he went through, and his reluctance, even if he did frustrate me.  I loved how Kitty brought out so much natural joy and mischievousness in him.

They were delightful together.  There was a push and pull, sometimes tentative, other times bold and daring.  They made my heart smile when they didn’t fight their connection.

There were a few moments in the book that felt a bit abrupt to me.  Might have been just me, but it’s the only reason I’m rounding down instead.

I can’t wait to read more from this author, she’s definitely a match for me!