Ten Things I Hate About the Duke

 

Ten Things I Hate About The Duke (Difficult Dukes #2)- Loretta Chase

Avon

Release Date: December 1, 2020

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Cassandra Pomfret holds strong opinions she isn’t shy about voicing. But her extremely plain speaking has caused an uproar, and her exasperated father, hoping a husband will rein her in, has ruled that her beloved sister can’t marry until Cassandra does.

  

Now, thanks to a certain wild-living nobleman, the last shreds of Cassandra’s reputation are about to disintegrate, taking her sister’s future and her family’s good name along with them. 

  

The Duke of Ashmont’s looks make women swoon. His character flaws are beyond counting. He’s lost a perfectly good bride through his own carelessness. He nearly killed one of his two best friends. Still, troublemaker that he is, he knows that damaging a lady’s good name isn’t sporting.

  

The only way to right the wrong is to marry her…and hope she doesn’t smother him in his sleep on their wedding night.

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London's Society considers Cassandra Pomfret a shrew, a hoyden, a virago, and a gorgon.  In other words, she's intelligent and not willing to pretend otherwise for the sake of delicate male sensibilities. She stands up for others, is interested in political reforms that will help the poor, and doesn't suffer fools- at all.  This includes the man she once had a childhood crush on, the Duke of Ashmont.  She thought he would grow up to be a hero, a man who could accomplish great things to help others.  Instead, he doesn't seem to have grown up at all.  He and his friends are known for outrageous pranks, drinking, fighting, and doing nothing useful with their lives.  When these two meet as adults, will the stars align or things explode?

Cassandra is a great character- a woman who is unapologetically intelligent, fearless, and believes in helping others.  She doesn't play Society's games and so Society shuns her, and she's alright with that. She helps the poor, fights with umbrellas (as weapons, not opponents), and is loyal to those she loves. And while she has no use for useless degenerates, she's fair enough to see when someone has potential- like the Duke of Ashmont.  He unknowingly broke her heart as a young lady, now she isn't going to just hand it over because he says so. She's confident enough in herself and her worth to make him earn it.

I had trouble warming up to Ashmont, who definitely doesn't come across very well in the beginning.  A drunk, a fighter, a man who seems to drown any intellect he has.  He doesn't cause trouble maliciously, but he doesn't generally think of others as he goes through life.  At first glance, not much of a hero.  But he does what so few others are willing to do- he tries to become worthy of the woman he's decided to marry.  Leave off the drinking so he can actually think.  Try to behave around the Royal family no matter how boring that makes things.  And actually listen to the lady he's falling in love with, think about what she says and what is important to her, and discover that it is also important to him.  Ashmont doesn't change to become someone he isn't for the sake of a woman, he becomes who he was always meant to be. 

Full of humor, lively dialogue, and sparkling wit, Ten Things I Hate About the Duke is a satisfying and fulfilling story and a lovely romance.  I will definitely be reading Loretta Chase's other books while waiting for the next book in this series! 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review