Daring and the Duke
Author: Sarah MacLean
Reviewer: Jennifer
Rating: A-
What I’m Talking About:
Daring the Duke is the third book in The Barenknuckle Bastards series by Sarah MacLean and it follows the story of the other half of the quartet of adults who were once pitted against each other as children by an evil man who sired them all but Grace. She had the misfortune of being sired by another man when her mother and wife of the older man had an extramarital affair.
Grace’s mother died during childbirth leaving her to be raised by her “father”. He was looking for an heir but with it being the 1800s a female cannot be an heir. He paid people to keep quiet about the baby being a girl and even gave Grace a male name.
The three boys and Grace were put through hell at the hands of the old Duke. Twenty years later, Grace, Whit, and Devil are a solid family unit living in the Garden. Grace no longer goes by the name given to her by Ewan but is known as Dahila. She runs a very successful women’s club where the memberships can have their fantasies come true by the handsome men who work there.
For the run of The Barenknuckle Bastards series, Ewan has been painted as a madman. The evil Duke who tried to kill Grace, which is why Whit and Devil have been hiding her from him. In Daring the Duke, MacLean does a fantastic job of bringing Ewan around to being a solid hero to Grace’s heroine. There was much about that night twenty years ago the trio didn’t know. They thought Ewan had betrayed them all but they learn the truth after Ewan finally opens up to Grace and tells her everything. The truth sets them all free from the past and I love the epilogue showing us the happy future they all get as a family. Daring the Duke is the last book and it wraps up the story of the Barenknuckle Bastards beautifully.
I look forward to MacLean’s new series coming in 2021, Hells Belles, and I plan to take a look at her backlist.
My Rating: A- Enjoyed A Lot
Jennifer
About the Book:
Grace Condry has spent a lifetime running from her past. Betrayed as a child by her only love and raised on the streets, she now hides in plain sight as queen of London’s darkest corners. Grace has a sharp mind and a powerful right hook and has never met an enemy she could not best…until the man she once loved returns.
Single-minded and ruthless, Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has spent a decade searching for the woman he never stopped loving. A long-ago gamble may have lost her forever, but Ewan will go to any lengths to win Grace back…and make her his duchess.
Reconciliation is the last thing Grace desires. Unable to forgive the past, she vows to take her revenge. But revenge requires keeping Ewan close, and soon her enemy seems to be something else altogether—something she can’t resist, even as he threatens the world she’s built, the life she’s claimed…and the heart she swore he’d never steal again.
Release Date: June 30, 2020
Publisher: Avon
Series: The Bareknuckle Bastards #3
Genre: Historical Romance
Format(s): paperback (384 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: Edelweiss
Purchase Info:
Amazon (affiliate link)
Reviews in the Series:
Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean (Bareknuckle Bastards #1) – Audiobook Review
Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean (Bareknuckle Bastards #2) – Audiobook Review