Title: The Duke of Daring
Author: Darcy Burke
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Pages: 233
Book Source: eBook
Miss Lucinda Parnell is out of money. A dismal failure at the Marriage Mart, she’d just as soon leave Society far behind. Desperate to earn funds to retire with her grandmother to the country, Lucy disguises herself as a man to gamble in London’s hells. But the Earl of Dartford, an Untouchable she never imagined speaking to let alone spending time with, is onto her in a trice. When he insists on acting as her protector, Lucy fears her chance to remain an independent woman is destined to go up in flames.
After losing his entire family, Andrew Wentworth, Earl of Dartford built a wall to keep attachments at bay. He believed he could keep Miss Parnell safe without compromising his defenses, but she’s exciting and irresistible. Their deepening relationship makes him even more determined to push her away. Nothing will stop him from trying to avoid reliving the anguish of loss. Love is the one risk he doesn’t have the heart to dare.
My Review:
Another great read in The Untouchables series! In the first book, The Forbidden Duke, (Review Here), I was happy to read a Regency Era Romance where the heroine wasn’t a vapid woman, constantly falling in and out of love with the same man. And Darcy Burke has written another tale without an insipid heroine.
I loved the twist in this book, with Lucy dressing up as a man, to take her future into her own hands. Her grandmama is low on funds, and Lucy will not be able to continue any more Seasons, but instead of crying her eyes out, she starts going to hells, to try and win a small fortune for her and her grandmama to live on. I really enjoyed this storyline. I don’t read a lot of Regencies, so I don’t know if this is a plot that is used often, but it was a completely fresh take on the genre for me. The scenes where Lucy is in the gambling halls, or out shooting, were some of my favorites to read.
Burke does a wonderful job fleshing out her characters, and making their emotions come right off the page. The way she incorporated this into the story was the perfect amount. Lucy not trusting men, and Andrew not wanting to get close to anyone was woven into the story just enough to let the reader really feel the emotions, but not so much that it’s starting to feel like filler, so the author reaches the numbers of pages needed to make it a novel, instead of a novella.
As with Burke’s other series that I’ve read (The Ribbon Ridge Series and Secrets and Scandals) the sex scenes are just the right amount of hot and steamy. And this time I felt as if a bit more humor was thrown into one of the scenes, which was fun.
If you are looking for a good Regency, I highly recommend.