by Christy Carlyle
Series: Duke's Den #3
by Avon
ISBN: 9780062854018
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 368
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance, Romance
Christy Carlyle concludes her Duke’s Den series with this sparkling romance about two reluctant allies intent on following the rules and breaking every single one.
His Only Regret…
Rhys Forester, the new Duke of Claremont, lives his life by four words: Enjoy All, Regret Nothing. He’s devoted to the pleasure of his wild soirees, reckless behavior, and shocking the ton with his interests in trade. The debts that come with his title don’t fit the carefree lifestyle he’s created, and when he’s forced to return to his family’s estate, he’s also forced to confront his one and only regret: the beautiful girl he left behind.
May Be Falling in Love…
Arabella Prescott has been the belle of more balls than she cares to remember. After three seasons and five rejected proposals, she’s done with the marriage mart. Bella’s hopes to live a comfortable life, alone, come crashing down when her parents demand she marry. But her salvation may come in the form of the man she hates the most.
Bella has never forgiven Rhys for what he did to her, but desperate times call for fake engagements. With a few dozen rules, their scheme begins, but it’s not long before the former enemies find themselves breaking every single rule, including the most important of them all: don’t fall in love…
Mini Review
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After enjoying the first two books in the Duke’s Den series, I couldn’t help but pick up Nothing Compares to the Duke. Not only does it have a bit of enemies-to-lovers, there’s also a fake relationship and those are always fun stories.
What immediately hooked me was Bella’s (the leading lady) desire to publish her book. She’s just so clever and wants to share that with the world sans husband much to her parents’ dismay. And throughout the story, she doesn’t lose that dream which I really appreciated. So often I see whatever the heroine desires at the beginning cast aside for her significant other rather than getting both.
I wanted her to get both!
Rhys wasn’t a character to cast aside, by any means, and I liked that he wanted to ensure the best for his sister even if it meant also owning up to past mistakes. He was in that role of the “reformed rake” for a bit and I wouldn’t really consider him a standout male lead, but I liked his character.
But the romance was my favorite part (of course). First, there’s the tension between Bella and Rhys while they sort through their personal history and how it’s going to play out now in their lives. I’m glad that this part doesn’t take the whole book because that would have been exasperating.
Once they moved to the fake relationship, I was all in and needed this romance to succeed (which, obviously it’s a romance novel, happy endings are part of the deal, but still). The more rules they started breaking, the quicker I was reading and I didn’t really feel inclined to set this book aside by the halfway point.
There was other stuff happening throughout the book but I can’t say any of it really stuck with me. Which was fine, I enjoyed Nothing Compares to the Duke as is. I don’t often find historical romance series where all the books are consistently good but the Duke’s Den trilogy is one of them! I’d definitely recommend checking out the first two books then grabbing this last one when it hits shelves!
A fake relationship you say? I’ve not read the other books in this series but now I’m thinking I want to read this so may need to check those out too. I am always a fan of a fake relationship and that is more than enough to get me interested in reading anyway.