Primrose and the Dreadful Duke by Emily Larkin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Garland Cousins #1
Publication Date: 8/7/18

This was a delightfully engrossing introduction to a new-to-me author and she could very easily come to be one of my go-to authors. I love that the book is imaginative, intelligently-written and very romantic. It is also very well plotted and the characters are exciting, entertaining, witty, likable and very relatable. I believe this is a follow-on series to Larkin’s Baleful Godmother series – and this book was so good I’m not only going to read future books in this series – I’m going to go find the books in the first series and read those as well. It was just the kind of humorous, non-angsty read I needed and I loved it. I read it straight through the night. I kept telling myself that I needed to put it down and get some sleep, but it was so interesting and exciting that I just had to see what happened next. Finally, at 7 AM, I read the last word and thought “WOW, just WOW.”

Captain Oliver Dasenby is now a duke at the age of twenty-nine. He never expected nor wanted to be a duke, but with several deaths in his family over a short period of time, he is now saddled with the responsibilities and the privileges of being a duke. Maybe he also inherited something else – somebody is trying to kill him.

Lady Primrose Garland, the daughter of a duke, and the sister of Oliver’s best friend, Rhodes Garland loves books – all kinds of books, but particularly those written centuries ago. Her favorite was written by Marcus Aurelius and she used his quotes in living her everyday life. She is prim, proper, serious, and she totally believes that her brother’s best friend is a useless fiddle-faddle. Oh – and by the way – she also has a faerie godmother who has gifted her with a special talent.

Oliver has always been a good-humored jokester that causes everybody around him to love him. He’s more serious than many think because he is always in a good mood and happy. However, he does take serious things seriously – even if he might use his humor about them. Primrose ‘Prim’ has never seen that. To her, he just jokes about everything and doesn’t take anything seriously.

When Oliver’s life is in danger both Rhodes and Prim will do whatever it takes to unearth the murderer and keep Oliver safe. The mystery is suspenseful because you never know where the next attack will come from and you don’t know who the villain is. Surely it must be someone close to home. When an invitation to a house party arrives, they all know they must attend to unmask a murderer. It is so entertaining to watch as Oliver’s good humor and zest for life slowly changes Prim’s opinion of him. That is quite a house party too – there is a LOT going on and you really need to read the book to keep up with it all.

Did I mention that you get two HEA’s – well – I should have – because you do. So, you get an engrossing mystery, two lovely romances and two HEA’s. Along with all of that you get some of the most intelligent and witty banter I’ve read in a long time. All-in-all a wonderful read!

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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”