Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: The Mating Habits of Scoundrels #5
Publication Date: 2/21/23
Period: Regency
Number of Pages:

Mmm, mmm, mmm – who wouldn’t love a book with a genius duke who wears glasses and is socially inept? Lucien Ambrose, Duke of Merleton is absolutely precious and the banter between him and Margaret Stredwick is absolutely priceless. While I think you’ll enjoy the book ‘as is’, I think you will enjoy it even more if you read the third book, The Wrong Marquess, before you read this one. The zany aunts and their penchant for purloining recipes are introduced in that book and I think it will provide better insight into the aunts and some of the situations in this book. You don’t have to have read it because it is explained in this book, but, not to the delightful degree it is in book three.

Lucien is a very brainy, scientific man who loves to analyze everything, calculate everything, and leave nothing to chance. Until a delightfully sunny lady enters his life and leads him on a merry chase across Europe – and then disappears on him. Lucien is a man who desperately wants to connect with his family’s past and when a family heirloom that connects so closely to that past is stolen, he will go to any lengths to get it back.

Lucien’s scientific and analytical way of speaking will certainly make you chuckle – if not laugh out loud. No, it isn’t staid – with the context and situation it will make you laugh – and love him even more. One example is when he is speaking of a rival for Meg’s hand – he says – “Prescott is welcome to apply the fixed, corded braiding of hemp fibers to his cervical vertebrae and descend from a platform at a rapid rate of speed.” (In other words – Prescott can go hang himself).

The book is basically in two parts – the first fifty percent is their “on the road” adventures across Europe and the last fifty percent takes place two years later. There is a major story shift within those two halves. Both halves are good reads, but the first half is more lighthearted and fun than the second half. That isn’t to say the last half isn’t good, the tone is just a tad different – and it needs to be.

There is an antagonist in the book – I mean – somebody actually stole the heirloom and it wasn’t Meg. I figured it out pretty early on and from that point on, I’d get so aggravated because all of the characters in the book couldn’t see it too!

And – last but not least – there is the epilogue! It is whimsical, funny, endearing, and so very romantic. So, I can definitely recommend the book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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