Good Duke Gone Wild by Bethany Bennett

Tracy’s Rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: Bluestocking Booksellers, #1

Release Date: August 20, 2024

After resigning herself to spinsterhood, Caroline “Caro” Danvers embarked on a secret career writing erotic novels under the pen name of Blanche Clementine. Her goal is to earn enough money to purchase a cottage and live independently, and she is close to her goal. But when her straightlaced vicar father finds her stash of cash along with her publishing contracts and her novels, he confiscates everything, kicks her out with nothing but clothes on her back and the manuscript she had with her and disowns her. She makes her way to London, to the home (and business) of her Aunt Mary and Uncle Owen and her cousins Hattie and Constance “Connie”, it is a grueling trip and she is exhausted, but she has the shop in her sites, when she is knocked into by a man, her manuscript goes flying, the man graciously helps her and apologizes for running into her, but she barely hears him, she is mesmerized by him. She soon learns he is Dorian Whitaker, the Duke of Holland, a widower and a patron of the shop. For the next year and a half, she stays out of his way but uses him as inspiration in her novels. It isn’t until he asks her to help him sell his late wife’s library that these two finally begin to interact. But when love letters to his late wife from secret lover turn up in the books she is selling, they will have to work together to find answers to help the duke put his past to rest. Caro can’t help falling for Dorian, but she is realistic, she knows that he needs to find a wife and she can be nothing more than an affair. But it seems like Dorian might want more, that is until her biggest secret is exposed and threatens to cost her everything.

Dorian loved his wife Juliet, but they married young and were separated when he was sent into diplomatic service, and she refused to join him on the continent. Sadly, Juliet died while he was away and upon his return, he learns of her affair. This knowledge crushes him, and he is consumed with learning why his marriage failed. He also wants to cut ties with his late wife’s no-good cousin Timothy, especially now that his mother is nagging him to remarry. He decides to sell Juliet’s library, one to give Timothy the proceeds as a final payment of sorts and to remove the trace of Juliet in his home as a courtesy to a new wife. He asks Caro to help him with the task and is overjoyed that he finally has a reason to spend time with the lovely bookseller that he has been dreaming of since the first day he met her. Things are going well between them, and Dorian decides that she is the woman he wants to spend his life with. But when he makes a mistake and hurts her after learning her secret, he will have to work very hard to regain the ground he lost. Will he be able to make things right or is he doomed to always lose the women he loves?

This was the start of a new series, and this book nicely sets it up without losing focus on the romance between Caro and Dorian. The book started out a bit slow, but around the halfway point, it picks up speed and doesn’t slow down until the very end. I enjoyed this book, but at times I was annoyed with Caro, I have no problem with a strong woman, but her morals and ideals are not in keeping with era the author chose to set her story in. It might be historical nitpicking, but what is the point of reading historical romance if the heroine is essentially a 21st century woman in period dress? That said, this was a very sweet romance with likable characters, great secondary characters, a bit of mystery, steamy love scenes, a cinnamon roll (beta) hero, an intelligent heroine, dreams, a bit of angst, and finally a lovely ending that includes their HEA and an epilogue. This is the first book in a new series that promises to be filled with strong women and the men who love them.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own. *