The Last Duke by Jess Michaels

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The 1797 Club #10
Publication Date: 11/13/18

The Last Duke is perhaps the best Duke of all. It is a wonderful goodbye to the ten Dukes in the 1797 club and their wonderful wives and children. They are all featured and catching up with them is lovely. This book isn’t as fast-paced and exciting as some of the others, but, I think that is perfect because, well, goodbyes are sad. The writing is excellent, it is well-plotted, well-written and the characters are absolutely lovely.

It is the saddest of times. Christopher Collins, Kit, and all of his friends are gathered at his father’s country estate to say goodbye to the Duke of Kingsacre, Kit’s father. The Duke is loved and admired by all the members of the 1797 club because he was kind to them and helped guide them when their own fathers would not. He showed them love and kindness and how to manage their holdings with compassion and caring while still making them profitable. He was just a good, good man. The Duke’s health has been failing for quite some time, and his long fight is about to end.

The goodbye scenes between Kit and his father and Phoebe and her father were sweet, poignant and very, very sad. The author wrote them beautifully. Kit and Phoebe’s profound love for their father was palpable throughout the book – as was their love for each other. There was just no way around it, I fell in love with both Kit and Phoebe. So, I can certainly see why Sarah would as well.

Sarah Carlton had committed a terrible faux pas three years ago at a ball. In frustration, she had said some unkind things to Meg who is now the Duchess of Crestwood (Read Her Favorite Duke for their story). What she said was overheard by Kit and he called her to task for it and said some unkind things of his own. Kit has never forgotten what Sarah did and has sat in judgment of her since then. Now, he has to deal with her as the governess to his illegitimate 5-year-old sister. His sister loves Sarah, can he just dismiss her?

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Kit trying to fight his attraction to Sarah because, after all, he hated her. Then, when she almost died saving his sister – well – maybe he didn’t hate her so much. Then, when the villain appears and Sarah almost dies saving Phoebe again – well – that does it. He can’t fight it any longer.

This is really the perfect wrap-up for this series. Normally, I’m not pleased with a series wrap-up because they don’t really seem to let us say our goodbyes and see that each of our heroes/heroines still have their happy endings, so this one was a delightful surprise. Everyone is featured and everyone has a role and I loved catching up with all of them.

I can certainly recommend this book, but I do hope it goes through at least one more proofreading before publication.

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