The Duke’s Wife by Jess Michaels

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Three Mrs, #3

Release Date: May 11, 2021

After the death of her bigamist husband, Abigail Montgomery’s mourning is finally over and she is ready to pick up the pieces of her life and hopefully start anew. She is not sure where life will take her, but she is sure of one thing – she is done with love! Now if she could just stop her inconvenient attraction to Nathan, the Duke of Gilmore, the man who exposed her husband’s bigamy to the ton and who seems to be everywhere she goes! And the more she tries to ignore him, the more he seems bent on confronting her.

Nathan is frustrated, he is attracted to a woman who actively despises him and he is not sure why. He should just let her be and find another woman, but he can’t seem to stop himself from engaging with her at every opportunity. Their contentious relationship seems to take a turn when they make a wager while attending a dinner with their mutual friends. A wager he loses and proposes another to recoup his loss. With each new wager, they begin to form a friendship of sorts and soon they begin to succumb to the attraction that neither wants, yet neither can deny. An attraction that will lead to a compromising situation and a marriage of convenience that seems to be anything but convenient.

This was a well-written, nicely paced, fun enemies to lovers story. Nathan and Abigail are wonderful characters and their road to HEA is filled with witty banter, wagers, steamy love scenes, and cameos from the “other Mrs. Montgomerys”. This is the third book in the series and while it could be read as a standalone title, I would recommend reading the series in order for the best reader experience.

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

The Defiant Wife by Jess Michaels
Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Three Mrs, #2

Release Date: April 13, 2021

Phillipa “Pippa” Montgomery thought she married for love, but soon she learns that her “husband”, Erasmus Montgomery is the father of her maid, Rosie’s baby. She follows him to London, only to learn that he was a bigamist, with two other wives and has been murdered! She teams up with Erasmus’s two other wives to clear their names and then gets another shock when she learns he is not dead, only to witness his jealous lover kill him. Unsure what his death means to her and his infant son, Pippa willingly accepts the help of Erasmus’ brother, Rhys, the Earl of Leighton, while trying to fight her attraction to him.

Rhys is horrified by Erasmus’s actions and vows to set everything to rights. He too fights his attraction to Pippa, as nothing can come of it, and being together would be a scandal. He tries to do the right thing by her and his nephew, traveling to Bath to settle his brother’s debts and to setup Pippa and the baby up in a house. But the more time they spend together, the deeper the attraction and they finally give in to it. Knowing a brief affair is all they can ever hope for. When it becomes clear that Bath is not going to be suitable, Rhys offers to set Pippa and the baby up in London – she accepts, but us clear, whatever happened between them must stay in Bath. Easier, said than done and when they learn that Rosie is still in England, Rhys cannot let Pippa deal with her alone. He knows that being together will cause a scandal – but rumors of Erasmus’ bigamy and death are already a scandal, so what difference will a bit more make? Now he just has to convince Pippa and hopefully do so before unstable Rosie turns up.

This was a well-written, nicely paced, steamyish book that picks up exactly where the previous book ended. Unlike the previous book that introduced us to all the players, this book was able to focus most of its attention on the relationship between Pippa and Rhys, which was great, but I did feel like they made a mountain out of a molehill about why they couldn’t be together and took a bit too long to realize that there was going to be a scandal no matter what they did. Overall, I enjoyed this story and am looking forward to the next installment.

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