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In A Duke Will Never Do, Darcy Burke continues her Spitfire Society series with a story featuring Jane Pemberton and Anthony, Viscount Colton, both of whom appeared in the first two books in the series. But one need not read those before reading this one.
Anthony is perpetually drunk and has been since his parents’ murder by a highwayman. No one knows that their death was actually his fault and is the real reason he drinks. Jane Pemberton finds Anthony on her doorstep one morning, beaten and bruised. She takes him inside and begins helping him to heal.
Jane is a self-proclaimed spinster living in Phoebe Lennox’s house. Although she will never marry, Jane realizes that means she will also miss out on some of the pleasures to be had with a man. And boy, does she NOT want to miss out on those. She begins convincing (I use that word loosely) Anthony to show her what she’s missing out on by not having a husband. He is incredibly reluctant at first but eventually relents.
A few mysteries soon arise: a blackmailer for Anthony. Someone who spreads a vicious rumor during Jane’s first season that effectively ruined her. These mysteries make up the bulk of the plot and honestly saved the book from being a complete failure. I always love a good mystery and I found both of these to be enjoyable.
Aside from the blackmailer and the rumormonger plots, nothing much else happens. There’s a lot of insta-lust and the same thoughts being thought in different ways, which made for a very slow read.
I did like Anthony, for the most part, although his ‘woe is me’ attitude did wear on my nerves quickly. The way his drinking problem was dealt with was very different from that often seen in romances and seemed more realistic that way. And I did understand why he felt guilty for his parent’s murder. Aside from those things, though, he didn’t seem to have much of a personality. I can’t really tell you anything about him besides that he’s an alcoholic that feels guilty because that’s all I learned about him.
My absolute biggest issue with this story was Jane. I am not easily offended by any means, but neither am I a fan of one person relentlessly pursuing another despite the other person’s reservations. And that’s exactly what Jane does throughout this title; she wants to sleep with Anthony and continually pressures him throughout the story. There was even one scene that greatly bothered me where Anthony declined to have sex with her and she said something along the lines of, ‘but I thought you wanted me’ as if she was trying to make him feel guilty. Her advances were hard to stomach, especially since they began very early on and continued until she got her way. Imagine the outrage had the situation been reversed, and it had been Anthony pressuring Jane into sex.
A Duke Will Never Do started off quite promisingly, with an independent heroine and a hero in need of help. Unfortunately, insta-lust, a lack of plot, and an overly pushy heroine destroyed any momentum the book started with and made it a tedious read. And I never did work out why there’s the word “Duke” in the title when the hero is a mere viscount!
~ Jessica Grogan
Buy it at: Amazon or shop at your local independent bookstore
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Grade: D
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 23/05/20
Publication Date: 05/2020
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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Burke is all over the map for me as a writer, but she should’ve gone with “Vamped by the Viscount” or something.
“Vamped by the Viscount?” I think you have a future in erotica self-publishing titles. ;)
I suppose “Eaten by the Earl” is a bit too near the knuckle…
THAT’S a perfect erotica title!
Hey, I knew I had a talent for something! :D
Banged by the Baron, Violated by the Viscount, The Earl Erect, Mauled by the Marquess, Deflowered by the Duke, Pimped by the Prince, Krapped on by the King. You can tell I am thoroughly locked down and am bored silly!!
The Erect Earl needs to be a book, is all I’m saying.
Krapped on by the King I’m screaming oh my God.
Krapped on by the King? As George Takei would say, “Oh, my!”
I do feel obligated to mention, however, that you actually have to be quite careful with KDP erotica titles in order to not get the book banned or dungeoned (meaning the book can only show up under adult search results, leading to a drying up of sales- like languishing in a dungeon). Overtly sexual references in titles and blurb descriptions are a good way to tempt the censors into censoring you. I’m afraid elaine s.’s inspired titles would not get past the initial review process…
I LOVE these.
I know, right? I need to step up my game…
BTW, the link to commenter website isn’t working under this new system.
Yeah, I disabled that. I’ll think about it. There are reasons it’s not a great thing.
“There are reasons it’s not a great thing.” Yeah, I can totally see that.
You wouldn’t want too many spammy self-promoters like me clogging up your website. :)
The cover is absolute cr@p. Men’s shirts at that time went on over the head, not by buttoning up the front. So did our uber frisky heroine rip it from his six-pack? I’d love to see the cover competitions make a come back!!
On the other hand, I think it would be difficult to show a pull over the head shirt on a book cover in a sexy way. He’d look like his head was stuck in the fabric. :)
Turn him face forward and let her unbutton the fall of his inexpressibles!!
Excuse me while I grab a fan after that description. :)
That’s a very frequent issue isn’t it? The half-shirted hero in a shirt that is clearly wrong for the period. I don’t know why its use persists, becuase most of the time it looks ridiculous anyway.
“There was even one scene that greatly bothered me where Anthony declined to have sex with her and she said something along the lines of, ‘but I thought you wanted me’ as if she was trying to make him feel guilty”
That’s a great example for this week’s ASK about double standards for heroes and heroines.
I can kind of get the title. A duke won’t do/won’t make the grade because the man she wants is a viscount? Author seems to be pushing things to get “duke” into the title.
A book with the word “duke” in the title – but no duke in the book? Huh? This author self-publishes so I’m presuming there wasn’t anyone breathing down her neck telling her she had to make her hero a duke because “dukes sell”. (Maybe she thought no-one would notice?)
I’ve enjoyed several books by this author and have given her fairly high ratings, but her recent books haven’t worked for me either.
“Maybe she thought no-one would notice?” Either that, or she is in the mindset of “dukes sell,” so she slipped one into the title as a marketing ploy. It seems to be working too. She has a Kindle ranking of 3,411. Wish I could get sales data like that! Maybe I’m going about this all wrong. Maybe my next title should be “Debauched by the Duke…”