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cgirl98's review
3.0
Sins of a Wicked Duke With romances, I tend to get recommendations because romance can seriously be hit or miss. I don't like to take chances. When a romance is bad...it's bad. So I take my recommendations from people whose tastes have never failed me. But this book is one of the few that I picked up on a whim while buying some other books, mainly because of the cover which is beautiful. So I was a bit reluctant to start it. The good news is that I did not regret this whim.
Fallon is a character you don't see often, our heroines are almost always great ladies of high society...but Fallon is from low birth, a gardener's daughter. She works for a living, and takes care of herself in a society not made for unmarried ladies. After her father's death she is left alone and sent away to a school for young ladies, by the master of the household where her father worked, where she is trained and educated to be a governess. But after leaving the school, she loses position after position due to the grabby hands of the high born men...all of which she gets blamed for as if she did something wrong. She finally gets sick of it one night and fights back, losing another job. That night she meets Dominic...it does not go well and he proves himself to be a serious whore and libertine. After he too gets a bit too familiar..she decides that her looks are a liability and she concocts a plan to get a job without being molested....becomes a man! But, twist of fate, she gets a job in Dominic's household as a Valet. And the adventures begin.
I enjoy the "dressing as a man to get by" plots. For me they never get old, and this one is just as enjoyable as all the others...though not as brave as some got in regards to the relationship between the main characters. Some push the envelope, but this book does not attempt and just gives us a fun, easy story. Dominic finds someone, a scrawny boy no less, who makes him start questioning himself and his actions, and Fallon meets someone who makes her realize that life is more than work, and to let of her anger and bitterness. It a fun read..like good chocolate.
Fallon is a character you don't see often, our heroines are almost always great ladies of high society...but Fallon is from low birth, a gardener's daughter. She works for a living, and takes care of herself in a society not made for unmarried ladies. After her father's death she is left alone and sent away to a school for young ladies, by the master of the household where her father worked, where she is trained and educated to be a governess. But after leaving the school, she loses position after position due to the grabby hands of the high born men...all of which she gets blamed for as if she did something wrong. She finally gets sick of it one night and fights back, losing another job. That night she meets Dominic...it does not go well and he proves himself to be a serious whore and libertine. After he too gets a bit too familiar..she decides that her looks are a liability and she concocts a plan to get a job without being molested....becomes a man! But, twist of fate, she gets a job in Dominic's household as a Valet. And the adventures begin.
I enjoy the "dressing as a man to get by" plots. For me they never get old, and this one is just as enjoyable as all the others...though not as brave as some got in regards to the relationship between the main characters. Some push the envelope, but this book does not attempt and just gives us a fun, easy story. Dominic finds someone, a scrawny boy no less, who makes him start questioning himself and his actions, and Fallon meets someone who makes her realize that life is more than work, and to let of her anger and bitterness. It a fun read..like good chocolate.
kiwie's review
1.0
Very much not for me. Didn't like either main character, I just wanted to slap some sense into them. I got this as my #2 in a 2 for 1 book sale as I was intrigued by the cross-dressing (a trope I'm fond of), but it just didn't work for me. The interesting things were never explored, and the sexy bits did not appeal to me either (though in fairness, those things rarely do). I guess the poor, but strong woman meets rich, rude and cold man, who then fall in lust, that turns into overpowering love is something I've tired of too. All in all: Nah.
thebee's review
3.0
Skimmed it, protagonists were boringly heteronormative despite the cross-dressing
kazen's review
2.0
This just wasn't my kind of book. I was excited to see gender-bending mentioned in the blurb, but it was way too easy for Fallon to pass as a guy. Just cut your hair and change your clothes, no one will notice! Riiiight.
We're told she's not all that pretty, but that doesn't stop every male in the book from fawning over her. And when she was dressed as a guy, the girls liked her too! It's almost comical.
Dominic, our hero, is just over the alpha a-hole line for me.Deflowering the heroine on a kitchen table, with barely a word? Really?? I never got the sense that he loves Fallon, just that she papers over all the holes in his heart in a satisfactory fashion.
Ah well. If your tastes run slightly more caveman alpha than mine you may well adore this book, but it wasn't for me.
We're told she's not all that pretty, but that doesn't stop every male in the book from fawning over her. And when she was dressed as a guy, the girls liked her too! It's almost comical.
Dominic, our hero, is just over the alpha a-hole line for me.
Ah well. If your tastes run slightly more caveman alpha than mine you may well adore this book, but it wasn't for me.
bandherbooks's review
3.0
I read this, and it was fun. Girl dressed up as footman to try and blend into a wicked Duke's household. Of course, this goes as well as can be expected.
romancelibrary's review
3.0
3.5 stars
This book had a lot of tropes that are predictable, yet so much fun to read about, especially in a historical romance. The heroine dresses as a man and works as a footman, eventually valet, in the hero's household. I've read similar books with the same trope because I enjoy it a lot. It's cliche, but it doesn't diminish the fun. In fact, the cliche trope heightened my anticipation.
It was a little depressing in the sense that both the hero and heroine were abused when they were kids. They are both filled with anger and bitterness which really affected their lives and the decisions they made. I neither hated nor loved them; they never inspired me to really cheer for them. But they had undeniable chemistry and their story was interesting enough for me to keep reading.
To be quite honest, I had a hard time understanding exactly how Fallon fell in love with Dominic. She fell for him even before she found out that he was hiding a lot behind his wicked persona. She was also way too obsessed with his tattoo lol. Dominic also abruptly changed his ways after one kiss with Fallon, which felt so unrealistic. They were both so depressing though, each ensnared by bitterness and anger. I couldn't blame Fallon for her anger and bitterness, but at the same time, I thought she acted too recklessly and was too impulsive in making decisions. I also couldn't blame Dominic for his anger and bitterness, but it took him way too long to finally take a step towards his grandfather. Similarly, it took Fallon too long to realize that her anger was pushing her to make terrible decisions about her life.
More importantly, I failed to feel an emotional connection with either hero or heroine. That's really where the story fell through for me. Otherwise, it was a pretty decent book.
This book had a lot of tropes that are predictable, yet so much fun to read about, especially in a historical romance. The heroine dresses as a man and works as a footman, eventually valet, in the hero's household. I've read similar books with the same trope because I enjoy it a lot. It's cliche, but it doesn't diminish the fun. In fact, the cliche trope heightened my anticipation.
It was a little depressing in the sense that both the hero and heroine were abused when they were kids. They are both filled with anger and bitterness which really affected their lives and the decisions they made. I neither hated nor loved them; they never inspired me to really cheer for them. But they had undeniable chemistry and their story was interesting enough for me to keep reading.
To be quite honest, I had a hard time understanding exactly how Fallon fell in love with Dominic. She fell for him even before she found out that he was hiding a lot behind his wicked persona. She was also way too obsessed with his tattoo lol. Dominic also abruptly changed his ways after one kiss with Fallon, which felt so unrealistic. They were both so depressing though, each ensnared by bitterness and anger. I couldn't blame Fallon for her anger and bitterness, but at the same time, I thought she acted too recklessly and was too impulsive in making decisions. I also couldn't blame Dominic for his anger and bitterness, but it took him way too long to finally take a step towards his grandfather. Similarly, it took Fallon too long to realize that her anger was pushing her to make terrible decisions about her life.
More importantly, I failed to feel an emotional connection with either hero or heroine. That's really where the story fell through for me. Otherwise, it was a pretty decent book.
a_brnz's review
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Easy and uncomplicated read I felt like there were a lot of good elements but they weren’t expanded on in the way I would have liked
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
ashontheline's review
3.0
A bit of fun on some of this story. Still I found liking then disliking Fallon throughout. Good story but not my favorite.
book_leafs's review
2.0
Dominic is the worst man I ever had the displeasure of reading about.
He is just a terrible, terrible person
He is just a terrible, terrible person
rienne's review
3.0
The exact book I needed to purge That Book from my mind. It was fine—very Sophie Jordan in its great sexual tension and vaguely dissatisfying character and relationship development and world consistency. I think, with my 300th (?) romance novel read and in the midst of grading and online dating, what often feels undeveloped (plot, characters, relationship, world) is due to a lack of consistency. For a lot of romance novels, a certain experience (often times, for the men, a bad childhood) becomes a stand-in for their personality, rather than something that shapes and guides them in their actions and behaviors and is confronted. It is like men on dating apps: somehow, enjoying traveling is a stand-in for having a personality and interests! It is like the average writing of a high school student: all the things are there, but it doesn’t actually say or do anything interesting!
My only other comment is that if anything that involves gender misrepresentation doesn’t also tap into potential for bisexuality, it is A Waste.
My only other comment is that if anything that involves gender misrepresentation doesn’t also tap into potential for bisexuality, it is A Waste.