A review by bookishmya
Gambling on the Duke's Daughter by Diana Bold

4.0

I greatly enjoyed this book. I do love a good damaged Hero coupled with a sheltered insecure heroine. Having returned from the war and being the younger son of an Earl who despised him. Dylan has very little with which to build a life. He foolishly takes a bet that he can get the standoffish Natalia to agree to 2 dances, something she never does. Natalia has secretly fallen in love with the vision of Captain Dylan Blake that she has read of, imagining him to be a soulful hero. From the moment she is introduced and looks in his eyes, what she sees is not her dream but an empty man. In his determination to receive those dances, Dylan inadvertently gets to know the woman behind the dowry every man craves. It makes for an interesting tale as they both enter the relationship with misconceptions of the other and a lifetime of insecurities to come. Never realizing they both dream of the same things. I enjoyed the character development most of all, each of the characters stood out in their own way, even the secondary characters. Understanding the history in each relationship helped to explain how insecure they each are, from Dylan & Natalia to Micheal, Clarice and even Basingstoke. A great cast of characters to ensure continuous stories to come I’m sure.