A review by being_b
The Duke I Tempted by Scarlett Peckham

3.0

A lot of serious subjects that seemed to be used mainly for their capacity to induce misunderstandings-- once the hero and heroine resolved the misunderstanding, the painful event was never referred to again. Left the characters feeling somewhat contrived, and I imagine if any of said painful events had ever happened to me I'd be DNFing the book in a hurry.

Examples of painful events raised and dropped without due consideration:

Spoiler

The heroine's orphaning at a young age, the heroine's guardian uncle's death directly before the story begins which results in her unexpected eviction from her home, a rape attempt by the heroine's childhood "friend," the hero's father intentionally burning the hero's first wife and child to death, the hero's sister entrapping the hero and heroine into marriage by deliberately ruining the heroine's reputation and business... I could go on.

Also, a personal pet peeve-- the heroine goes from 0 to riding crop in the course of an evening. Whatever happened a good old-fashioned spanking with a bare hand or a hairbrush? Walk before you run, people.