A review by allingoodtime
Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart by Sarah MacLean

emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely love to watch a man fall. In love, that is. Simon, the Duke of Leighton, has lived his life by the book. Always doing what is proper regardless of the feelings that may be involved. The way he treated his younger sister in the previous book was abhorrent because of his compulsion to protect the family name. It was a beautiful thing to watch this tough, proper, cynical, unbreakable man slowly spiral out of control until he was growling and lashing out at all who stood between him and Juliana.

As Juliana notes at one point in this story, scandal is not her choice but her burden. Juliana’s mother caused quite a stir in the ton long before Juliana was born. Juliana showing up on the doorstep of her half brothers only fed the fires as everyone assumed she must be just like her mother. While the gossip and snubs hurt Juliana terribly, she has a spine of steel and will not change who she is just to make others more comfortable. In other words, she is someone Simon would never think of taking as his Duchess.

The chemistry between Simon and Juliana is amazing and it’s no wonder his icy exterior melts away. At the same time, Juliana is much more tenderhearted than she portrays and she takes hit after hit, some real and some imagined, while trying to continue to hold her head high.

Although I don’t quite understand the wager Simon and Juliana make at the start of this book, I enjoyed it immensely. 
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