A review by hooliaquoolia
Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean

1.0

Well, I said I wouldn't read this one because I wasn't interested in abusive assholes, but it came up as a quick loan at the library and I thought fuck it, why not. Turns out, my instincts were right. In what may be worse than just being an asshole, Ewan is simply not a compelling character. Grace is fine but I couldn't bring myself to care about her either. The timelines feel weird, the writing felt more needlessly melodramatic than her previous works, I didn't feel like the supposed Main Problem that lead to the supposed Climax was actually a well-explained Problem, and can I just say it's fucking weird to fall in love with someone at thirteen years old and somehow sustain those romantic feelings for twenty years despite not ever seeing them again? Idk. I like historical romance because it allows the creation of fantastical scenarios that have all the superficial trappings of history while in reality being more applicable to contemporary relationships--the only lesson I got out of this was "the abusive asshole you met at thirteen is actually a great guy!" Maybe I'm just not one for redemption arcs.