Lucien, Duke of Arden, is on the brink of disaster, about to lose everything he worked so hard to attain as the leader of the Special League. When Home Office obliges him to join forces with a Pinkerton agent to keep his position, he is determined to send the fellow back to American shores faster than he can say “Yankee Doodle.” There’s just one small problem with his flawless plan to undermine … undermine the unwanted agent…
Hazel Montgomery has spent the last ten years as a Pinkerton detective, fighting to be treated as an equal to her male counterparts, and the list of her successful cases is as long as the Mississippi River. She is not about to allow a supercilious duke to condescend to her. If Arden does not want her assistance, he can take his arrogance and go back to his fancy drawing room where he belongs.
Their clash is as instant as it is inevitable. When a fresh wave of bombings hits London and the danger intensifies, Lucien and Hazel must work together to bring a new ring of Fenians to justice. The more time they spend in each other’s company, the more the underlying attraction between them sizzles, until it bursts into uncontrollable flames.
Haunted by past tragedy, Lucien vowed long ago never to fall in love. Hazel’s sole rule in life is to trust no one. But soon, the cold duke and the bold American find themselves locked in a battle for the greatest prize of all, each other’s hearts.
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Where do I even start? After laughing out loud by the first page I could only think this would make a great movie! I could just see Hazel marching in before the butler could announce her and the Duke of Arden continually insulting her! I mean “he”, who was really an unexpected “she” was the Pinkerton Agent sent from America so they could work as partners and eliminate the Fenian rebals who were threatening England.
Poor Lucian was so structured or tried to be at first. But was really a wounded soul because of past incidences and my heart really did go out to him. Hazel seemed the perfect foil to bring him around. The brash, highly intelligent woman who had to battle to get where she was at and earn respect because of her gender. She had her own past experiences that she tried to deal with and I think that made them perfect for each other.
Suspense, danger, humor, romance with many sparks and a race to find the villans before they create more destruction. A little of everything that makes this story a perfect balance! Scarlett Scott’s descriptive prose literally makes the scenes come alive in my mind and I can see it happening! She creates the most amazing characters and storylines that continually suprise and entertain to the very last page.
Don’t miss this lastest addition to the League of Dukes or any books by this author!
Lucien, Duke of Arden, is on the brink of disaster after the “Incident” as the leader of the Special League. The Home Office is sending him a new partner H.E. Montgomery what Arden doesn’t expect is a lady Pinkerton detective. Hazel Montgomery has spent the last ten years as a Pinkerton detective and she has about had enough of the pompous, arrogant Duke of Arden. I love it’s a battle of wills right from the start on who can outsmart the other first. Lucien and Hazel are fire and ice as the instant attraction kicks in and the passion sizzles between them as they try to work together or not!!! I love them together!!! She’s a sassy Yankee Doodle American and he’s the handsome arrogant Duke of nobility. This is a great action adventure story of loyalty and betrayal with may twist and turns. I loved this story and I voluntarily wrote a review.
Sigh. It pains me to say that I was not as dazzled by this book as I wanted to be as there were a couple of points that I found myself continually obsessing over (and not in a good way). Firstly, I felt the beginning dragged on for the first 30%. Seeing as both Lucien and Hazel are agents working to discover who is responsible for various bombings, I was expecting more danger and action and much higher stakes. But all of that was lacking at first, and I found myself losing interest a bit.
Secondly (and I can’t believe I’m saying this), I felt that the budding relationship between Lucien and Hazel was focused on too much. Just when the novel began to pick up action-wise, the forward movement of the plot got bogged down once again with repeated sex between the H and h. Don’t get me wrong I love some steam as much as the next reader, but I don’t appreciate sex scenes used simply as story fillers and once again I found myself losing interest. Overall, I really enjoyed the action part of the story once the plot began to unfold, but I feel there was a lot of fluff that I could have done without. Lucien and Hazel were interesting characters when they weren’t constantly feeling each other up, leaving me hopeful but slightly disappointed. His [second] proposal was super cute though.
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*
Lucien West, the Duke of Arden, has worked extremely hard to attain his position as leader of the Special League, devoted to thwarting terrorist plots on English soil. After an unfortunate incident, however, he is being forced by the Home Office to work with a partner, an American Pinkerton agent. Lucien is determined to send the man home with his tail tucked, only to find that his new partner is a woman and not at all easy to get rid of.
Hazel Montgomery has fought for her position as a respected and successful Pinkerton Agent. She’s not about to be cowed by an arrogant duke. These two clash in immediate and spectacular fashion but passionate anger isn’t so far removed from passion, full stop. With a new string of bombings being planned in London, Lucien and Hazel spend an inordinate amount of time together, causing their attraction to burn ever hotter. Lucien has been determined never to marry or fall in love for his entire life and Hazel is equally determined to trust none but herself. But as the investigation continues and dangerous bombings hit closer to home, Lucien and Hazel begin to mean more to each other than either thought possible, though that may not be enough to overcome their personal demons.
I really enjoyed this story immensely. Lucien was a jerky bad guy in the previous book so it was nice to get to know him more and see him get some redemption. Hazel was perfect to bring him down to Earth a bit, but she began to get on my nerves a bit with her fatalism and constant ruminations on all the reasons she could never be with Lucien, most of which she clearly knew weren’t really valid. In fact these two nearly lost each other for the sake of preserving their respective pride. Thankfully, both saw sense in the end and Hazel stopped fighting to sacrifice her happiness for the sake of independence. Though there was somewhat of a lull in the middle with all the reasoning on why a relationship between these two would never work, this book had a satisfying, if hard won, ending and was a great enemies to lovers story. I can’t wait for the next one.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.