Best Books of November – BookriotA lady with a noble mission. A duke looking for redemption. A forbidden love that cannot be denied, in The Good, The Bad, and The Duke by Janna MacGregor.Lady Daphne Hallworth is ready to celebrate the holidays with her family. But when they accidentally leave her home alone, Daphne uses the time to work on her dream—opening a home for unwed mothers. But her quest … for unwed mothers. But her quest isn’t problem-free: She’s in a battle to win the property for the home against her brother’s best friend-turned-enemy, Paul Barstowe, Duke of Southart. And that’s not all: someone has stolen her personal diary, which holds secrets that could devastate her family. Daphne has always harbored private feelings for the man her family scorns…though perhaps striking a bargain with the handsome Duke will solve both their problems?
Paul, long considered good for nothing, aims to open a hospital to honor his brother and restore his reputation. So when a conflict over the land brings him straight into Daphne’s life, they make a deal: He will help her find her diary if Daphne can change her family’s opinion of him. But before he can win her family’s affection, he has to win hers first. Maybe love was the answer to their family feud all along?
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I adored The Good, the Bad and the Duke! The hero is trying to atone for his past mistakes and finds an unlikely ally in his ex- best friend’s sister. Clever dialogue, intrigue, and a Christmas setting add to his superbly written, sensuous regency romance.
The prologue immediately drew me into the story. Lord Paul Barstowe helps nine- year old Lady Daphne Hallworth save a baby magpie from being the family cat’s dinner. The prologue is important because the reader gets a glimpse into Paul’s character and a hint that Daphne sees Paul as more than her brother’s best friend.
Lady Daphne Hallworth is not amused. Her family accidently left her home alone in London during the Christmas holidays. Daphne is determined not to be forgotten again. Daphne visits her solicitor to inquire about a property for her charity when her reticule containing her journal is stolen. Daphne chases the thief to Reynolds Gambling Establishment where she sees Paul, now the Duke of Southart.
Paul saves Daphne from possible ruin by saying that Lady Moonbeam is his escort. Loved the reason why Paul calls Daphne Lady Moonbeam; he noticed her hair and eyes and he acknowledges that Daphne is a beautiful woman, not just his former friends little sister. Daphne explains to Paul that her reticule has been stolen. Paul agrees to return to Reynolds and look for it in the morning if Daphne will help him mend fences with her brother. The enduring connection between Paul and Daphne intrigued me because Paul was no longer on speaking terms with Daphne’s brother, Alexander, the Marquis of Pembrooke. Janna MacGregor does a fabulous job balancing Paul’s past actions with his desire to help Daphne and become a better man.
Paul’s past actions were influenced by his relationship with his father. To get his father’s attention, he acted out, gambled and caused trouble. Loved that Paul’s father continued to plague him after he died. Robbie, Paul’s brother, understood why Paul acted out and made promise to try to be a better person before he died. Paul is home alone for the holidays as his family members have died.
It was great fun to see Paul struggle with his attraction to Daphne especially when they were at the gaming hall. The chemistry between the couple sizzled off the pages. He saw Daphne as a strong woman who wanted to honor her late sister’s memory. Paul understood that working on the charity would help Daphne work through her grief because he was still grieving for his brother. Loved the couples witty banter and I adored when Paul decided to court Daphne.
The fast-paced storyline kept me reading. Loved the element of intrigue surrounding the reticule and its contents played an important role in the plot. There are several surprising plot twists and turns which surprised me. Janna MacGregor’s writing style evokes passion, emotion and understanding. Lady Margaret stole the show when she realized Paul had no friends or family. She offers him her kitten so he won’t be alone. Daphne shows strength of character when she speaks up to her brother and tell him that Paul sees her—he understands her in a way her family cannot.
The Good, the Bad, and the Duke has all the feels; the characters, their romance, the complex plot are perfectly written. And the powerful message of forgiveness is appropriate during the holiday season.
Janna MacGregor is a new- to- me author. After reading Paul and Daphne’s story, I bought her back list and read each one. I am looking forward to the next book in the series!
What a fabulous book, especially at Christmas time. This is the 4th book in The Cavensham Heiresses series, but you can read them as standalones. Lady Daphne Hallworth has loved Paul Barstowe, Duke of Southart, most of her life. He was her brother Alex’s best friend and was always kind to her. After Paul and Alex severed their ties, she still cared for Paul, no matter his reputation.
Daphne doesn’t expect to wed and plans to use her money to build a home for unwed mothers. She is going to tell her family but gets left in London as they head for their estates to celebrate Christmas. Her mother and step-father go to their estate as Alex’s family goes to his, each thinking she’s with the other. While visiting the park a boy steals her bag with her journal in it. She chases the boy, not caring about money, only getting her journal back as she has written in it for many years and many secrets. She runs into Paul and he agrees to help her get the journal back.
Paul wants to build a hospital in memory of his deceased brother and is the other bidder for the property Daphne wants. While not happy about the land, she invites Paul and his friend Devan to have Christmas dinner with her. He wants to show her he’s not the rake he once was, and they spend time together. When her family returns, Alex is furious with her for seeing Paul. She reminds him she is of age and that is all I’m saying. I won’t ruin this wonderful story and can highly recommend it!
Note: Alex’s daughter, Lady Margaret, will have him prematurely gray. I love her scenes in this book. I can’t wait for her to grow up and get her own HEA!
The household is in turmoil, as everyone is ready to depart for the Christmas holidays, but Lady Daphne Hallworth has been so good for so long at being invisible, that they forget her in London; she is home alone with the under-butler Tait McBride. Oh well, in the meantime, she’ll see to the final preparations for the home for unwed mothers she plans to open. So, she goes for a walk alone, and her reticule is stolen by a street urchin while she is sitting in a park by herself. She doesn’t care about her bag or the money, but it’s imperious that she retrieve her journal, which holds her secrets. If someone finds it, she’s ruined, her whole family is ruined. While running after the little thief, she comes face to face with Paul Barstowe, now the Duke of Southart, who used to be her older brother’s best friend. Paul has made almost an enemy of almost everyone, but he is struck dumb at how alluring Daphne is, and the danger she faces if she is seen in front of a gambling hell. He convinces her to take her home, and after a chat, he agrees to help her find her diary if she can help him mend his friendship with her brother Alexander.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DUKE was a very difficult book for me. Try as I might, I couldn’t forget about all the rules of propriety that applied to a young woman of a good family during the Regency era, some of which seemed to matter only when it served storylines purposes. When she was left home alone, Daphne decided that she was going to live her life the way she wanted, which even for a twenty five year-old spinster wasn’t even possible in that era without causing a huge scandal. My misgivings started even earlier, with the prologue, when we are introduced to Paul and Daphne sixteen years previously. Daphne was nine and Paul already out of university, and it appears that’s when she fell in love with him. I was filled with unease; we’re talking of a nine year-old girl and a grown man. I understand that he was grateful that someone liked him, but she was nine, for heaven’s sake! While nothing untoward happened at all, it would have been sweet had she been thirteen or fourteen, but nine was squicky. There were also a few inconsistencies with regards to whether he had noticed her or not in between. I was also quite taken aback, and not in a good way, with Paul’s friend Devan Farris, a vicar who gives men of the cloth a very bad name.
Yes, I chose to read THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DUKE because of yet another sumptuous cover by the inimitable Jon Paul Ferrara, because it’s a Christmas story – very little has to do with Christmas – and because of the “Home Alone” theme. Paul is your typical rake who wants to mend his past wayward ways, and overall, he was rather lovely. Daphne seems a good girl, who has for years hidden very naughty thoughts. I couldn’t quite comprehend how she could be so sexually forward, particularly with her family history and her wish to open a home for unwed mothers. As for what an epic twist, it did not hold up because legally it was immaterial, and Paul’s solution would have caused even more harm to more people. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DUKE is fast-paced, well-written, and it flows effortlessly. Ms. MacGregor possesses a real talent at making the surroundings and the characters come alive; it’s all very colourful and lively, but it missed the mark for me because I was too distracted by many things. If you are unfamiliar with Regency customs and legal matters or if you can easily overlook them, then you will enjoy this book much more than I did.
I give 2 ½ stars
Rcvd an ARC at no cost author..(netgalley) This is part of a series and you should probably start from the beginning so that you could get all the feels. I enjoyed book but at times it was little slow for me, too wordy that were a little unnecessary, all that being said it wasn’t a bad book. We have Paul who was sweet, but only seemed that way with Daphne, due to some of his previous actions he lost a lot of his friends but now the way he was dealing with Daphne things started to change and people started to see him differently because he was trying to be a better person. Daphne liked to write her thoughts down in a journal or diary, she was always the good one, dependable one and would only admit her true self in her thoughts. She had never really thought bad about Paul and now that they got to spend some time together and trying to find her stolen diary they are what each other needs..I wont get into much so that you could grab a copy and Enjoy!
3 1/2 stars. Janna MacGregor is a first time author for me and I did enjoy this book. It just took a bit for me to get invested. I loved the plot (reformed reprobates that don’t feel worthy are my kryptonite) and Daphne seemed to be a woman ahead of her time. The problem being, what time? This is a personal preference, but I like to know the year/timeframe for historical reference. There was no mention of the year that I could find. Also, I found this a bit “wordy”. There was so much internal dialogue and not enough interaction for me. A bit more than half way through I felt more invested in Paul and Daphne’s journey and finished quickly. I will definitely read this author again.