Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase

Outspoken Cassandra Pomfret has just arrived back in London and she's already gotten her father's back up. In fact, her latest stunt means that her sister Hyacinth, who absolutely loves the social whirl, can't go out until Cassandra is married. And that is completely antithetical to anything that Cassandra wants. So she runs away. Or tries to. But she's throw off track (and off her carriage) when the Duke of Ashmont discharges a gun as she is riding by.

Lucius (more often called Ashmont) is disgustingly drunk. He almost killed his best friend over pride. And frustration. Because Ashmont went to all the trouble of finding a woman, courting her for weeks, and then Ripley stole her. On their wedding day. I can see how that might be frustrating. But now there's this redhead and she's traveling with the famous Tom O'Keeffe. The same O'Keeffe who was almost trampled to death on the racetrack who is now struggling to breathe because Ashmont wasn't sober. Luckily, Ashmont and his two friends often raise hell in the town and they have a doctor more or less on retainer (in fact, the whole town tends to forgive them because they overpay for any mischief that they cause.) And that means that Ashmont has more time with Cassandra. But that doesn't mean that Cassandra wants more time with him.

I loved that Chase circumvented the obvious route of Cassandra being ruined by Ashmont. At least the first time. I didn't love Ashmont. I think it was true to character for him to be a little slow on the uptake (he had never really had to work for anything before) but he was a little annoying throughout most of the book. A nice addition to the series... now hopefully we'll finally figure out what's going on with Alice.

Three stars
Follows A Duke in Shining Armour
This book comes out December 1st

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Duke in Shining Armor by Loretta Chase

I am so excited to read the rest of the books in this series. Loretta Chase, for me lately, has not been the writer I so enjoyed when reading Lord of Scoundrels. This book gets quite close. And it's mainly, again, because of the characters.
The Duke of Ripley is back from the continent for the wedding of one of his two best friends, the Duke of Ashmont. Along with the Duke of Blackwood (Ripley's brother-in-law) the men are known as Their Dis-Graces. Unfortunately, Ripley is the one that finds Ashmont's bride-to-be, Lady Olivia Hightower, climbing out the window of her own wedding. Rather than carting her back and forcing her to wed his best friend, Ripley decides to make sure she makes it to... someplace... safely so that they can regroup. And I appreciated that about him, that he seemed to understand Olivia even from the beginning. As they travel, eventually ending up with Ripley's aunt, we get to see them falling in love.
The ending, I didn't love. I also wish we had seen more of how Blackwood and Ripley came to be rehabilitated. They seem to have played all of these pranks but then there seems to be a gap in the story as to why they stopped. I also really hope that the next book in this series is the one between Alice and Blackwood. I'd love to know why she seems to be avoiding her husband and it will give Ashmont some time to grow. I'm really hoping we get either a B story or a novella featuring Uncle Fred and Julia.

Four stars

Followed by Ten Things I Hate about the Duke
This book comes out August 22