One Fine Duke

Author: Lenora Bell
Series: School For Dukes, book 3
Publisher: Avon (July 23, 2019)
Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
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Summary
Ready.

Raised in the countryside by her overprotective uncle, Miss Mina Penny’s dream of a triumphant London season is finally here. She determined her perfect match long ago: Rafe Bentley, the wickedest rake of them all. There’s only one very large, very unyielding obstacle: Rafe’s brother Andrew, the reclusive Duke of Thorndon.

Aim.

This was supposed to be simple. Duke goes to London. Duke selects suitable bride. Love match? Not a chance. But when Drew meets Mina, she complicates everything. How can a lady armed with such beauty and brains fall for his irresponsible degenerate of a brother? Drew vows to save her from heartbreak and ruin, no matter the cost.

Desire!

But Mina is no damsel in distress. She’s daring, intuitive, passionate…and halfway to melting Drew’s cold heart. And although Mina thought she knew exactly what she wanted, one breathtakingly seductive kiss from Drew changes everything. Now Mina must decide between long-held dreams and dangerous new desires. Could her true destiny lie in the arms of a duke?

Review
Lenora Bell is one of my favorite historical authors. That being said, I just didn’t 5 star love this book as much as her previous ones, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because it skirts the edge of being romantic suspense, which I just do not care for in any way, shape, or form. Also the entire Le Triton plot fall sort of weirdly flat for me.

That being said, I really adore Mina & Drew! Her chasing after Drew’s rakish brother to form a spy alliance and then Drew stepping in to save her from Mister Wrong (trope alert!) is basically like catnip to me, and then their chemistry together was both super hot and super adorable.

I really like Mina and her infinite levels of spunk. She knows what she wants and she goes for it, all in and full speed ahead. Sure, that can get her into some sticky situations, but she’s smart and sassy and totally game to dig herself right back out of trouble. She’s a little tooout there and goes off half-cocked, so Drew steadfast and hardworking nature bring a good balance to her fiery one.

Andrew is kind of adorable, in that big, hot, trademark Brooding Duke way. I also appreciate that Lenora Bell gave him REASONS for this Duke to have big, sexy muscles – something that is normally a bit of hist-rom fluff that normally makes me twitch a bit in irritation. I love a man with a weakness, and Drew’s got some trauma in his past that causes him some major problems. Mina helps draw him out of himself and connect with the world again in a way that’s really wonderful to read.

Also, there are some HILARIOUS scenes in this book. I really want to go into some of them, but I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone… I’ll just say that before reading this book I didn’t know that something could be both hot and hilarious at the same time. What a revelation!

This is the third book in the School for Dukes series, but can absolutely be read as a standalone. There are some spoilers for books earlier in the series.