Review: How Not to Marry a Duke (Daring Ladies #2) by Tina Gabrielle

            

Print Length: 352 pages

Publisher: Entangled Amara (April 25, 2023)

From Goodreads.com: From the moment her pet pig attacks him, Adeline Foster knows she does not care at all for the Duke of Warwick. Certainly the man is handsome, but such an arrogant arse. But when her scoundrel half brother demands she marry a stranger over a failed investment, the duke does something shocking…he announces he’s courting her.

One moment, Daniel Millstone is enjoying tinkering with his inventions in his quiet country home with relative anonymity. The next, he’s courting the willful Miss Adeline. It might have begun as a way to vex her half brother―his childhood nemesis―but her striking beauty and kissable lips prove an irresistible temptation.

Now Adeline and her faux beau must convince the ton and their families that they’re an item. It doesn’t matter if they can barely tolerate each other. It doesn’t matter that scandal is only a touch away. Because if this charade doesn’t work, Adeline will find herself in dangerous hands…

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

To begin with, I'm still a little confused as to why a Duke would feel the need to rent a cabin in the middle of nowhere when even he thinks to himself that he has countless other properties from which he could enjoy solitude and work on his inventions, but I suppose had he done that he wouldn't have gotten the chance to meet Adeline. 

Speaking of those two, I liked Daniel and Adeline on their own, but when they were together, it just felt too forced. To the point that I was surprised that anyone believed their fake relationship was real. Even when Daniel supposedly realized that he was in love with her, I just didn't buy it. Maybe I just liked them more when they disliked each other, as it was during these moments that a lot of the fun banter was had between them. I feel like what made them interesting and unique in the countryside was lost when they decided to travel to London. 

I also had a hard time taking Adeline's half-brother Edwin seriously. He was supposed to be the great villain of the story, but in reality, he was just a bully and a bigot who took great pleasure in belittling Adeline simply because her mother was of Arabic descent (one of many details that was repeated so often that it became annoying). 

I did like the fact that even though this was the second book in the series, I was able to enjoy it as a stand-alone. I assume that two of Daniel's friends are from the first book, but they were just there as background characters, so you didn't need to know too much about their story for their presence to make sense. There were also a lot of cute moments between them that didn't feel as forced, which I think will cause other readers to enjoy this one even more than I did. I would read more from this author. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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                                      How Not to Marry a Duke is available on Amazon.com

                                               (for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited)