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Some Dukes Have All the Luck by Christina Britton is a historic romance with some steam, and the first book in her new Synneful Spinsters series. We follow our two main characters with third-person points-of-view.
Ash Hawkins, aka the Duke of Buckley, had a rough childhood due to his abusive father. He does not wish to marry and pull others into the world of his violent forefathers. However, he needs help raising his three rebellious wards and literally stumbles over the perfect woman. Bronwyn is a twenty four-year-old naturalist whose parents have followed through on their threats to take away her research so she can focus on finding a husband. Accepting the idea that she’d never marry for love, a proposal from Ash would give her a ton of freedom to pursue her entomology projects and perhaps even get published.
This is my first book by the author, but by no means will it be my last because I stayed up really late one night and read this whole book in one sitting. I really love her prose, and I felt for the characters. And shout-out to her for including a note at the beginning of the book to check her website for content warnings. This book has a few hefty ones.
Bronwyn’s friend group, the Oddments, was phenomenal. Since this series follow the “spinsters” of the island, I’m sure we’ll be learning more about them in future installments. I’m particularly excited to read more about parrot-owning proprietress of the island’s lending library. To be completely honest, I kind of ship her with Ash’s co-owner of London gambling den Brimstone.
This book has some nice steam in it. I love the reason that Bronwyn uses to include martial relations in their bargain.
I actively despised Bronwyn’s parents. I’m pleased by her growth throughout this book but wish that her parents had more comeuppance.
I’ve learned a new term that is a trope I’ll be actively seeking in historical romances: bluestocking. It means an intellectual woman, and man I’m so glad to find a new niche that I’m going to inhale.
Tropes in this book include: marriage of convenience, found family, rebellious wards, tortured duke, forced proximity, bluestocking
CW: physical and emotional abuse (off-page, prior to novel, referenced), domestic violence (off-page, prior to novel, referenced), sexual assault (off-page, prior to novel, referenced) parental death (off-page, prior to novel, referenced), bullying (off-page, prior to novel, referenced), toxic relationship with parents
The publisher provided a ebook galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own. Some Dukes Have All the Luck releases on Tuesday, November 8th, 2022.
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