Review: A Sinful Duke she can't Refuse: A Steamy Historical Regency Romance Novel

A Sinful Duke she can't Refuse: A Steamy Historical Regency Romance Novel by Olivia Bennet
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a tricky review to write. I liked the main characters of "A Sinful Duke She Can't Refuse" and thought that Isabella and Emmanuel seemed like a good fit for each other. I also liked the plot for about the first two-thirds of the book. I thought that Isabella and Emmanuel's courtship was really sweet, the mystery was engaging, and even though we knew who the bad guys were, their motivations remained a mystery to me.

Unfortunately, the last third of the book seemed to fall apart very quickly IMO. These bad guys were just SO dumb! Their motivations became very clear, very quickly, and certainly greed has led to murder many times before, so that part was fine. However, I was really bothered by a number of things. First, there was the fact that Isabella's father decided to bring his steward, Chandler, along to the house party, and the steward then socialized with the others like he was any other invited guest. There was an obvious class divide problem that was not addressed; would a working-class steward really be allowed to socialize with not only his employer, but a duke and his family too? Also, my understanding is that one of a steward's duties was to look after an estate while the landowner was away. Lord Gefferton could possibly have justified bringing Chandler along if he needed his assistance in "conducting business" while at the house party, but even so, I can't figure out why Chandler would have participated in the social events. Additionally, if Gefferton and Chandler were so worried about Emmanuel recognizing Chandler from the events of his youth, it seems like they would have wanted to keep the two men apart, not keep putting them together. That just provided more opportunity for something about Chandler to jog Emmanuel's memory.

Then there was the "big confrontation" at the end of the book. I found it to be completely ridiculous and unbelievable that the entire family, women included, went traipsing along, unarmed, to confront the bad guys. Why would they want to give Chandler and his men the opportunity to take more hostages? Fortunately for them, they survived this encounter because the members of Chandler's gang made such terrible criminals. Not once, not twice, but THREE times they allowed one of the women to walk up to them and just snatch the guns out of their hands. REALLY?

Speaking of Chandler's gang, where did he find these men and what exactly did he promise them in exchange for their help? Was he hiding a secret stash of cash somewhere? It's tough to imagine that he would still have money put away from when Lord Gefferton paid him to steal the jewelry from Emmanuel's parents. The only "ransom" that was requested was a pardon for Chandler; the other gang members would not have received money or anything else in exchange for Isabella's safe return. If Chandler wasn't paying them, what was in it for the other men?

Overall, it's safe to say that this was not my favorite Olivia Bennet book. I would still give her next book a shot, however.

*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

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