skaurgo's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
2sweet2kahill's review
4.0
A duke with a past who cannot keep his eyes or thoughts off his new housekeeper? I'll take two, please. The Duke Starts a Scandal is the last book in the amazing Duke Hunt series by Sophie Jordan, and it knocked them all out of the water for me. Jordan thoughtfully plays with reversing certain gender roles for the era, all while showcasing the escapist steam fest we all read Regency for. The yearning between these two is top shelf, and I was truly impressed by the growth that both Susanna and Lucian went through to reach their HEA. Please give this one a go if you're not quite the Bridgeton type but want to try out a little Regency love.
chandelierskies's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
totsfions's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Listen, this cover is incredible but nothing remotely akin to the cover happens in the book. I thought there were some strong character archetypes in here, but nothing interesting happened with them. I just wanted more.
Spoiler
I was really excited that Lucian was a former sex worker, because you basically never see male sex workers in m/f historical romance (or in m/f romance generally), but that part of his character was hugely under-explored. Especially considering the circumstances that led him to it.fsoderberg's review
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Enjoyed the first 2/3rds but the slow burn turned into insta-love in a way that felt impossible. Great start, pretty disappointing final third.
loverofromance's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨
First Impressions
The Duke Starts a Scandal is the fourth installment in the "Duke Hunt" series. This is a book that I had been highly anticipating and I will admit that I grabbed this one due to the cover. So I did have some expectations but I know this author has gone a bit modernist so I was more apprehensive and I will admit the first half of the book threw me a curveball because I didn't expect in what I got in the second half. There will be some readers where this book will really work for. And if that is the case, then I am really happy for you. However, I am really tired of all this modernism in historical's and what we get in this book turned me off in the end and really affected my overall enjoyment of the story. There are some positive aspects to the story other than some issues I had that kept me invested in the story.
First Line
It was her own fault, she supposed.
Summary
The Duke Starts A Scandal is about two people who couldn't be more opposite from each other. We first have our hero, Duke of Penning, who doesn't get off on the right foot with his housekeep, Susanna Lockhart. Both Susanna and Lucian tolerate each other at first, and even though there are most definitely sparks between them, there is also a huge class difference which only adds to the forbidden to any kind of relationship that they could ever have. But when Susanna is forced to take the duties as his valet, they are forced into a more intimate setting with each other and having to face up to their hearts....but will they end up fighting for each other or letting their love go due to the scandal that would ensue?
What I Loved
There were most definitely fabulous aspects of the story that I truly enjoyed here. The "Meet Cute" that happens between these two was just delightful. It honestly had P&P vibes to it. I really loved their bantering and how they help each other even when they aren't getting along. And then we have the whole mistaken identity aspect with Lucien which was a bit glossed over, but wasn't really needed to be further explained. It wasn't the focus of the story of any of the conflicts that build. However, I can see this aspect being an issue for some readers. Then we have the bickering between Lucien and Susanna and its highly entertaining. The way that they interact is just delightful. They are both so proud in their positions and have such strong spirits and it creates for some fun atmosphere. Then we also have the side story with Lucien's sister falling for his valet who gets injured. And yeah the fallout of that was so lively and had me laughing all over the place. The humor that is placed within this story is magnifique and you can definitely feel this author's witty style that has been there since she started writing.
What I Struggled With
Alright so this is the difficult part because this was a ARC copy so I really struggle with delivering the negative elements, but it needs to be said. So first off the first 60% of the book is AWESOME and will really engage the reader. So no worries there. However, the last 40% of the book is a huge flop and I am not sure where the author was going with this second half of the story. But the romance just fell apart when it didn't need to. There were other factors that come into play that I truly think affected the quality of the relationship being developed. This is also where some of the "modernists" aspects get placed and I don't think authors realize that when they get a bit preachy in these topics in their stories, how much it affects their stories and it completely turned me off. But lets be frank, the romance fizzled completely out and it was so disappointing. This couple had such promise and it faltered and it made me so sad because of how much I fell hard for the first half of the story and the two couples. Now also, I do think Lucien's sister and the valet could have had more focus in their parts. It felt a bit too vague and not enough focus. There could have been more attention brought to them without detracting from the primary couple of Lucian and Susanna. Now also there was no satisfying end to Lucian's sister. None at all. All we see is that they end up married. So we go from him wanting to kill his valet, to suddenly being happy. There was no evolement or storyline on the progression of that change. We also had a weird scene with Susanna's aunts who are in a f/f relationship. Now I don't have problems with this other than the fact that it didn't felt evolved with the story. It felt like it was placed there for diversity points and nothing else. There needs to be more connection with characters and a story and not just one scene and the focus of that scene being their sexual preference. It just felt so oddly placed and didn't fit with the rest of the story at all. I would have liked to see more connection of the aunts to the rest of the story so that it was a smoother transition but also would have delivered more dimension overall.
Overall View
The Duke Starts a Scandal was a story that although not perfect, delivered on the humor, fun situations and easy characters you can get behind and want to cheer for. A solid finale to the Duke Hunt series.
Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance/ Time-Victorian England
Character Types: Dukes, Housekeeper(Servant)
Themes: Class Difference
Tropes: Rags to Riches, Opposites Attract, Forced Proximity
Book Perspective
3rd POV
Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
A Mix of both
Recommendation For Reading Order
You can read as a standalone
Steam/Spice Explanations
Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨
First Impressions
The Duke Starts a Scandal is the fourth installment in the "Duke Hunt" series. This is a book that I had been highly anticipating and I will admit that I grabbed this one due to the cover. So I did have some expectations but I know this author has gone a bit modernist so I was more apprehensive and I will admit the first half of the book threw me a curveball because I didn't expect in what I got in the second half. There will be some readers where this book will really work for. And if that is the case, then I am really happy for you. However, I am really tired of all this modernism in historical's and what we get in this book turned me off in the end and really affected my overall enjoyment of the story. There are some positive aspects to the story other than some issues I had that kept me invested in the story.
First Line
It was her own fault, she supposed.
Summary
The Duke Starts A Scandal is about two people who couldn't be more opposite from each other. We first have our hero, Duke of Penning, who doesn't get off on the right foot with his housekeep, Susanna Lockhart. Both Susanna and Lucian tolerate each other at first, and even though there are most definitely sparks between them, there is also a huge class difference which only adds to the forbidden to any kind of relationship that they could ever have. But when Susanna is forced to take the duties as his valet, they are forced into a more intimate setting with each other and having to face up to their hearts....but will they end up fighting for each other or letting their love go due to the scandal that would ensue?
What I Loved
There were most definitely fabulous aspects of the story that I truly enjoyed here. The "Meet Cute" that happens between these two was just delightful. It honestly had P&P vibes to it. I really loved their bantering and how they help each other even when they aren't getting along. And then we have the whole mistaken identity aspect with Lucien which was a bit glossed over, but wasn't really needed to be further explained. It wasn't the focus of the story of any of the conflicts that build. However, I can see this aspect being an issue for some readers. Then we have the bickering between Lucien and Susanna and its highly entertaining. The way that they interact is just delightful. They are both so proud in their positions and have such strong spirits and it creates for some fun atmosphere. Then we also have the side story with Lucien's sister falling for his valet who gets injured. And yeah the fallout of that was so lively and had me laughing all over the place. The humor that is placed within this story is magnifique and you can definitely feel this author's witty style that has been there since she started writing.
What I Struggled With
Alright so this is the difficult part because this was a ARC copy so I really struggle with delivering the negative elements, but it needs to be said. So first off the first 60% of the book is AWESOME and will really engage the reader. So no worries there. However, the last 40% of the book is a huge flop and I am not sure where the author was going with this second half of the story. But the romance just fell apart when it didn't need to. There were other factors that come into play that I truly think affected the quality of the relationship being developed. This is also where some of the "modernists" aspects get placed and I don't think authors realize that when they get a bit preachy in these topics in their stories, how much it affects their stories and it completely turned me off. But lets be frank, the romance fizzled completely out and it was so disappointing. This couple had such promise and it faltered and it made me so sad because of how much I fell hard for the first half of the story and the two couples. Now also, I do think Lucien's sister and the valet could have had more focus in their parts. It felt a bit too vague and not enough focus. There could have been more attention brought to them without detracting from the primary couple of Lucian and Susanna. Now also there was no satisfying end to Lucian's sister. None at all. All we see is that they end up married. So we go from him wanting to kill his valet, to suddenly being happy. There was no evolement or storyline on the progression of that change. We also had a weird scene with Susanna's aunts who are in a f/f relationship. Now I don't have problems with this other than the fact that it didn't felt evolved with the story. It felt like it was placed there for diversity points and nothing else. There needs to be more connection with characters and a story and not just one scene and the focus of that scene being their sexual preference. It just felt so oddly placed and didn't fit with the rest of the story at all. I would have liked to see more connection of the aunts to the rest of the story so that it was a smoother transition but also would have delivered more dimension overall.
Overall View
The Duke Starts a Scandal was a story that although not perfect, delivered on the humor, fun situations and easy characters you can get behind and want to cheer for. A solid finale to the Duke Hunt series.
Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance/ Time-Victorian England
Character Types: Dukes, Housekeeper(Servant)
Themes: Class Difference
Tropes: Rags to Riches, Opposites Attract, Forced Proximity
Book Perspective
3rd POV
Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
A Mix of both
Recommendation For Reading Order
You can read as a standalone
Steam/Spice Explanations
Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
diagnosedromantic's review
4.0
The Duke Starts a Scandal is the fourth book in Sophie Jordan’s The Duke Hunt series. After reading The Scoundrel Falls Hard I was really excited to read this one. It did not disappoint. I definitely rate this at 4 stars.
First off, the secrets and backstories for Lucien and Susanna were excellent. No spoilers but I was really surprised by the direction this story went in and really enjoyed this tiny departure from the rest of the series.
Luckily, since there aren’t many tie-ins with the other books this can be read as a stand-alone (but you should really go read the rest of the series because it’s really good).
The trope of the housekeeper/boss dynamic gets me every time, but I do love that they took their time here. Overall I enjoyed this a lot and would absolutely recommend!
4/5 stars
2.5/5 spice
Thank you to Sophie Jordan and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
First off, the secrets and backstories for Lucien and Susanna were excellent. No spoilers but I was really surprised by the direction this story went in and really enjoyed this tiny departure from the rest of the series.
Luckily, since there aren’t many tie-ins with the other books this can be read as a stand-alone (but you should really go read the rest of the series because it’s really good).
The trope of the housekeeper/boss dynamic gets me every time, but I do love that they took their time here. Overall I enjoyed this a lot and would absolutely recommend!
4/5 stars
2.5/5 spice
Thank you to Sophie Jordan and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
cakt1991's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I admit to feeling a lot of reticence when I saw the premise of The Duke Starts a Scandal. Sophie Jordan is a very hit-or-miss author for me anyway, and this series has not been her best in terms of quality. And then there’s the fact that many books involving dukes (or peers in general) and servants are chock-full of problematic power dynamics, which while historically accurate, are not fun to read about in a romance published in the present day. But I was intrigued by the concept, as I tend to look more favorably on fictional dukes who weren’t born and bred for the position.
And it’s like Sophie Jordan took all my notes about these issues into account when crafting the characters. Lucian’s beginnings were not merely humble, but hardscrabble, and he struggles with the repercussions of that as he adjusts to his new role. And I like that, unlike some other stories, which make the heroes hard-edged killers, the secrets of his past expose the complex double standards and hypocrisies of “Polite” Society when it comes to one’s sexual expression.
In this regard, he has a lot in common with Susanna, who also was disgraced for losing her virtue to a youthful infatuation. Both have become cynical, believing romance isn’t for them, although Lucian is much more so, in the way this also extends to his overprotectiveness of his sisters.
Lucian and Susanna have great chemistry together, and while it’s a slower burn than I feel used to in most of Jordan’s work, it absolutely suits their dynamic. The will-they, won’t-they tension is palpable, and I love how determined Lucian is to behave properly, and it’s ultimately Susanna who makes the first move (albeit not out of the most pure intentions), and she retains her agency throughout.
Lucian’s sisters, Mattie and Evie, are fabulous supporting characters, and I loved how they tried to meddle in Lucian and Susanna’s romance. There’s also a side romance between Mattie and Lucian’s valet, but it is very much connected to the conflict of the main romance, given the stakes are so similar, with Lucian simultaneously objecting to both for the same reasons, and him opening his heart to Susanna also enables him to loosen up about his sisters.
This is a wonderful read, redeeming a rather “meh” series overall, as well as being Sophie’s Jordan’s second consecutive 5-star book for me (after The Countess earlier this year).I’d recommend this to historical romance readers, especially if you like the boss/employee trope.
bottleblondebookworm's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
First off, I love Sophie Jordan. The first three books in the series were amazing and I was very much looking forward to The Duke Starts a Scandal and Susanna’s story. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work for me, and I found myself mainly skimming it to get to the end quicker.
Susanna is the housekeeper for the newly arrived Duke of Penning, Lucian. Lucian and his sisters have recently inherited the title and all that comes with it after living a difficult life. Susanna is young and beautiful and has been working for the previous Duke for over a decade now, since she came to live with her aunt after a scandal in her hometown. Lucian is immediacy attracted to Susanna, but because of his own past, he was a sex worker in order to provide for his family and secure proper education and housing for his sisters, he is very rigid about society rules and expectations. Everything he has done and will do is to protect his sisters. I wish his past was explored more once he shared everything with Susanna.
The romance felt off beat and rushed. Everything happens for the couple in the last 80% of the book, and I didn’t feel like the build up to it worked. Most of the romance and the side plots of blackmail and sister drama were predictable and, if I’m completely honest, boring.
I did really enjoy Lucian’s sisters and their scheming ways to get Lucien and Susanna together! However, aside from this they aren’t all that relevant to the story and I’d have liked to see more of them considering how important they are to Lucian. I also felt Mattie’s, one of the sisters, side story wasn’t needed and didn’t add much to the plot.
I think this could have been a great romance if the pacing had been better and if some of the themes had been explored in a different manner. I still love Sophie Jordan and look forward to future books, but this one wasn’t for me, sadly.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary arc. All opinions are my own.
emilyheathbar's review
4.5
Susanna Lockhart has seen 4 dukes since she began working for the family of the Duke of Penning 11 years before, but none have been as handsome or unsettling as Lucian. After fleeing scandal and ruin, Susanna came to the duke's household to work with her aunt and was able to work her way up to housekeeper at the very young age of 28. Though Susanna knows that she is competent and very good at her job, she has a sense that the new duke is unhappy with her and is on the verge of throwing her from her home and sanctuary.
When Lucian unexpectedly inherited a dukedom, he knew he had to bury his scandalous past and the life he had to live to survive. In order to do his duty to the estate and provide a good life for his beloved sisters, Lucian must live above reproach and scandal...no matter how beautiful and tempting he finds his housekeeper. Try as he might, Lucian isn't sure he's strong enough to stay away...
The Duke Starts a Scandal marks the end of the Duke Hunt series and it is by far my favorite of the bunch. Having read the rest of the series, I do think this could be read as a stand alone without issues. The first two chapters summarize everything you need to know pretty well,
This book is a perfect example of what Sophie Jordan does best, writing a very fraught very sexy relationship and her particular brand of arrogant asshole hero. Her work really shines when she focuses tightly around the couple without a lot of extraneous plot or secondary characters, and The Duke Starts a Scandal definitely delivers that for me. I do wish we got a little more pay off and resolution in the final conflict between Susanna and the problems of her past, but overall this was a great ending to the series!
When Lucian unexpectedly inherited a dukedom, he knew he had to bury his scandalous past and the life he had to live to survive. In order to do his duty to the estate and provide a good life for his beloved sisters, Lucian must live above reproach and scandal...no matter how beautiful and tempting he finds his housekeeper. Try as he might, Lucian isn't sure he's strong enough to stay away...
The Duke Starts a Scandal marks the end of the Duke Hunt series and it is by far my favorite of the bunch. Having read the rest of the series, I do think this could be read as a stand alone without issues. The first two chapters summarize everything you need to know pretty well,
This book is a perfect example of what Sophie Jordan does best, writing a very fraught very sexy relationship and her particular brand of arrogant asshole hero. Her work really shines when she focuses tightly around the couple without a lot of extraneous plot or secondary characters, and The Duke Starts a Scandal definitely delivers that for me. I do wish we got a little more pay off and resolution in the final conflict between Susanna and the problems of her past, but overall this was a great ending to the series!