A review by allingoodtime
Second Duke's the Charm by Kate Bateman

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is a new-to-me author, but it seems she has more than a few books under her belt at this point. While I enjoyed this story for the most part, I wanted more. I adore the characters. The main characters of Tess and Justin are both unassuming, even if they may not come off that way to those who don’t know them. They are both very much in need of security and go to great lengths to protect themselves, both emotionally and financially. When they first meet, they are fire together. Yet I felt the author let that fall away as the story progressed.

The way these two agree to a marriage of convenience is unique and held a lot of promise. Shortly after their marriage, it seems there is a threat to their lives. Every time one of these dangers appeared, I was disappointed by Justin’s reaction. I could have let that fall away if, when given his POV, it was obvious he wanted to comfort Tess. That wasn’t the case, though. It seemed as though he wanted to find the culprit, but not that he was upset that Tess was traumatized. It was strange and caused the early flame of this relationship to start to peter out for me.

While I liked Justin in many ways, his regard for who and what Tess was was often disparaging. Regardless of her proclivities, even if she had been flitting from bed to bed, the way he spoke of that possibility was crude and degrading at times. He does get called out for it later in the book, but it gave me an icky feeling when it would happen.

As for Tess and her two best friends and their detective agency, that also fell flat. The friends I loved! The relationship these three women have is one of the best things about this story. But the way they went about their investigations left much to be desired and it seemed very hodgepodged together. They didn’t really seem to do much.

This story wasn’t bad, but it didn’t sell me on this author either. Because I do like the other characters I may give the next book a try. I always like giving an author more than one try. We’ll see.

 **I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely** 
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