Review - - Good Duke Gone Wild

Good Duke Gone Wild

by Bethany Bennett

Bluestocking Booksellers - Book 1

Publisher: Forever

Release Date: August 20, 2024

Reviewed by PJ

Dorian Whitaker, Duke of Holland, needs an heir after his so-called “fairytale marriage” ended in disaster. When the intriguing bookseller he’s hired to liquidate his late wife’s library finds love letters revealing an affair, he is drawn into a mystery alongside a lady whose sharp intellect dazzles him and dares him to imagine a new adventure outside the gilded cage of the Ton.

If anyone found out Caroline Danvers writes erotic novels under a pen name, she’d face utter ruin. Except her latest hero inspiration is none other than the Duke of Holland—a man with the power to destroy her family’s bookshop. And yet the real man proves to be so much more than the character she created. Even as they expose the dark secrets of his past, she knows he can never discover her own. But the more time they spend together, the more tempting it is to rewrite their ending and turn fantasy into reality.

PJ's Thoughts:

She had me at bluestocking booksellers. But then she upped the ante with a complex hero who reads, enjoys, and encourages his friends to purchase the erotic novels secretly written by the bookseller heroine (before he knows she's the author). A smitten duke who openly reads erotic novels - don't call them dirty - written by the woman with whom he's smitten. I mean, come on, does it get any better than that? 

Bethany Bennett is fast becoming one of my favorite historical romance authors. Her storytelling abilities fully immerse me within her books while her flawed, relatable, fully-explored characters engage both my mind and my affections. I love that both Caro and Dorian have life experience. It gives them depth; makes them more interesting. I especially appreciate the fact that Caro knows her own value and I love that Dorian falls for her exactly how she is without wanting to change her. I fell hard for both of them. They are such a genuinely likable couple I couldn't help but root for them to overcome the obstacles in their path and find their happily ever after.

The supporting cast surrounding them shines. Caro's cousins are an absolute delight. The wit. The humor. The heart. I couldn't get enough of them. The ride-or-die, tell-it-like-it-is love and support among these three women is everything. I'm eager to discover what happened in Hattie's past and I can't be the only one who noticed the chemistry between Constance and Dorian's best friend, Oliver, Earl of Southwyn. Keeping my fingers crossed for that possibility!

There's a mystery here too that helps bring Dorian and Caro together, giving them a common goal and allowing their relationship to deepen as they work together to search out clues and uncover duplicity. The cousins also get involved and without getting into spoiler territory, let me just agree with Dorian that yes, booksellers can indeed be dangerous creatures. ;-) There may have been both laughter and cheers while reading that particular scene. Also, huzzah for epilogues that deliver gleefully horrific karma to deserving villains.