When I first began reading this story I wasn't sure if I would end up liking it or not. At first I thought that Arabella would end up with the Duke, Graham, because he had money and because he'd promise to help her and her family. That it'd be a relationship begun through convenience that would change to love over the course of the story. Or at least that was the impression that the blurb gave me. And I'll be honest and say that I'm pretty glad that that wasn't what happened. I think that that would have been a little bit too cliche. I really loved the romance between Arabella and Graham. How their first meeting was purely by accident, and how they both believed that the other would be the answer to their problems. But they weren't. Which I thought was great. I liked that the challenge to reclaim their money wasn't straightforward and that they both had to help each other to do so. I really like it when a romance has elements of action and some other plot that changes and challenges the characters. I thought that this was a really fun, exciting, gripping, easy to read romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. ( )

I tend to really like Darcy's book however this one I didn't find as enjoyable. Not that I didn't like just not my favorite. So we meet Graham who unfortunately inherited a title along with a whole lot of debt, so he needs to marry for money so he needs an heiress. Unfortunately for him he meets Arabella and they are attracted to each other but her family also needs money and she also needs to marry for money, so these two try to ignore their feelings for each to try and help out their family, but will they be able to do so? And can they really turn off those feelings?

rcvd an ARc at no cost to author..(netgalley) Voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions ( )

Such a great story! Two really likable main characters are thrown into a difficult situation through others bad decisions. It has excellent plot execution with a bit of mystery. Great character development of both main and secondary characters. The secondary characters are memorable and I hope they have their own stories to tell!

I received a copy for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

Such a great story! Two really likable main characters are thrown into a difficult situation through others bad decisions. It has excellent plot execution with a bit of mystery. Great character development of both main and secondary characters. The secondary characters are memorable and I hope they have their own stories to tell!

I received a copy for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

Determined? Yes. Spitfire? Not so much.

This first in Darcy Burke's new series, The Spitfire Society, just didn't grab me. I quite liked Graham Kingsley, the new seventh Duke of Halstead, as the unacknowledged relative who became a Duke only to find everything mortgaged to the hilt. There is a deeper story behind this, but it's like looking through a dusty pane of glass trying to pull it all together. The former Duke had not only gambled heavily but had made suspect investments that never came through. Graham has to marry an heiress to bring everything about.
Arabella Stoke is in the same boat. Her father's gambling habits and less than stellar investments means she has to marry for money to save the family's fortunes.
Of course they fall for each other. However this is expressed in chancy illicit liaisons in doubtful places, not in declarations of love and marriage. It seems Arabella Stoke has had her previous moments of anticipation but too me it's all a bit too Thoroughly Modern Milly for the times.
Together Graham and Arabella pursue the identity of the swindler who'd beguiled their desperate relatives into ruin and things come to a HEA if somewhat differently to what they'd anticipated. The getting there is painful (for the characters and me as the reader). Despite the foundation for more depth, in the end I found the story somewhat thin.

A NetGalley ARC ( )