I really enjoyed this one. I don't read a lot of historical romance but I liked the play on the characters here. They sort of make fun of themselves and I love the idea of a bumbling duke who takes himself entirely too seriously falling in love with a "scandalous" woman who isn't at all.

Lash needs to let loose and I love that he brave enough to ask for help in trying. This is a fun book and sexy. ( )

This series has exceed my expectations over the last year. Each installment has been entertaining, with endearing heroines and engaging heroes. I don't think I have rated any of them less than 4 stars, and I know one or two got 5 stars. So I highly recommend this series to historical romance fans. Megan Frampton is on my auto-buy list (for those times I am not lucky enough to snag an advanced readers' copy).

As you know from the earlier books, the series revolves around women who have been the subject of scandal or fallen on difficult times. Lady Margaret Sawford sits on the outer edge of propriety, having refused her parent's choice for a husband, and penning a serial under the nomme de plume "A Lady of Mystery." Only she is not so mysterious now, and she has revealed herself as the mysterious lady in question.

She appreciated alliteration, even in the throes of committing some shocking scandalous sin. Of some sort.

Having been cut off from her parents, Margaret gambles at the card table not only to support herself, but also to support her cause - helping less fortunate women. I really liked and identified with Margaret. I identified with her in her frustrations that women of the time had so little power. I admired that she was willing to eschew societal norms and make a go of it on her own. And I was so happy for her to find her HEA with someone at the upper echelons of the society who viewed her as scandalous.

Megan Frampton is good at writing heroes that are outside of the norm for their position in society... from the virginal un-earl-y hero in [b:When Good Earls Go Bad: A Victorian Valentine's Day Novella|22495005|When Good Earls Go Bad A Victorian Valentine's Day Novella (Dukes Behaving Badly, #1.5)|Megan Frampton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1416882640s/22495005.jpg|41941524] to a one-eyed piratical and proper duke full of repressed emotion and socially awkward to the extreme. I just loved the Duke of Lasham. As Margaret points out early on,

she just appreciated a large gentleman much more than a smaller-sized one. There was just something so primally apealing about wide shoulders, great height, and a broad chest.

But it wasn't his dashing and piratical good looks that got to me... because he was about as far from a pirate as you could get. He was so damn endearing that my heart swelled. I totally got his social awkwardness - a lot of us bookish people can probably identify with this characteristic. I hated that he didn't know how to be happy, or do anything for himself. He was all about his great responsibilities to those around him. While it made him honorable and a good person - it also caused him to feel very alone. They say opposites attract, and that saying definitely proved true with Lash and Margaret.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars / 3 flames. ( )

3/3.5 Stars | Hot Steam

One look at that smoking hot piratical duke on the cover of ONE-EYED DUKES ARE WILD, and I leapt at the chance to read Margaret and Lasham’s fun, seductive and unexpected story!

Accustomed to cocksure, larger-than-life and overtly sexual alpha-male heroes commanding their way around town and their willing women, it was delightful to read a hero so entirely opposite from the norm. Handsome, smart and big-hearted, Lasham is a very likable character who sympathetically struggles with social awkwardness, personal loneliness and repression. Fatigued and frustrated with always having to be an upstanding and respectable leader in society, it’s no wonder that Margaret’s refreshingly progressive, audacious and alluring presence tempts him to daringly explore her own unique kind of adventure. Their unconventional and nicely heated courtship gave me hours of steamy entertainment and made me long for my own sizzling, scarred and stifled Duke to unravel! Because, for all of Lasham’s public floundering and shyness, behind closed doors that man is on fire! Intense, ravenous and oh so talented, Lasham positively burns it down. Margaret is one VERY lucky lady!

Not only did I enjoy this pleasing romance, I am also thrilled to have finally experienced Megan Frampton’s sharp and talented writing and eagerly look forward to reading more of her novels in the future!

Complimentary copy provided in exchange for an honest review. ( )