Advance copy from NetGalley

I have been waiting and waiting for my request for this ARC to be approved, and I was thrilled to finally get a copy this week! Since I started reading the Rogues to Riches series, I’ve really fallen in love with the Wentworth family, but I have a special place in my heart for angry, brilliant, damaged Stephen. I was so looking forward to his book.

I blew through like I usually do with this series, and I found this one extra hard to put down. Abigail and Stephen’s love story was grand, as was the ever-present Wentworth family loyalty. I always love how Jane manages everyone, the scenes with Quinn were great (I might need to reread Quinn and Jane’s book), and I was happy Duncan and Matilda made an appearance or two (although too brief).

The characters in these romances always feel rather modern in their views. I can get on board with it, mostly, since the Wentworths didn’t have a sheltered or conventional childhood, but the open mindedness and relaxed attitude about sex is still surprising. I do appreciate that Burrowes dispenses with drawn out angst, misunderstandings, and secret keeping (so dumb) as tools for creating conflict. Her characters are smart, and they solve problems like adults in a very straightforward way that still keeps me turning pages.
Her acknowledgements make it sound like this is it for the Wentworths, and I’ll sure miss them. ( )

I really enjoyed this, Abigail is a great heroine, and I loved Stephen! Hooray for bisexual/heteroflexible heroes! I picked this up in the hopes of a BBW heroine, but Abigail is just tall, and is supremely confident in herself. There are some great dashes of angst, but it’s not of the fluffy type, so this book will not be going on that shelf. It technically can be read as a standalone, but I think knowing the characters’ backstories would have made this a more enjoyable read.

I am disgusted by the bigoted reviews of this book that spew hate for queer characters - backwards trash whose descendants will be embarrassed of them. ( )

There wasn't anything that I really disliked in this one, I just, didn't feel very invested. The heroine felt a little wooden, the hero was supposed to be charming, but it felt more like those people who are constantly *trying* to be charming, and not quite succeeding. I don't know, I didn't wish them ill or anything, I just didn't feel that attached. I liked catching up with a few of the previous characters though. ( )

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

If you've been a reader of Burrowes' Rogues to Riches series, then you've been anticipating the younger brother Lord Stephen Wentworth's book. The Wentworth family went from living hand-to-mouth to the older brother Quinn (My One and Only Duke) being saved from the gallows and inheriting a dukedom. Their hard knock life has them not quite fitting in with the aristocracy and each sibling's story has reflected that while still placing them in privileged positions. I would suggest not jumping into the series at this book as you'd miss a lot of the Wentworth family dynamic and that directly affects the hows and whys of Stephen's character; you'd be missing a lot of the foundation for this story.

“I have come to ask you to murder me, my lord.”

Miss Abigail Abbott is a character that we meet in the previous book, Stephen's sister Constance's story (The Truth About Dukes). Abigail is an inquiry agent, a sort of private investigator. Having meet Stephen through Constance (they had some crackling tension in the previous book), Abigail thinks he's the perfect person to help her. She thinks there was a failed attempt to poison her and a failed kidnapping of her person. Abigail thinks it's a Lord Stapleton behind the attempts and it's due to some letters his now deceased son wrote Abigail when she was the son's mistress (she didn't know he was married). I'm not sure I ever completely bought into Abigail's idea that she needed to fake her own death to escape Lord Stapleton but it provided a fantastic first line to start the book off and gave a reason for Abigail to be in Stephen's company.

The conundrum of his mental processes, charm juxtaposed with calculation, fascinated Abigail. She was counting on his calculating mind to keep her physically safe, while the charm imperiled her heart.

I've read a good amount of Burrowes' stories and they typically have what I call a babbling brook pace and feel, gradual and gentle. I thought the tempo was different in this one, it felt more like ping pong action. I'd be reading a scene, engaged, and then the scene would cut and the next paragraph would show the characters at a later date thinking back to the scene I had been engaged in but cut out from. It worked for me at times and didn't at others as I thought I was missing out on some scene emotions; instead we get the emotions from inner thoughts from the characters. I'm not sure if my anticipating the babbling brook from Burrowes made this ping pong tempo feel off or if the tempo was off.

Abigail dearest, we all need a little kissing, cuddling, and cavorting. Proving that to you shall be my fondest challenge.

The mystery thread of why Lord Stapleton wanted the letters from Abigail felt thin for a a lot of the story. It takes until the end and revealing of why, for it to make sense but even then I'm not sure the journey we take to get there was supported for three hundred pages. Stephen and Abigail have good byplay but I did think for where I thought they were in their journey to come together that their first bedroom scene came a bit quick, even though it was around 50%. These two definitely have a connection, Abigail doubts her appeal because of her height and size and Stephen doubts his appeal because of his limp (his father broke his leg when he was a child) and vulnerabilities created because of these insecurities brings these two together. They're sweet with a little zip because of Stephen's kind but not always nice and Abigail's calling him on his not always nice but not letting him hide his kindness.

Stephen Wentworth was stealing her heart, and she was helpless to prevent his larceny.

Neither of Stephen's sisters make an appearance, which I did miss and I thought Duncan and Stephen should have had some alone scenes but there was a great breakthrough understanding between Stephen and his brother Quinn. With the ping pong tempo I talked about though, we get the brothers revealing and talking about some things but then after, granted, they do hug, we jump to Quinn with his wife and he has an emotional moment I wish could have been more with Stephen. The Wentworth's are a family that could have overwhelmed Stephen and Abigail's book but I love their dynamic all together that I could have stood for more of them.

She wanted to curl up in his arms and wake up in a world where nobody got in a lather about old letters, and a common inquiry agent could fall in love with a ducal heir.

Stephen was a character that I could read a series on him alone and Abigail had her own deep background, I could also read more about her, but importantly, she did match him. The mystery plot with the letters and how Abigail wanted to fake her own death, which leads to a fake engagement trope, even though these two pretty much admit their feelings are real from the beginning but thinking nothing can come of it, was a little weaker and you'll mostly go along because it keeps our two characters together. I also thought the author created a story that was open about all the bed-hopping that was going on during this time, the extramartial affairs and Stephen's bisexuality. It also looks like we are getting a Ned Wentworth book (boy Quinn adopted) and I am thrilled, especially after his appearances in this. There's always something comforting about visiting a Burrowes' world and family, How to Catch a Duke, will give you those feels. ( )

I never thought I would reach the day when a Grace Burrowes book deserved anything but 5 stars. From the very first book I read, The Heir, I was hooked and have gobbled up her writing. But I have definitely seen a trend over the last few books in both of her series that raised some alarm bells and seemed to come to fruition most spectacularly here. She has created characters with increasingly disturbing pasta and then thrown out their mistakes and sins to the world as if challenging the reader to dare to judge them. By pairing that character with a counterpart who refuses to do so, who, in fact, champions them and excuses their behavior, she seems to seek acceptance for a range of bad behavior (some of which is legitimately understandable in the context of the book, some should take some time to absorb and explain, and others was just wrong).

In the author's bid to legitimize a bisexual lifestyle, she created a plot line that was nothing but a diversion from the primary story. In the end, it turned the tale into a taudry soap opera in which the hero's former lovers, both male and female became lovers themselves. In fact, his former lovers, her former lover, and their former lovers circled throughout the story in a way that made the whole mess cheap, dirty, and disgusting when I can only assume she intended for something "authentic." However, there is nothing at all authentic about casually flirting with or discussing homosexual activity during this period of English history when even the aristocracy could be put to death for it. All it accomplished was creating a perverse, callous hero and heroine that were harder to like the more you got to know them.

Beyond this, the plot line failed from the first paragraph as the idea that Abigail would seek to hide herself away by faking her own death as the solution to the problem facing her is not in keeping with her character and is in no way a rational solution. From there, the theoretically formidable Abigail becomes a difficult character, alternating between self-sufficient and subservient, headstrong and overwhelmed.

Stephen, meanwhile, is difficult to embrace as the hero when he begins the story by spending the night with his mistress before breaking things off with her after he hears her talking of becoming emotionally attached to him. (He is then later chagrinned to learn that she quickly moved on.) And then, of course, his sexual history comes up at every turn. His other youthful indiscretions instead of being part of his pain and character development are blithely brushed off by those not wanting to pass judgement on his earlier excesses. Truly, I can embrace a good rake story, but the rake is supposed to reform (which would indicate some sort of remorse and his exploits should be removed from his everyday life, but this is not the case with Stephen. And, despite his skills and position in the book as the hero, he truly fails to act in any real heroic way other than to accept Abigail despite her height and indiscretions, which is a tiresome refrain. ( )