I loved this. Christy Carlyle is a new author for me and she took a trope I’m getting pretty annoyed with lately— one professional, usually the MMC, plus an FMC who insists they can help with the mystery/adventure/intrigue despite having no applicable skills— and she still made it work for me. I’ve been running into this storyline so often, usually compiled with a hefty dose of misogyny, it makes me want to cry into Susan Lazarus’ skirts. But here, not only is Allie not overly insistent/doesn’t constantly insert herself when real danger is involved, but when she can help, Ben listens. Even when she’s being impulsive, she makes smart decisions. These two reach a lovely balance of partnership and it makes the story work all the better. Plus Allie is wonderfully autistic-coded, and we love the representation. Karen Cass does a solid job with the narration, giving the right inflections. 

Oh and ps, for a book with the word Duke in the title and Prince in the series, there are no dukes or princes directly involved. (He’s nicknamed Duke, her last name is Prince.) I wish HR marketing didn’t think titles are all histrom readers care about— honestly I’m so over dukes, so I was glad it was a misdirect.

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins/Avon and HarperAudio for the ARC and ALC of this book to review.