Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean
Bareknuckle Bastards #3

This is a series I highly recommend reading in order. It's all built up over time in the 3 books and Grace and Ewan both are in the previous stories a bit. You will have a better appreciation for everything that happens in this book with reading Wicked and the Wallflower and Brazen and the Beast first. Devil and Whit are in this story as well. Felicity and Hattie also make appearances but very short.

Grace, Devil (from book 1), Whit (from book 2), and Ewan were all born the same night. Devil, Whit, and Ewan were born illegitimately to the Duke of Marwick's mistresses. Grace was born to the duchess but the duke is not her father. The duke brings them all together and creates an unbelievable hell for them. Grace, Devil and Whit escape to Covent Garden and create their own kingdom there, always fearful of the reach of the Duke. For twenty years Devil and Whit protect Grace from what Ewan has become.

Grace has created her own empire catering to the desires of women. She has her own club she runs that creates fantasy and desire for the females longing for some power of their own. She knows she can't trust Ewan. She knows she should hate him. She knows she wants revenge.

I was worried Grace was going to take it too far in this book. For those that read The Day of the Duchess, I was worried she would be similar to the heroine from that book and demand everything and take take take and barely allow any reconciliation. I was SO happy that wasn't the case here. I felt like MacLean did a great job of enabling me to feel Grace's longing from the past but also her fear and hesitancy with her interactions with Ewan.

Ewan I LOVED in the beginning. He has thought Grace dead and when he has the barest hint she's alive he rips a door off its hinges to get to her. I was covered in goosebumps reading that. I adore a hero like that. Yes! I loved his longing. I was ready to forgive him right away. He would do anything for Grace. Anything. And I felt that and loved it.

I loved so much about this book. I love how MacLean writes so much emotion and in their head feelings. I get so caught up in the emotions, the angst, the anger from the past, the insecurity of what will happen, but throughout this whole book I did feel the love. This a love that overcomes any obstacle.

I rather wish the cover showed Grace in her preferred attire of corset, pants, and thigh high boots. I think that would have been beautiful and fit her personality more. I can't say I was super in love with Grace. I didn't dislike her though. I really liked Ewan. There is an ''all is lost scene” before Ewan goes to the Duke's estate and it really did touch my heart. My heart that I was pretty sure was dead because I haven't felt a single twinge in any book I've read in the past few months. I really am thinking I am just in a funk but the second half the book slid a bit for me. I didn't find myself unable to put the book down and it took me a few days to finish. Yet I can't pinpoint exactly what was lacking for me. I plan on rereading this series at some point in the future and maybe I will enjoy it more. I think Devil's story is actually my favorite, though I've enjoyed them all. If you don't like the f word, may want to skip this book. (I love it!)

Thank you netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own regarding this story.