This is another charmer in the Taming of the Dukes series, this time a spin on Emma/Clueless. Vesper is the picture perfect daughter of a Duke, and a previous diamond of the season. No one can truly deny her charms, until her childhood love, Aspen, Duke of Greydon, returns to London after an extended research trip to the Americas. The pair can't quite patch over the misunderstandings that defined their interactions in their adolescent years, but Vesper is still willing to help Greydon find a match for his ward, if only to show off her matchmaking prowess. Meanwhile, Aspen has returned to solve the mystery of his father's incapacitation and death, all while working to pass a new law that will aim to protect against asylum patients from suffering his father's fate. Of course, to meet those goals, Aspen will require the assistance of Vesper's father, bringing the two former friends into close proximity in more ways than one.

I say this every time, but I just adore this series. The spin on classic stories is so much fun, especially as you get to pick up on the Easter egg references to the source material (e.g.,

Vesper helping with documents and her father's solicitor yelling at her a la Cher in Clueless

). It makes for a very entertaining time.

As I read the series out of order, I had a decent grasp on Vesper as a character and knew there was more to her than meets the eye. I appreciated getting to know her as a fully fleshed out character here, particularly the focus on how she viewed herself and her perceived inadequacies. It humanized her in a very real way, making the "perfect future duchess" persona more relatable overall. 

Aspen makes for a wonderful foil to Vesper. He so clearly wants to be anywhere but a society event, but understands he must fulfill his duties if he ever wants to clear his father's name. His dedication to that goal is a commendable character trait, and his heartache makes him the perfect "But I can fix him!" kind of swoony lead.

I think this is probably ranked third for me of the series, if only because the miscommunication trope is hard for me to love. While used in many books, including the other two in the series, this one was the one where I felt like I was sighing, "JUST ASK HIM/HER," over and over. But with two well-defined leads in Vesper and Aspen, an entertaining story, and a lot of heart, there's enough here to recommend despite any misgivings I may have had.