It was a cute historical romance novel. However, I became bored quite early stage. The writing is not as good as popular authors in this genre. You need to have something special, different from other authors to break into this already crowded genre.

I loved this story. I thought Daphne and Paul were a great match from the very beginning. Paul was a bit hard in himself for the thing he did while he was hurting from his father’s treatment. I don’t like how they threw into the story Paul true father. I felt there was enough going on with that

A fabulous historical enemies to lovers story, and the redemption story to our dark hero is phenomenal! I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out how it was all going to work out, but the ending was great! Fabulous chemistry. Great couple. Great storyline!

A good love story that you can curl up to read on a lazy Sunday. Exiting twists and turns keep you turning the pages till the very end.

The characters and emotions of this story really draw in the reader. Daphne was very obviously devoted to Paul and it was so touching to see the extent of her feelings for him. And Paul's character was perfectly dangerous - like the historical "bad boy." The story line ended up getting a little cliched towards the end for me but overall it was a sweet and romantic story and I enjoyed it! I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series this month.

The Good, the Bad, and the Duke by Janna MacGregor- Both this series and this book are totally delightful. The characters are very relatable. There’s a depth to the storyline that makes this a page-turner. Highly recommend this series and this book for historical romance fans.

I am a sucker for Christmas-themed romance, and this is a pleasant one. The plot here is relatively novel for the sub-sub genre of Christmas historicals: it's Home Alone! The heroine has been left behind accidentally while the rest of her family celebrates Christmas away from London, because Christmas in London is just hilariously unfashionable I guess. With naught but servants to guard her honor, she ropes a local bad boy into protecting her for Christmas. The hero is the foil from previous books in this series (which I have not read, I picked this out solely for the Xmas Sexmas factor) and this is his redemption story.

Unfortunately the similarities to a modern classic film stop after the left-behind plot, for the conflict in the story is sadly not based on comedic booby traps, it is based on a rather lame stolen-diary plot. The heroine is TSTL enough to not only write down facts which would RUIN her family if they got out, and then just twit around with it in her handbag all day, so it gets stolen. The hunt for the diary requires H and h to squirrel around town at disreputable and sexy spots, and spend all sorts of compromising time with each other, and fall in love etc. etc.

I feel like this one was stretched to pass the 300 page mark to get the full ebook price out of buyers, because the plot was a bit too thin and pushed to really work. Would have made a more charming novella with the dumb diary plot removed and more focus on natural H/h interplay. Still worth a read if you're jonsing for that Christmas historical fix.

Janna MacGregor created a scenario I'd never read about in Regency HEAs. I enjoyed this fresh look at the spinster sister. Don't leave this one behind!!

This book, like its title, has the good, the bad, and well, of course the duke.

The good:
I enjoyed the book enough to want to read the others (the previous ones) in this series;
and did like the story of redemption;
as well as the 'home alone' theme (though felt it was one of those implausible things - see 'bad' below);
liked the sweet, tender romance that made it's way into the story part of the times;
and breakings and mendings and friendships as well.

The bad(or well, not so good):
It was not unputdownable, as in I did not mind putting it down and definitely was not in a hurry to get back to it;
It's wordiness was a bit much;
and well, though it is fiction, some things were still implausible

Overall, a good HR but not my favorite in this series.

disclaimer: thank you to NetGalley for the original digital review copy (i ended up reading a library copy for this review)

It’s Christmas and Lady Daphne is ready to celebrate but her family leaves her home alone. She decides to use her time to work on her dream of opening a home for unwed mothers. Soon she is battling the family nemesis for the same property and her diary is stolen. Daphne has always had feelings for the Duke of Southart in spite of her family’s scorn for him. They make a deal to work together to find the diary and change her family’s opinion of him. Is love the answer of are they doomed? A well written and enjoyable story from Janna MacGregor

I enjoy Janna’s style of storytelling - and this story was great! Loved the characters and the emotional ending.

I read this book some time ago and do not remember how I felt during reading it. I would not be able to give it a proper review. I did give this book 4 stars on GoodReads.

Loved the characters and different storyline then most historical books. Definitely addressed issues back then and helped set the stage of life back then

This one was absolutely my favorite of the series. I loved Paul. He was sweet and kind and should be protected at all costs. Daphne was a good heroine, I liked her in the previous books and I liked her here. But for me this book is all about Paul. I hated that he had so little self worth and was glad he had Daphne to help him realize how wonderful he is. I also loved the kitten. I really hated the nickname Moonbeam though.

Lovely writing and swoon worthy romance!! I loved every second of this. I will be reading more from this author for sure!

I started reading this book and sort of unintentionally moved on to other reads--I haven't been in as much of a mood to read historical romance for a while, so I probably shouldn't have requested this at the moment.. It's honestly the perfect Christmas historical romance read, though! I'd definitely recommend it to readers of historical romance who can't get enough of Christmas books--especially spins on Christmas movies (Home Alone).

Previously having read the story of Lady Daphne's best friend and her brother, I was excited to see how her story would end. I was pleasantly surprised at the storyline and how everything unfolded. Sometimes the ones you think are bad, are just good guys lost and needing the right person to help them see more of themselves.

I have not read the other three previous books, and I didn't need to. I liked this book and I plan to go back and read the others. I really enjoyed the concept of the protagonist left behind by her family with time to figure out what she wants to do with her life. I also liked the redeemed main love.

This is book four of the series, and while it helped immensely having read the first three books, I suppose it isn’t entirely necessary. The author has such a tangled web of characters that familiarity helps.

I’m in the minority and not usually a fan of “reformed bad boy” stories, but something about our hero’s backstory drew me in. The heroine’s determination to stand by her man was a pleasant surprise as well, especially after I found her to have little depth in the first half of the book.

The biggest surprise of all is that this is a story of grief. Whether losing the loved one to a prolonged death or a shocking suicide, this story deals with how those deaths affect those left behind. And it’s not always pretty: there’s plenty of anger and guilt and regret and angst. But that made the story all the more real to me.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The Good, the Bad and the Duke by Janna Macgregor
Series: The Cavensham Heiresses #4
Subgenre: Regency historical romance
Release date: 27 Nov 2018
Publisher: St Martin’s Paperbacks
Format: ebook and print
Length: 364 pages
RRP: $6.28 (ebook); $14.99 (print)
She is not sure what she needs but he was originally on her list.
Lady Daphne Hallworth was left behind when the family went their separate ways to the country for Christmas. She realises that it will take days before they realise she is not at either her mother’s or her brother’s country estates. She is able to ask one of the footmen to stay and he brings his mother as company. When she is out, Daphne tries to do a good deed, and her journal is stolen. All of her attempts to get the journal back are stymied, even to the point of entering a place of ill repute.
Lord Paul Barstowe, who was a second son and disliked by his father, has become the new Duke of Southart. He has been trying to clean up his reputation in memory of his brother, but his deceased father always seems to have one more taunt left. Paul was friends with Daphne’s brother and a series of circumstances lead to a rift between the pair. Paul crosses paths with Daphne in the club. He remembers her as being kind, and is willing to help her, if she helps him re-construct his friendship with her brother.
Daphne and Paul try to have the journal returned but do not meet with much success. Daphne is afraid that entries in the journal, ones she has written very honestly, will be front page news in the gossip papers, and so this comes to pass. Eventually, they are able to restore things to the way they should be.
I have really been enjoying the stories I have read so far in this series, and this book is no exception. The idea that the lady was left behind in the family’s haste to remove to the country, was an interesting start to the book. Daphne trying to hide in the open in a place of ill repute was also a good concept. It really throws the couple together to problem solve to save reputations.
I do need to go back to the beginning and read more about some of the characters who appear in these later stories. I think I would find them all very interesting heroines and heroes.
reviewed by Heather