I found it difficult to believe that the hero of this story, Paul, Duke of Southart would deserve a happy ending. He was a bit of a blackguard in previous books but the author made me change my opinion after reading this story. Heartbreakingly romantic with a dash of unrequited love, this is a romance not to be missed. The love scenes between the hero and heroine are sexy and her diary is smoking hot. I would definitely recommend this story.

* I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review*

**2.5 Stars**

I wanted to love this book. Just look at the cover, it’s gorgeous! This was my first novel from Janna MacGregor, and as this is the fourth book in the series, I knew I ran the risk of it not standing alone well. For the most part, I wasn’t lost and I understood, basically, how everyone was related or knew each other. Unfortunately, I spent most of the book either annoyed by the characters or their actions.

Let’s start with the positives: I loved Janna’s use of language. Her descriptions were lovely and the prose was romantic. I can see why so many people enjoy her books and I will absolutely try another one in the future. I also liked how sweet the hero was when he wasn’t super depressed.

Now for the negatives: In general, I’m usually pretty good at suspending my disbelief with historical romance. It’s absolutely fiction, but this story stretched the bounds of my belief a little far. The heroine is left home alone by accident on Christmas (a nod to the iconic holiday movie) and basically uses that as an excuse to prance around by herself the majority of the book and make poor decisions. I like how self-assured the heroine was, but honestly, some of her choices made me want to shake my head, or maybe shake her.

Since I didn’t read the previous novels in the series, I didn’t get a chance to see how “bad” the hero was before he began his redemption arc. To be honest, nothing he did seemed that bad. To me, he was a weird mix of an Eeyore (he was super depressed and had no friends) and a lothario. He switched between these two personalities abruptly, and we spent a little too much time in his head. On top of that, I never really cared about his redemption.

Overall, because I couldn’t enjoy the characters in a character driven story, I didn’t like the book. Luckily, I am in the minority with my opinions about this story. It wasn’t for me, but many, many people enjoyed it.

**I received an ARC of this book in order to provide an honest review**

First time reading Jenna Macgregor and I completely enjoyed reading this book. I love reading Christmas theme books around the holidays especially romance so this book was right up my alley. Lady Daphne Hallworth is left behind on accident in London while her mother and brother leave for Christmas celebrations in different places, each thinking Daphne has gone with the other. I just thought that was hilarious, what more is there left for her to do but to celebrate alone. Paul Barstowe a reformed rake seeking the acceptance of the town is doing everything he can to redeem himself and not fall back into his old rakish habits. It is when Daphne’s journal is stolen, a journal with scandalous secrets that could ruin her family’s reputation, is when the plot thickens and both our hero and heroine work together to retrieve said journal before it falls into the wrong hands ;)
This was a great holiday themed read, many will enjoy it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Europe Comics for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Great read, very well written, I liked it very much
I voluntarily reviewed an Reader Copy of this book which I received through
Netgalley.

Janna MacGregor's books have been consistently well written. In a market that is flooded with Regency romances, her books stand out because the settings are so well described. She really understands how to create a sense of place.

The Cavensham Heiresses Series - Book 4


By Janna MacGregor

St Martin's - December 2018

Historical Romance



Lady Daphne Hallworth knew she wasn't foremost in the thoughts of her family. Her brother was married with children. Her mother had even remarried. However, she never expected to simply be overlooked and left alone in London for Christmas. Oh, she quickly figured out that Alex thought she was with her mother and vice versa, but the pain of being forgotten couldn't be ignored. She could of course either get word to her family or travel there, but she decided that it was time she take control of her own life. She was of an age that she was being considered on the shelf, and she had a passionate desire for a charity. She would use this time as an opportunity.

Paul Barstowe, Duke of Southart, had made a complete disaster of his life. His actions had left him with one friend. He was considered a rake and scoundrel by everyone else. He was determined to try to make amends and put that life behind him. His biggest project was to open a hospital treating rheumatic fever, which had taken his brother and given him the title. In order to do this, he needed his peers to see him in a different light. Unfortunately, his father kept reaching out from the grave to humiliate him by reminding him of his past misdeeds.

As he was attempting to pay off another debt his father had forwarded to him after death, Paul happened to see Daphne in a place no lady should be. She had been out with her journal and it had been stolen. Inside, mere words could create pain and scandal and she was determined to find it. Paul was even more determined to protect Daphne. They made an arrangement, he would help her regain her journal, and she would reciprocate by helping him make amends with her brother. Soon, Paul doesn't just want to rekindle friendship with Alex just to fix past mistakes, but so that he could pursue Daphne as his own.

Who could ever have expected that the not quite a villain Paul Barstowe would become the perfect hero in The Good, The Bad, And The Duke? Paul was mostly alone in life, and each attempt at reaching out to Alex was quickly rebuffed. He is well aware that he should make Daphne contact her family when he learns that she is alone in London, but he had always had a soft spot for her and wanted to make her happy. Daphne is a strong heroine who loves fiercely, and was still hurting after the death of her sister. Her determination to help other young ladies in similar situations, pregnant while unmarried, was remarkable. She realized the potential consequences of helping such women, but considered it worth the risk if she could help even just one woman when she hadn't been able to help her sister. A commendable heroine, although her headstrong tendencies had the potential to cause disaster even greater than being their patron. Poignant, touching, and full of emotion, The Good, The Bad, And The Duke was a wonderful read for the holidays.

For a Christmasy, Regency romance this one ticks all the boxes; a cute childhood friends to lovers story, a dilemma to solve before reputations are ruined, and the reuniting of old friends and lots of humorous shenanigans.

Daphne and Paul's relationship is bittersweet with neither of the pair realising how significant their interactions were to each other as they were growing up. In adulthood the chemistry between them is strong and I loved how much humour was thrown into their banter and their late night adventures. It offered a nice balance to the poignancy of their shared grief.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, since I had never read anything by this author. I did enjoy this book, but I found it slow moving at times; the pacing was not ideal. I also didn’t think this historical romance was very historical; I have no idea when the book was set, and the language was unfortunately modern at times. On the plus side, I really loved the hero and heroine; they were appealing characters who deserved a better book.

I very much enjoyed this book. It is well written and kept me interested from the very beginning.

This is one I know I will be reading again in the future.

When Lady Daphne gets left behind for the holidays she ends up in a little bit of a snafu which leads her to lose something important. This leads to her teaming up with Duke Paul Barstowe. He becomes the person she depends on when her family is not around. Together they will search for her item which will lead them to become closer. It also leads to Lady Daphne wanting to be more independent and to convince her family of this.
This was an ok book I felt there was a lot of places where the book became slow reading for me.

** I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review**

It's always hard to jump into a series mid-way. You can tell by the numerous loved-up couples, their romantic problems (and character development) over and in the past, all alike in their coupledom. I can tell from personal experience it's even worse to be one of the remaining singles - and it seems like poor Daphne is in the same boat. Everyone is so taken with their significant others over Christmas, they leave London without Daphne.

No, really. She comes down from her room (after changing because a niece spilled something on her) to find everyone gone but the under-butler. What follows is a sort of coming-of-age as she finds her own feet without her loving but smothering family, along with a redemption arc for Paul, her brother's former best friend.

I enjoyed this book, but it definitely lost some impact for me, coming in mid-way through the series. I didn't have the back story that so many relationships were based on, nor did I understand what Paul did to make all of Daphne's family dislike him so much. While it was a good read, I'd recommend starting elsewhere in this series because I think it'd make the experience more enjoyable.

Three and a half (let's round up to four for the under-butler's adorable mom who I wanted more of) stars

I received an ARC of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley; all opinions are my own

The Good, the Bad, and the Duke had a lot of promise and a great premise. The characters were interesting and like able, even our reformed Duke! However, a plodding storyline filled with too much detail and not enough dialogue really made this difficult to read and finish.

I won’t be leaving a review on my blog since I struggled giving this a 2.5 star rating.

Pretty good read, sometimes long worded though. Paul had so much to prove especially to himself. And Daphne was truly a force to be reckoned with. All of this made for a good story. I voluntarily read this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

When I think about this book, all I can say is I didn't love t or hate it. It was kind of blah. It was very wordy at times. Neither the hero of heroine was great. Paul was kind of a downer with his letters that reminded him of his transgressions and his belief that he was not good enough for Daphne. I didn't care for Daphne. She was kind of a weak character. I struggled to stay interested in this book

This was an okay read. At times it didn’t feel very historical due to the wording. I felt like it was a bit long winded too. Paul was kind of a gloomy gus. He was the woe is me and didn’t feel good enough.

This is a voluntary review of an advanced copy.

This is such a fun series as another member of this family finds love mixed with lots of drama and some intrigue.

Daphne is a strong woman and is willing to risk losing her family when she knows that if forced that she would choose Paul. I loved that she stood up to her brother and didn't let him dictate her life.

Paul on the other hand is broken and all alone. You can understand how Alex and Claire and Nick and Emma can't seem to forgive him for all the stunts that he pulled and the hurt he caused them. Yet, he keeps trying so hard to be a good man and when they give him the cut, he accepts it and leaves - alone again.

The best part was when Daphne is encouraged to go fight for her man and she realizes that if she wants a life with Paul, she really does need to fight for this life. Paul is trying so hard to let Daphne have the life that she deserves and he believes that he can only bring her down.

It is fun to see the other couples from previous books throughout the book, and we get a bit of a tease seeing William in this book as he will find his love in the next book. I am looking forward to reading that one, also!

Paul Barstowe, Duke of Southart, is trying to repair his rake/irresponsible reputation, but his deceased father's letters delivered to him weekly keeps reminding Paul of all the mistakes he's made in his life. Paul was never supposed to be the duke, but with his older brother tragic death, Paul is thrust into a position he was never trained for. The one thing Paul wants to do is open a hospital to honor his late brother. While bidding on a property, he finds himself in competition with a former friend's younger sister, Lady Daphne Hallworth who wants to open a home for unwed mothers. Additionally, she has had her personal journal stolen by a homeless lad and Paul offers to help her retrieve it. Daphne has had a tendre for Paul since she was a young girl and she hopes that Paul will finally see her as more than his friend's little sister.

I liked Paul more than Daphne in this story although all the inner monologue of Paul berating himself that he's not good enough for Daphne got tiresome after the first few times. Daphne makes some very questionable decisions while trying to retrieve her journal and Paul is there to keep her safe whether she wants his help or not. The one scene of a gentlemen being serviced by a prostitute outside of a gaming hall really turned me off. It seemed it was thrown into the story as more shock value than anything else. I read historical romances for the romance between the H and h, not to read unnecessary sex scenes between characters who only show up once. In any case, I did enjoy seeing Daphne finally learning to stand up for herself and fight for the man she loves. I enjoy Ms. MacGregor's stories and I'm looking forward to reading her next book.

This is the story of Paul (a ne'er do well rake who recently acquired his family's title) and Daphne (a lovable, sweet girl).

Things I liked:
I liked that Paul tries to my honorable, even though he has a crappy reputation.
I liked that Daphne is seeking independence and release from her family to pursue her dreams.
I like that these two work well together for common goals.
I like that the romance is more long-standing and cherishing than just all out chemistry.

Things I didn't like:
How long it took to get this book moving (this was the first of the series that I've read, and it took me half the book to feel like things were picking up).
Certain characters almost demanding that their way was the best way (they reform, but it bothered me even though realistic).

Overall it's a good read that I would recommend. The characters are overall believable and enjoyable, plot is solid when you get there, and dreams come true...

Lady Daphne Hallworth is ready to celebrate the holidays with her family. But when they accidentally leave her home alone, Daphne uses the time to work on her dream—opening a home for unwed mothers. But her quest isn’t problem-free: She’s in a battle to win the property for the home against her brother’s best friend-turned-enemy, Paul Barstowe, Duke of Southart. And that’s not all: someone has stolen her personal diary, which holds secrets that could devastate her family. Daphne has always harbored private feelings for the man her family scorns…though perhaps striking a bargain with the handsome Duke will solve both their problems?
I started this book with a good feeling.I liked the introduction to Paul and the situation he was in. My problem was with Daphne. The initial introduction to her was cute, but the day that she’s left home alone she goes through so many personality changes within those few pages that I just didn’t like her. Unfortunately, it made it hard for me to want to finish this book.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

This was my first book from this author. This is the kind of book that should be read by other authors looking to improve their writing. Her magnificent use of metaphors was awe-inspiring. The poetry of her phrases forced me to linger on every word, to savor the sensations evoked. Ms. MacGregor's fluency and adept use of language floored me throughout the book. She moved seamlessly from exquisitely crafted metaphors to cleverly-worded literal interpretations of words and fun with homophones. Truly, if I could rate this higher than a measly five stars, I would. Not a page passed by without something that caused me to pause in amazement, but here are a few I feel compelled to share. I will end with this:

Somehow, she reached a place deep inside his chest and squeezed until she had him worshipping her mouth like a heathen ready to convert to any religion she offered.

Describing her as an ethereal creature was like describing the moon as a circle in the sky.

It was the only conclusion he could draw, and he'd never had much talent in art.

The deep roughness of his voice reminded her of freshly cut wood. Appropriate since he was determined to cut her from his life and, like a splinter, she refused to let go.