Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

“Duchess If You Dare” is the first installment in a new historical romance series (Maidens of Mayhem) by Anabelle Bryant, which will follow a group of young women in Regency-era London as they fight to bring justice to marginalized members of society. The first book follows Scarlett Wynn and the Duke of Aylesford as they try to unravel a mystery at a local brothel. The main characters, their individual motivations, the romance, and even the “mystery” are fairly typical of the genre, but none of it was very compelling to me. Scarlett and Aylesford have an “insta-love” romance which was not believable, and they both have complete changes in core motivations by halfway through the book. My biggest issue with this book was that the Maidens of Mayhem group was never properly explained; it felt like there should have been a prequel (or at least a prologue) showing how the women came together to form the group and explain their motivations.

Overall, this was a quick read and certainly involved more physical drama/danger and fight scenes than a typical historical romance; if that’s your thing, then this is worth a look.

Ambrose comes across as a goody two-shoes, and honestly, I would rather throw him into the River Thames than imagine him as the hero. Scarlett is very uptight as well. The story suffers from lots of telling, not showing. Dialogue is serving more to educate/lecture the reader, than to propel the plot forward. The book ostensibly takes place during the Regency period as well, however, the time does not seem fully anchored in the novel.

I was excited by the opening scenes. Scarlett, our heroine, was fighting off some unknown assailant. She’s quick, she’s agile, and she’s good at wielding knives. She wears a cape and her dress is tailored such that the skirt comes off easily, leaving her in trousers to give chase across rooftops and down alleyways. I was even more excited to learn that Scarlett is one of four Maidens of Mayhem, a group of independent and strong women led by Lady Julia who offered up her house as a gathering/hangout place. Charlie’s Angels in Regency London!!!

“Their relationship was an odd one.” This sentence from the book refers to Scarlett and Ambrose and it pretty much sums up the story for me. The story is a combination of a mystery and a romance. Unfortunately, this mixture did not turn out well here. It is as if the story started out wanting to be a mystery, then along the way it got side-tracked and turned into a romance and maybe even an erotica at one point. Then it remembered its original goal and turned back into a mystery. The resulting outcome is an amateurish mystery and unconvincing happily-ever-after.

I would have liked to see more character development. Scarlett, she’s illegitimate, daughter of a whore. Got it. No need to describe this aspect repeatedly throughout the book. Instead, how did she become an expert that throwing knives? Ambrose, he’s a duke and handsome and hot. Got it. But the constant reminders of his title and physique make him less hot and not duke worthy. I wonder what are Ambrose’s hobbies, etc.? Strangely, I like his younger brother, Martin, better.

This was great, so different in your rags to riches kinda way. I enjoyed the characters personalities and I could easily have read a couple hundred more pages. The side characters were also well written and have me hoping for their stories to come.

I wanted to like this book. Scarlett is a strong character with strong goals, and parts of the story were intriguing. The actual plot had merit. However, too much was centered on the sexual side, and I lost interest and basically skipped over the chapters with all the sexual content. Not my thing,although others may enjoy it.

This book was an interesting tale about a secret group of women. It is probably one of a series, since the other ladies of the secret group were mentioned.
Our heroine is the illegitimate daughter of a woman who was led astray by a nobleman. The heroine has no idea who because her mother was forced into.prostitution to support them. The heroine arrived home one day to find her mother dead. She was alone and in order to stay alive, she stole dedication candles from churches and sold the stubs for food. She was approached and offered a position in the group. They were vigilantes and the heroine was a skilled fighter, armed with knives. Her seamstress disappeared and she was investigating it when she met the hero. The hero is a duke, a reclusive duke, but still a duke. He is trying to clean up after his younger brother when he runs across the heroine. They begin searching for the same thing.
This story was very informative about the life of the commoners of the time. It was set mostly in the bowels of London and was filled with action, adventure and danger. This story had intrigue, mystery and corruptness.
This book was very well written and had no spelling or grammar errors. The characters were likeable and developed well during the span of the story.
(This is a spoiler.) But I don't get the attraction of commoners marrying dukes in stories these days. I can see women from the gentry marrying dukes or barons, knights and lesser lords marrying commoners. But not a duke marrying a commoner. The role of the duchess is taught by the parents all the life of the woman. She needs to be of the ton or gentry to get that education, and even a gentrified lady is a large step down for a duke. So this is where the story turns into a fairytale. I like a dose of reality in my stories, so I am giving this a 4.5 stars and recommendation to read.

Ambrose, the Duke of Aylesford, and Scarlett join forces to found what is causing the disappearance of young women who work in brothels.

Scarlett is a strong heroine who is there to help rescue Ambrose during their search for clues in undesirable neighborhoods.

I loved the attraction/growing romance between this pair. This is a well-written, enjoyable, steamy romance with lots of mystery which keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I received an advance reader copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

If this book is anything to go by this series is off to a great start! It has a good balance of romance and mystery and the leading characters are well crafted. Scarlett is a great leading lady - she's smart, resourceful, confident, and capable of saving herself. In many other books she would have been saved by the hero rather than saving herself when she finds herself being held captive. Ambrose is a good complement to Scarlett, and because he comes to realize she is worthy of more than being his mistress I can forgive him for offering her that position in the first place. I liked that Martin is starting to get his life together a little bit by the end of the story, I'm kind of hoping he will get his own story later in the series. The resolution to the mystery left me a little confused about what happened with Linie - her disappearance is what gets people looking closer into the missing women but you never get a chance to find out what was going on. It was also a little frustrating that most of the "bad guys" escape and never have to pay for their crimes. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading future novels in the series.

Usually historical fiction with some romance intrigues me. However, I found the romance (aka lust) to far overshadow historical aspects and plots. Maybe it was my expectations but this book disappointed. I wanted to like it!

Scarlett, an unusual woman for the times who wears trousers and carries (and uses!) knives, meets Ambrose, a manly duke at a brothel. But not for THAT reason. She is trying to locate her missing friend and he has committed to helping his wayward brother. There was immediate chemistry between them. But sadly, not for me. The characters were not likable...not that I need to like them...but I just didn't care. I like substance in characters with some semblance of believability but instead they left me seeking more.

Whilst the premise of the darker side was interesting there were several disconnects in the story itself. I didn't have the desire to keep reading, though I did. More historical bits would be lovely but that's just personal preference. The sex scenes were too...graphic and did not add value, nor did the characters convince me they were in love.

My sincere thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Did not finish...just wasn't my cuppa tea! Didn't care for the writing, the characters...wanted something different for a change, this wasn't it. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 70%
I don't think I ever dnfed a historical romance because they are so light and fluffy that they tend to read easily, even if I'm not crazy interested in the story. This one proved to be the exception. Let's start with the things I liked. There are two. 1) The cover is very pretty. Love the illustration. 2) the female Robin Hood vibes were cool. I enjoyed the whole heroine saving the duke for a change dynamics.
Now for the things I disliked. My main gripe was with the writing. It is so very convoluted and repetitive that it made the reading experience ridiculously tedious. The dialogues didn't feel like real people speaking, not even people in the Regency era. Additionally, anything conveyed in the dialogue was reiterated by the characters' inner ramblings, sometimes multiple times. This might just be a personal issue because repetition in texts is one of my biggest pet peeves but I found it really off putting. The main characters were also lacking finesse and seemed to operate in a way that was utterly unrealistic. Everyone was shining their halo left and right and while it is important in historical romances for the main pair to be likeable, the Mary Sue vibes were strong. And to crown all this, I just had the pleasure of reading one of the cringiest sex scenes of my life and that's saying something because I have encountered plenty.
Overall, a fairly solid idea with a less than ideal execution. I could probably finish it but I can't find it in myself to care enough.
Thank you for Netgalley for supplying me with an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh. This book was so challenging to get through. I love a good historical romance, especially in the regency time period. But it didn't matter when this was set, it had none of the charm of the time, nor did it follow any of the social conventions. I liked Scarlett at first, a strong independent and competent woman. But but the end, she had lost all of that. Aylesford, while an attractive Duke, was awful. I wanted to vomit every time he talked about wanting to protect her, even though he was a useless human. The plot was full of holes. The stuff with the brother had no connection. Several scenes were really poorly written, as if the author forgot what was written just pages before. I wish I had any desire to read the next in the series, but this is one best left on the shelf.

I've just finished Duchess If You Dare with mixed feelings. I enjoyed parts of it, but there were a few things that bothered me a little here and there. It reminded me a lot of Bringing Down the Duke, both novels deal with a huge class divide between the heroine who is a nobody and a duke who shoulders many responsibilities and values his family name above all things. The whole novel revolves around Duke of Aylesford, Ambrose becoming involved in the mystery of missing young women who work in brothels because of his debauched brother. I must say that I found this premise a little far fetched, because I fund it hard to believe that a man of his day and age let alone his station will be troubled by the fate of a few sex workers.

While the plot seemed too contrived, the characters were not bad. Ambrose was very noble and steadfast, and Scarlett is the quintessential strong heroine, ahead of her time in many ways. She has a dim view of men due to tragic fate of her mother and she values her freedom and independence. She seems to traipse around London in areas that are not safe even for Ambrose. She also doesn't need saving but quite the other way around she has a tendency to help and rescue the duke, which I rather liked. All in all this was a quick and enjoyable read.

Thank you Net Galley for supplying this copy for me to review. #DuchessIfYouDare #NetGalley

Duchess If You Dare was a fun read for me although I had a hard time getting started. The first few chapters introduced so many characters and so much backstory. It seems this is the first in what I imagine will be a series on the Maidens of Mayham. I enjoyed the characters and the plot but found the book slow going for about the first half. I am glad I didn’t stop reading as the pace did pick up.

Duchess If You Dare is an easy and enjoyable read. The beginning was a little hard to follow, as many characters are being introduced, but nonetheless, it didn't detract from the story.

The hero and heroine of the book, Scarlett and Ambrose, crosspath at a brothel, and are instantly intrigued by each other. Chemistry and banter ensues as they end up working together to solve a mystery that they are both intertwined in.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Duchess if You Dare lives up to its name from the first scene where our crusading heroine is fighting off threats that lurk in the dark without even breaking a sweat. Scarlett is a member of "The Maidens of Mayhem" who fights to help women who cannot help themselves. When Scarlett's seamstress friend disappears, Scarlett travels the dangerous streets of the darker side of London in search of Linie. Aristocratic Ambrose is searching for Linie as well, and the heat between the two draws sparks. If you love a strong, independent heroine, give this one a try.
#DuchessIfYouDare #NetGalley

Duchess If You Dare was an enjoyable read although I had a hard time getting into the story. The first few chapters introduced so many characters and so much backstory that I looked up the author to see if I was starting a series mid sequence. It seems this is the first in what I imagine will be a multi book series on the Maidens of Mayham. I enjoyed the characters and the plot but found the book slow going for about the first half. I am glad I didn’t stop reading as the pace did pick up.

This is one of my favorite sub-genres of romance novels: a detective novel. Scarlett and Ambrose, Duke of Aylesford, are both looking into the disappearance and possible murder of a young woman. Their journey takes them from a leech collector in the East End to aristocracy at White’s all while falling in lust then love with one another. But soon the book darkens as sex trafficking comes to life.

The book is an interesting journey. The plot is engaging and fresh. The characters are intriguing and likable- well written. Scarlett is one of the self-styled Maidens of Mayhem, wears trousers with hidden weapons and can hit any target with a knife. The Maidens are a secret sisterhood organized to fight injustice on the streets of London. However, as book one of the Maidens of Mayhem series I felt more time could have been given to the development of the Maidens, their backstory and characters. Many references seem to pop up about those backstories but they are never provided. It is not until 1/3 of the book that we finally get to spend any time with just them.

While set in historical, maybe Regency, times, only a nod is given to historical accuracy. At times it was a bit jarring for me but that verisimilitude is not what is expected in this book.

Another thing I found jarring was the strange and perhaps incorrect word usage. Perhaps it is my failing but there were many of these. The one that comes to mind is Ambrose’s brother saying they were “...so completely adverse in personality.” meaning they had opposite views. Perhaps the author meant obverse rather than adverse but the good old word opposite, and many others, would have sufficed.

In all this is a book I would recommend as a 3 but might not purchase for my library.

Clever Scarlett and Ambrose, the Duke of Aylesford team up for this unconventional romance. They first join forces to find out why girls are disappearing from brothels.

I overall liked Scarlett but found it a bit difficult to connect with Ambrose - I thought the motivation behind what he was doing was never clearly explained. I did like that there was a mystery to explain as a main plot to the story, not just a historical romance. The book picks up its pace better in the last part of the story and I enjoyed it more when we got some backstory on the characters.

I think there were a few loose ends but since this appears to be the first in a series, I’m willing to let that slide. Overall a fairly good read, I’ll probably read at least the next book in the series to see what some of the characters do next.

Duchess if You Dare is the story of street-smart Scarlett and Ambrose, the proper Duke of Aylesford. It's also the first story in the Maidens of Mayhem series; there are three other Maidens awaiting their turns. In this story, Scarlett's and Ambrose's paths cross as they both try to figure out what has happened to young girls who have been disappearing from London's brothels.

For me, the story took a long time to find its rhythm, which was a little disappointing as the plot and character profiles were really good. I almost felt like I jumped into the middle of the story; I actually went back to the story summary on Netgalley to see if the book was the second in the series. I was also let down somewhat but the end as I don't feel certain plotlines were wrapped up satisfactorily. That said, the last third of the book was faster paced, and it became harder to put down. I also found myself curious to know the other Maidens' stories.

In short, I'm glad I read the story, but I don't think it would be a book that I'd read more than one time.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.