3.5 Stars. We finally get Emma's book and I've wondered how her story would play out after Book 2. Emma and Mal meet prior to the book and spend the night together. They reconnect later in London. These two have wonderful chemistry and it seems fitting Mal would be the one for her. Great chemistry between these two but the story lagged a bit with the villain.

🐐 Book Review ⚓️

I don’t do IG reels BUT if I did, I would make one titled “Things In This Book That Just Make Sense” with the snapping fingers, supposedly Italian looking hand gesture that would look a little something like this🤌🏻🎶

💋 Emma Hardwick finally using the element of ‘widowhood’ to her advantage {a steamy one}

🥧 Single Mother Perspective {rarely seen in Regency Romance}

💞 Equal Pining {I love when two people are just INTO one another right from the start}

⚓️ Sexy Pirate {who isn’t tEcHnIcAlLy a pirate and who is also a Duke}

📕 A Multifaceted Romance Story with lots of Extras {which may include a little grave robbing}

🪵 A Victorian Era Sex Toy named Roger

🥃 Strong Sense of the Family/Friendship Bond Between all the Characters {not just the MC}

On top of all of this Bethany also gives us a decent sized epilogue filled with warmth, resolution & satisfaction, which is basically a direct route into my twisty little heart.

Incase I haven’t made myself clear, I loved it! Thank you to @ReadForeverPub @BethanyWritesKissingBooks & @NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own. Pub date for Dukes Do It Better is May 31st, 2022 and is currently available for pre-order from major retailers.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
I have read everything this author has ever published (lol, it's three books) and I think she is an awesome writer. However, I liked the first two installments of the series better. This one was a bit long (seriously, is 400 pages a trend now in HR because I've seen a few?!) and while I'm all for suspending disbelief, there were too many coincidences. Yes, I get that it's the end of a series and everything had to be tied together but it felt a little too Holywood-ish with all the "oh, and he is the guy from the first book" and "what are the odds? it was his cottage after all" and "so that's what he meant by burying secrets with him". Furthermore, I could not like the heroine for the life of me. Maybe if I'd just met her, things would be different. But she was so incredibly idiotic in book two that she was rendered completely irredeemable.
And this story managed to hit one of my pet peeves - a whole lot of drama caused by a misunderstanding and not talking. That might have been the complete downfall of the heroine. Maybe up to that point I thought maybe she'd grown up but ... nope. Still impulsive, hot-headed and not very smart. I had no issues with the hero except that he deserved better. The kid was cute and I loved re-visiting the characters from the previous books.
I know it's odd to write a four-star review all focused on the negative. The thing is, it's a great book. Bethany Bennet is an amazing writer and it hurt me to take a star off so I had to explain why.

This book starts with our hero and heroine hooking up for one night only in a seaside inn. Catching each other’s eye across the room, sizzling banter, and one glorious night of passion. Neither knowing who the other truly is, thinking they’ll never see each other again, ending years long droughts of physical passion in a STEAMY EXPLOSIVE NIGHT!!

Off page.

The one night stand our lovers have is OFF. PAGE.

It’s mentioned in passing memories and when Mal and Emma see each other again realizing the truth of who they hooked up with there’s a crap ton of inner dialogue to convince me to feel the attraction and tension, but I was too wrapped up in the fact that it was OFF PAGE to believe it.

But that’s okay. It doesn’t have to be on page right? Surely there’s a reason the author couldn’t slip this prologue in, right? The book was too full of other things that were way to important to the story that it couldn’t waste time on a prologue, right?

This is where the book gets super tedious.

There are something like six separate conflicts going on at once. Six different storylines that together are a muddled mess. I really feel like the author should have picked one really strong conflict keeping our couple apart and run with that. Instead we have six weak tea conflicts that kindaaaaa affect the relationship of Mal and Emma, but are just all together confusing and at times hard to follow. I wrote down each different conflict to keep them all straight and still found myself like, “Oh yeah I forgot about that one.” This is less of a story of how Mal and Emma find each other and more of a group of friends already in love, trying to find out who is blackmailing them. There’s no tension, there’s no “omgggg there’s so much to overcome how will they be together?!” From the very beginning there was nothing keeping them apart except their flimsy, “Let’s just keep it temporary.” Even with aaaalll the conflicts going on, there wasn’t one that was super strong to keep them apart. I am here for the romance, not trying to figure out who is blackmailing who and robbing graves and mild misunderstandings.

I have a lot more thoughts but I’m already feeling like this review is too mean so I’ll just stop myself before it gets too intense.

I received this ARC from the publisher, review is my own.

We have Lady Emma and Captain Malachi meeting again in London after an off-page one-night tryst months prior. Captain Malachi has recently inherited a dukedom after his older brother has died. His meddling mother seems to be blackmailing the British Navy to keep him from running back to sea. This book (#3 in the series) takes place five years after the events of the preceding one, but gives heavy spoilers for books #1 and #2. Highly recommend reading in order. While I loved the chemistry between Emma and Malachi, there were a lot of different moving parts to this book, with blackmail, potential treason, some real estate conflicts, and a side romance.

I’m a marketing and publicity intern at Forever Publishing, so I am reading this for work. Will post full review later.

Bethany Bennett does it again! The third book in her trilogy was great. I didn’t love it as much as the second, but was happy to see small of the characters from the first two books play such a prominent role. This book wasn’t as sexy as the first 2, especially the second book, which ,add me a little sad. I liked the character development, although the mystery of the blackmailer could have been brought into the story a little earlier. Btn the blackmailer and the conflict with the love interests, the book felt a little too crowded.

I have not read this author before, but she has become a favorite already. The story of a fallen woman doing everything in her power to protect her young son and a Naval captain trying to get out from under his father’s interference is the basis for this book. Both families are anything but perfect, which makes the reader appreciate that the author understands no family is perfect. As the woman reaches out for some life, and the man reaches for a future that keeps slipping through his hands, together they learn how to weather the storms. Along the way, they find love, friendship and joy that surpasses the evil among them. I loved the ending, …a vindication, if you will, that is oh so sweet and somewhat sad. Well worth the time!

Oh Bethany Bennett - I think this might be the best one yet. Dukes Do It Better is the third installment in the Misfits of Mayfair series. We have watched Emma's story unfold through the stories of Lottie and Phee and have been waiting impatiently for it for months. It was worth the wait.

Things I need to gush about:
*seeing these friends together as a unit. I loved seeing Emma's relationship with Cal. I adored the friendship between the women and the new friendship between the guys. As we have read each of their stories, it's so rewarding to see them all come together.
*Open discussion about almost everything. They talk sex candidly. They argue and miscommunicate and then clear it up. The kids help this along, but all of the conversations are testament to how much thought and intention the author puts in her work.
*How much she adores her son. I love watching her let him be. I loved reading about how much she loves him in small tiny ways and all of those moments made his interactions with Mal so much sweeter.
* Pirate hero. That's all.

Ultimately, Bennett's books have this magical ability to FEEL like their characters. Each book in this trilogy has a different vibe. As I read this latest book, I realized that the vibe is different due to the differences in the characters. Emma's books feels more like Emma. I adore Bethany as a human (this is my disclaimer. She's the actual best just in general) but I adore her books and would even if I had no idea who she is.