3.5 Stars

There is great chemistry between characters, and I liked that both characters had good growth. It was hard for me to like Octavia she was rude and very flippy/ wishy washing which is always a red flag for me. It makes reading so hard for me, I have to say though that Gabriel is the best. I think that Gabriel saves the story along with the fun side characters.

A sweet, fun read with a bit of heat. I love stories that include found family and that may have been my favorite aspect of this book.

Four Weeks of Scandal is the fifth book in a series, but I was able to dive in with no context and really enjoy this book! Octavia is the youngest daughter of a notorious gambler who has recently passed. Octavia is returning to her childhood home for the first time since she and her sister fled as teenagers to escape the tumultuous environment created by their father's gambling. She arrives at the home without much of a plan⁠—the one thing her father promised was that they would always have a home. Octavia plans to sell the home and use the proceeds to repay a loan she took out. Upon arrival at the house, Octavia is shocked to find a handsome stranger swimming in the pond. Gabriel is a somewhat reserved scholar hoping to settle down, and make a house a home after his turbulent childhood with his father, also a flagrant gambler. Octavia and Gabriel come to an agreement that they have four weeks to track down, compile, and present evidence that they are the rightful owner of the house.
Ultimately they explain away Octavia's presence by telling the townspeople that they are engaged, and make it respectable by hiring a few townspeople as staff. To make it believable, they make an additional agreement to have a sort of FWB dalliance during the time remaining in their agreement.
I loved how Octavia and Gabriel bonded over their tempestuous childhoods, and that both had different goals and dreams and how those transformed throughout the book. Octavia underwent some serious character development and Gabriel was just so compassionate. The side characters were all really amusing, and I found the conclusion of the subplot to simply be flawless! Delectable! No notes!

This is the fifth in Megan Frampton’s Hazard of Dukes series can easily be read as a stand alone. This is actually a sequel to the first book, Never Kiss a Duke, which tells the story of this heroines older sister Ivy. Ivy and her husband have a cameo appearance in this story. The story takes place in the countryside so there is refreshingly no society or ton to worry about. And even though the series title mentions Duke’s, the main characters do not have titles or rank.

Octavia Holton manages a gambling establishment with her sister Ivy started in London. But in trying to make improvements she borrows money that is now due. When she learns that her father has died she is determines to go to his home in the country to sell it to pay her debts. She arrives to find Gabriel Fallon at the home as well. He claims that her father gambled and lost the home to his father who also has died. They agree to share the house for a month while she looks for any will or proof that the property belongs to her. They will also work to clean up the house together. To make it proper for both to share a house in the small village they claim to be engaged and hire some towns people to chaperone, cook etc.

Octavia is impulsive and not a planner. She also comes off immature and dismissive in a sweet way. She brushes off words she doesn’t understand and doesn’t care to learn their meanings. Gabriel is handsome, kind and a scholar of mythology. One of the enriching parts of the story is the family created by taking in workers and giving them a place to live. Each of the servants has their own role, burst of personality, and back story. Octavia actually grows and changes during the course of the few weeks. And I like that she gets her moment to shine managing people and figuring a way out of her debts. Gabriel is lovely as the smitten scholar. I was a little confused about his life plans. He didn’t seem to want to teach and he has inheritance from his father but I wasn’t sure if he would need to work or just manage his assets.

Frampton does well with this close proximity trope. I always love the moments when each of the MCs realizes they have real feelings for the other. Especially where they just begin with attraction and steamy bits. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This can be read as part of the Hazards of Duke series, or as a standalone. This is such a light, fun, and steamy read. It was the perfect palate cleanser after a handful of serious reads. Megan Frampton always writes wonderful and fun historical romances.

A delicious story about a will in dispute, a four-week bargain, and a pretend engagement with romantic consequences.
It only takes one moment to cause a scandal...and four weeks to live it down!
This is a witty and poignant story. A story with Mythology and lots of love this book is a great one.
Week one: Lovely, lively Octavia Holton arrives in the village, determined to claim her inheritance—the home she grew up in with her late father. Surely he meant for his daughter to have the property, and owning it means she could fix it up, sell it, and use the money to pay off her debts. But when she arrives, she discovers the house is also claimed—by one Gabriel Fallon.
Week two: Gabriel claims his father won the property in a bet, but he can’t bring himself to toss Octavia out on her very delightful derrière, so he makes her a four-week bargain: Together they’ll pretend to be engaged, all the while seeking out any will, letter, or document that proves who gets the ownership.
Weeks three and four: But that means togetherness...a lot of togetherness, and long days—and evenings—in each other’s company. The pair seems destined to “duke it out,” staking their claims...but it’s all too soon that they realize their rivalry might lead to something much more intimate. And suddenly four weeks seems like a long time. And yet not enough.
Megan Frampton has written another book worth reading.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

Honestly I am a widely read, veteran romance reader at this point. So I have to say, when a book feels predictable, I really have a hard time. I was really excited by the premise of this book. I love a fight over a house. But I found the heroine to be immature and really annoying. She read as more childish than anything. I thought the hero was fine, but when I found out he was a scholar of Greek mythology, I wanted to throw my kindle across the room. I am a graduate student of classics. Romancelandia is littered with mythology scholars. I expect more research to be done, at this point. I know this is a silly point to pick at, but it pulled me out of the book entirely. Is he reading The Golden Bough? Is he a professor? Generally this book felt lazy to me. Maybe it's because it's book 5 in a series, but I just wanted more.

This was a super cute Regency romance retelling of the Hades/Persephone story. While retellings can sometimes get dry or overused, this felt fresh and fun.

Nice take for a historical romance. A strong main character with a mind of her own. Jumps right into situations to try and get what she wants without always thinking it through. Has spent her young adult life trying get in a better position after being left alone with her sister after her father gambled all their money away.

I have read all the books in this series accept the first one and I must say like the others Four Weeks To Scandal was just as delightful.. Octavia and Gabriel were the perfect balance of sweet, steam and fun, from there very first encounter to there last. And I absolutely enjoyed the edition of their love for Greek Mythology and their dogs Ceberus and Nyx.

FOUR WEEKS OF SCANDAL by Megan Frampton is the 5th book in the Hazards of Dukes series, and I absolutely adored it. This whole series is one of the best historical romance series I’ve read and I highly recommend you read all the books (even though you don’t need to read each one since they can be read as standalone).

This one follows Gabriel and Octavia – Octavia arrives to her father’s house so that she can sell it and then she runs into a man who’s swimming in the pond by the house. Naked. Very attractive. Saying that he’s the one who owns the house because Octavia’s father gambled the house away to Gabriel’s father. So they make a deal to share the house for a month until they find out who’s the true owner. Along the way, they make other… more fun… deals. They also end up faking an engagement to avoid questions.

It’s just such a sweet, romantic, steamy, sensual, and charming romance. It’s quite fast burn which I absolutely love, and it has unrequited love in it – that is, they both fall hard and think the other couldn’t feel the same. It just made my heart ache in the best way and I rooted for them so hard. I also love both of them so much; Gabriel is so sweet, kind, charming, and sexy. And Octavia is adventurous, reckless, loyal, and wonderful. Their dynamic was amazing, the forced proximity so fun, and it also felt really domestic as well since they spend the whole book at the house.

Long story short, I absolutely recommend it! If you like fake dating, forced proximity, and soft and steamy romances, you need to pick this one up.

I did this book for the title and was extremely happy. It was full of fun and creative characters. The story keeps you entertained and engaged. The play between the main characters was dividing and full of witty banter, including interesting flaws.

Octavia Holton manages The gambling establishment her sister Ivy started after they arrived in London. Octavia is spontaneous, outgoing, stubborn, independent, and does not like to ask for help or plan anything. She finds herself in predicaments due to her personality, some good but most not. Her current one has her fleeing to her old home upon learning of their father's death hoping she can use that to extricate out of this last predicament.

Upon arriving she encounters a tall naked man in the pond! Gabriel Fallon has arrived To stake his claim on the house. He has a paper showing where her father signed over to his father right before his death. He is kind, generous, very tall, well built and scholarly. He is doing Greek Mythology studying currently.

They agree to sharing the house while she looks for proof and him to turn it into the home he craves. As spontaneity and planing comics mayhem insues. Town residents come to stay and help. A visit from a bad man complicates matters. So join in this flighty adventure and see what happens and if all ends well

I enjoyed this book so much that after finishing it, I found and quickly read the book about book about Ocatvia's sister. A fun, romantic adventure.

I like the story a lot. The writer chose a lovely cover for the book. Choosing the characters and Gabriel’s characters descriptions was rather interesting. I must say that the synopsis of the story is a wonderful tease for the historical romance readers out there. I enjoyed the plot of the story, where Gabriel and Octavia run through the halls of their mansion searching for the one piece of critical documentation that will change either one of their lives in the future. The entertainment for me came from when along this hunt, Gabriel and Octavia get familiar with each other, then this leads to a wonderful romance. The book is easy to read and a good page turner. Until next time my fellow readers… read on!

I was just in the middle. As I read the book and then decided to read the reviews before I wrote mine to see where I stood, I realized I am in the middle. I didn't love it so there will definitely be no 4 stars from me, however I did not despise it so it will not get the lowly 2. It shall get a respectable 3. Why did I feel this way? Well, I liked Gabriel, and respected him, but wished he had a bit more of a backbone when it came to dealing with Octavia. Now we have Octavia, yup not a fan till further in the story, I found her annoying, intrusive, abrasive, but then I felt that she seems to have matured a bit. What saved some of the story for me was the secondary characters, and again Gabriel, if not I probably would have given it a two.

I have never read anything by Megan Frampton before, including all the previous books in this series,and overall I did feel like this book stood relatively on its own.

Historical romance novels are my comfort read, I have a select group of favorite authors I read and fall back to when I need something that I know will have a HEA with a lot of clever dialogue and some steamy chemistry on the way there. It's difficult for me to fairly rate this novel due to my own unfamiliarity with the author but overall I felt it was lacking. Character development and the back stories supplied were bare minimum and the focus felt more on the chemistry between Octavia and Gabriel as they worked together to set the house to rights. The use of Greek myths throughout was clever, but otherwise it was mostly them just frolicking with each other. Don't get me wrong, I was rooting for them to find their HEA but at no point did the problem they had to overcome truly feel that insurmountable.

So with that in mind I'm rating this one 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it but I am hesitant to say I will read further books from this author.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyage, and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

This was an incredibly sweet romance! I read Never Kiss A Duke early in 2021, fell into a fantasy hole and forgot to come back to my romance series. I"m so thankful that I read this, Octavia is such a wonderful character, and she finally finds her equal in Gabriel. Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC - it was a lovely and spicy read.

Good book ..not really my trope but overall writing style was good and had some steam.. I really enjoy this writer but this book was just not my cup of tea

Four Weeks of Scandal by Megan Frampton is part of the Dukes of Hazzard series. However I had not read any of the other books in the series and was able to follow along. I would like to go back and read Ivy’s story; she is Octavia’s sister. Their father was a gambler and made some very bad decisions, including wagering his daughters.
At one time Octavia was wagered to Gabriel’s dad to marry Gabriel. I enjoyed the book even though there were times I was annoyed with Octavia and her stubborn decisions; both past and present.
Gabriel made up for it. He was a scholar and used several references to mythology.
The premise of the story is that they both think they own Octavia’s childhood home. Octavia’s dad lost it in a bet to Gabriel’s dad before he passed away.
There were some fun scenes as they went through the house looking for evidence that the house ownership was reversed.
The opening scene where Gabriel and Octavia meet was a fun way to start the book.

This book was mediocre. There are other books in the series that I like much more. The writing is good. The couple has great chemistry. The story has a great premise. I just don’t like it when books harp over and over about not falling in love because leaving is best for the other person whom they have decided for rather than talked to. This book has way too much of that. After the 20th time it is mentioned that she will leave at the end of the month, I was rolling my eyes; it could have been mentioned a quarter of the time and it would have still been clear in the story. Overall not a terrible read, just not my favorite. I don’t think I would skip it if you are reading the series. I’ve been waiting for these two to get together since the bet was mentioned in her sister’s book. So it’s great to see their story and connection. Although the book can be read as a stand alone, I wouldn’t. It is much more interesting to have the previous stories as background to the characters.

Thank you to Megan Frampton and the publisher for the arc via Netgalley.