A wonderful regency story, this looks to be a great start to a new series of Drop Dead Dukes. Great chemistry between Giles and Franny. I enjoyed the getting to know who your married to trope, filled with lots of passion and discovery towards a love neither expected.

4.5 stars
It may sound like the usual cliché novel, but it was much more than that. The characters' descriptions and developments (I am talking about Giles, who pleasantly surprised me) were believable and realistic. Their love story was both tender and sensual.

Unfortunately I am not captivated by this book yet. It’s dragging a bit and I am hanging in there to continue to read. Will complete my review once I finish :)

I really loved this book! The description doesn’t quite sum up the story, though.
Giles Drew, the duke of Basingstoke, and Francesca Stanhope accidentally meet at night when she is looking for her niece Susannah and he just left their residence while being drunk. Franny wants to reconnect with her niece after not seeing her for ten years, after a horrible scandal that made her family leave London. You soon find out the Drews and the Stanhopes are linked through the scandal, so after she learns who he is, Franny tries to avoid him as much as possible. But when Giles puts his foot in his mouth by insulting her appearance at a ball and the newspaper got wind of it, the entire ton’s focus is on Giles and Franny, wondering if another scandal is looming. Giles is horrified and he needs to make things right. But by giving her his attention, he puts her even more at odds with her uncle, who Fanny is trying to persuade to provide some financial aid for her family after getting the cold shoulder from him and her aunt. So she cannot accept his efforts to make amends, which only results in even more attention from everyone, including the scandal sheets. What’s worse is that her niece is intended to be Giles betrothed! A perfect mess and a perfect plot for a delightful book.
I loved the way Anna Bradley masterly described the rush of emotions that were awakened by Franny listening to a piano musicale; the fine line between beauty and heartbreak. Anna Bradley is a master in her writing, how she can capture such deep emotions in just a few lines. The necessity of being strong but being so incredibly hurt and vulnerable by the past, the need to fight for your place in life but the desperate wish to just let go, relax and feel loved and cherished. I loved how Giles understood every single emotion and valued her for who she is.
The fact that someone reported every single one of Giles’ efforts to the newspapers in a way that only made things more difficult for him and favorably for Franny, made me laugh!
Anna Bradley’s writing is just superb! The chat Giles had with his sister… so hilarious but clever!!
Trevor and Digby are the best… what a duo! And the dukes of Grantham and Montford are hilarious! They made me laugh out loud and I hope they’ll be in the next book, too! The scene where Giles’ mother found out about his marriage… LOL!
The only thing that I didn’t like at all, was Giles Drew having a threesome at the beginning of the book. Totally unnecessary and it cheapened his character, in my opinion. I would scrap that scene; without it the book is perfect. But since the rest is that good, I still grate it five stars. This book us romantic, endearing, sensitive, funny and refreshingly original. It has good pace and chemistry and
I couldn’t put it down. I loved this book and I can highly recommend it!
I received and reviewed an advanced copy of this book and I am grateful for this opportunity. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have not read many books by Anna Bradley and was honored to be able to read and review an ARC of Give the Devil His Duke.
This is going to be an entertaining series. This book started off interesting and pulled me in and I didn't want to put it down. The author did a fabulous job on the main and side characters. So good you even want more of the friends, sisters, valet and butler. Anna Bradley showed us both sides of a character. She shows that Giles is not only a rake of a duke that gets what he wants, but they loving son, brother, and eventually husband. She also shows that Francesca is not just strong willed and independent, but vulnerable as well.
The story is very well-written and entertaining throughout. The story is on fire. A smoking hot inferno. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Passion pours off the page as does the emotions of Giles and Francesca.
I am looking forward to the Drop Dead Dukes series. Highly recommend this book.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corp. for an honest review.

4.5/5

TW: Alludes to sexual assault

Releases on July 25th

Summary:
Francesca Stanhope is content with being a wallflower during her one and only season. She does not count on catching the attention of Giles, the Duke of Basingstoke, nor the ton at large. Giles is all but engaged to Francesca's cousin Susannah, in a bid to lessen the decades-long hostility between the two families. The machinations of a gossip columnist force them to come to a détente for Susannah and his sister's sake, but what they don't count on is the mutual attraction growing between them.

My review:
I LOVED this book! Loved it. It's my first by Anna Bradley and I will definitely be reading more of her. Let me get into what worked for me:

First the characters: Francesca was a perfect combination of world-weary and innocent. Life dealt her a hard hand, but she's determined to push through, somehow. A scrappy gal, if you will. She doesn't automatically give into society's demands, nor Giles's for that matter (but not in a bratty way, if that makes sense? Like, girlie has her pride and is just trying to get by). So when she successfully blackmails her terrible uncle, you can't help but applaud, you know?

Giles is kind of a bitch in the beginning but it works because you know exactly where he's coming from: he's so hot and blond and a duke so nobody's ever said no to him. You see that start to change (or his better angels are revealed) as he interacts more with Francesca, and his final weeks-long grovel (yes! there is a grovel— an excellent grovel) cements that change.

The plot was tight and well-done. Francesca just wants to get through the season, and maybe reconnect with her estranged cousin, but the gossip columnist and the gossip that the ton circulates about Francesca and Giles messes with that. What's interesting is that Giles faces a lot of social consequences (potential and real) because of the fickleness of the ton, even if typically, I'd be inclined to assume the man would get off easier than the woman. This might be attributed to Giles's late father being The Worst (it's implied he sexually assaulted Francesca's mother, and then he killed Fran's father in a duel afterwards), and the entire ton knew it. Ultimately, Circumstances get so out of hand Giles asks Francesca to marry him, and the final portion of the plot concerns them having to navigate a marriage that was proposed to mitigate rumors, but it's a delicate thing because they have very real feelings for one another.

Let me take this opportunity to scream about the chemistry. THE CHEMISTRY. It's there. It's EXCELLENT. Because Giles is a slutty slutty hero, he's obviously deeply aware of Francesca right off the bat, even while he's technically almost engaged to her cousin (but that adds to the forbidden-ness of it all, right?). However, what I loved was that Francesca was equally aware of Giles, even when she went through various periods of dislike for him. She fixates on his mouth a lot. She has vague sex dreams. SPEAKING of sex dreams—

The sex:
Fabulous. Very hot. Because of their natural chemistry right off the bat, even in tender scenes, like when Francesca runs out during a musicale and Giles comforts her, there's this layer of sexual awareness present, which makes for very promising follow-through.

And there is great follow-through. Reading Giles and Francesca crack after just a couple days apart and unable to contain themselves was great. Same for their wedding night and perhaps most importantly, during make-up sex.

I think this is one of those situations where what makes the sex good isn't the wildness of the sex acts, but it genuinely comes down to two people you get the sense are constantly, deeply aware of one another, and constantly want to fuck, even when they're on the outs.

Overall:
I would strongly recommend this book for literally every HR reader. On the surface, it seems like a standard ballroom romance, and it is, to a degree. But it's the characters and their arcs that really make the book special, along with the natural chemistry (have I said this word too many times? ah well.) between Francesca and Giles that manifests itself in the dialogue, in their actions, in the sex, etc. Go read this asap.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

*Note: This ARC review will be posted on my tumblr blog on June 25th, a month before the book is published.

Give the Devil His Duke is absolutely wonderful!!! I love Anna Bradley books and was so excited to receive this as an ARC. It is the first in this series, and it is excellent. I literally could not put it down!!!
I really enjoyed the Sense and Sensibility of it all, even when I thought I wouldn't! This is such a great book.
There are so many great parts, it is full of emotion, caring, humor and empathy. Sigh, I simply adored it! The dialogue between the characters is magnificent. There are so many great lines, paragraphs-- chef's kiss!
Francesca is a down-on-her-luck daughter of an earl, and she and her mother have been disgraced and exiled to live in dire straits in the country after the death of her father in a duel. Giles is a devil-may-care duke, the son of the duke who killed Francesca's father. They meet in a garden, Giles rescuing Franny after being stuck on a fence. Giles is about to marry Franny's cousin, in a misguided attempt to right the scandals his father brought down on both their families. He's inexplicably drawn to Franny, and it seems like because she serves the ends to his means.
This is a great story, and I loved every bit of it. At first, I really disliked Giles, but he really redeems himself with his actions, even when he doesn't realize it. Franny is impertinent, quick-witted, and clever. I loved her vulnerabilities, they are done so well that she isn't frustrating. And I loved Giles and Franny together! Their chemistry was amazing. Anna Bradley and all her couples are SO great, and Giles and Franny are one of my new favorites!
Anna Bradley, in all her books, does an amazing job in the "break" of her heroes. It was absolutely perfect in this book. I can't say how much I enjoyed this book enough!!! It is absolutely, absolutely wonderful.
There are a lot of great characters in this book, and I think I can spot the next couple of couples and I cannot wait to revisit all of them! I received this book as an ARC for my honest opinion, and I highly recommend Give the Devil His Duke, and I cannot wait for the rest of the series. I would give it more stars if I could!!!

I loved the story of Fanny and Giles. Franny was a strong character that held her morals and was saucy and spicy towards Giles, that didn’t let me down in anyway. I like that her falling for Giles, to me, seemed like personal growth of letting go of her insecurities. I really enjoyed the spicy scenes in this book were fantastic! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC for my honest opinion.

I *loved* this. Giles is funny and much nicer than he thinks he is. Franny is sparky and kind.

This is well written, light and pacy.

One small thing - there's a whole 'bit' in there where they talk about "rutabagas"... in England they're swedes. So that was a bit unfortunate as it totally jarred me out of my fun little Regency world.

But otherwise, brill. V much recommend.

A delectable book, from start to finish. I appreciated the humor sprinkled throughout and found the writing to be fair. Very much the embodiment of a Regency-era romance that follows the enemies-to-lovers trope, though it moves quickly.

I loved the way this story was written. And the heat factor? It was steaming up my kindle. Overall I thought this was a good story.

Maybe a high 2 stars?

I really didn't know what to make of this novel. It's well written, as most books by this author are (and I've really liked her previous novels), but the content just doesn't resonate with me. I like Francesca well enough, but Giles takes a lot longer to warm up to. His promiscuity early on is gross, probably there partly for shock value and mostly for humor, but it just makes him look ridiculous. He also seems to have no actual profession, as we never see him doing anything except lounging around at White's or disparaging wallflowers at balls. He's redeemed slightly by the obvious love he has for his mother and four sisters, though, and he definitely improves later in the novel though.

I struggled with the history between Francesca's and Giles' families. We never fully get the story of what happened, but we do learn that Giles father ruined Francesca's mother, which led to the death of Francesca's father. Francesca's uncle, who inherited the earldom after her father's death, basically banished Francesca and her mother to live a life of poverty in the country. She's back in Town to try to get some financial assistance from her uncle, but instead she finds herself mixed up with Giles, her cousin (Giles' almost betrothed), and lots of judgy people. I just found it bewildering that Francesca would even give the time of day to a family that basically destroyed hers.

Eventually, the two end up together, in spite of Francesca not really believing anything Giles has to offer. There's not a whole lot of chemistry between the two of them, although they are kind of fun together. I just felt like there was something missing, and I didn't buy into the idea that they belong together.

I feel like this review is all over the place, but that's kind of how I felt about the novel. I just never felt grabbed by whatwas happening, and I found that disappointing. But as I said earlier, this author is a great writer and the words do flow on the page. I just didn't particularly like the content this time around.

I received an ARC of this book for free from the publisher and Netgalley. I'm writing this review voluntarily, and it reflects my honest opinion. Thanks!

It seems like any ‘ole romance novel: scorned impoverished beauty comes to Town just to ask her mean old uncle for help but gets embroiled in a scandal she doesn’t seek at the hands of the Adonis-like and universally adored Duke. Sparks fly.

But it is much more than that. The hero is gorgeous and hunky and carelessly arrogant but we slowly get glimpses of his humanity. He is charmingly baffled as he begins to fall in love with a woman who not only doesn’t seem to adore him but wants nothing to do with him. She disdains his privileged self. He’s wonderful to his little sister’s so he has to have something redeeming about him. I loved it when others called him naughty and his mother replies that he simply had a naturally frolicsome temperament. What a great term! Great character development here.

Francesca is very appealing and entertaining. She has simply come to Town for help with her impoverished life. She wants nothing to do with this duke whose father ruined her family and caused her father’s death. Her tart, snappish banter with the duke is fun to read. But she is quite drawn to him in the odd moments she doesn’t police her thoughts.

In the end it is a satisfying read, a wonderfully well drawn, well executed plot with a bit of sexy times thrown in for us to enjoy. 4.5/5

Thanks to Zebra, Kensington Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Giles, The Duke of Basingstoke need to marry to salvage his reputation. Francesca is prim and penniless and agrees to marry him for money. They quickly clash... And fall in love against their will....

A wonderful start to the series. Totally fun, sassy and incredible banter. Love both Giles and Francesca. So many LOL moments. Truly romantic and funny. Really enjoy it.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.