Ten Things I Hate About the Duke: A Difficult Dukes Novel

Loretta Chase

Dec 2020 · Difficult Dukes Book 2 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

USA Today bestselling author Loretta Chase continues her Difficult Dukes series with this delightful spin on Shakespeare's classic, The Taming of the Shrew.

This time, who’s taming whom…

Cassandra Pomfret holds strong opinions she isn’t shy about voicing. But her extremely plain speaking has caused an uproar, and her exasperated father, hoping a husband will rein her in, has ruled that her beloved sister can’t marry until Cassandra does.

 

Now, thanks to a certain wild-living nobleman, the last shreds of Cassandra’s reputation are about to disintegrate, taking her sister’s future and her family’s good name along with them.

 

The Duke of Ashmont’s looks make women swoon. His character flaws are beyond counting. He’s lost a perfectly good bride through his own carelessness. He nearly killed one of his two best friends. Still, troublemaker that he is, he knows that damaging a lady’s good name isn’t sporting.

 

The only way to right the wrong is to marry her…and hope she doesn’t smother him in his sleep on their wedding night.

Ratings and reviews

Lots of fun in this intelligent, witty romance! As one can guess from the title, this book freely borrows from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew with a good bit of Austen's Bennet family as well. I adore Cassandra, a woman born too soon, who knows her own mind and isn't the least bit shy about demonstrating that fact. A few days after losing his fiancée to his best friend (Book 1), Lucius is deep in his cups when he unwittingly causes an accident with serious consequences for Cassandra and her staff. In a moment of clarity and responsibility, he offers to marry her to fix most of the damage he has caused. It's more complicated than I can convey without spoilers, but suffice it to say that a marriage to the duke would also solve Cassandra's problem with her father. Ah, but nothing worthwhile is ever going to be that easy. Lucius and Cassandra have everything going for them and everything stacked against them all at the same time. They find their way to a truce of sorts, but when hearts start getting involved it all becomes increasingly complicated. I loved every deliciously witty interaction between these two, especially the way they challenged each other and -- eventually -- brought out the best in each other. Their HEA was very sweet and satisfying, and the scene with her mother and the woman she's known for forty years was brilliantly satisfying in its own way. I highly recommend this romance to anyone who enjoys historical rom-coms. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

4 Stars!! This is book 2 in the ‘Difficult Dukes’ series. I didn’t get to read book 1 first but I understood pretty much everything, so it can be read as a standalone! An intelligent bluestocking that try’s to help others and if not for the fact that she’s a woman, would do even more good, and an arrogant Duke that’s done nothing but pranks, drinking or whatever HE wants his whole life, wasting all of his opportunities to do good for others. I loved how the main female character, Cassandra, didn’t let the main male, the Duke of Ashmont, get away with anything, or any other man for that matter! If it’s one thing I hate in a book, it’s a weak female! I’d have hated to be a woman back then, as I’m NOT a quite, dutiful little lady! This book had me entertained and I read it pretty fast! I’d definitely recommend this book! I can’t wait for the other books in this series. *I am voluntarily leaving a review for an ARC that was provided to me by NetGalley!*

Was a great read from beginning to end. Really enjoyed this journey. Action packed, sexy, emotionally thrilling adventure filled with engaging charters, witty dialog, heart racing twists and thrilling passion

About the author

Loretta Chase has worked in academe, retail, and the visual arts, as well as on the streets—as a meter maid—and in video, as a scriptwriter. She might have developed an excitingly checkered career had her spouse not nagged her into writing fiction. Her bestselling historical romances, set in the Regency and Romantic eras of the early nineteenth century, have won a number of awards, including the Romance Writers of America’s RITA®. For more about her past, her books, and what she does and doesn’t do on social media, please visit her website. LorettaChase.com