I’m so happy that this was the first series I attempted to tackle finishing this year! These books are stellar and sexy and fun and HURRAY I just love romance. The Day of the Duchess is the third and final book in the Scandal and Scoundrel series, and it went out with a bang.
In The Day of the Duchess, Seraphina, Duchess of Haven, returns to London after three years away to divorce her husband. She claims she’s been having an affair, which is grounds for divorce in 19th century England (but only if the lady cheats!), and she approaches her husband, the Duke of Haven, with that as evidence. But Malcolm, Duke of Haven, isn’t fooled. It doesn’t take him long to realize that she hasn’t been cheating on him at all, but that she just wants her freedom – even if it’s the one thing he has no intention of giving her. Because he loves her, and he’s spent the last three years searching for her and pining after her. And now she’s back, and he’ll do whatever it takes to win back his wife – maybe even give her what she wants.
TERRIBLE DESCRIPTION ON MY PART. GREAT BOOK.
3 Things I Loved
- The Talbot sisters. These sisters! I loved that all of them had parts in this book. Sophie, Seraphina, and Sesily stand out as favorites, but they’re all feminist and strong-willed and mouthy. I loved each of them. SO MUCH. (Also, SESILY NEEDS HER OWN BOOK! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? PLEASE GIVE SESILY HER OWN BOOK!)
- Malcolm. I thought I’d hate Malcolm, because I certainly didn’t like him at the beginning of A Rogue Not Taken. But he grew on me. He loved Seraphina so much and was so hurt by her, and he had that dreadful mother. But go along with him on his journey of searching for Sera and finding her and letting her go, and then finding her again? OH MY HEART.
- Caleb! But the shining star in this book is Caleb. Oh, Caleb, I want you to have your own book too! (WITH SESILY PLEASE. Looks like I have some fanfic to find/write.) His friendship with Seraphina was wonderful and loving and pure, and I want more of that, just in general in fiction. No romantic tension, no will-they-won’t-they – just friendship. It was perfect. ❤
Dislikes/Problematic Content
This is a thing in pretty much all romance novels, but it seemed to be even more prominent in this particular book – THERE WAS SO MUCH LACK OF COMMUNICATION. It was borderline hard to read (or listen to, in my case) at times and I just wanted them to be together, damn it! It was so clear that Seraphina loved Malcolm and Malcolm loved Seraphina and GOOD GRIEF talk to each other! But that’s romance for you. Ha.
Other than that, I found this book to be feminist and funny and I loved it with every piece of my heart.
Rating
A reminder of the rating scale:
- Red = DNF, I hated everything
- Orange = Ugh, no thank you
- Yellow = I mean, I’ve read worse, but there were problems
- Green = This was good!
- Blue = Oh my gosh, I loved this book!
- Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart and EVERYONE should be reading it!
There was so much to love about this book. It was a beautiful second-chance romance with a set of feminist sisters, a super awesome friendship, and a loving, remorseful duke who just wanted his duchess back. I loved it so much. So! I’m giving The Day of the Duchess a BLUE rating! Go read it!
And I have officially finished my first series in the #FinishingtheSeries2018 Reading Challenge! Scandal and Scoundrel was a great starting point, and I’m pumped to keep finishing up series that I already adore.
Happy reading!
-A.
Snark & Squee 
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