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I decided to do a little reading binge of releases that came out on May 24th, 2022 that were also anticipated reads for me. The first book I picked up was Dukes Do It Better. This is the third book in Bethany Bennett's Misfits of Mayfair series. I was able to apply this to the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge for You Belong With Me (character that knows what they want), Summer of Swoon for author with less than 5 published books and the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo for widowed protagonist.
Emma has been persuaded by Fi and Lottie to come back to town for the season so her their sons can get to know each other better. While in town, Emma runs into Malachi. They had a tryst months before in the seaside town she lives in before Mal headed back out to sea as a Captain for Her Majesty's Royal Navy. Since they last met, Mal's older brother has passed and he has now inherited his family's dukedom. Mal and Emma want to resume their relationship, but it quickly becomes more as Mal meets Emma's son and family. Mal is struggling with accepting his new title and is looking for a way to remove the hold his mother has over his commanding officers to head back out to sea. When all three couples start getting blackmailed, they must band together to figure out who's behind everything.
Oh my gosh, this was such a great wrap up to the trilogy. I absolutely adored Emma and Mal. Their connection was so palpable and I loved how naturally Mal integrated in with Emma's family. He was also so good with her son. There was a scene where Emma and Mal have a picnic with her son and he's struggling to get his toy sailboat to sail. Of course Mal, captain of a ship, helps him and I just loved the relationship formed between Mal and Alton. The way that they became a little family was just so precious to see, especially at the end when Alton immediately starts calling Mal "papa." My heart was just so full.
Now, I would say you could probably read this as a standalone, but to get the full effect of Emma's background, it would be better to read at least book two, West End Earl first; my favorite of the series. This book takes place about 5-years in the future, so in the background we get to see how Lottie and Ethan as well as Fi and Cal. We get a little more of Cal and Fi, since Cal is Emma's brother, and we also get to see their son as well. It was just such a nice time getting to see Emma get her HEA and how she's really grown over the past five years. Also seeing her as a mother was so neat and you could really feel her emotions when it came to her son. I listened to an interview with Bethany Bennett before the release and Bethany was a single mother for a long time and really pulled from her personal experiences. That little extra relatability just really made it so much more effective emotionally.
I'm sad that this is the end of the trilogy, but also so excited to see where Bethany goes next. She is one of my new favorite historical romance authors and I cannot wait to see where she decides to go. I feel like she adds some really great plot points and uniqueness to her stories. If you haven't checked out Bethany Bennett yet, I highly recommend her! Plus she's a newer author so she only as three books on her backlist (so far)!
Have you read Dukes Do It Better?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: Dukes Do It Better, Bethany Bennett, 5-stars, 2 days, Paperback, 328 pages, published in 2022
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