Dukes Do It Better by Bethany Bennett

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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

West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

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Wanting a little bit of a change of pace before getting to February, I wanted to pick up a historical romance. I had a few historicals on my headboard that I wanted to read soon and knew immediately I wanted to pick up West End Earl by Bethany Bennett. This is the second book in her Misfits of Mayfair series. I applied this to the Winter's Kiss 2nd board prompt starts with the letter W and the Heaving Bosom's 2022 Reading Embrace prompt St. Vincent would always.

Ophelia has been living as her twin brother Adam for the past 11 years. After their parents passed and they were sent to a distant uncle, Ophelia and Adam planned to run away. When they were leaving, Adam falls into a pond on the estate, cracks his head on a rock and passes away. To escape their Uncle, Fi takes her brother's place at school. Now, she is currently working with the Earl of Carlisle, Calvin. Not only does he employ her, but they have become great friends. In several months she will reach majority and have access to her inheritance. When Ophelia is attacked on the way home, Cal finally learns the truth about "Adam." When the attack turns out to be orchestrated by her uncle after taking out an insurance policy on Adam, things quickly escalate. Now that Cal knows Fi is a woman, he can't unsee her and the attraction between them quickly builds.

This was so good! I absolutely loved it, eve more than the first book Any Rogue Will Do. I was nervous how long Cal was going to think that Adam was a man, but even though it's been two years of friendship, we quickly see him figure out that Adam is actually Ophelia. The tension between them and way that Cal just wanted to take care of her in all ways was so great. I mean we've seen in both books that he really takes care of his friends, but when things turn romantic it just intensifies. This book also took some crazy turns that I wasn't expecting and I absolutely loved it. I love getting surprised by where Bethany took us and loved the way it played out.

We meet and see a lot of Emma, Cal's younger sister. While she was frustrating to me a lot of the book, we did get some good growth from her and I loved the way that she connected with Fi. Honestly, that's really the only thing that really bothered me, but seeing where it lead made it worth it. I just really loved the twists and turns. It just really made my reading experience even better and I can't wait for more.

I can't believe that this is only Bethany Bennett's second book and I am so hyped for her future career. The third book in the series is Emma's and comes out this May. I already have it preordered and am so ready to see what happens. I am loving that I have a new historical author to follow and that it's early enough in her career I can stay caught up on her backlist. If you are looking for a newer historical release, I can't recommend Bethany Bennett more. She's definitely a stand out of the new generation for me!

Have you read West End Earl?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: West End Earl, Bethany Bennett, 5-stars, 0 days, paperback, 377 pages, published in 2021, traditionally published

Any Rogue Will Do by Bethany Bennett

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The fourth and final book I read for the Historical Romance Readathon was Any Rogue Will Do by Bethany Bennett. This is the first book in her Misfits of Mayfair series and covered the prompts green/red on cover, in a series, new to you author, clinch cover, rogue in the title, rec'd to you, lady heroine and book you own. I was also able to apply this to the Winter's Kiss prompt green on cover, Merry + Bright prompt Baby It's Cold Outside (dual perspective) and Banging Through the Snow Prompt red or green cover.

Charlotte, aka Lottie, is returning to London from her country home. Her father has started to come out of mourning and has decided it's time for her to marry. He arranges for her to marry friend's second son, but she is not in agreement. She has until November to find another acceptable husband. When there's an accident on the way, she runs into Viscount Amesbury, Ethan. He was a suitor during her first season, but ends up ruining her with a nickname. As they continue to run into each other, they propose a fake engagement to at least get Lottie's father to stop pushing the horrible man he wants her to marry.

Oh my gosh, this book was so wonderful. I mentioned this during my wrap up, but I own this because I heard good things about the second book, West End Earl, and picked it up at Walmart. When I got home and realized it was book 2 in the series, I immediately added the first book so I would have them both. I pulled this as a secondary option for my readathon tbr. Someone commented on my post and mentioned that they really loved this and that the hero was Scottish. I immediately raised it up in my tbr and when I saw it would be a book that would give me a bingo, I knew it would be my last book for the readathon. Even though this isn't a Christmas book, it at least gives the vibes with a green and red cover!

But about the book. First off, this is Bethany Bennett's debut novel and that just blows me away even more. I absolutely adored Ethan. He was so sweet and pining for Lottie. I loved how he kept putting her first, at first due to his guilt but at the same time knowing and trying to ignore the attraction he's had for her from before. Lottie was such a great heroine. I feel like a lot of the more recent historical romances push the feminism threads more than needed and it almost becomes the focal point to the story and not the romance. While there is that here, at the same time I enjoyed how Lottie immediately regrets pushing Ethan away and tries to make it up to him. They both agree to come to a compromise to be in a healthy relationship but also give her what she wants in life. It didn't bother me as much here outside of that I wish that her father wasn't as against Ethan. That would be my only downside of the books was that her father was an antagonist on top of the villain of the guy he's trying to marrying her off to. Then that leads to her breaking up with Ethan and I just didn't like that as the extra conflict. It just felt like a little too much for the final conflict, but I did like how it also forced Lottie to really open up to Ethan and figure out what she really wanted.

I really enjoyed this book and immediately pulled West End Earl. I want to pick it up soon and am so intrigued by who Cal is going to be paired with. I have an idea, but I don't want to read the blurb before going in. I am so happy to find another new author and am excited to see how her writing is going to grow and evolve. Such a great debut!

Have you read Any Rogue Will Do?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Any Rogue Will Do, Bethany Bennett, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 352 pages, published in 2020