Daring and the Duke The Bareknuckle Bastards Book III

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance Daring and the Duke is the finale of the Barenuckled Bastards trilogy by this author and I can't believe this delightful series is over already. I think I have been looking forward to Grace's story since the first book was read, she is such an iconic character that just builds the mystery and intrigue throughout the trilogy, so you just ache for her story and seeing more of her background, and there are so many facets to her character that I found fascinating and well worth the long wait for. And of course we have our anti hero(villain) who has just played the "bad guy" for the first two books and one wonders how on EARTH can MacLean redeem this soul? Well she does and its epically beautiful. Daring and the Duke starts off with a torture session with Grace and Ewan. This is quite shortly after "Brazen and the Beast" and where Ewan is captured by the three and Grace takes out her anger and feelings of betrayal and hurt out on Ewan and Ewan shocked to find her alive, is willing to give her whatever she needs, even if it means causing him pain. He doesn't fight her at all. And then he is tossed out and we jump ahead one year later where Ewan after disappearing for a year, returns to London and to Grace and is more than willing to fight for her, no matter what it takes. Grace knows that playing with Ewan, and sharing kisses with him is dangerous, but she senses there is something redeemable about him and wants to see what is possible with this Ewan who has seemingly changed from the man he once was. But Ewan is hiding a secret from all of them, and only once the secrets are revealed, can Ewan and Grace truly find a future together. Daring and the Duke was a delightful story that I fell so hard for and so quickly towards and I couldn't get enough of it. I was so captivated by this book and quite frankly READ these books in narration form. That is all I am going to say and you will adore them. I will be honest, I don't physically read this author anymore. I have just found it to be too slow at times and I can have the hardest time getting into them, but boy, Justine Eyre works her magic in narrating these books and probably a big reason why I have enjoyed them so much here. You are a queen....and tonight I am your throne I really fell in love with the story though, and even though the beginning scene is not my cup of tea (a heroine hurting the hero is NOT for me) and I almost set it aside because that scene did bother me. I understand the circumstances and why she was so angry, but it just turned my stomach seeing this scene. But then once we do the year jump, then the book turned into all that I hoped for. I loved the groveling but I also liked seeing the heroine see something more in the hero even if she doesn't fully realize it. And all the women in the family coming together and cheering her on in her pursuit of Ewan was AWESOME. We do get some good reconcilation between the brothers and even if it wasn't as much as I wanted to get, it was well done in seeing that friendship be able to rebuild its process. The three of us could have easily been broken. Separated. Manipulated,” he said. “It wasn’t blood that kept us together against him. It was you.” She caught her breath. “We all loved you. Whit and Devil like a sister—each of them willing to protect you without hesitation. And me . . .” He trailed off, and she reached for his hand, threading her fingers through his. “Like you were a part of me. The romance between Grace and Ewan was just beautiful. We do get some flashback to when they were younger, and seeing that bright young love blossom and then seeing what Ewan had to do to save all of them and it broke my heart seeing him make the difficult choice knowing it would make them turn against him. I found seeing that and seeing his devotion to Grace when he finds her alive and well, was stunning in its portrayal throughout the book. What he is willing to do to fight for her and support her is beautiful in every way. And seeing Grace fight for him, even if that means standing up for him against the two men that protected her all these years, was mind blowing. You see how much depth of love she contains for Ewan, despite all of his past wrongs, but sees the goodness still in him. I do not want to be Your Grace ever again. All I want is for you to be my Grace.” He kissed her again. “It’s always been you. Every day. Every night. Every minute. Since the beginning. This is the sum of my ambition: To be worthy of you. Of your love. Of your world. To stand by your side and change it. Overall I found Daring and the Duke to be a stunning story that won my heart with each beautiful chapter that charmed my soul in its depths of emotion and startling truths of love and growth.....STUNNINGLY EPIC

** spoiler alert ** after waiting so long for this book to come out and then to get to me, I was worried that my expectations would be too high and it would fall short. Let me just say, this book did not fall short in any way! Grace is everything I dream of in a heroine. she is unbelievably independent, she’s strong, she surrounded by other badass women, and her love for Ewan doesn’t outweigh her desires. Don’t get me wrong, I believe both Grace and Ewan go through changes in this book in order for them to fall back in love together, but her changes never compromise her wants or desires which is so important to me! MILD POSSIBLE SPOILERS COMING UP! Ewan’s grovel is more than enough for me, as he technically has been making reparations for 20 years and then some more when he finally gets back to covet garden. I especially love when there’s even a line about putting him in cold storage for 20 years to make up for what he’s done (gotta love that fated mates and IAD reference)! Not only that but the part where he is hauling ice in Covent Garden for me seemed to knock him down a peg and allowed him to return to his roots of where he came from. It put him on the same playing field as the others who lived there and I found it deeply satisfying (and painful) reading about him getting beat up by the people of the garden. I also find that because everything he has ever done has been for Grace and because of Grace, even some rather questionable things like locking Devil in the cooler and nearly blowing up Hattie, I found it was easier to stomach knowing he did it not because he hated Devil and Whit but because he saw it as punishing them for letting Grace die (as he thought she had been dead and he had left her in Devil and Whit’s care). END OF SPOILER! this book is everything and more and Sarah Maclean has done the impossible: she’s redeemed a villain that in all honesty should have been irredeemable. I went from hating ewan to loving him with just a few pages. not to mention the fact that Grace is now tied as my favorite MacLean heroine with Callie! if you haven’t read this book or series I highly recommend you get on it!

*4.5* This book was HOT. It was passionate, steamy, with a big dash of heartache, frustration and so many moments where I just wanted these two to be together already!! I really did enjoy this one, I’ve loved the previous two books and I was highly anticipating Ewan and Grace; like counting the days since I finished Brazen and the Beast last year! It definitely lived up to my expectations, especially the beginning and the second half. I really loved the masquerade and I loved 72 Shelton, what a beautiful and extravagant place! I fell in love with Covet Garden and all of its hidden treasures throughout this series and I loved getting lost in Sarah’s writing. That being said, it was a bit slow. I loved and was addicting while I was reading, but I was able to put it down and not have that yearn to pick it back up. But when I read it, I loved it. It was just SO ANGSTY and FRUSTRATING at points because I understood WHY Grace had to be that way with him, I loved her so much, she’s so amazing! But it drove me crazy that he waited until the end to explain his side of the story and his side just fell a bit flat to me. It was kind of predictable why he “betrayed” them. That’s why I knocked it down a star, and I wanted more scenes of Ewan with Devil and Whitt! I wanted more of reconciliation between those two and I felt it was missing it a little bit. But I did love all the steamy moments with Grace and Ewan!! Those two killed me in this book. Im sad to see the series end but I’m really excited to see what Sarah’s got in store with Hells Belles!

I believe this might have been the conclusion to the series, but I could be wrong. It was really good, but I don't know if I enjoyed it more than the other two. I think Brazen and the Beast is my favorite. In Daring and the Duke, we finally get Ewan and Grace's story. It's full of love, betrayal, penance, and love anew. I fully enjoyed the steaminess. However, the story is the kind I don't typically like where there was a misunderstanding that led to heartbreak, and the main character wants the guy, but keeps going back and forth about how she can't be with him. Not necessarily a plot point I enjoy, but it wasn't too bad here. I don't think it was as thrilling as the first two, because since it's the villain's love story there's no one else to really amp up the suspense. There wasn't even a conclusion to who specifically was behind the raids element of the book. Overall, still a good book and a great series. I highly recommend this series to those who love historical romances or are looking for a good place to start with the genre.

Gosh, that was so good. I'm just going to sit here with my feelings. (April 2020) 2nd read - audio & print (my own copies) - July 4 - July 13 2020 It is truly difficult to write a coherent review for a book you adore I've discovered. Let's just mash some keys on the keyboard and call it done? No, I cannot do that! Plus I had to review the audio book for my Library Journal gig and I don't think lkjsdflkjakjl would work. Mildly spoilery and if you haven't read the other books in this series (or this book): Okay. So here goes. I have to admit I didn't worry about Ewan's redemption like I worried about Malcolm's from The Day of the Duchess. I felt MacLean deftly showcased Ewan as cold and calculating and completely without hope until he discovered Grace's existence. I fully believed he has ulterior motivations for attacking Grace and her brothers so I could sink into this story ready for his redemption. And oh Grace, she is so awesome. I connected with her tendency to give others the pleasure they seek without taking pleasure of her own. Her loyalty to her family, her brothers of her heart and her crew of women. I loved seeing her discover what would give her pleasure, going to seek it, but never compromising herself or her ideals. Duke was hers by right, and Duchess would never be enough, and finally seeing Ewan understand this and burn it to the ground was SO SATISFYING. Grace and Ewan also both have a past. So often in this trope the woman often remains unkissed, a virgin, and I'm glad Grace's past was not dissected but was presented in a way we know that she has taken lovers before. She is not shamed for living her life, but instead is glorified for who she has become. I want to revel in the world more, and will reread this series often. It is a true treasure. I'll post the LJ audio review when it is live.

Before reading: I got an arc. Dear god please be another groveling romance like day of the duchess!!! I need it to be!! After reading: Well... it sadly did not live up to the day of the duchess hype. I’ve struggled with this series (I gave both Wicked & Brazen 3 stars) but I was holding out hope for Ewan and Grace, who have been so hyped and anticipated since they were first introduced. I live for second chance romance and my last experience with it from SM was brilliant. Sadly, Daring didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It started off strong - I couldn’t WAIT to see how Ewan would grovel. The beginning I did enjoy a lot! It was tense and angsty, which is what I want in second chance romances and groveling romances. But somewhere towards the middle it lost its steam, became strangely repetitive, and I just wasn’t into the story as much. I honestly don’t think Ewan did enough to make up for all the hurt he caused and Grace took him back too quickly and easily because of a few kisses. I love Grace’s character and her role in the London underground. She’s a powerful woman in her own right, and I love to see that, especially in historical romances. I do wish we’d gotten to see Grace in all her queen of the London underworld glory more. We don’t experience enough of that aspect! And the romance and love felt like it was based too much on the past and not enough on the present and the people they grew up to be. Super sad I didn’t love this one, but I’ll still be reading whatever Sarah MacLean comes out with next! I’m still a huge fan of hers despite this series not working for me (though I’m definitely in the minority for it). I will forever be grateful to her for introducing me to regency romances!

This one suffered the same fate as the previous book. The plot/conversations/scenarios all seemed very similar to the first book, but lacked the angst and chemistry.