Can't Get Enough of the Duke: A Novel

The Thunderbolt Club #2

by Lenora Bell

USA Today bestseller Lenora Bell continues her sparkling, sensual Thunderbolt Club series with a marriage of convenience between a grumpy, combat-scarred duke and his cheerful and beautiful ward.

War hero Deckard Payne, Duke of Warburton, made a battlefield promise to become guardian to orphan Analise Crewe. He certainly didn’t agree to marry the girl! But that’s exactly what happens when he’s forced to wed her to save her honor.

The last thing Analise wants is a loveless marriage to a broodingly handsome duke who lives in a gloomy castle and keeps his doors—and his heart—tightly locked. He’s determined to keep her at arm’s length—but she’s not easily deterred when there’s a tough case to crack.

Warburton never wanted a wife. Especially an inquisitive and far-too-pretty whirlwind who upends his regimented life. Her sunny, winning ways charm everyone she meets and soon she’s unearthing buried secrets, plotting love matches, and shining light into even the darkest of hearts…his own.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Forced Proximity

Audible Audio

Expected publication April 7, 2026

About the author

Lenora Bell is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of historical romances with Avon Books. A teacher with an MFA in Creative Writing, Lenora has lived and worked on five continents. She's currently lives in Colombia with her partner and two tiger-striped rescue kitties. She loves hearing from readers!

Learn more at www.LenoraBell.com

Reviews

[Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: Some of my goodreads shelves can be spoilers

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine (but mostly heroine)
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: takes just a little bit – at the end of chapter 2 (of 33)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, one year later
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through NetGalley in e-book form
Why I chose this book: I love Lenora Bell!
Mains: Deckard (Dex) Payne (Duke of Warburton) and Analise Crewe – This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine
(Descriptions found at end of my review)

Should I read in order?
I think this one is fine alone! I did not read book 1 and had zero issues falling into this story.

Basic plot:
After making a promise during the war to a dying man, Dex returns to England to find his new ward.

Give this a try if you want:
- historical romance (Regency-ish?)
- Duke hero
- author heroine
- guardian and ward
- former soldier hero
- he’s huge, she’s tiny – she’s as a tall as his collar
- age gap – and please only dive in if you’re comfortable with this – she’s 18 and he’s 35
- compromised heroine
- scarred hero – he has facial scars from the war
- opposites attract – she’s impulsive, imaginative and talkative while he’s silent and brooding (some sunshine and grump dynamic)
- Annie retelling
- medium steam but slower burn – 3ish full scenes (and a shorter one I didn’t count) along with some elements of bondage, spanking, and praise

Ages:
- heroine is 18, he is 35

First line:
Deckard Payne, Duke of Warburton, knelt on the cold ground beside the fallen cavalryman.

My thoughts:
Oh, how I adored this novel!!! I haven’t read Lenora Bell in quite a while but this was exactly what I was needing!

This book...everything went almost exactly the way I wanted it to go. The beginning just grabbed me so good, and I LOVED their first meet. And then it just kept getting better to me, giving me all the romance things I wanted even things I wasn’t expecting but were so perfect for these two. This book totally wrapped around my heart and tugged at it repeatedly throughout their story.

Bell writes absolutely delightful heroines. I always fall in love with them. Analise is just such a lovely, chaotic whirlwind that I adored. I love her imagination, her optimism. I loved her writers’ spirit and her pairing with this large, overbearing grumpy duke I was eating up.

Other reviewers pointed out this is an Annie inspired novel – I am actually not familiar with the musical which I think I only saw once in like 5th grade and that was it 😂 . So that might up the either love or dislike factor for you.

I do want to point out the age gap – the heroine is 18, the hero in his 30s, so if that makes you uncomfortable I would forego this novel. I’m fine with it in fiction (I mean, 20 would be like...more palatable for me, but it’s not a make or break for me. Probably because I cut my teeth on those 80s novels of 16 year olds paired with 40 year olds 😬 )

There were so many lines I was swooning over. I missed the first novel in this series but it makes me want to go back and try it.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 9
Average rating from me: 4.11 stars
Favorite book: I’ll have to reread some of her earlier ones but either this one of One Fine Duke I think

Quotes any typos are my own! I am bad with typos, I apologize


“I’m making a list.”
“All of the ways I’m no longer an innocent young lady, fit for polite society?”
“ A list of everyone who has wronged you.” He slammed his fist against the padded carriage wall. “You shall be avenged.”
His voice, his air of total authority. The way his dark brows knit together over cold silver eyes. He was the Dragon from her book a creature of great power and purpose. The lines etched into his cheek, like claw marks.
---
“You’re free with your words.”
“And you keep yours locked so tightly it’s a wonder your lips know how to part. You are all the g-r words. Grumpy, gruff, grim, grave, grunting, growling…” She counted them off her fingers.
---
She could imply certain things, though, and the reader would fill in the rest. She dipped her quill in ink. Warburton kissed the way he hunted – with precise aim and single-minded focus. Adora was his prey. Her lips his prize.
No, that was too dramatic. And...goodness! She’d written Warburton.
She was becoming confused. Both her hero, and her villain, kept transforming into an ill-tempered, forbidding man who lived his life as if constantly negotiation for territory on a battlefield.
---
He dreamed he was unfurling a great roll of cloth, and when he’d reached the end of it she tumbled out. Perfectly naked. Looking up at him with lambent green eyes, her arms outstretched, murmuring, “How does kissing work?” and other inane but wildly pleasant questions that woke him right up, boiling hot and aching to go back to sleep so that he could show her.
---
“Ana.” Thea took her arm. “Is there, perchance, a brooding duke in your novel who gives stern commands?”
Miss Crewe’s cheeks flushed a fetching shade of pink. “The villain is rather ill-tempered and given to expressing himself with grunts and growls.”
Thea giggled. “And the hero?”
“He converses most eloquently with ease on topics ranging from his childhood to his taste in poetry. He’s always complimenting the heroine and acquiescing to her every whim.”
Dex snorted. “Sounds like a right ninny.”
---
“You’re a pretty girl, and you know it.”
She didn’t know it. She knew that men had wanted her. Had wanted to own her. She hadn’t seen this in their eyes. This tortured reverence. This longing. And she wondered if he could read the same thing in her eyes.
---
“Your Grace,” she curtsied prettily, her face flushed from dancing, curls escaping the confines of her hair ribbons.
“You’re not to dance with Lord Somersby again. Didn’t I warn you about him?”
Her fingers curled over his bicep. He flexed instinctively, wanting her to feel the steel of his muscles. Her toes tapped in time to the music. “I was warned. I simply chose not to heed the warning.”
Her fingers innocently stroked his arm.
---
“Do you know where I always express myself eloquently?”
She shook her head, her breathing ragged.
“In the bedchamber. I’ll give you instructions, encouragement. I’ll tell you how beautiful you are, how much you please me.” He closed the slight distance between them, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “And if you’re naughty, I’ll take you over my knee and spank you. And you’ll like it. You’ll beg me for more.”
---
“Don’t say that,” she said in an anguished tone that sliced through the fog that had descended in his mind.
“I apologize. I shouldn’t speak of such dark things. It’s your wedding night. There should be…” Tenderness. Love. Laughter. He had none of those things to give her. “Wine.”



Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- parental death, death from childbirth
- scenes and remembrances of war and injuries
- human sex trafficking elements – vulnerable women are preyed upon by a brothel owner
- kidnapping of heroine
- there is a guardian / ward relationship between the hero and heroine and also an age gap
Author content warnings? Didn’t catch any (I always encourage you to check author’s websites, since Amazon penalizes authors for certain content warning words in their novels)


Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

Safe sex: No
How’s the consent? It’s good but I do want to note the guardian / ward aspect and the age gap (she’s 18, he’s in his 30s) – she tends to pursue and pressure him, he doesn’t chase her
Pregnancy/children in story? No
Chapter 16 – kiss
Chapter 19 – kiss
Chapter 22 – 🔥 oral for her
”Good. Now wider.” She heard his breathing grow heavier, sensuality lowering his voice to a husky growl. “Wider.”
“Fuck. Ana.”
Chapter 24 – 🔥 handy for him
He couldn’t refuse. He was too far gone now. He wanted her too much. In the darkness, her soft hand questing, sliding gently over him.
He lay back with a moan. “Please. Touch me.”
Chapter 25 – 🔥 missionary followed by doggy
It was dark, he’d blown out the candles, but she could see the hard lines of him, the jaw, the dark eyes. The enormous muscles of his arms bulging as he supported his weight above her, moving slowly, slowly. Deliciously.
Chapter 32 – her on top but it’s pretty short

Total chapters: 32 and an epilogue



Extra stuff like what my review breakdown means, where to find me, and book clubs


Full break down on what my ratings above mean here:
Overall: How I felt about it everything considered!
Readability: How ‘readable’ was the book? Did I fly through it? Did I have to tell myself to pick it back up repeatedly? Were any passages confusing? (I will probably score like (1) is literally unreadable due to formatting/typing errors, etc (2) There were lots of errors that made it difficult to read OR It was extremely confusing and I had to reread passages to make sense of it OR I disliked it so much I had to bribe myself to keep reading (3) I didn’t really want to keep reading and would have preferred to abandon the read and start something else OR some minor continuity issues/confusion (4) I liked it fine, maybe a minor error or 2. I was happy to pick it up when I had time. (5) I never wanted to put this down. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it. I hid in the bathroom from my kids to read. I threw inappropriate food at my children for dinner so I could read instead.)
Feels: Totally subjective to each person but did the book give me any tingles? Any butterflies? Did it rip my heart out (in a good way?)
Emotional depth: How well do I feel I know the characters at the end? How much did I feel their emotions throughout the story?
Sexual tension: Again, subjective, but how strong was the wanting and longing to me between the characters? A book might have strong sexual tension without a single touch.
Romance: Was there romance? Did romantic things happen? This can be actions/words/thoughts of the characters and again is subjective.
Sensuality: This is how the intimate scenes are written. Kisses and sexual scenes – how sensual were they? Were they on the mechanical side? Was there emotional pull tied in? Were the details explicit or flowery? These are subjective but generally (1) too short to get a good judgment (2) not all what I'm looking for - very vague or flowery prose (3) either not explicit enough or not enough emotional pull (too mechanical/physically descriptive without the emotions) (4) what I love in a scene (5) absolute perfection - perfect balance of emotional longing and explicit descriptions
Sex Scene Length: How long the bedroom scenes are (generally (1) is 1-3 sentences (2) is a few paragraphs to a page-ish (3) is about average, a few pages (4) more well developed scenes, quite a few pages with descriptions (5) the majority of the book takes place in the bedroom. This is always hard to tell for me on audio!
Steam Scale: Generally, each flame is a scene. If scenes are super close together I sometimes combine them. If a scene is super short or so vague I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t count it. There’s some levels of grey but generally the number of flames is how many sex scenes there are (I max out at 5 so I’ll put a + after if there’s more than that)


Find me
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Book Clubs
The Ton and the Tartans (Historical Romance)
Upturned Petticoats and Undone Cravats (Historical Romance with Steam Requirements)
A Love Less Ordinary (Science Fiction, Paranormal, Monster, Fantasy)
Modern Manuscripts (Contemporary Romance)
Words for the Wicked (Contemporary Romance with Steam Requirements)
Vintage Romance (Old School Romance – published 2000 and prior)

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This new-to-me author has me hooked!!! Loved this marriage of convenience, grumpy/sunshine story.

The growth, the breaking down of walls. Absolutely beautiful

[justinejustreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to start this review by saying I didn't know I was getting a historical romance inspired by a musical. I've read most of Lenora Bell's older works, but haven't picked up the last couple because I didn't think the premises were for me. I am, unfortunately for this book, sick to death of retellings in the romance genre. I don't think I'm alone here either. Who is asking for retellings? Avon, do you think this is what HR readers want? Are you pushing your authors to write these?? I went into this pretty blind, having chosen it based on my confidence in the author and the blurb. I like age gaps and scarred war heroes. I realize that this trope can be problematic because of the power imbalance, but usually when an author writes this trope, they age up the heroine psychologically. She's been through it. She isn't naive and juvenile etc etc. Unfortunately that wasn't the case here. This heroine was eighteen going on fifteen. At no point did I think this person was mature, and thus the age gap made me squeamish. Then I realized...this is inspired by Annie. Except the rich dude falls in love with his ward instead of his secretary. (I've only seen the 1985 film and have not seen other Annie source material.)

What are you all thinking publishing a book in 2026 about a man who is thirty-five marrying his eighteen year old ward and then dropping Annie Easter eggs throughout the book? I have no idea who is going to receive this book well, especially in this political and social climate. Perhaps this trope needs to die at this point because the nature of this premise is predatory and not what new readers to the genre will want. The female main character, Ana, acts completely childish throughout the book, and her guardian, Warburton, is completely without personality except for his honour and duty and desire for her. The "good girl" moments in the spice were infantilizing, not sexy. This was grumpy-sunshine, sure, but where is the depth in Ana's character from surviving the tragedies she's been through? Why does she read so one dimensional? The plot felt contrived, and to be honest, I didn't get the feeling this was a book the author even wanted to write.

“I’ve always told myself that even in the darkest of times, the sun will return. Now I’m not so sure.”

If this is what we can look forward to from historical romance in 2026, I'm not feeling very optimistic and sunny.

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for the arc.

[Dhaaruni Sreenivas · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this book is a ward/guardian romance, and I’m generally not inherently opposed to that or to age gap romances in general, but it just annoys me when the younger woman is 18-years-old, aka could be a high school senior, and not because I’m jealous that 18-year-old are hotter than I am at 30.

As Phoebe Maltz Bovy writes in Features and Bugs, until relatively recently, it was NORMAL for adult men to be sexually attracted to teenage girls, and to not have to bother hiding it.

“Because I lived through the before-times, because I remember like yesterday not just early 2017 but 1997 (when I was 14 myself), I can paint a portrait of the mindset. It was quite simply not pedophilia-coded in that context (SHOULD HAVE BEEN but wasn’t) to declare barely-pubescent girls the world’s most beautiful women. You could do this in the National Review and be celebrated for sharing difficult truths. Only a liberal hag of 21-plus would mind hearing that age 15-20 is, as John Derbyshire argued in 2005, the peak female form. Pedophilia, in the before-times, was molestation. It was men (almost always men) acting on desires. But there was a popular understanding that red-blooded men liked teenage girls (American Beauty, remember that movie?) and that this was something disconnected from the tiny subset of men with genuinely troubling urges.”

One reason that #MeToo had so much backlash is that a lot of people, not just men, were really angry that behavior that previously went undiscussed or was even celebrated and envied was now deemed “problematic,” including but not limited to grown men lusting after and pursuing girls who were young enough to be their daughters.

Look, I’m not a prude about age gaps, in fiction or in reality when all parties are of legal age, like Julie Anne Long’s What I Did For A Duke is one of my favorite romance novels of all time (in it, the hero is almost 20 years older than the heroine). And, I do understand that young women are generally considered more attractive than older ones, and I’m genuinely at peace that I’m not in the initial blush of youth anymore. But that said, I think it’s nasty and unbecoming to insist that 15–20 is the peak female form, and I find it weird that a romance novel that’s set to published by Avon (meaning not an independent publisher) in 2026 has a hero that’s 35 and a heroine that’s 18!

I haven’t read a romance novel published in the last 15 years where the heroine is under 20, and even prior to that, there aren’t nearly as many as you’d expect, even among the bodice ripper categories from the 80s and early 90s. Even though it was more acceptable for older men to lust after teenagers 30-40 years ago, everybody still knew that teenage girls were teenage girls, and romance audiences, who obviously skew female, remembered what it was like to be 16 and have some guy twice your age creeping on you, and it sucked. There's also zero discussion of the age gap in the book, and the fact the hero and heroine have a borderline dominant/submissive sexual relationship, from the very first time they, and she, have sex, combined with the age gap, is kind of disconcerting for me, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I was curious if it was a male thing to be attracted to much younger women and women don’t feel the same way about younger men, but I asked my husband and he said that even if 18-year-olds are physically attractive, being romantically involved with a teenager gives him the ick because of how immature they are, and he didn’t understand why any 35-year-old would marry a girl that age.

Plus, in the case of this book, Analise also acts like a teenager, not just a sunshiney and #irreverent adult woman, and it’s quite frankly annoying because Lenora Bell also is intent on noting how physically SMALL Ana is.

Anyways, other than that, the book could have been worse so I’ll give it 2 stars, but I just couldn’t get past the age gap and I’m not the only one given the rest of the reviews. Next time, Lenora Bell needs to write a protagonist that doesn’t act like she’s planning out her outfit for senior year homecoming, that’s all I’m saying.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

[Nikki (awallflowerreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book immediately throws you into the story and grips you in its clutches by the prologue! Dex, on the battlefield makes a promise to his dying comrade- find and protect his young daughter. Immediately after making the promise Dex is horribly scarred on his face and spends two months unconscious in recovery. Still healing, he awakes determined to find Annalise to keep his promise to her father. And when he reads her letters containing chapters to a story she is writing- he becomes invested in not just her future but the future of the story. It then takes him several years to find her…Ana is just trying to get her epic romantasy published, but men are small minded as are publishers and they’re not interested in her work. That is, until she sells them on her fake fiancé and her mentor’s post-humorous work. When a Duke shows up claiming to be her new guardian, she might not believ him at first, but he’s about to make all her dreams come true.

Talk about setting up an excellent and compelling plot that throws these two characters together for the best kind of bonkers. Lenora Bell always knows how to grab at my interest and hold it, especially when she does things like adapt well-loved media into steamy historicals. She’s done it with multiple series and when I heard this book was inspired by Annie I was so curious how it was going to play out. Spoiler alert - it so works!

Anna and Tessie’s relationship is so cute and fun right from the start! There’s a level of familiarity since they’re close in age and I just love that Anna’s first duty was to find an ally and friend in the house. Anna’s free-spirited determination was an absolute blast to witness. Especially against her guardian and love interest who’s much more stoic, though he can clock every one of her fanciful plans.

I can see where readers might not like the age gap between Dex and Anna, since it is a large one (14ish years) and Anna is so young in general. But I actually really liked it, because it felt realistic to the characters. Anna isn’t someone who’s “wise beyond her years” and is instead the person who “throws all caution to the wind” which ends up being just what this scarred Duke needs to heal. Her optimism, joy, and youth, bring out these sides in him in a way that I thought was really well done. I also just think it’s so much fun when the older man gets jealous of all the “pups” vying for his girl’s attention, and Dex is Giving that energy with his overprotective instincts.

Like most Lenora Bell books, this one delivered on lighthearted humor and fast-paced dialogue! The characters have insane chemistry and despite their age difference are a perfect match. Watching him take the brat, and her best the beast was a rewarding time all-around. Highly recommend this one for those that love a modern-feeling historical romance that delivers bonkers hillarious situations and dialogue.

4/5
Thank you to netgalley and publishers for an eARC of this book.

[Heather | Nerdy By Nature Blog · Rating 2 out of 5]

*I received a copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think it's time for me to throw in the towel when it comes to Bell's books. I've read a few of them now, and I found them all to be just okay. Her premises are fun, but something about the execution falls flat, as was the case here. I appreciated the marriage of convenience element, but the age gap felt unnecessary. That trope is inconsistent for me, and Ana genuinely read as an inexperienced eighteen-year-old. On one hand, I liked her pluckiness, but on the other, it made her feel younger than her years. I also wanted more complexity in her relationship with Dex. He was so emotionally distant that his love confession felt unearned. It was a quick read, and I flew through it all in basically one sitting, but I don't think I'm interested enough to continue the series.

[SelinaW · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very easy and interesting read and my first by Lenora Bell. The characters are both likable and easy to root for - a brooding scarred military hero Dexter, who tries to redeem the hurt he imagines he dealt on the battlefield and his innocent but curious and imaginative ward Ana, who dreams of publishing her own fantastical novel about castles and dragons and ends up ensnaring her very own dragon and taming him.

They come together out of duty (Dexter’s to Ana’s father) and marry out of duty as well, but there is passion burning underneath (and lots of it too, and not without some steamy kink!). The book is slow burn but once it starts burning, it’s hot.

The author stayed true to the character’s personalities. Ana is only 18 and she is frequently frustratingly dense and spends many a scene attempting to right a wrong that was not hers to get into. Dexter is slow to change and can be surly and disgruntled. I thought the storyline was well done with some action at the end. I found myself slightly wishing there were more pages there at the end to give main characters more time to develop their feelings with the reader. But what a fun read nonetheless!

Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for this ARC!

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a miss for me. Age gap romances, however well they're written, always give me the ick. In this case, Ana is 18, and Dex is 35. Worse yet- Ana is a convincing 18. She's naive, dense at times, and childish. Ultimately, I couldn't get over that.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Anita]

My thanks to the Publisher, and Author, for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

[Courtney Pityer · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you are someone who enjoys dazzling regency romances then this is the book for you. it has a very intriguing plot line and will surely leave you begging for more.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could have shaved off 100 pages but I love scarred heroes something fierce RTC

[Hone · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐

Having glanced at reviews before I requested the audio, I knew this was inspired by Annie. But from the way some people were talking about it, I expected those references to be over-the-top and distracting. Luckily, that was not the case.

This was my first Lenora Bell book, and I was thoroughly impressed by the romantic tension, the flirty banter, and the chemistry between Anna and Dex. Bell writes excellent romance: the love story is well paced, parts of it are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny (“You’re not to consort with rakes!”), and the sex scenes? Spicy. Anna, while sexually inexperienced, is curious and enthusiastic once they get going, not shy or retreating. Their first intimate encounter contained some very light D/s that was a little unexpected, but definitely not bad.

The characters really made this story for me. I enjoyed Anna quite a bit. At 18, she is younger than most Regency heroines I’ve read, but she is neither wilting nor retreating, so she feels well matched to Dex. Others said she read younger than 18, but honestly, she felt older to me. Inexperienced in society? Sure. But not a child. I will also say I appreciated when the narrative finally stopped reminding me how slight and skinny she was. Yes, we get it: she’s tiny and has a big personality. But the description of her absorbed in her work, the light on her face, how she seemed to illuminate the room? That is how you do it.

The one thing I did not love was Anna’s blunt approach to digging into Dex’s past. She goes so far as to invite his estranged brother and sister-in-law to dinner without his knowledge, and she pries into his private wounds, including the war, in ways that felt genuinely disrespectful. The charm curdled a little for me in those moments. That said, the invasiveness does ultimately serve a narrative purpose, because I’m not sure Dex would have ever grown the way he does without Anna’s particular brand of dogged persistence.

I also really liked Dex, though he was a little preoccupied with his own supposedly horrifyingly scarred visage. (Dude, you’re obviously handsome, okay? Chill.) Still, he was deeply invested in making amends and caring for people, and his self-loathing felt true. It made his final decision to embrace life and give his heart to Anna feel that much more powerful and earned.

This is the second in the Thunderbolt Club series, but it’s obvious there are far more books tied in, even if only through cameos. That felt a little overwhelming at points because there were clearly so many people I did not know. But those moments are brief, and while I’m sure the reading experience is enhanced by knowing the broader cast, this story was not diminished by being my entry point into the canon.

Okay, but can we talk about the American lawyer Patrick? A little research shows he’s a fan favorite, and you can absolutely count me among the readers now excited about him. There’s a brief mention of him defending a “murderess,” and I immediately thought: is he next in the series? Maybe something with Chicago vibes? I would absolutely come back for more Patrick. Yum.

Audio-Specific 🎧: 10 hours 40 minutes. Beverley A. Crick brings a strong accent game, which really helps in a story featuring characters from a wide range of locations, and I especially liked her portrayal of Anna. My one hesitation is the narrator’s delivery, which has a tight-jawed, slightly clenched quality. It works surprisingly well for the Duke’s repressed fury, but it also seems to become her default register for everything else too: tender moments, comic moments, all of it. It never quite relaxes. My only other “complaint” is pure preference: it is way too slow at 1.0x. You can bump it all the way to 1.5x without distortion, but 1.25x felt ideal to me.

📌 TL;DR: A spicy little historical romance with a great protagonist. (Also, Patrick’s story WHEN???) The Annie trappings neither enhanced nor detracted from the story for me.**

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.
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**Okay, fine, I’m a liar. There is one moment that pulled me completely out, if only briefly, and that was the reference to Tomorrow. But what was Bell supposed to do, ignore the most iconic song in the entire musical? Not if she wanted to fully commit to the bit. So: necessary evil.

[Whitney Theresa June · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝐆𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐬. 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 ✔️
𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 ✔️✔️
𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐞 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 (𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞 ✔️𝐬)

Welcome to my I read this book in less than 24 hrs b/c I couldn’t stop slightly unhinged review!

Lenora Bell you had me at a wounded man just trying to make good on a battlefield promise to a fallen comrade after reading his letters to his daughter then desperately trying to find her.

Do you know what I found out I like in a meet cute? When the MMC who has been searching for the FMC for YEARS, finally locates her to knock on the door, the FMC opens it, believes he is there to take her as his mistress & promptly flees. AND when he catches her, she uses a pencil to defend herself! Does she prevail? Well, not in this moment but lady is just getting started! Do we get a gruff he's holding her tight in order to keep himself from being injured but it's really hot b/c we know they kinda realize they are both in to it...

Give me all the feisty red haired hellions who manage to unsettle the men who fall for them against their wishes. Make her a writer, who in the name of research, is ready to court scandal & forces footmen into fake duels & I am in love with her!

Deckard 'Dex' Payne, Duke of Warburton you hot AF wounded giant of a fictional man. Were you gruff & monosyllabic until you were in the bedroom making me fall even more in fictional love with you? Yes!
Did I also want to shake you a little bit for having your heart so closed off & feeling as though you did not deserve anything after surviving when your friends did not? Yes.
But it only made you more lovable & more in need of being brought out of your cave bit by bit by Ana. When he was like, you want to be a writer, well then we will do whatever it takes for you to achieve your dreams, I may have been screaming at Lenora for writing my ideal man. I loved how much he tried to right the wrongs of anyone he felt needed to be protected. And when it came to avenging Ana! (I am finding I am rather into vengeance in my books as of late...) There were so many layers to his character & as we continued the story it just made wanting him to get his HEA even more meaningful.

Analise 'Ana' Crewe! Goodness she was a force. I loved how she interacted with the world. How she took '𝘯𝘰'𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 & 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩! (Well that one backfired but goodness it was worth the angst & yearning we had been witness to!) When that MMC is pushed to the brink and then the '𝘧*** 𝘪𝘵' moment happens - I am a goner!

For me, as a reader, Lenora Bell takes these small what feel like should be transactional moments b/w the MCs & supercharges them with emotion. They may be brief but they are very impactful & I don't know another writer who does it quite like she does. It is one of the many reasons she is a beloved historical romance author of mine. Her dual POVs play off so perfectly against one another & how we switch mid chapter gives even more connection to how the characters are feeling towards one another in the moment.

There were so many times when I forgot that this was an age gap romance with how much Ana has experienced losing her father & becoming a companion for a famous authoress. Unless it was Warburton continually telling himself she's his ward while at the same time staring daggers at anyone who approaches her even if it his friend. Then there's a choice she makes later on, which I cannot fault her for, but I was like lady PLEASE don't do it! Was it an age/lack of world experience? Or was it a young woman who needs to keep the fantasy of her father alive as she had done in her manuscript? I will let you decide fellow readers.

When I received a gifted eARC it truly felt like the best present. This will be one of my favourite reads of 2026!

[Nat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the publisher's summary before I dug into this historical romance, but still, I misunderstood the timing of the events described there. I imagined the Duke of Warburton was promising to be the guardian of a young woman, not a 13- or 14- year-old. "Several years" pass before he finds her, at which point she's a rambunctious 18 to his world-weary 35. I'm not against an age gap novel, but I think I wasn't quite expecting this.

So not my favorite trope, but I was game...until it struck me that, like the first book in the Thunderbolt Club series, I was reading an adaptation of a musical. (That first book, You're the Duke That I Want, was obviously based on Grease, perhaps to an extreme degree.) I should have seen it sooner: a gruff, forbidding guardian named Warburton; a little red-haired orphan, Ana, constantly referred to as a hellion; her residence in a boarding house with Miss Flanagan; a final kidnapping plot that revolves around reuniting with a lost parent. Once I realized I was getting a historical romance version of Annie , the ick factor was high and never really went away. Daddy Warbucks and Little Orphan Annie are top on the list of pairings I never, ever needed to see in a romance novel.

And obviously, this story is not identical; I'd say this was loosely inspired by the elements of that story. But once you know, it's hard to unsee.

Other than that, it felt like an uneven pairing, with one of the romantic partners doing all the work to drive the romance forward. Not my favorite type of romance; even if the hero is a bit taciturn and closed-off, I need to see glimmers of softening so that when they finally get their HEA, it feels earned. Here, the change was too sudden, too late in the story. It didn't ring true.

I wanted to like this one. I've been missing good historicals and Lenora Bell has some fun ones in her back catalogue. This just didn't hit the spot. I'm going to have to research which musical she's basing her next book on before picking it up; won't make this mistake twice!

I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

[triviareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.75/5
Heat Level: 3.75/5
Pub Date: April 7th

Premise:

Deckard , Duke of Warburton, made a battlefield promise to a fellow soldier that he would take care of his daughter after he died... except it takes him several years to track her down, and now she's 18, about to be trafficked into prostitution, has dreams of being an author, and does not want to be his ward.

My review:

This is my first Lenora Bell book and I was charmed by this *forbidden* age-gap romance between this STERN scarred duke and his adorably fiery ward. This is very much a ballroom historical in sensibilities, despite the darker plot aspects that only seem to linger on the fringes.

Y'all, Analise is an old-timey romantasy author, and I'm 99% sure we read the rest of her novel, there would be dragonfucking (said dragon who begins to behave a lot... like the duke). Which is great! Her sense of whimsy and adventure are the perfect foil for the gruff, grumpy Dex, wants to bring her out into society and marry her off with a generous dowry because he feels guilty for not saving her from her terrible circumstances sooner. Meanwhile, Ana would rather sneak into gentlemen's clubs and ask for kissing lessons.... for writing purposes, of course. Nothing else! Never mind Dex's biiiiig JACKED bod and thiiiiick thighs.......

I thought the story really shined when it was focused on the push and pull between Dex and Ana. My issue with the rest of the sideplots is that none of them.... seem to go as hard as they should, or there wasn't as much focus as there should have been, minus Ana's persistent efforts to write her novels, and a publisher's attempts to thwart her. There is a very real threat from the brothel madam who Dex rescues Ana from, but that is pushed aside for most of the story in favor of society shenanigans and Dex's *tragic backstory* which also feels fairly low-stakes.

The sex:

Dex definitely has some daddy dom vibes— he's very into praise, very into correction, some bondage, and he also edges Ana over the course of several days by not... sticking it in her even after they're married. I also can confirm there is an excellent "it ain't much but it's honest work" handie. Ana is equally down-bad, ready and WILLING, despite Dex's attempts to keep distance between them.

Thank you to Avon for the advanced copy.

[Elspeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first Lenora Bell book and I liked it enough to read more, specifically the first in this series. Apparently this series involves a gentleman's club that is based on their love of horses and so far they're both retellings. This one is supposed to be themed from the play/movie Annie, which I'm sure I've seen but don't know that well.

In this book Ana's father died in the war, and she was left penniless. She becomes the companion of a famous author and works with her until the author dies and she is again left alone with very little to survive. She tries to get her own and the final book by the author published while staying in a boarding house and the owner is trying to "sell her off" to her sister who runs a bordello.

Enter Dex, the man who promised her father to be her guardian, and hadn't been able to find her for years. He takes her under his wing, gets a chaperone for her (his aunt) and IMHO tries not to have a relationship with her even though this ultimately is an age gap book. After Ana works on trying to write her book and her mentor's book, and bending the rules of propriety for "research", she and Dex are ultimately compromised (a kiss in a modiste's office) and marry.

From then on Ana is trying to figure Dex out, and Dex is continuing with his self driven mission to "save" the surviving relatives of everyone in his regiment, whose death he considers "his fault".

I enjoyed the characters and the story. I felt like Bell was trying to write in an "Elizabeth Hoyt" standard with the second story in increments at the beginning of the chapters, and the light BDSM in Dex and Ana's relationship, but that is not a bad thing because I love Elizabeth Hoyt.

The storyline itself was somewhat derivative (I definitely saw the drama at the end coming and Ana should have too) but I did like the characters and I guess I like these tropes: age gap, damaged hero, strong heroine, second chance (for him) so overall I enjoyed the book and will at least read the first in the series if not more by Bell.

I recieved an advanced copy of the audiobook - I would listen to anything with Beverly A. Crick (!) and am giving an honest review.

[Jani Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

England - 1800s

Deckard Payne, Duke of Warburton, survived the war, but not all of his men did. He made a promise to one that he would be the guardian to the obviously dying man's daughter. Dex was determined to make her life easier after being orphaned. But upon his return to England, he discovers that the girl, Analise Crewe, had fled her private school and disappeared. It will take Dex several years before he finds her.

Ana has lived with author Lady Claridge, since fleeing her school. Ana has always wanted to write, and, in fact, had sent her father drafts of a fantasy she was writing. Not knowing if her father was dead or alive has been the worst part of her life since the war ended and he didn't return. So Ana is hoping her relationship with Lady Claridge will help her get published. But when the older woman passes away and Ana is threatened by her heir, she escapes to London, finding a seedy residence, and slowly selling her late mother's jewels to survive. Continuing with her writing, Ana still plans on selling her book to the London publisher Lady Claridge had.

Dex has finally managed to track down his errant ward, but she's not easy to tame! She is unaware of her beauty, and has a fiery streak when it comes to making her into a lady. However, an incident forces Dex to marry Ana, although the marriage is anything but normal. And there are secrets emerging that may lead to trouble.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THE DUKE is the second book in the Thunderbolt Club series. While it's a romance, per se, it is a poignant account of two people sadly affected by war. Honorable Dex wants to keep his promise to Ana's father, but he is shocked to discover that he can fall for the unpredictable and, sometimes, outrageous Ana. Ana is a fighter, and reluctantly tries to behave, but marriage and love for her was not in her dreams. How will it all turn out?

[Reading Adventures · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t Get Enough of the Duke — Creative, Addictive, and Utterly Enchanting

Lenora Bell always brings something new and delightful to a beloved trope, and Can’t Get Enough of the Duke shines with that signature magic. This story is so creative, so addictive, and such an absolute adventure that I found myself trying to slow down just so it wouldn’t end.

Deckard Payne is the perfect grumpy, battle‑scarred duke — all shadows, guilt, and locked doors — and Analise is the bright, curious spark who refuses to let life dim her. Their chemistry is delicious, but what really swept me away was the way Bell weaves Analise’s own fantastic story into the heart of the novel. It becomes more than a plot device; it’s a living thread that ties their emotional journeys together, revealing who they are, who they’ve been, and who they might become. It’s clever, whimsical, and deeply moving.

The romance itself is warm and slow‑burning, full of those small, intimate moments where you can feel Deckard’s walls cracking one by one. Analise’s sunshine doesn’t just brighten his world — it transforms it. And the castle setting, the mystery elements, and the lively supporting cast turn the whole book into a cinematic experience.

By the time I reached the final chapters, I truly didn’t want it to end. I wanted more of their banter, more of their healing, more of that sparkling Lenora Bell charm that makes every page feel like a treat. You’re in for an adventure. Huge thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to enjoy this adventure.

[Milly Dashwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can’t Get Enough of the Duke opens with a gripping battlefield scene that immediately hooked me. War hero Deckard Payne makes a promise to care for orphaned Analise Crewe, a vow that later entangles them in a marriage of convenience. Analise is young and determined to bring warmth and life to the duke’s castle, and Warburton is the classic brooding hero with a wounded past. After the strong hook, I was hopeful that the rest of the story would build on that dramatic momentum.

Unfortunately, once I realized the premise was essentially an Annie retelling, my reading experience shifted dramatically. I found myself nearly praying that this was not actually a romance between Annie and Daddy Warbucks because surely no one would do that to readers. Alas, that is indeed the central relationship. To be clear, I am not someone who shies away from age gaps or provocative premises. You can absolutely catch me recommending books like Sinner or Problematic Summer Romance. However, even with the justification that Analise is nineteen and technically his ward rather than his child, I could not shake the discomfort. I should also note that I am not very familiar with Lenora Bell’s work, and I know she is loved by many romance readers. Without an established sense of trust with her as an author, this particular retelling was difficult for me to embrace. I also grew up as a musical theatre kid, so the Annie parallels were impossible for me to ignore. In the current publishing climate, I was honestly surprised to see a premise like this approved by one of romance’s biggest publishers.

[Alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

In so many ways this was a great book that hit all the high points of the historical genre. All our favorite tropes are here for our enjoyment. The grumpy hero has a solidly tragic past and sense of duty to play the "I want to, but I must not" game perfectly. The heroine is plucky and shiny even when life is not going very well. Add in some marriage of convenience and a cleverly inserted feminist subplot? This should have been a winner.

The hitch? The age-gap trope here was a little too much of a gap to feel OK. While this trope is common in historicals, because historically cis-het men have been free to sexuaize and partner with teenagers, here it was a bit much. Given that the seminal incident for all of this is Ana attempting to break the glass ceiling of getting a book published, making her "barely legal" feels gratuitous. Either the feminism is ahistorical and we all suspend disbelief or not. Given the plot progression and time between our stoic Duke being assigned as Ana's guardian and when they actually meet up, making her solidly in her 20s (and still "on the shelf" by historical standards) was a viable option that would have taken this book right to a five-star rating.

While this was a solidly enjoyable book for the genre, beware the ick that this age gap creates.

[Nia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lenora really had me feeling all types of ways.
The Duke of Warburton had me pissed off seven ways until Sunday. But Analise is what shines to me in this book. First she was the Dukes ward, being the daughter of one of his men that he lost during war. Analise was idealistic, young, defiant and naive, but she was 18 so it made sense. Heads up there’s a large age gap here.

I liked the Analise was writing a book within the book and the books within was about fairies and dragons and the beginning of each chapter with an excerpt of her book was great. Though I did hate how much and often she referred to herself as a spitfire.

I think the Duke had various emotional issues, he was so emotionally constipated it had me questioning why Analise liked him. Honestly that’s the part what it wasn’t clear. I also hated how he drove the misunderstands. I also think his shift happened a bit suddenly. I think I would have loved to have seen it more little by little.

Also when they get married we take a sharp turn into a bit of a D/s relationship that I don’t think we set up for so it came a bit out of nowhere. But it was fun smut. Overall I had a good time with this book and had a lot of visceral reactions to it.

[L.H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prologue gives all the back story so this book can start where we want it to, with these two opposites having to live together. He is a big, gruff, dummy who will vanquish anyone who has ever hurt her. This is obviously the only way to care for a person when you are a scarred warrior of a Duke. Ana is smart and full of potential. She has a fiery personality and as she has grown and gained experiences, what she wants from life has evolved. She is not afraid to go after the life she wants.

The best part of historicals is when the hero is hero-ing and the heroine breaks him, and boy does she. When these two are together it is forbidden and they are full of desire. He knows best, but she knows what she wants and the push pull between these two is a constant theme.

Fantasy elements were cleverly woven throughout this historical romance through the FMCs writing. The story she wrote within the story we are reading draws really wonderful parallels. The side characters add mystery and drama to the story, and frankly, the main characters are interesting. The author fit so much in these pages, and there was a great balance between action and believability. The whole story was a lot of fun to read.

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can’t Get Enough of the Duke is part of Lenora Bell’s Thunderbolt Club series. This is a guardian x ward historical romance. It’s also grumpy x sunshine, with a marriage of convenience, age gap, and Annie inspiration.

Deckard Payne, Duke of Warburton, makes a battlefield promise to a dying friend, to become guardian to his friend’s daughter Analise. He promises to look after her, ensure her entry into society and get married off. A few years later, he’s searching for her and finally finds her in the rookery. Analisa is a self-proclaimed “spitfire hellion”, she wants to be an author and is currently writing a fantastical novel she wants to get published.

The marriage of convenience comes into play when she needs a husband for help in gaining a publishing contract (she was previously told no on her novel idea), and he needs/wants an heir. We get excerpts from her fantasy novel throughout the book. This one started off stronger for me. I do wish the heroine acted/felt more mature than she comes across on the page and I wasn’t absolutely sold on their actual relationship or romance. But all in all, she was charming on her own and fun.

I received an ALC/ARC from the publisher, all thoughts in this review are my own.

[Pat Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore Grumpy/Sunshine…and this one has it in spades! I loved the story within the story as it parallels the real story. Dex is a warrior bent on living with guilt that may or may not be his to live. When he saves sweet, red-headed hellion, Ana, his whole world is thrust into chaos. Watching the two of them come to terms with the other and trying to live life together was an exercise in deep pain, grief, light and love ( at least on her part?) I enjoyed Ana’s sense of living life to the fullest and her joy was catching. The ins and outs of this story keep you enthralled. What I didn’t particularly care for was the f-bomb use(thus the 4 star rating- that word does NOT.need to be used and it ruins the story for me) and the Dom/submissive sex scenes. I understood the premise, with him being a control freak, just would have loved to have been pre-warned. . Seeing Dex realize what he is missing in life was so sigh worthy and I enjoyed their chemistry building. A good story with an exciting and excitable heroine that I absolutely adored.

I received this story for free and these are my own views.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved every second of this book. Lenora writes with a touch of whimsy, and it leads to such an entertaining book. We have Deckard Payne, Duke of Warburton, scarred by war both mentally and physically. He swore an oath to his friend on the battlefield to look after his daughter Analise (Ana). Grievously wounded, Dex is a bit delayed in finding his new ward Ana but once he recovers, he goes in search of her. Ana however is trying to become an author and thinks the worst when a strange man comes to say she is coming with him.

Their temperaments clash as they get to know one another, but the temptation is there. They wind up getting married and you slowly see Dex come around to the idea that Ana is his wife. I love that Annie inspired this novel, you get a dash of that mixed in with all the whimsy and romance. Ana's character being a writer was such a fun addition, her brain works in mysterious ways, and it added a lot of entertainment. If you are a fan of historical romances, you should try this book. Also if you have not read book 1 in this series, you can skip straight to this, it can be read as a standalone.

[Deidre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dex, the Duke of Warburton is a scarred soldier with survivor's guilt and a broken heart who is honor-bound to fulfill the battlefield promise he made to a dying soldier to watch over his daughter Anna. After recovering months later with wounds of his own, Dex is too late - Anna has disappeared from her finishing school. Three YEARS later, he finally tracks her down and makes her his ward with the intent to find her a good husband. Of course, he quickly falls in lust then in love with her through her fantasy writing skills and her boundless sunshine to his endless grumpiness. Can the love of an 18-year-old red-headed hellion heal the heart of a closed-off soldier?

The audiobook was a quick listen and easy to get caught up in. I admit that every time I was reminded that Anna was only 18, it ooged me out. I know 18 was considered a lot more mature back then and women had probably experienced more trauma by 18 to "mature" them, but my modern frame of reference and Anna's naivete screwed up the romance perspective and made all the spicy scenes seem predatory. I had to keep telling myself he really loved her and she was safe. Spice level is a 2.5 out of 5.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Analise Crewe’s father died in the war, except that he still considered to the MIA. Deckard Payne, Duke of Warburton, is a war hero and her father’s commanding officer. Deck agrees to be Ana’s guardian. He finds her in a London rookery boardinghouse, broke, but trying to become a published author. He takes her in and they banter. Ana is a hellion that doesn’t follow his demands, and Deck loves it.

Ana is 18 and Deck is 35, but for the Regency time period, this age gap isn’t the worst. Deck grows more communicative, because Ana pulls him out of the shell that the war created through PTSD. This isn’t explicitly stated in the book, but he has trouble sleeping, his personality changed, and he feels a deep sense of guilt over what happened. Also, Deck has physical scars on his face that was from the war that people shy away from. I liked that we got to see what Ana went through to survive prior to Deck finding her. The romance works because they were what each other needed, especially Deck growing and changing to get what he wants. The audiobook was good. Beverley A. Crick was excellent!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an ALC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[bluevioletbb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Can’t Get Enough of the Duke by Lenora Bell was such a fun read! Now I’m actually tempted to go back and pick up book one because I’m so curious to see how Sandrine and Dane first met. I used to love binging historical romance, and this book reminded me why.

Dex and Analise made for an intriguing couple. You can really feel Dex’s lingering guilt from the war—especially regarding his team—and the way he struggles to adjust to a “normal” life afterward. Analise, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. I loved that she’s an author dealing with the very real challenges of trying to get published, especially in that era.

Like many historical romances, the relationship has a bit of an insta-love feel, and the societal rules of the time definitely play their part. Still, it all came together in a satisfying way.

Overall, a solid 4-star read for me!

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5 for me. I love the beauty and the beast trope so I was all in for this. Unfortunately, the age gap here felt too large to get over the ick factor. Ana is barely 18 and Warburton is 35. I do not mind an age gap romance when well executed, but Ana felt very, very much like a teenager to me (impulsive, flighty, imaginative). Every new experience was fodder for her book “oh look, a rake! I need a rake for my book! Maybe I’ll kiss him in the gardens!” “Oh look at this handsome man, he will be my new hero!” Meanwhile, Warburton felt very much like a man approaching middle age. Add in the guardian/ward angle plus the surprise “hey virgin bride, we’ve barely kissed but imma give you some spankings on our wedding night and you’re gonna like it” and it just felt like none of these pieces fit.

[Gylene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Grumpy Duke/Sunshiny Miss storylines and I also don’t mind when there is an age difference. But this book was not for me. I did like both Dex and Analise’s characters and liked some of the interactions that they had together which I thought were entertaining. I don’t really liked how the story started off with a very detailed battle scene and I also didn’t feel the need to have a very detailed fight scene at the end when Dex comes to rescue Analise. I had moved passed the first battle scene to give the book a chance but to have the second one at the end was enough for me. The book was well written with engaging characters that I didn’t feel we needed to have the shock factor thrown in with the detailed fighting scenes. I am on the fence if I want to read another book by this author and will definitely be more cautious in the future.