A feisty heroine, a naughty duke, a marriage by gambling proxy, a loveable Dowager Duchess & debauchery retreat make a FIRE EXTINGUISHERS REQUIRED romance!
Cordelia Eversleigh, Duchess of Hunt, was married by proxy at the age of 10 to the 2nd son of a duke, thanks to her gambling dad. She grew up unconventional with following her archeological dad, unhappy mom, a pack of brothers that needed her beotch slaps upside their heads, desert sheiks, uppity aristocrats, archeological digs galore & even dealing with Arabian princes. Now Cordy is in London, determined, unwanted, lonely, pissed off & a miserable VIRGIN, with a bad rep, so what's a girl to do? Move into the home of her pen pal, who just happens to be the scandalous Duchess of Darkwell, prove she is a VIRGIN, petition for an annulment & if she happens to embarrass her cruel, heartless hubby, all the better! So falling then the steps of the scandalous Duchess, she goes DUKE STALKING because the nincompoop doesn't seem to know her!
Jack Eversleigh, Duke of Hunt, was born a 2nd son of a duke, but the death (which he blame himself for) of his older brother, he was cursed with the Duke title, but THANK THE LORD that his grandmamma, the iron fisted Dowager Duchess, take care of all the day to day dukey thingies. Jack has always been all about alcohol, married and/or loose women & hanging with the members of the Dukes Club, but the only duke in town is sickly happily married one, so he is at a loss of what to do & sharing women with his twin, Charles, just isn't working for him.
So Jack meets his wife at a Pub holding his next bottle of gin & Cordy can't believe how "could make a granny's undies wet" gorgeous her hubby is, but he doesn't know her & she isn't going to spill the beans. They are interrupted by the enraged Duke of Darkwell, but Jack learns that this unique creatures is staying with he Duke & Duchess, so he knows she is scandalous, ripe for the picking & he is just the man to pick her many fruit filled moans (couldn't resist the fruit pun). At the Darkwell home Cordy meets his perky & exhausting baby sister, Gemma, learns that the Dowager Duchess wants her gone, she is in all the scandal rags & is so properly introduced to her pissed off Duke, who wants her gone & under, above and/or against any available with him swallowing her SCREAMS!
These 2 will either kill each other or start ripping clothes off, but they have a LOOOONG & bumpy ride with some cursed & helpful Fairy Godfolks along the way! So there is undies ripping, a Dowager Duchess raging war, too many interruptions, boots peeking from under more than 1 ladies skirt, a daring escape via a tall tree, a twisted twin, a kidnapping, a hunt lodge of debauchery, a naughty bath that awakens her inner HO, semi to hard to granite, dripping girlie parts, many mutual HAPPY ENDINGS, a returning Duke of Ashton with really bad advice, troublemaking & unwanted brothers, hilarious galore, 2 hearts beating as one, a man pushing away his rightness (HELLO, it's the male species) & a feisty lady willing to fight for her man to take this romance into nibbling, salacious, lascivious WANTONESS! Can Jack learn that he deserves love? Will Cordy be able to uncover his heart with her archeological skills? Does she get her annulment? Will Jack let her sail back to Egypt? How will the Dowager Duchess make things go her way? Who is the next Duke to fall?
This is the 2nd book of Ms. Devon's Duke's Club series & she had me ROFLing from her one liners, like “I would rather drink camel urine,” & “You’re the oozing fester upon an ass’s behind.” I absolutely loved the 1st book with all is KOOKINESS, but this tale was even funnier & made tears roll down my face. Now Cordy was a kick a$$ & DOES take names kind of heroine & she took life by the balls & TWISTED! She was the perfect match for the hero duke because she was super smart, refreshingly honest & saw everything, warts & all! Now Jack was much different than he was in the 1st book, but he was an unusual & unique duke because most duke are little boys craving mommy's love, but Jack's inner little boy was broken into pieces & screamed for just a speck of his daddy's love. Ms. Devon GIFTED each 1 with a mate who makes up the other's weaknesses, makes them strive to be more, holds their inner child in their loving embrace & a forever NAUGHTY bed mate! Now that I brought up sex, let's totally go there, shall we my peeps. Now Ms. Devon didn't give them their 1 week of "nothing is off limits" passions, but Jack was super instructive, great at ripping UNDIES & made sure Cordy never needed an AA battery powered boyfriend (did vibrators exist back then), while Cordy made his manhood shrivel for any other female EVER! Ms. Devon also packed in a pack of quirky & hilarious cast of characters that had amazing one liners, a venus trap mom, a Dowager Duchess that I really loved, the scandalous Duke & Duchess of Darkwell, Charles the twin I want to see fall hard, the missing Duke from book #1, Cordy's rambunctious brothers & so many more! So it is probably not a big shocker or surprise that Ms. Devon gets my top score of 5 fingers up & 10 toes for her witty, fast paced dialogue, HILARIOUSNESS galore, kooky cast of characters & let's not forget the yummy PULL THE FIRE ALARM scenes! I do have just 1 request for Ms. Devon, WRITE FASTER!
ARC given for my honest review.