It’s Hard Out Here For A Duke by Maya RodaleIt's Hard Out Here For A Duke by Maya Rodale
Series: Keeping Up With the Cavendishes #4
Published by Avon on November 28, 2017
Genres: Regency Romance
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Avon Addicts
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four-stars

In the fourth novel of Maya Rodale’s tantalizing series, a newly minted duke spends one night with his perfect woman...but can he win her for a lifetime

Some Mistakes…

When American-born James Cavendish arrives in London tomorrow, he’ll become the Duke of Durham. Some might be ecstatic at the opportunity. Not James. He’s a simple man, fond of simple pleasures. And right now, nothing could be more pleasurable than spending his last night of freedom with a beautiful stranger.

Are Far Too Good…

One wild night, Meredith Green, companion to the dowager Duchess of Durham, said yes to a man she thought she’d never see again. Suddenly, they’re living under the same roof, where Meredith is expected to teach James how to be a duke—while trying not to surrender to temptation a second time.

To Be Forgotten

For a duke and a commoner, marriage would be pure scandal. Yet nothing has ever felt as right as having Meredith in his arms…and in his bed. Soon he must choose—between a duty he never desired, and a woman he longs for, body and soul…

Following Lady Claire Is All That, I was a little wary to read this book, but I wanted to finish out the series.Surprisingly I preferred this book. My biggest complaint was that I felt I was reading about a bunch of immature teenagers. This is the first book where I felt like the characters acted their age.

For the most part this book worked for me a lot better than the other three, however all the books have that odd disjointed feeling because all four books take place over the exact same time frame.

The main reason this bothered me is that I feel as if I’ve read about not just one incident through several points of view, but multiple incidents and scenes from several points of view. Another thing is that I didn’t love each of the sisters at first, so by the time we get to the fourth book in the series, I’d like to see the future Cavendish sisters who have grown and learned and fallen in love, not the past Cavendish sisters who are still immature.

The actual storyline of the book is good, though. James has just been named Duke of his uncle’s estate. Unfortunately he is from America and his father never shared any of this with him. Ever. So James is dreading leaving his pleasant life breeding horses in Maryland. Yet he and his sisters do move to London and learn to join not just English society, but to do it without scandal.

Meredith is a lady’s companion, and as she goes to England to take on this role, she is realizing that she may never have a family, or a life that she would call her own. That night, a handsome American catches her attention, and each decides they’ll have this one night, no more, to call their own before responsibilities take over their lives.

Fast forward a day or two and James steps out of the carriage as the new Duke of Durham, and lo and behold, Meredith is his aunt’s companion. The majority of the story is that the aunt is trying to whip them all into shape and marry them off to secure the dukedom. James feels scared he can’t do it and doesn’t want to do it. He’s worried about his sisters and meanwhile doesn’t understand why he can’t just marry Meredith? He’s beyond in love with her.

Meredith knows her place, and has always been grateful for it. Until now. She’s falling in love with James, and tries her hardest to get him to leave her alone, but then the moment he does, she’s jealous. They flirt, they bicker, they make up, they know they have to leave each other,  but it’s not like you can just stop loving someone.

I liked it, yet the books feel tedious because we’ve already seen these scenes several times over. It’s repetitive. Can we please move on already? I also wanted more of the anti-American versus anti-British sentiment that was prevalent had been brought up more often. That would have been an excellent reason for him not to want to be a duke, rather than just stubbornness.

I would say as long as you don’t binge read the 4 books, you won’t feel the repetition as much as I did, so maybe that’s the trick? Look at this as a fun and tongue in cheek series and don’t look too hard.

***ARC courtesy of Avon Addicts

four-stars