Duke Most Wicked

Wallflowers vs. Rogues

De: Lenora Bell

Narrado por: Beverley A. Crick

USA Today bestselling author Lenora Bell returns to the Wallflowers vs. Rogues series with a brilliant new novel about a scandalous duke and a wallflower with a secret.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a wicked duke who has gambled away his fortune must be in want of an heiress.

Scarred by a dark secret, Brandan Delamar, Duke of Westbury, must concede his misdeeds have finally caught up with him. With five younger sisters to support, he must marry for money.

Sunny and steadfast, Viola Beaton is no heiress. As music instructor to the duke’s sisters, she’s developed a genuine affection for the bright young ladies. Unfortunately, she’s also developed a forbidden passion for her wildly attractive employer.

It must be the way he inspires her to compose sonatas about moonlight and kisses. Or how his gaze smolders and lingers on her skin. Or because he makes her heart whisper impossible things.

When Westbury decrees that he’ll choose not only a bride, but grooms for his sisters, Viola can’t allow him to curtail their freedom. She strikes a bargain: if he allows his sisters to attend the Season, Viola will chaperone them and keep them safe from scandal.

Only…what if Viola and the duke are the ones most likely to cause a scandal?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Lenora Bell (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

A sweet slowburn with lovable characters

Just the book I needed to get me out of my reading slump! This book was a sweet slowburn with lovable main characters, meddling sisters, and tropes that make it such a fun read.

Brandan Delamar, Duke of Westbury, was told his whole childhood how wicked he was by his father. Now grown, West had no other choice but to live up to that wicked title and gambled away his fortune. Now he is in need of an heiress, but with never feeling loved his while life, he doesn't believe it exists.

Viola Beaton is the duke's sisters' music instructor. She's a sunny personality who not only has accepted the roll of a wallflower, but also has a secret hidden in her love for music. While she might not be an heiress, she can't help being drawn to the dastardly Duke....

I loved this slow burn romance so much. The characters were so well developed, including the side ones, that I could not put this book down. West is my favorite kind of hero, the grumpy kind with a troubled past but still cares for those around him. And Viola was also such a sweet sole who keeps the peace and eventually learns to do things for herself. They made such a sweet couple and I'm glad I picked this up when I did!!

Thank you to netgally for an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest thoughts.

favorite.

This was my favorite book in the series! I hope there's another coming for the friend going to law school!

Convenient Plot Points

I know this an HR,but I can't just suspend common sense/reality. The plot is just too convenient. Everything just falls into place and this makes the story boring.
I can't express the problems with the plot without spoilers, so I will just say that things happened without any development.
the duke is poor, but he seems to buy clothes for his 5 sisters and music teacher without much worry. I still can't really understand why so many sisters (unless this is going to be another series). Towards the end of the book one of the sisters stops being mentioned, which makes me think the number of sisters was too much even for the author!!
One sister is in love with a jerk, but her sister gets letters from him and runs off to meet him. This seems odd since the sisters are very close and I can't imagine this betrayal happening...but is just to make the plot work out. This side story does not really make any sense and does not enhance the story or character development. It becomes a distraction for no reason.
Much of the book drags and insignificant elements take too long to resolve. I like this author, but this book was not very good. I don't think it is the last in the series and I am not sure if I will continue, but some of the other characters are interesting and I would like a good story about them i.e. the wallflower disguised as a male lawyer. Just not sure if the author has the ability to continue the series without poor writing quality.

Two wallowers take the easy way out

“I won’t at all be distracted by the Duke’s broad shoulders, buckskin thighs, and smoldering blue gaze …wait…”
I’m not entirely sure why this didn’t work for me. I adored book 2 and enjoyed book 1.
This book had the right ingredients: a rogue, a wallflower, and a gaggle of original sisters.

“No offering of bosoms!”
Perhaps it was the scant humor or the barely there involvement of the previous books’ FMCs.
Or perhaps it was the lack of graphic audio in a book built on musical composers, Viola and her father. Yes, there’s a separate attachment to the book, but how much better it would have been to have music swelling in the background as Viola thought about kisses in terms of allegros and keystrokes.

“We all fall.”
My biggest disappointment was in Viola and Brandan’s character. He gambled and drank his fortune away and then did nothing to better himself or the fate of his sisters than hunt for an heiress. She hid her composer skills, even after winning money for a composition under a male pseudonym. Her father was once a brilliant composer, yet she made no attempt to get him back in the saddle. They were both so darned passive. The big changes that propelled them forward happened less by their action and more by the oh-so convenient actions of others. There were moments of romance and sparks of fire, but this was overall a serene sonata when I craved Beethoven’s Fifth.