Book 1: Sins and Scoundrels
I started this in 2023, finished in 2024
Our leading lady Jacinda is a widow (her husband died in the war) she lives with her father who has the starts of some form of dementia and has gambled all their funds away and now they are at risk of losing "everything." An evil nobleman says due to them both being code breakers (lately with Jacinda doing most of this work) and her father not being up to the task he wants Jacinda to infiltrate a Duke's home as a governess, per the evil guy the Duke has been helping the enemy (the French) and she's going to find the proof while she is disguised as his newest employee.
Crispin Ashforth (the Duke) has come home from war (with Napoleon) a broken man he finds himself the new Duke after his brother's death and now not only has this title he has to take care of his two younger sisters. Our leading male is handsome and a rake (of course), he drinks too much and passes his time with women to forget the things he has seen while at war.
Jacinda ends up on Crispin's doorstep just when he is looking for someone to look after and teach his younger sisters who have fun misbehaving (like sliding down the stairs... or maybe it was the bannister it's been awhile since I read this)... anyways she's just what he's looking for since the girls need someone to look after them. Crispin treats Jacinda rather poorly through a good majority of the book and can't even be bothered to get her name right part of this is because even as the "duke of depravity" he doesn't want to use his power to take advantage of his employee.
Naturally Jacinda is seeking for “evidence” of his crimes but continues to get closer to him and feelings blossom he’s not as depraved as everyone thinks he is hurting (PTSD) and broken he has survivor's guilt. The more she gets to know him the more terrible she feels about being in his house as a spy and the closer they get she worries how her home life is going to fall apart she has to do this to save her home, her father and herself from ruin but how can she tell Crispin she's lied the whole time?
It took me awhile to get through this one, I would read a chapter then go back and read another chapter or two a few weeks later, I guess I just wasn't that into it, found myself thinking the lead male was a bunch of red flags and wasn't seeing why Jacinda was walking right towards him anyways.
pretty spicy, a lot of erotic type thoughts even when they were just "thinking" especially on Crispin's side. some drama, a bit of a mystery (is Crispin really helping the enemy? what's really going on with this situation? Is she going to tell him about her situation or is he going to find out first and be mad?).
Does have a HEA but the ending kind of felt rushed.
Have you read anything by this author? What would you recommend?
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