Lenora Bell: Can't Get Enough of The Duke

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199820367-can-t-get-enough-of-the-duke

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. 

*Historical Romance  *Age Gap  *Grumpy/Sunshine  *Duke  *Scarred war hero  *forbidden romance *Spice  *Secrets  *musical retelling (Annie) *no communication *young/naive FMC *Marriage of convenience  *Netgalley ALC 5/12 *PTSD (MMC)

Thoughts:

Deckard Payne, The Duke of Warburton has been through it he has been to war and returned to England and society after a nasty injury that scarred his handsome face (don't worry he's still handsome) and on the hunt for Analise Crewe his new ward, he made a promise to one of his men on the battlefield that he would see his daughter safe and settled... and he intends to honor that promise... only when he returns home she is more difficult to locate than he initially thought she would be.

Analise had been the companion to a popular author however after she passed away and the ladies nephew who inherited his aunts estates took over he also felt that Ana should be part of his inheritance... not likely.  Fleeing in the middle of the night with not much she ends up at a boarding house in a less than reputable part of London, she's going to make a living off of her writing she knows it she just has to make the editor see how fabulous her story is... only when she gets there he is less than thrilled and would rather see her write a story in the series from her late author friend which she can do as her friend dictated the plot to her before she passed... Another problem is that Ana can't seem to keep her mouth closed and told the editor she had a noble fiance, naturally she has no one but that's something to worry about another day.

Ana is short on funds and about to be thrown out of her boarding house if she can't find a way to make some money soon... thankfully Dec finds her just in time, only she thinks he's there for an entirely different reason and tries to fight him off.  Once that ordeal is resolved she goes willingly to her new home where she has to start lessons on how to be a lady but that isn't for her she'll never be fit for polite society.  After a bit of a potential scandal leads to a marriage of convenience between our couple their roles change from ward/guardian to husband and wife pretty quickly. 

As for our couple.  I liked Dec he was a grumpy/brooding, handsome former rake with a lot of lived experience and had PTSD after returning from war at 35 he had been through a lot and it showed with how he presented himself.  Ana... I'm going to be honest she really frustrated me she was 18 but acted like an immature much younger teenager still, if she was told no she didn't take no for an answer she dug in and did things anyway even when told multiple reasons why something could potentially be dangerous the behaviors could lead to potential harm coming to herself and others.  

I just never fully believed that grumpy old Dec and naive Ana could... or even should be in a relationship with how she acted throughout the book.  I'm not opposed to age/gap tropes but this one just felt odd due to the immaturity gap of our FMC and MMC.   

There really wasn't much character growth for our FMC she remained to seem young and naive even though she had lived on her own for a time prior to becoming the Dukes Ward/fiance/wife and that left me pretty frustrated with her throughout.  Dec on the other hand has multiple secrets he's a good guy at heart but doesn't feel worthy of love and doesn't feel he can open his heart to others since he's emotionally damaged from the war and all of his previous losses.

I felt the pacing was kind of off for the story as you could see the feelings grow one sided from her while he remained closed off until an event happens when he realizes his feelings... this seems more rushed at the end and didn't feel natural.  I actually didn't know that it was an Annie retelling until I read some of the other comments but there are similarities... but Daddy Warburton should have picked a more mature woman.  

This one was just ok for me, I might check out the other books in the series to see if the musical turned historical romance worked better.  

Thank you to netgalley and the author for this early listen copy.