If the Duke Dares

Burke (Matching the Marquess) kicks off her “Rogue Rules” series with a well-crafted story of a reformed rake and the woman who redeems him. Persephone Barclay is called upon to save her family’s reputation after her younger sister, Pandora, is compromised, but when she discovers that she’s to be wed to a friend of the man who ruined her sister, Persephone flees. She soon meets her groom-to-be, Acton Loxley, the Duke of Wellsbourne, who turns out to be quite a charmer—and a great help as Persephone gets into scrapes on the road on her way to her aunt’s house in Bath. This is a solidly written and entertaining tale. While the story doesn’t tread new ground in the Regency romance genre, scenes set in Bath rather than London give the book something fresh for readers. Glimpses of interesting side characters will whet appetites for future books, and hope continues for Pandora to get her well-deserved HEA later in the series.