Lorraine Heath - When the Duke was Wicked

Lady Grace Mabry’s ample inheritance has made it impossible for her to tell whether a suitor is in love with her—or enamored of her riches. Who better to distinguish beau from blackguard than her notorious childhood friend, the Duke of Lovingdon?
After losing his beloved wife Juliette, Lovingdon has spent ten years on pleasure. He can help Grace find a proper match, being familiar with ploys of scoundrels, and how to distinguish honest emotions from false. But lessons lead to torrid passion and Grace becomes ensnared in another man’s nefarious marriage plot.

Comment: A couple years ago I've read the Scoundrels of St James series by this author and was impressed enough by the stories even those I didn't like as much.

I was, therefore, eager to try the sequel series too, this Scandalous Gentleman of St James, which features children from the couples of the first series.

In this first book of a new series but with cameos from beloved characters for those who have read the other series, we have as protagonist Grace Mabry, she's the daughter of Sterling and Franny. 

The other protagonist is the son of Olivia, now the duke of Lovingdon.

Grace and Lovingdon have known each other all their lives because their families are close but Lovingdon has married very young and has also lost his wife and small daughter, which means he has been in mourning. Grace feels like bringing him out to society again and she pretends she is considering men to be her husband and wants his input as to their suitability. 

In the meantime, they spend a long time together and Grace even shares Lovingdon's opinions on courtship with her friends. But does this game last or will they realize their friendship has room for more?

On paper, I suppose this had all the ingredients to be a good story for me, even despite the obvious friends-to-lovers trope which I don't like much...after all, how likely it is to realize after years you do like that person..the friendship is always affected.

Anyway, despite that I was still curious but to be honest, this ended up being a bit too meh for me and I can say it's not the fact they are better friends than a passionate romantic couple. What annoyed me a bit was the reluctance of such a clever guy as Lovingdon to just act accordingly to his personality and what we are told he used to be like.

Basically, the learn the families have been mostly happy but Lovingdon married young and feels guilty over the death of his wife and daughter. He has been mourning them since then and seems to have purposely isolated himself from most family affairs but wait, not from being with lovers or prostitutes if he feels like it.

I mean... for such a devoted man as we are told he was, even accepting he feels very guilty for something that, nevertheless, was not his fault, why does he have to be one of those (in my opinion) silly heroes that mourns by having sex wth strangers but stays away from his family?? Very well, I can imagine he might feel too much pressure from seeing their pity or any other more positive feeling while being too sad but if he has had such a good support system, if we are to believe the other series' HEAs, then why can't he cope while still being with his friends and family instead of strangers?

Some plot choices made to increase drama sometimes just feel like silly, easy paths.

As for Grace, she is a special heroine for certain but I wonder how realistic her portrayal was, even with the note th author included in the end about her scars.

Grace fears her scars might put off  husband that doesn't marry her for love, so she wants to avoid that and at the same time we know she has always felt something for Lovingdon besides friendship. I liked her side of the equation more and rooted for her, even when she went to unlikely situations to accomplish things. 

The romance between her and Lovingdon wasn't very good, though, mostly because to me it wasn't balanced and I was not convinced by his turn of heart after a yet another drama scene.

As for the book as a whole, I liked several details, I liked having the older characters being mentioned, it's always good to feel like you're returning to a happy place. This wasn't a perfect read for me but probably it was just my impression rather than a failure everyone would agree on.

Since I'm committed to the series, I do hope the next story is better.

Grade: 6/10