Blurb: Grace Condry has spent a lifetime running from her past. Betrayed as a child by her only love and raised on the streets, she now hides in plain sight as queen of London’s darkest corners. Grace has a sharp mind and a powerful right hook and has never met an enemy she could not best, until the man she once loved returns.
Single-minded and ruthless, Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has spent a decade searching for the woman he never stopped loving. A long-ago gamble may have lost her forever, but Ewan will go to any lengths to win Grace back… and make her his duchess.
Reconciliation is the last thing Grace desires. Unable to forgive the past, she vows to take her revenge. But revenge requires keeping Ewan close, and soon her enemy seems to be something else altogether—something she can’t resist, even as he threatens the world she's built, the life she's claimed…and the heart she swore he'd never steal again.
Review: Have you ever waited, and waited, and waited for the final book in the series (because authors just love to hold back on that couple you really want) and you finally get it and it sucks? Well, it's not the case here. Daring and the Duke, though going a different direction that I'd expected from the build up of the previous books, cannot be considered a disappointment in any way, shape, or form.
We've gotten glimpses of Grace's bad ass self throughout the previous two books in the Bareknuckle Bastard series, but I could not have prepared myself for the utter admiration I felt towards her while reading a book entirely dedicated to her as heroine. She is the sort of heroine we romance readers dream of coming across. She didn't simper or bend to any man's will. She protected her brothers, her heart, and her people, earning their trust and adoration through hard work and her good heart. But not even she is totally immune to the power of love which makes her human.
And, God, we wanted to hate Ewan. We spent two books being given reason after reason to hate Ewan. And yet... we can't. Heroes everywhere would raise heaven and hell to avenge the protect their woman, but how many of them would burn down the world to avenge her? Ewan was truly one of the most dynamic characters I've read in a long time. I needed to know his story. I needed to know his why. And this book does such an amazing job of turning your opinion of him on its head and making you want nothing but Ewan's happiness.
The relationship between Grace and Ewan had captivated me from the very first mention in book one of the series and the chemistry ended up being as explosive and addicting as I could have hoped. I could almost taste Ewan's desperation to be with Grace and I could empathize with her desire to never see him again, but I could feel their love for one another more surely than that of any other hero and heroine I've ever read.
Truly an amazing end to a fabulous series full of unique and intelligent heroines, dangerous and charming heroes, and exciting plots.
Out now.