ARC REVIEW It's All About the Duke by Amelia Grey

The Rakes of St. James #3, third and final book of the series but can be read as a standalone. I wanted to like this one, I had such high hopes for Rath, but I really just did not like Marlena or that situation she got herself into. I like she she was smart and brave enough to do something and earn money to help a friend but I don't like what she did and the fact that it took her forever to accept the truth. This book didn't have a lot of action it's mainly talk and internal conflict and while I usually love internal conflict Marlena just annoyed me.

This next bit is revealed pretty early in the book, so it's nothing you wouldn't already find out if you read the first two chapters. Marlena is the infamous gossip that brought up the past and helped spread the rumor that someone was going to seek revenge against them using their sisters. Marlena's current guardian's health is failing and her new one was unexpected. Rathborne has always been a rake, acting out against his father he did everything possible to be his own man. But after his father's death Rath realized he should have been more like his father. In a drunken haze Rath made a decision that his father would be proud of something his father probably would have done himself, he took on a ward.  When he sobered up he tried to take back the decision but realized the old man was too sick to get the girl out on the marriage mart and have her season. After all how hard will it be to marry off a girl.

I didn't get their chemistry. Rath's attraction to her is immediate and he doesn't feel like he deserves her, and Marlena's attraction is immediate also which she doesn't like because he's the notorious rake she's written about and knows he'll hate her when he finds out. I liked the idea behind the book I just didn't like the main female characters, for the exception of Loretta, Esse and Griffin's sister. There were some humorous situations throughout the book that I did like and none of them included Marlena. 

Overall, I liked parts of the book and some of the characters. For the most part I do enjoy Grey's writing and her characters in her other books this one just didn't work for me.