The Good, the Bad, and the Duke: The Cavensham Heiresses

by Janna MacGregor

Overview

Best Books of November - Bookriot

A lady with a noble mission. A duke looking for redemption. A forbidden love that cannot be denied, in The Good, The Bad, and The Duke by Janna MacGregor.

Lady Daphne Hallworth is ready to celebrate the holidays with her family. But when they accidentally leave her home alone, Daphne uses the time to work on her dream—opening a home for unwed mothers. But her quest isn’t problem-free: She’s in a battle to win the property for the home against her brother’s best friend-turned-enemy, Paul Barstowe, Duke of Southart. And that’s not all: someone has stolen her personal diary, which holds secrets that could devastate her family. Daphne has always harbored private feelings for the man her family scorns…though perhaps striking a bargain with the handsome Duke will solve both their problems?

Paul, long considered good for nothing, aims to open a hospital to honor his brother and restore his reputation. So when a conflict over the land brings him straight into Daphne’s life, they make a deal: He will help her find her diary if Daphne can change her family’s opinion of him. But before he can win her family’s affection, he has to win hers first. Maybe love was the answer to their family feud all along?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250829047
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/27/2018
Series:	The Cavensham Heiresses , #4
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	741,041
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Janna MacGregor was born and raised in the bootheel of Missouri. She credits her darling mom for introducing her to the happily-ever-after world of romance novels. Janna writes stories where compelling and powerful heroines meet and fall in love with their equally matched heroes. She is the mother of triplets and lives in Kansas City with her very own dashing rogue, and two smug, but not surprisingly, perfect pugs. She loves to hear from readers. She is the author of the Cavensham Heiresses series, which includes The Bad Luck Bride, The Bride Who Got Lucky, and The Luck of the Bride.

Editorial Reviews

10/15/2018
MacGregor’s fourth Cavensham Heiresses historical (after The Luck of the Bride) effervesces with lighthearted romance and holiday cheer. Lady Daphne, sister to a marquis, is accidentally left behind at Christmastime when her boisterous family decamps from London to their country estate. Choosing to make the best of the situation, she spends quality time with her journal, the keeper of her deepest secrets. When that journal is stolen, she ends up on the steps of a notorious gambling hell with only her brother’s estranged best friend to save her from infamy. Paul, Duke of Southart, dedicated his life to scandal until the untimely death of his father and older brother. Now his goal is to repair his image. When he finds Daphne about to lead herself to ruin, he steps in to save her from herself—and possibly repair his relationship with her brother. This romance is sweet and sultry in equal measures, and endearing characters bring the story to life. Agent: Pam Ahearn, Ahearn Agency. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Sparkling...a richly engaging romance with a heroine we should all resolve to be more like.” - Entertainment Weekly

"Utterly delightful in every possible way." - Bookriot

"Effervesces with lighthearted romance...sweet and sultry in equal measures." - Publishers Weekly

"MacGregor writes like a warm cozy blanket." - Smart Bitches on The Good, the Bad, and the Duke

"[An] emotionally rich, exquisitely wrought tale that superbly celebrates the redemptive power of love." - Booklist
"A delightful debut! Janna MacGregor bewitched me with her captivating characters and a romance that sizzles off the page. I'm already a huge fan!” — New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James

"The Bad Luck Bride...will leave you swooning." —New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries

"Janna MacGregor writes with intelligence and heart. The Bad Luck Bride is a full-bodied Romance about what it truly means to love, to forgive, and to heal." —New York Times bestselling author Cathy Maxwell

“Sparkling.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2018-12-11

All a spinster wants for Christmas is a charming rake to call her own.

Paul Barstowe, the Duke of Southart, was a dissolute second son known for his disreputable behavior. The deaths of his father and elder brother days apart gave him the title and a new determination to change his ways. To start burnishing his reputation, he bids on a property where he hopes to establish a charity hospital, but temptation arrives in the form of heiress Lady Daphne Hallworth, the sister of Paul's best friend-turned-enemy. Home Alone style, Daphne is abandoned in London by her family in their rush to depart for the Christmas holidays. She decides to get started investing her fortune and energies to found a charitable home for unwed mothers. Interest in the same property puts Paul and Daphne in close proximity, as does the loss of her reticule containing a journal in which she shared not only her family's secrets, but some of her own, including a longing, since childhood, for the handsome Paul. Daphne's trust in Paul to help her avoid scandal shocks him. As they become closer, "Something shifted within him. A crack opened up, allowing a want to crawl out from the depths of his soiled soul and emerge, shaking every manacle free." MacGregor (The Luck of the Bride, 2018, etc.) weaves a compelling story redeeming Paul from rakish behavior depicted in previous installments of The Cavensham Heiresses. Paul works his way back into the good graces of his family and friends as Daphne discovers her independence and strength beyond the genteel, circumspect, and invisible good sister and good daughter she has always been. MacGregor's prose is wordier and her plotting more leisurely than necessary, but Paul and Daphne are very appealing characters.

A rake is redeemed and a spinster unspun in a sweet historical romance.

Kirkus Reviews