Yet another series where I start at the end. I won't be pursuing the rest of the trilogy. I really liked the initial premise of this book. The resolution of all the plotlines was GREAT!

Some Spoilers

The story begins with the flash to Sir Pickering's will, detailing that since none of his daughters married a duke, he leaves his 15,000 pounds in a trust for which ever grand or great grand-daughter does marry a man in this station. If no one does then it goes to charity.

Enter Sophie, the clumsy, bookish, plain, tall, plainly spoken final girl in the family and Graham, the 4th son of a Duke, a charming handsome rogueish wastrel who has spent his life separating himself from his hunting, louts of a father and brothers. Sophie and Graham have developed an honest friendship, mainly when Graham is too bored with the Ton and he returns to spend fresh time with Sophie. Then Graham's father and 3 brothers are killed by a maddened bull elephant (I kid you not) and Graham is suddenly elevated to His Grace. His family has also run through all of their money, borrowed from the wrong people and let the estate and its grounds and people to fall into extreme disrepair. Thus Graham has to find a rich wife and soon. All good to this point.

Sophie sets her cap at Graham upon realizing he's casting her aside as not rich. With help from Lementeur, the modiste who makes people, she transforms the clutz into a graceful lady of mystery. Enter the wastrel solicitor who wants to steal the money, a Machiavellian aunt, a false identity, an attempted kidnapping/elopment, and more devious subplots than a whole trilogy would need.

In the end, the subplots really detracted from what could be a simple ugly duckling or Cinderella story. Three stars since the end tied everything up so nicely, but my irritation with Wolfe really almost ruined that.

A delicious Regency read!! Engaging characters and an entertaining plot line. Nice amount of steam to keep the story popping!

They really are quite a pair! Sophie was easily my fav of the cousins!!

I love a lively historical with all the pomp and circumstance! Really enjoyable read!

A fun series.

1.5
** possible spoilers**
This was boring.
The H was shallow AF (all was forgiven when the $ was back on the table y'all).
The h had to essentially change who she was to get noticed by the H.

The main character Sophie was described on the back as 'quiet & bookish'. That was 100% the reason I picked 'Duke Most Wanted' up to read. Sophie transformed herself into a femme fatale (i.e. she cut her hair, put on a new dress, & activated her bored bitch face), & away went any desire I had to finish what was already a dragging story.

In my opinion, this was the best book of the "Heiress Brides" trilogy, which are the only Celeste Bradley books I've read so far. I decided to give her books a try because she has a reputation for writing humorous historical romances, but I don't feel like the humor really came through in the first two books of the trilogy. I definitely found the humor in this book, though. I particularly enjoyed the scene shortly after Graham inherits where he fuels a bonfire with his father's and brothers' hunting trophies, keeping only a giant stuffed bear which he dubs Sir Fangsalot.

I'm a sucker for Cinderella stories, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the plot. Graham and Sophie/Sadie were both very likeable, sympathetic characters, which was a major improvement over the trilogy's second book as I just could not warm up to either Calder or Deirdre. I also enjoyed the secondary romance between Calder and Deirdre's butler, Fortescue, and Deirdre's lady's maid, Patricia, which had been building throughout the trilogy. The scenes with Stickley and Wolfe, also a carryover from the previous books in the trilogy, were somewhat amusing as well, although Wolfe never made an entirely convincing villain. He seemed too stupid to ever be a serious threat to anyone, though he did manage to pull off a few of his schemes, such as Rafe's kidnapping in the first book. I was glad that he ended up being punished in the end and that Stickley realized the error of his ways.

All in all, even though I wasn't crazy about the first two books of the trilogy, this one was enjoyable enough for me to consider reading some of Celeste Bradley's other books in the future. I've heard good things about the "Liar's Club" series, so maybe I'll give that a try next.

I was browsing my library for an audiobook to listen to on my commute and came across this one. If I've read Bradley before, I don't remember it. It's the third in the series, but I don't feel like I missed anything by skipping the first two. I really enjoyed this book. It was a lot of fun. It even had a plot twist at the end I didn't see coming, something that rarely happens with me.

Great novel, great that the ex-maid, and the ex-butler got to be happy, and that everything worked out, and the twist about Sophie/Sadie? Coolness, people! Loved this book!

This is the third book in the Heiress Bride series. I really enjoyed this one. I was cheering both characters on expecially since I had become attached to them from reading the other two books. This was a light but extremely enjoyable read.

The first two did annoy me just the littlest bit, this one, not so much.