This was another great addition to this series. We have a newly appointed Duke and the housekeeper he inherits. Despite not particularly getting along, these two have some serious attraction to one another. Unfortunately, they both feel they must keep their distance due to their positions in life. I found this book entertaining. It kept me reading, wanting to know how everything played out. This is short, sweet book with some serious steam when it comes to it. A lot of the story has a ton of angst with these two holding back. If you are looking for a good historical romance this would be a great book to add to your shelves.

Lucien and Susanna’s story was something I was wanting to read! Great story with her usual flair of writing! Would recommend this author!

The dynamic between the characters is often a complicated one, but Sophie Jordan works her magic once again to create an engaging narrative!

The new Duke of Penning (read this as Penis and I’m going w it) is a bad bad boy. He has a dark past (he used to be a male prostitute (prostate-tute). He also wants to bang his housekeeper, Susannah who isn’t just any housekeeper- she’s a young, sassy, bangable housekeeper and shhh…she’s also not a virgin.

When the Duke of Penis’s valet becomes bedridden Sue has to step in bc in this entire estate not one other person has been cross trained to do this job. Someone needs to call HR about this one. Cue the awkward sexual tension while SuzyQ helps him bathe, shave, tie his cravat, etc. She also ogles his Duke of penis as she should. Duke of P finds out that sister is in love with his valet and is rip shit even tho he lusts after his housekeeper and I wonder if anyone thinks it’s weird that this whole family is screwing the help.

The Duke has a big house party and everyone there sucks including a bad guy from Sue’s past who tries to blackmail her but fails and I was expecting more from this guy in terms of villainy- he’s horrible at his job. Am I over sick beds and now just want my heros to save their ladies from assault? I can love both right? Wtf is wrong w my brain? Anyway, I digress this book was a good short read and I like that our heroine was a lowly housekeeper who screws her way to the top of the ton.

Smut- 2.25 stars
Romance- 4.11 stars
Story- 4.33 stars
The Duke def having chlamydia or syphilis from his prior employment- neg 73.49 stars

Honesty it was…meh. Not enough steam for a romance for me. All around aside from lack of steam it was just an ok book.

This was a very low-angst romance. It was a quick read. I’d have liked more steam, but I understand why that wasn’t there. I’m not a fan of the power dynamic between the couple in most of the book, but that’s a personal preference thing. I’ll read more by this author.

I received an ARC from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this arc. This story was entertaining and the characters had great chemistry. I enjoyed it a lot.

Sophie Jordan is a one-click author for me. Their storytelling is always impeccable and so uniquely theirs. This book has to be my favorite yet if just for the hero himself and his secret past. It was a very enjoyable read with memorable protagonists and entertaining supporting characters.

Lucian is your typical brooding hero with a dark past trying to fit into a world that shuns people like him, but he puts up with it to secure a fruitful future for his sisters who went through the worst kind of life as children. He feels duty-bound to give them the best the world has to offer so they never have to go back to the hard life Lucian did his best to leave in the past.

Susanna is a heroine with a secret in her past. It's not a very big secret, but in the day and age where reputation is everything for a person. especially a woman, it was enough of a secret that she had to restart her life where no one would recognize her. Then in the last 35% of the book we meet someone who is capable of jeopardizing the peaceful life she has worked hard to create for herself.

This was a great book with equally great characters, comedy, romance, spice, add in a couple of meddling sisters trying, and succeeding, to bring the hero and heroine together in compromising positions. One of the best reads from Sophie Jordan. I can't wait to see what they release next!

The Duke Starts a Scandal is the fourth novel is Sophie Jordan's Duke Hunt series. Jordan's writing and plotting style are what I have come to expect from this series, enjoyable but in the long run forgettable. While reading, her tone and pacing are easy to engage with and clip along quickly. Her characters are easy to understand, and the romance is clear. This housekeeper and newly appointed duke is a trope as old as time and Jordan provides the reader with exactly what you would expect. Ultimately this novel is enjoyable while reading it, but not one that will stick with me long. If you are looking for a quick and easy read that has lightness and a bit of sizzle, than this series by Jordan is easily readable and charming in the moment.

I love how the characters have so much chemistry in Sophie's books! Lucian needs a bride and he cannot help but want Susanna, someone not of a high birth, to be his in all ways. Susanna has worked very hard to get where she is and will not let anything or anyone bring her down. How can she belong to the man who she wants when she does not belong in his world? Spicy and witty! Loved it!

You know how Karen in "Will and Grace" does that little shimmy? That's me reading pretty much anything Sophie Jordan writes.

The Duke Starts a Scandal did *not* disappoint in the slightest. First off, we have the COVER. SHE has HIM against the wall. You don't see that a lot, but when you do? Whew lord (sorry, Duke).

Sophie Jordan is on my auto-buy for historical romances forever and always.

I recieved an ARC via NetGalley but all my thoughts are my own.

I think the downfall of this one was there just wasn't much going on in the plot for me. This almost felt cozy to me if cozy historical romance is a thing. I wasn't really viking with the hero and heroine either. The book was okay I guess I just wanted a little more oomf from it.

I loved this story, and more specifically I loved the two main characters, Lucian, the newly minted Duke of Penning, and his housekeeper, Susanna Lockhart, so much. It was such an engaging read that I flew through it, as I wanted to find out what would happen next between them, given all the sexual tension that sparks almost as soon as they meet. They are perhaps one of my favorite romantic couples ever because they, in Lucian's words, "fit together so well". They have things in their pasts that could or have ruined their lives, but they learn to trust each other and grow together; they both are salt of the earth people, with honor and integrity - and for me, those are my favorite types of characters. Plus, any hero named Lucian (which means bringer of light) is my kind of hero!

There are so many good things to recommend this book, the first being for those of fans of Jane Eyre, there are echoes of when Rochester first meets Jane in how Lucian and Susanna first meet. Susanna also has an interesting background, as does Lucian. The supporting characters are intriguing, although I will say that in the case of Lucian's sisters, perhaps too much time was devoted to them and maybe not enough to further developing Lucian's run-in with Billings, a villain, at the end. The writing is lovely, the emotions never far from the surface and the sexual tension between them abundant. It is very easy, in my opinion, to root for these two scarred souls to be together and find their HEA.

So why not 5 stars for this lovely book, whose characters I adored? First, I would say it is a very different book from other books by Sophie Jordan I've read and perhaps in the series. There are not a lot of flames attached to this story. There's sexual tension and longing, but things don't really start to get physical between them until three-fourths of the way through the book. It's emotional and sweet, but I wouldn't call this a steamy read. Rather it's a love story at its core.

I also wanted better balance between the two MC's points of view throughout the story. We get into Lucian's mind for some of the early chapters, but when things really start to develop between them toward the end, it is more often told through Susanna's eyes, and I wanted more glimpses into Lucian's inner thoughts, especially given his past "relationships". Also some of the internal musings of these two would be in such detail - right in the middle of dialogue between them - that they disrupted the flow of their conversations. For example, she would ask a question, then there would be an extensive internal monologue in his or her mind, and then he would answer, the initial question asked, already forgotten.

Still, I adored Lucian and Susanna and was captivated by their love story.

4.25 stars

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving my review of it voluntarily.

The real of Duke of Penning has a problem, his housekeeper. His past life must stay in the past, but Susanna Lockhart, the housekeeper, is breaking down his wall of control. A master must resist his desire to seduce the help, only temptation makes it difficult. There is only one thing to do, discharge the housekeeper. Susanna has a past she left behind, but rears it's ugly head when a guest of the Duke threatens her with blackmail. What else can she do but resign. I couldn't read this book fast enough! MUST READ THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES! Some sexual encounters.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

A predictable historical romance featuring the new Duke of Penning, Lucian, and his housekeeper, Susanna Lockhart. Lucian has feelings for his housekeeper, but he does not want to take advantage of her since he is her employer. Before Lucian became the Duke, he had to support his sisters and mother after his father's death. He worked as an escort and would meet with rich widows and other married women. I liked the two main characters, but I wish there was more going on in this book. The whole thing just felt really predictable and surface level.

I spent the entirety of this novel wondering when the true "scandal" would come. I mean for crying out loud there was the potential for one on three different fronts. His past. Her past. Or the fact that a Duke married his Housekeeper. And yet there was ..... nothing. Everything seemed to be either glossed over, or overlooked altogether. And considering how much of this book was spent TELLING the reader every little detail... it was disappointing to say the least.

Sadly, this book was a lot of telling. A lot of inner monologues which I would usually say would have been better served as the main characters speaking to each other instead of thinking it, but in this case it was so lustful and repetitive that I feel the book still would have been the same. I never got a feeling that Susanna and Lucian actually liked one another. Hell, almost every time they interacted with one another they were arguing. But apparently that was enough for them.

And considering Susanna "fell in love" much more quickly, I would have expected there to be more feeling to her thoughts when she was called upon to chaperone Lucian and one of his perspective brides. Instead, there was more of the bland writing I had come to expect.

All in all, there was a lot of missed potential for this book to be better than it was. But I would give this author another chance in the future.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

A true fairytale having a Duke fall in love with his housekeeper. Lucian arrives at the estate as the new Duke of Penning. (You can read about the former imposter Duke and his son in book 3 but it's not necessary to enjoy this book.) His literal run in with Susanna does not make for a good start to their relationship. They dislike each other but she has to show deference as his housekeeper. Lucian is determined to make a respectable life for his two sisters but he has a secret regarding his past. If it comes to light, any chance of aristocratic marriages for his sisters will be gone and they will lose all standing in society. Susanna has a secret of her own and when someone from her past shows up she knows her time at the estate is in peril. As they fight their attraction to each other, the relationship is helped along by his sisters. I enjoyed the unusual premise and the characters' back stories.

ANyone who was following this series has been waiting for the elusive new duke to show up! I know I was. This is another Sophie Jordan classic! Filled with lots of spice and drama. The new duke has a scandalous past because of course, he was not expecting to become the duke. His new housekeeper adds to the push and pull of doing what's proper or not and we get a love story of class differences.
You can never go wrong with Sophie Jordan! I am so happy to have gotten a chance to read this book from the publisher. Thank you to Avon and Sophie Jordan!

3.5 stars? Overall I enjoyed this for what it was, but I do wish the story inside was as incredible as that cover! I felt really invested in the romance at times, but at other times I found myself getting bored 🤷🏻‍♀️

**thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review**

I try not to judge a book by its cover, but I have to say this cover is telling a particular story that does not match up with the actual book. I don’t hold it against Jordan, but I do wish a cover with a clearly dominant heroine matched a book with a heroine that actually takes a dominant role.

That being said, the book itself was fine. It felt like there was a little something missing in the relationship, but otherwise not much to complain about—but not much to rave about either. Just…fine.