The Good, The Bad, and The Duke is a wonderful love story that is tender and steamy and incredibly touching. Paul Barstowe, the Duke of Southart is a rogue and a gambler with a past that has left behind broken relationships, but underneath that brash exterior lies a big heart that’s left him wounded and vulnerable. Daphne has had a crush on him since she was a child, and their reunion starts off auspiciously, but the chemistry between the two is palpable. Watching their relationship develop was such a treat; each of them bears the pain of their pasts, wary of opening their hearts to another. This book is filled with am emotional intensity that is unexpected but so welcome. There are so many layers to this story, as well as to each of the characters and I found myself completely invested in what happened to them!

Lady Daphne Hallworth is twenty-five years old and has resigned herself to being a spinster. She has had offers but wanted none of them. Because she is wealthy in her own right and has a loving family there is no need for a husband. What Lady Daphne wants most is to open a home for unwed mothers, to protect them from what happened to her sister.

Lord Paul Barstowe has recently become a Duke after the deaths of his brother then his father. He loved his brother and wants to build a hospital in his name for people suffering from the same ailments. Unfortunately he spent most of his life aggravating his father and proving he was the bad son. Now he has to earn back his respectability. Notes from his father delivered deliberately after his death do nothing to help his self-worth.

An emotional and saucy historical romance with very lovable characters. Our heroine has lost something very precious to her, but potentially dangerous to her family and will risk anything to get it back. Our hero is much too hard on himself for things that where beyond his control.

You will laugh and cry while reading this.

It is part of a series but easily read on it's own. It will however tempt you to read the previous books in the series. I hope there are at least two more coming. (Maybe set in Northumberland)

I loved it.

Lady Daphne Hallworth is the quintessential "good girl" and all but invisible, so it is no surprise when her family departs to their country estate for Christmas and she is left behind. Rather than join them, she decides to use her time alone to chart her future. She plans to use her inheritance and set up her own household and start her charity - a home for unwed mothers. Events in her past have made this charity very near and dear to her heart - so with no one around to naysay her, she decides to visit her solicitor and get her plans in motion. But her plans are derailed when her reticule containing her journal with her deepest, darkest secrets and fantasies is stolen and she has to chase the thief - right to Reynolds gaming hell and Paul.


Paul Barstowe is the new Duke of Southart, a title he never expected to inherit and one he doesn't feel worthy to bear. But when his beloved brother Robert died from Rheumatic Fever, Paul swore to honor his final request and become a better man by giving up his wild, wicked ways and becoming the honorable man Robert always believed him to be. Paul spent his life trying to gain his father's approval and when he realized that was a lost cause, he began acting out to gain his father's attention - and it worked, so well that he ended up pushing away all his friends - save Robert and Devon. But determined to turn over a new leaf, he has taken his seat in parliament and is trying to establish a hospital specializing in the care of Rheumatic Fever patients to honor his brother's memory. He has found a piece of property that would be perfect and starts to make plans.


Fate throws them together and they strike deal, he will find her journal and she will convince her brother that he is truly redeemed and deserving of acceptance. Seems easy and straightforward, a perfect plan - but fate is not done with these two and they will have a lot to overcome before there can be a HEA.

As in the previous books, I thought the writing was a bit wordy and repetitive and I felt like the story was too busy, too many characters, too many plot elements, too many implausible scenarios and drama for the sake of drama. That said, I did like both Paul and Daphne and felt the chemistry between them and really became invested in their quest to find redemption and love with each other. This is the fourth book in the series and I would highly recommend reading them in order rather than starting with this book.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*

He’d been desired before, but never with that look. She thought him noble.
He stumbled back a step.

Fourth in the Cavensham Heiresses series, we finally get Paul Barstowe, the Duke of Southart's story. He is the friend of the previous heroes of the series who has become the outcast due to circumstances out of his control and of his own making. Our heroine Daphne is the younger sister to one of the previous heroes and she has always held a tendre for Paul. When Daphne ends up accidentally being home alone during Christmas time and desperately searching for her stolen diary, Paul ends up partnering her on the adventures.

Even if you haven't read the previous books in the series, there wouldn't much of a problem starting here. The author does a good job of relaying the how and why of past relationships, there would be a missed deeper connection but Daphne and Paul's relationship is the main focus of the story and that starts in this book. Paul's history is a little bit of wrong place, wrong time with some ill gotten luck, his father was cold to him and while he had a loving relationship with his brother, that brother is now deceased. His two closest friends are still wary and cold to him but since obtaining the title of Duke, he has been working hard to make something of himself.

Daphne is surrounded by happy marriages and is starting to get tired of hiding in the shadows as a way to not cause problems as she didn't want to upset anyone after her sister died. When she gets left alone, she finds it a perfect opportunity to get her life in order. I liked the premise of these two coming together, enjoyed a few flashbacks to how she and Paul interacted in their younger years but the physical attraction started immediately and was the focus throughout the vast majority of the story.

I feel like I'm beginning to notice a trend in historical romance where there is an insistence to feature blowjobs. The first one featured here isn't between the hero and heroine but the heroine's desire to watch and want and the heroine's second sexual encounter with the hero where she does the act, felt out of place in this. I, personally, read historicals for a different feel on the romance between the heroine and hero, I like the focus to be more on the words or feelings and not physical acts in the bedroom. I'm not saying this can never work for me but, here, it didn't.

I also like to read historicals for the time period feel and as Daphne and Paul never venture from about three locations, her house, a gaming hall, and his house, I couldn't even tell you within ten years when this story was supposed to take place. I like character driven stories, with the thread of wanting to find Daphne's diary, this story was mainly focused on Daphne and Paul but they never ventured from Paul finding Daphne gorgeous but constantly and morosely thinking he wasn't good enough for her and Daphne wanting Paul, with her wanting to stem only from him being nice to her when she was younger and his good looks. There was also a lot of repetitiveness, with Daphne being close to TSTL with insisting on putting herself in obviously dangerous (reputation wise) situations, Paul objecting but then eventually going along with her, so much rinse and repeat.

There just wasn't enough meat to this story to keep me actively involved, I felt like I was passively reading because all our main characters did was lust (kind of lukewarm meandering lust, at that) and our hero was a little bit of an Eeyore about how he wasn't good enough. I've read the first in the series (debut) by this author and thought she had good promise and then really enjoyed the second, but this one felt like a lackluster phone in. I do, however, find the cover to still be as gorgeous as ever.

This was my first time reading a book by Janna MacGregor even though I've seen so many of my friends and followers reading her and praising her stories. I was not disappointed with The Good, the Bad, and the Duke. I just wonder what took me so long to read a book by this author. I enjoyed this book. It was irritating to have to put it down to work or indulge in life. I adored Paul and Daphne and thought their slow-burn, with lots of teasing, romance was delicious. I loved the storyline of trying to get the journal back and learning the heartache behind both characters. I loved the secondary characters especially the twins. This was such a well-written and we'll paced novel that sucked me in completely. I cannot wait to try something else by this author!

The Good, the Bad, and the Duke encompasses one man, Paul, the Duke of Southart. Lady Daphne has loved him for what seems like forever. Although he was her brother’s friend, Paul took time to be kind to Daphne. His kindness lends itself to indicating he cared for her very much, too.

Sweet, strong, independent Lady Daphne has been left at home with no family around for Christmas. While being kind to a street lad, he steals her reticule which holds her personal diary. It has inflammatory, private information within. The book is a mix of romance, angst and the search for the boy who stole the diary.

With a chance meeting, Daphne and Paul are thrown together and end of searching jointly for the lad and diary. This charming story has so much going on between Daphne and Paul that includes the disagreement between her brother and Paul, as well as, between other secondary characters. Daphne agrees to assist Paul to reconcile with her brother and his friends in exchange for his help in finding the diary.

Included in Paul’s difficulties is the relationship he had with his father, the former duke, and his brother. His father was continually cruel to him while a child and kept on even from the grave through his solicitor. The gambling vowels and the unkind address on them given to him periodically would have brought a weaker man down. The meanness of his father continued to haunt Paul.

Daphne was like a breath of fresh air in her independence. From the way she refused to contact her brother or mother about being left alone in town, to the way he did whatever needed to be done to retrieve her diary.

You will love, The Good, the Bad, and the Duke with the strength of these characters, their trust and respect for the other.

Another Cavensham Heiress falls! I really love this series, and Daphne and Paul fill it out nicely.
Daphne is tired of being a wallflower, and has decided that she has waited long enough to live life. She is going to use her independent means to found a home for unwed mothers. This is a personal quest for her, and she is not going to let her family dissuade her. Meanwhile, the love of her life, who has never shown her the least bit of interest, is having some interesting times of his own. Paul has inherited a title, after the unexpected death of his beloved brother, and his detested father. In an attempt to refashion his life in a way that would make his brother proud, he is paying off his debts, and reforming his behavior. Unexpectedly, Daphne offers Paul a Quest, that will allow him to redeem some of his self-perceived sins.

A fun read, overall!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ah, the perfect time of the year for stories that take place at Christmas! The beautiful cover of this book was the first thing that caught my attention. Janna MacGregor is a new author to me. I have the first three in the series, but this is the first one I've read. Yep, another author who is now on my auto-buy list! You don't have to read the others before you read this one, as it can totally stand alone. However, you'll want to read them all, in order to get more of Paul. I know I want more of Paul!

The beginning of this book was just perfect, funny and sweet. We meet Paul as a very young man and Daphne still a girl. Even then you could see their connection and special friendship. Fast forward to years later. Paul is trying to turn his life around, having become a duke since losing his family, and after losing his dearest friends due to his past behavior. Then there's Daphne, who feels like she is disappearing and becoming invisible. Her family inadvertently leaves her home alone when they go to the country for Christmas. Hurt, she brings her journal to the park to write, and she is robbed. After chasing the child thief in an attempt to retrieve her journal, she runs into Paul. He agrees to help her get it back, and in turn she will help him ease the way back into a relationship with his lost friends.

Thus begins a beautiful romance. Paul is reeling from the loss of his friends and brother, and dealing with the animosity of his father from beyond the grave. He is desperately trying to make amends and become the man his beloved brother knew he could be. Daphne can see past his prior bad behavior...apparently she is the only one who can see the real man inside. They already had friendship; it was lovely seeing their love grow. I spent the last third of this story in tears, as they try to get Daphne's journal back and deal with hardship and heartbreak along the way. Everyone needs a little love at Christmas, and this book will gift you with just that.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review of this book, and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Wonderful! In true Christmas spirit and joy, we get to see Daphne and Paul find love, redemption and hope. I loved Paul as a self-deprecating and flawed hero, someone that wanted to do the right thing, yet had no idea how to go around it. Daphne's quiet (and not so quiet) passion for life, family and friends. It was lovely to follow how they find each other again, and how their feelings bloom in between all the events surrounding them.
The supporting characters are delightful to read and Rufina is simply too cute for words.
And now I'm even *more* intrigued about William!!!

Full Disclosure: Janna MacGregor is one of my favorite authors and her Cavensham Heiresses series is one of my favorites. This 4th book in the series does not disappoint.
While Paul, the new Duke of Southart, has been portrayed as a villainous rake in the previous books, Lady Daphne has been in love with him since she was a young girl. He had been a friend of her brother but he damaged that relationship with his bad behavior - which eventually led to her brother's happy marriage.
As the Christmas holidays approach - Daphne is left behind in a scene reminiscent of Home Alone. She goes upstairs to change and when she comes back down her whole family has left her behind. Her brother thought she was traveling with their mother and step-father and they thought she was traveling with her brother's family. Left alone in London, she goes for a walk only to have her journal stolen. The journal contains her thoughts and secrets and would be disaster if it's contents got out. Luckily for her, Paul spots her and decides to help with the journal search.
The chemistry between the two is amazing. The pages sizzle with it. But surprisingly, it is in the quiet times when this book really shines. These two misunderstood people recognize something in each other. He has always lived down to his father's low expectations by being a scandalous rake. On the other had, she has always tried to be the good girl, becoming almost invisible in the process.
One of the most touching scenes in the book occurs between Paul and Daphne's little neice, Lady Margaret. It will bring a tear to your eyes.
There is additional sorrow to come as each tries to sacrifice to say the other but there is nothing that will keep these two from getting the Happily Ever After that the deserve in the end.
I received a free advanced copy of this book.

Lady Daphne Hallworth is ready to celebrate the holidays with her family at their country estate but when they accidentally leave her home alone, Daphne uses the time to work on her dream opening a home for unwed mothers. Her alone time 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 an urchin has stolen her personal diary, which holds secrets that could devastate her family. Daphne has always harboured private feelings for the man her family scorns. Paul, long considered good for nothing, aims to open a hospital to honour his late brother Robbie and restore his reputation. They make a deal: He will help her find her diary if Daphne can change her family’s opinion of him.
This is the fourth book in the series, it could easily be read on its own however this debut series just keeps getting better. Paul has been portrayed as the villain in previous books but I’ve always felt he was misunderstood & wasn't given a proper chance to explain himself & I so wanted him to be redeemed. Daphne & Paul were friends when they were children & she’s always fantasised about him. He was abused as a child & his late father is still tormenting him from beyond the grave with weekly small debts that need paying. Paul wants to be a good duke but his self esteem is so low. I loved this book & found it a roller coaster of emotions, there was humour & also some parts especially a couple of letters had me reaching for the hankies. The characters have depth & the pace was good & I read into the early hours to finish it.
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Who loves a reformed bad boy that doesn’t feel like he is good enough?

*waves hands like a maniac*

I do, I do!!

I don’t generally pick up a lot of romance novels anymore and books like this make me wonder why. I tore through this book like it owed me money.

Daphne is one of my favorite kinds of female leads. She is strong willed, independent and goes for what she wants, to hell with the consequences and Paul is…I just love Paul. With family drama, secrets to be kept and just enough sexy-time to make it interesting, this quick read was my perfect introduction to this author. I look forward to reading more from here and will be going back to read the earlier books in this series!

The Good, The Bad & The Duke is a feel-good Regency era romance that is the perfect read for a cozy winter night.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book to read and provide my own opinion.

The Good, the Bad and the Duke by Janna MacGregor was one of those romances that really tugged at my heart strings. I have been enjoying The Cavensham Heiress series. This is the fourth book of the series and I know it is not the last. According to Goodreads, there is another book going to be published in June next year.

Lady Daphne Hollworth has been unexpectedly left behind, so she decides to take matters into her own hands and use the time to plan her future. Paul Barstowe, Duke of Southart finds that she is alone and does his best to help her. Little does Paul know that she has loved him all her life. Little does Daphne know that Paul has always cared for her. Together, they work to help Daphne recover a missing item and maybe - just maybe - recover from their own wounds and find each other.

I think the book really hit me because of how sad the characters are. They love each other truly, but do not want to hurt the other. I love the Cavernsham family with the various family members. I love their loyalty and obvious regard for each other. The Good, the Bad and the Duke by Janna MacGregor was a lovely read.

Paul is a rogue who is trying to right all the wrongs that he has caused. Mainly the friendships that he threw away. But it wasn’t going to be easy. Those ex-friends detest him. Redemption comes in the form of Lady Daphne Hallworth. Daphne has had her journal stolen. A journal that has her very private thoughts and dreams in it. Paul would move heaven and earth to keep the wrong sort of people from getting a hold of that journal. Will that happen? Will he get the journal back? Will he be able to mend the relationships with his friends? And more importantly, will he be able to keep the happiness that he found with Daphne? Or will he be forced to let that go?

I hated Paul’s father. What he did to Paul when he was alive was awful. He was beaten for any little slight as a child. One beating was so bad that he couldn’t sit down without a pillow for a week. Once Paul’s brother saw what was going on, he stopped it. But he couldn’t stop the emotional abuse. The way that Paul acted in the first couple of books was a direct result of how his father treated him. Even after death, he was still torturing Paul. Those notes (actually the titles of them) were heartbreaking to read. There was an explanation towards the end of the book about why Paul’s father treated him the way he did. It was a weak explanation but it did bring some light about why Paul was abused.

I got shivers reading Paul and Daphne’s scenes together. Even before they kissed, you could tell that they wanted each other. But once they kissed, it was like a fire was set. Those scenes set this book on fire. What I liked is that the author kept the sexual attraction and tension going after they had sex. Every sex scene was on fire. There were a few times I had to put down my Kindle and go “Oh my!!”

What I also liked about this book was that Daphne was the only one for Paul. He could see her across the room and no one else existed. Everything he did after a certain point in the book was for her. I loved it. I loved seeing that it went both ways. I loved seeing them interact like they were the only people in a room. It was romantic.

I did like the storylines in the book. The author did a wonderful job of bringing them together. There were no forgotten plotlines. After the plotlines merged, the flow was flawless. It didn’t get choppy.

I will warn everyone that you will need a Kleenex or two while reading. There are a few scenes where I was moved to tears. The main scene, after Paul reads his father’s final letter, made me a sobbing mess. The other is the scene where he read his brother’s letter. Again, sobbing mess over here.

What I also liked about this book was that the villain in the other books was made into a hero. The author chose to give an explanation to his actions towards Emma and Claire. He was given a chance to redeem himself. I loved it!!

The end of the book made me happy. And the epilogue, I was ecstatic. Out of all the books I have read this year, this one has touched me the most. Paul deserved his HEA with Daphne. With everything he went through, that man deserved every bit of happiness that he could get.

I gave The Good, the Bad, and the Duke a 4-star rating. I enjoyed reading this book. The plotlines were wonderfully written. I came to care for the characters and got emotionally invested in backstories. You will cry during this book, so read with a box, or two, of Kleenex. Any quibble that I had with the book was minor and had no effect on my rating.

I would give The Good, the Bad, and the Duke an Adult rating. There is explicit sex. There is mild violence. There is no language. There are triggers. They are child abuse. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread The Good, the Bad, and the Duke. I would also recommend this book to family and friends.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Good, the Bad, and the Duke.

All opinions stated in this review of The Good, the Bad, and the Duke are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

The Good, the Bad, and the Duke (The Cavensham Heiresses #4) by Janna MacGregor Another great book by Janna... Thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for allowing me to preview this book. Lady Daphne(a lady on a mission..home for unwed mothers) Paul Duke of Southart (looking for redemption) Their touching story has so many twists and turns, laughter, heartache, mystery, danger, the revisiting of old friends from the first three books, steamy... and of course a very HEA. I grew to love them both...and can't wait for the next book.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Action-packed Easy-to-read Funny Witty Wonderful characters Page-turner Entertaining Romantic Steamy Happily Ever After Great world building

"The Good, the Bad, and the Duke" by Janna MacGregor
I loved this story. Just a very few minutes into this story and I was hooked...by Lady Daphne's story, her goal to establish a home for unwed mothers... and then I got hooked once again by Paul's story, never able to please his father and having lived up to father's disparagement he was now truly alone in the world, but trying to become the person his brother believed he could be... But then you know all that from reading the official book blurb. But they didn't tell you that you would hate when your eyes got so tired you had to quit reading and rest your eyes... or that your heart just might break a little bit or you might find a chuckle or two along the way. This was a really good well written story. I was gifted an ARC of the story by the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest review.. and ever so pleased that I was offered this as an early read.

This is my fair and honest review for this ARC. I have read books by Ms MacGregor before and have enjoyed them. I thought this one could have been a bit more intriguing based on the earlier books I have read. Absolutely nothing wrong with this read, I just would have liked a bit more to draw me in.

For the life of me, I could not get into this one! Some of it was to do with the time jump, I think, but I just never connected with the characters.

I received this book from Net Gallery in exchange for an honest review
I have read the first book in this series but missed both 2 and 3, book 4 can be a great standalone
I loved this story and would have gave it five stars but as I read a lot of Regency Romance, I like to know the time frame, and the year was never given or I missed it.
This book is great cause it is different in the fact that both the H & H have lost a loved one and are in grief. Paul for his brother who died from rheumatic fever and Dephne who lost her sister.
Dephne has tired to help her family with their grief by being the perfect sister, sister in law, aunt
and keeps all her feelings hidden only writing them down in her personal Diary. Not only her feeling but her dreams of the man she has always loved.
Paul, was always second-best to his father, never good enough, unloved and unwanted. The only way he could get back at his father is to become the worst Rake he could, with women, drinking, betting hurting his friends .
Paul was Dephne brothers best friend, till his reputation come between them.
Paul and Dephne run into each other at Christmas time, when Dephne has been left alone
by her family and had her Diary stolen. At the same time Paul is trying to rebuild his reputation
by building a hospital to honor his Brother.
They team up to find the Diary which has could harm her family in the wrong hands, and
she will help him regain loss friendships.
They are able to spend a lot of time together where they normal would not be left alone together.
There relationship was something new to a regency romance and was great ! They could be them selves not the Duke and The Lady .....
There is love, laughter and sadness. Not to give too much away this is a great book of past wrong,
good people who feel unloved and unwanted. Will True love and family love win in the end ?
Get you copy, a cup of coffee or coco and get started. You will not want to put this on down.

I really got drawn it to the storyline and the characters were well written. I stay up well past my bedtime read couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait to read more books from this author. If you like historical books you’ll enjoy this book