This was a fun book! It took me very little time to read because I was so charmed by the story.

Max is gambler and a distant relation of a ducal family who becomes in line to be a duke and has an opportunity to be given a steady income if he cleans up his act and also marries. He decides to forge a business connection and a marriage alliance in one with a family who runs a ceramics business. At first, he is set to marry Catherine, but with her sister Bianca's help she elopes with someone else. Unfortunately, their father had already given a portion of the business to Max, so even though Bianca thinks the worst of him, she agrees to marry him instead of Catherine.

Bianca was a wonderfully feisty character, but she and Max quickly grow to respect each other, and their attempts to outdo the other person is so much fun. Although the summary and title implies that Max is a rogue (and yes, he is a gambler), compared to other rogues and rakes in romance novels he seems pretty tame and sweet and respectful. I also enjoyed many of the side characters.

Ultimately, while this doesn't bring anything new to the genre, if you want to read something that is comforting and familiar and engaging, I would recommend this one.