Arthur and Tabitha have a great story to tell. I enjoyed this immensely and was sorry to see it end. I had forgotten how much fun a good Regency could be.

It all came down to a dare. Now in my time, I’ve been subjected to and forced others to do some dumb things. Absolutely harmless entertainment, but at times, on the fringes of what could be considered socially acceptable. In college, I was once dared to take those large orange construction cones and plaster them throughout our music history classroom. Dumb? Yes. Did I feel like a rebel? Sure. At no moment, however, was my reputation on the brink of being left in tatters. Since I was such a rebel and replaced the cones directly after class, I can’t say that the stakes were high. I was just having fun with friends (and maybe our buddy Nikolai) plus the shot of endorphins was real nice. The same cannot be said for our heroine, Lady Tabitha Hampton, whose whole financial and romantic future depend on her small deceit being kept under wraps. In Charlie Lane’s, Daring the Duke, the first of the Debutante Dares Series, we are made quite aware of the repercussions of foolhardy games in Regency England.

A Little Bit of Plot
Tabitha Hampton, with her eidetic memory and sharp wit, along with her band of wallflower friends, pass their time during boring social events with scandalous dares often at the expense of the dim-witted ton. For Lady Hampton, her dares involve the very straight laced and proper (i.e. hot as hell) Duke of Collingford. Unbeknownst to Tabitha, Arthur is in on her game and is determined to expose her to ridicule. While Arthur might not have time for games, he does have a need that must be met - that being the procurement of a proper duchess in order to obtain his rightful family legacy, Rose Hall. Tabitha knows that with her vice like memory and ability to learn any skill, she can become the wife he needs to secure his family’s approval. It doesn’t hurt that Arthur wants to do the horizontal mambo with her either - producing an heir never sounded so fun. I mean, for him, since she’s got to carry the baby, not a walk in the park for her. Plus! She’s a redhead and that was so 5 seasons ago! So, officially a pariah.

(Every day I thank someone upstairs that I live in this era… I would probably have walked in front of a carriage after my first season if I lived during this time.)

The Compliment Sandwich

The Top Bun (The Pros)
The Premise - The Dares
This one’s tough to describe because I don’t want to ruin them. Lets just say there's mistaken identity afoot. Also, literal bare feet.

Jane wiggled her eyebrows. “Dance barefoot.”...Jane pushed her right back out into the light. “No. This is your dare. You stand there, chin high, shoulders back. Meet the gaze of every man who comes your way, and say yes to the first one to ask you to dance.” Lillian’s gaze dropped to the floor, then bounced back up. “What about my shoes?”
“Keep them this time, “ Tabitha hissed. “But next time.” She raised both eyebrows. “Barefoot”.

The lengths these three women go for each other in this book are so enjoyable. I love a wallflower romance story - it’s like high priced catnip and this book delivered. We have three bluestocking, on the shelf, beautiful women who would rather spend time with each other than wagging tongues with the rest of the ton. I’m even okay with a little merriment at the expense of snobby bitches. While to us (in the now times), we would consider these dares to be lame and low stakes, each woman is mortified to be called out on their frivolity. Arthur is almost giddy to be catching Tabitha up in a falsehood.

Escape? Simply not allowed. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
She slammed to a halt, turned slowly, and met his gaze with fiery eyes. “I am sure Your Grace is accustomed to grabbing and taking whatever, or whomever, he wishes, but you will not do so with my wrist. The true her. Right there. It could be nothing less.
The confident command in her voice knocked the breath out of him. He regained it quickly. “But I may do so with other parts of you?”

Arthur is immediately intrigued with both Tabitha’s mind and her ability to command attention when she feels warranted. What starts as a bout of revenge ends with a fascination from both parties. You can say that she dares Arthur to marry her and make her his Duchess. Tabitha believes she’s the only one that can secure his family approval and get him what he’s been longing for - control of Rose Hall. She’s the first woman that has held his interest and for her, lets face it… the Scrooge McDuck sized money vault holds immense sway.

Question, did anyone ever try to swim in a literal money vault? How did that dumb duck not break it’s neck? Also, was there an episode where they cleaned that thing? Could you imagine the smell after so many times swimming naked, amirite? Cartoon ducks don’t wear pants! His corkscrew penis was just snail-trailing all over all that money! And don’t get me started on why the dogs were the second class citizens...specists!

Okay, rant over. My mind is often a dark place.

Over to the Meat (The Con)
I think this book forgot exactly what a “Proper Duchess” was supposed to be at some point. Arthur has a view of what he wants right away; however, this changes after he spends a bit of time in Tabitha's company. He’s enraptured with her because she can quickly ‘learn’ to become what he needs to pass the familial ‘smell test’. With her eidetic memory, she can slip into the role of THE DUCHESS (ALL CAPS) at a moments notice which is sure to gain favor with both his stodgy uncle and the matriarch of the family, The Grandmother.

Arthur suddenly realizes that he doesn’t want perfect, or he does, just not all the time. He’s quickly bored with Tabitha's ability to slip in and out of the Duchess persona.
"Arthur yawned. Watching Lady Tabitha prove she could be perfect should be fascinating, exciting. It was boring. He watched the card table but shifted his focus to Devon and the girl, listening to their conversation”.

Dude, you are the one that wanted her to be perfect! She fit what you needed like a damn glove. But it’s not enough for her to memorize Debretts and follow the portrait of a regal duchess, but she should also be spontaneous, fun loving,witty, sexy, go down on him in a thunderstorm, give fantastic massages, be ready for it 24/7, and also play the piano. And what special traits do men need to have at this time? Shoot shit and make money. It didn’t even matter if they were good at ‘the sex’; the women weren’t supposed to enjoy it. See? That encounter with the carriage is looking better and better...

Arthur’s mother’s (the former duchess) has her own views on what that role looks like - and she believes that Tabitha fits the bill without her ‘alter ego’. Arthur’s grandmother feels that Tabitha’s ‘Duchess’ persona will lead her to finally crack and make everyone miserable. His uncle disapproves of her red hair. At one point, I said out loud “someone just make a damn decision because I’m getting frustrated”. It’s like if I’d been picturing Chris Evans baking me a birthday cake for a year and he finally does it and it’s made with that whipped topping or fondant as opposed to butter cream. Even if he does it shirt less, I’ll still enjoy it, but it won’t taste the same. Wait, my analogy isn’t working. Who’s going to turn away a cake made by a shirtless Chris Evans?

Monsters. That’s who.

The Bottom Bun
Devilish Devon
While I enjoyed both Tabitha and Arthur, I have to say I really loved Devon, the Dukes younger brother. I would equate him to Leo Hathaway, Lord Ramsey, in that he’s a scoundrel but has the utmost respect for the ladies.

Devon scoffed. “You, Your Grace, are a privileged ass.”...
“Right or not, he wasn’t about to let his little brother call him an ass and get away with it…”I’m certain I’ve heard more than one woman call you such.”
“I’m certain you misheard. What she said was she felt privileged to touch my-”

I’m not sure who he will be paired up with in the next book, but we are left wondering if a certain trip to Scotland with Lady Jane will be an issue. Devon is definitely the Pucci of this book. Every time he’s away I’m thinking “Where’s Devon? I wonder what Devon’s up to? Is someone touching Devon’s ass right now? Is it Jane? Is it Lillian?”. You can’t help but swoon at Devon’s support and protectiveness when it comes to his sister-in-law.

Devon perused her from the tips of her shoes to the top of her bonneted head. “My that was duchess-like. My brother has got a surprise coming his way, I think.”
Tabitha could not help it. She cracked. She probed. “Does the duke think I’m going to fail?”...
“No idea,” Lord Devon said. “He keeps his cards close, he does. I think you’re doing fabulous.” He winked.
Tabitha did not sigh. She winked instead. “Thank you”.

Lillian and Lord George aren’t as forefront as the other characters, but I enjoyed their interactions with the main character as well. George has a very cryptic relationship with Lady Jane and Devon has taken an interest in Lillian. My luck is that Lane won’t pair them up at all, she’ll just wait until the penultimate book in the series and bring in some Mary Sue that’s never been referenced. What’s the male version of a Mary Sue? A Chad? Oh wait, we know that a Chad never gets the girl.

All in all, this was a delightful Regency era romp with very low stakes. If you enjoy the use of the term ‘mind palace’ and the name Priscilla Pickles makes you giggle, you can’t go wrong.

Daring the Duke
The Debutante Dares Series, Book One
by Charlie Lane

Lady Tabitha desperately needs to marry well and really only a duke will do . Tabitha being an intelligent spirited red head chooses to dare Arthur the duke in question and find that opposites do attract.

A thoroughly enjoyable well written book.

Fabulous characters which proves a very good start to the series.

Things don’t go as smoothly as expected but great read.

A wonderful historical romance from Charlie Lane and Wolf Publishing. Tabitha and Arthur have a tumultuous beginning but eventually enter into a mutually beneficial fake courtship. Follow their journey from nemesis to friendship to love.
Definitely a must-read for historical romance lovers.
Thank you Charlie Lane, Wolf Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy for my honest feedback.

I thoroughly enjoyed this regency-era romance. It's one of my firsts and it did not disappoint. I found the insight into how the world was back then interesting. The starting banter was amazing but I felt that towards the end, it got a little boring. I liked how it started with a backstory and the author dove straight into the plot, and I saw into the minds of both characters. The side characters could've used a little more development in my opinion. If you're looking to get into regency romance, this book is a great starting point as you can dive in without any expectations and still receive a fair read. 3.5/5

This was my first book by this author. It took me a few days to read as it didn't keep my attention. The MC's were both kind of boring. Arthur is your typical stick up your ass Duke and Tabitha is a 27 year old spinster first season debutante?? She must marry well to save her impoverished family. He must marry the perfect Duchess to gain a property. It started kind of enemies-to-lovers but really wasn't. I didn't feel that much enmity from the Duke towards Tabitha. Stuff happens and there is an HEA. I didn't connect to either character and probably won't continue the series.

A run in with Arthur, the Duke of Collingfordall, all started with a dare, or maybe better described as childish behavior on the part of Lady Tabitha Hampton.

For someone who got her family in a financial mess, the immaturity she exhibited when out in society did not reflect a contrite attitude in her part and made the beginning of the book go by slowly.

Once the silliness was over, the story for a lot more interesting and flowed better.

This wasn't bad but just had a rough start.

This was an enjoyable story. It is part of a series and I think this is the first story that I have read by this author. I really liked this story and not just because the heroine was 27 years old.
The heroine is the oldest of four girls and their father is doing poorly. Their mother died about 8 years before and the estates aren't producing very much money. The heroine is tbe oldest and has been running everything. She became aware of an invest that would triple their funds. So she used their savings and it was a scam. She was swindled out of all of their money. She needed to get married to a wealthy man and so began her first season. Her sisters are are old enough to have a season also, but they do not have the money. So while she is in her season, she becomes friends with 3 other girls. They are considered wallflower spinsters. To amuse each other they dare each other. The heroine has to seek an introduction to a duke who is looking for the perfect wife. But every time she asks to be introduced, she uses a different lady, at a different event and gives him a different name. He realizes after the second introduction, but doesn't let one. She intrigues him and so he decides to seek her introduction. She uses a different name again, but he asks her to dance and her friends dare her. While they are dancing he uses her real name and she realizes that he knows she was giving him false names.
I enjoyed this story so very much. It was the style of writing that grabs you and keeps you reading. It did have a couple of slow parts, but what book doesn't. I like the way the hero and heroine communicated. After realizing the dare about the names, both parties were honest with each other and tried to communicate with each other. I liked the way this story described the parties and settings of the story. I enjoyed the other charavters. Both main characters developed and grew throughout the story. This story met all of my requirements for a 5 star review and a recommendation to read.

This was cute!
I think the characters should have been aged down since they came off younger than they were. Otherwise I think the characters were well fleshed out and well written.
The pacing was a bit too slow for my tastes. I think this is partly due to the fact that there wasn't much happening here plot wise.
Overall a sweet story but could have used a little splash of excitement.

This was a good story that just had some hard parts to get through.

This is the story of Tabitha and Arthur, Arthur needs a duchess so he can get Rose Hall which has been his dream. Tabitha is having her first season but is much older than most and needs to find a husband asap to save her families finances. Tabitha and her fellow wallflowers like to do dares with each other, and her dare had been to introduce herself many times throughout the season to the Duke but under different names to see if he would notice. The Duke caught on and this is where the story takes off.

I have to say it was hard to get through with all the talk of the dares, we get it, and then the amount of times Tabitha is not right to be a duchess because of the color of her hair. Those were the hardest parts of the story for me, I could over look the rest. This all being said if there are more in the series I will try them out, I want to read Devon's story and Lady Jane's story.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable historical novel. I loved the main character and the plot kept me interested throughout the whole book!

This book was a standard genre romance that hit several tropes that readers love. In theory, it should have been a good read. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. I found the characters to be one dimensional and never really felt like they progressed. The plot was predictable, but somehow took a long time to happen. The real deal-breaker for me is the whole “dare” aspect of the storyline. It seemed like a solid premise for a meet-cute, but in application felt like immaturity masquerading as cleverness. Overall, while I didn't mind reading it (probably wouldn't shove it in a DNF pile), it just wasn't a winner for me.

A great start to a new series! Late to the marriage mart, Lady Tabitha takes a dare from fellow wallflowers and introduces herself to the Duke of Collingford with a different name each time. Convinced she's not memorable, she's surprised when Arthur singles her out for a dance.

Collingford is looking for the perfect wife to fulfill an inheritance clause, and Lady Tabitha suggests that with her photographic memory, she can transform herself into the perfect duchess. Instead of achieving the perfect marriage, Arthur and Tabitha fall in love and in acceptance with themselves and each other.

I really loved this theme of perfectionism. I also loved that Arthur is the one who decides they are both perfect as they are. This story was funny at times, very sweet, and highly enjoyable. I can't recommend this enough!

Thank you NetGalley and Wolf Publishing for this arc.

I've not read this author before so I had no real expectations going into this book. I found it to be a pleasant read. The characters were fairly fleshed out, though both Tabitha at 27 years old and Arthur at 30+ years old struck me as rather immature for their age. Neither had any sort of sense of self in social or "professional" settings... Tabitha coped by assuming an expected "role" and Arthur just shoved a bigger stick up his butt. I had a hard time engaging with either one of them...

The plot -- while somewhat contrived (expected in an historical romance) -- was predictable (also expected in an historical romance) seemed to have a few free floating loose ends. ??Uncle Brutus ?? What?

Overall, not a bad read, but not good enough to chase down the author's backlist for me.

2.5 stars

This book brings the characters and their personalities to life immediately. This is a book of clean historical romantic fiction. It is a budding romance from evidently this third meeting of the two. This author uses humorous situations strategically and effectively. This is a Rom/Com that is most enjoyable. It looks at what it takes to be part of the English ton from the grandmother’s opinion….to the young couples deeds. You might be a blueblood but have never been given the tools to be elevated to a new position. First lesson, once the groom decided he should have received permission from the entire family, mother,brother, uncle, grandmother., then her family the bride snd and affirmed by all her friends, since the couple didn’t obtain approval in the correct order; the couple have a guest waiting for them upon their arrival home. This “small” overbite could cost them their marriage. Enstead a grandmother’s’ smothering conventional style to live up to may prove to be fatal to the marriage of this young couple. With much gratitude to the author,publisher and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to review an advance copy of Daring theDuke in exchange for an honest review which I have done. I will definitely be seeking out more of Charlie Lanes’s books and will be not only be recommending this book but also Charlie Lane for her style of writing and her humor. Thank you so much.

I am a huge fan of Historical fiction, especially romance novels and as far as "Daring the Duke" goes, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tabitha and Arthurs adventure.
Their beginning is hate turning into attraction and then love, and it all starts with a dare.

I won't be revealing much about this wonderful and entertaining novel as I want to avoid spoiler and want the readers to enjoy it, but I will say this much, it has the right amount of bickering, humour, and erotica that we look for in a Historical fiction / Romance novel.
I’m looking forward to reading more about the interesting side characters, especially Lillian and Devon.

Loved this book! I really enjoyed the characters and the story line! This book kept me entertained and I read it in a couple days!!! I highly recommend this book!!! Thank you so much for letting me review this book!

Daring the Duke is the first of a series by Charlie Lane. It's a cute story that drags at times, though it also provides some unexpected laugh-out-loud moments. The premise was a little unclear however, and I never quite figured out what the main conflict was.

Basically, it's a story of a nearly-on-the-shelf (and nearly destitute) wallflower who grabs the attention of a handsome duke. At first that attention is negative. Arthur is angry over a game Tabitha plays (based on a boredom-inspired dare) where she introduces herself by different, increasingly silly names every time they meet. However, he is as intrigued as he is infuriated, and soon the two find themselves courting. Arthur needs to find a wife his family approves of in order to inherit his childhood estate, and Tabitha needs to marry money in order to save her family and support her three sisters.

Tabitha is far from perfect duchess material, but she does possess a photographic memory. She convinces Arthur that this skill will enable her to memorize all the important things a perfect duchess needs to know. The two set out to prove to Arthur's family that she is The Duchess, but increasingly, Arthur finds himself yearning for the real Tabitha underneath the facade.

So I guess the premise is about what perfection really means to different people. However, this lovely concept is frequently muddied by plot points that don't seem to pan out. The concept of the dares risking Tabitha's reputation seems a little overplayed, and the threat of Arthur's uncle disapproving of Tabitha never really gains traction. There are parts that I thought alluded to Tabitha's family's financial situation maybe not being all that it seems, but nothing happens there either, and I was incorrectly certain there was something off about the state of Arthur's beloved country estate. Tabitha's relationship with her sisters is also unclear; sometimes it seems as if they're close but then others seem very much the opposite. It's like there's more to the story then we're privvy to. It's as if the book comes later in a series, and we should know more about the characters than we do.

More books are coming soon to the series, and perhaps some of these threads will be picked up.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks!

A desperate woman, Tabitha, tries to become perfect duchess material so that the duke, Arthur, will marry her. A desperate duke must marry the perfect duchess in order to inherit property that he is sentimentally attached to. Both learn they must be themselves in order to be happy together. I felt that Tabitha was a bit too naive in this story. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Wolf Publishing for my honest review.

This is very good fun! The writing is smart, clear, and humorous and both MCs have some growing to do in order to earn their happiness. It's gratifying to follow their progress. There's a nice amount of chemistry and spice as well. This is definitely worth picking up for a light, enjoyable diversion!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.