I'm not sure if I'm getting more picky when I read but this was just ok. It wasn't my favorite book I've read this year, Octavia just seemed to irritate me, the story seemed to drag and the plot seemed totally implausible for the time period. I'm fine with some historical license being taken, but totally unchaperoned for a month?!?

I’ve read all the other books in this series, so was happy to see Octavia’s story as the latest installment. She’s Ivy’s sister from book one and has taken over the gaming den her older sister started in London. Both girls were forced to start over on their own after their father wagered Ivy in a gambling bet. Octavia has taken over more of the responsibility now that her sister is married, and she’s showed up to their childhood home in hopes to find something of worth to pay of their creditors. She fully expects to take over the home now that her father is dead, but there’s someone there…in the pond. Such a fun start to the book and a memorable introduction to Gabriel. The two strike up a deal which turns into a fake engagement, rather ironic, since they could have indeed been married had Octavia’s sister lost her bet many years ago.

Gabriel is a kindhearted scholar who will do just about anything for anyone. Octavia a headstrong, impulsive and sometimes selfish woman who has moments of personal growth. Overall, they felt a bit mismatched in commitment and the sacrifices they are willing to make along the way. Gabriel’s actions also do not match his character, he comes across as two completely different people at times during their physical relationship. I was more endeared to him than to Octavia, who I liked in the previous books of the series. It was so fun to see Sebastian make a re-appearance in this, book 5. Perfect dialogue between him and Gabriel. I do wish we could see more of how things go between the two main characters after the end and epilogue since they have just barely expressed their mutual feelings to one another. Such a good series, read them all! Thanks to Avon Books and Netgalley for the advanced reading copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Four Weeks of Scandal is the fifth book in Megan Frampton’s Hazards of Dukes series. This romance novel focuses on Octavia Holton and Gabriel Fallon. This quick read was light, funny and steamy.
3.5 stars

We first meet Octavia in Never Kiss a Duke, which is her sister’s book and the first of the series. Octavia’s father was a gambler and her sister helped them flee her family home when Octavia was 14. The two sisters run a gambling hall together. Now, their father passed away and Octavia wants to claim her family home to sell for money that will pay off her debt to some dangerous men. When she arrives at her old family home, she finds that Gabriel is currently living there. He claims that he is the owner of the house, and her father lost the house to his father (also recently dead). They make a deal for them both to stay in the house until they can prove who the true owner is.

I really liked Octavia’s character. She really grew over the course of the story. It is hard to accept help from others when you have had to depend on yourself your whole life. It was not easy for her to let Gabriel in at all. Gabriel was very sweet and caring. His love of Greek Mythology led to some fantastic plot parallels especially with the various ways they examined the story of Hades and Persephone.

I received Four Weeks of Scandal as an ARC and oh boy, I loved it! I have only read the first in the the Hazards of Dukes series, Octavia's sister Ivy's book. I enjoyed that one, but Four Weeks of Scandal was even better. Octavia annoyed me a bit with her stubborn streak and terrible decisions, but it was sweet how Gabriel really made her a more thoughtful, whole person. I loved Gabriel, but did get a little tired of the Greek mythology stories by the second one. Gabriel and Octavia together were great! I wish we had gotten a little more time out of the house, but small quibble. This could be a standalone book without having to read the whole story, but now I need to go and read the other three books of that are in the middle of this series. Megan Frampton's descriptions of the house and the little town are great, and the dog's personalities were so great! This book is definitely worth a read, I enjoyed it so much!

I give this book a solid 3.5. I enjoyed the dynamic between the hero and the heroine. I found it unusual for a historical romance, actually. There was a bit of role reversal with the heroine playing the bold, impulsive and entrepreneurial type while the hero was the quieter, more proper and more studious type. Very much an opposites attract type of situation which is always fun to read. I love how the two were introduced to one another, a very spicy sort of meet cute involving two dogs and a pond and an assumed empty house.

Both insist they have a claim on the estate. Neither is willing to give in. On Octavia's part, that's largely because she has very little choice with a loan shark breathing down her neck and her impulsive trip into the country in the first place, with no carriage to take her back to London. She needs the money she'll get from selling the estate. Desperately. So they make a deal. They'll both stay at the house for a month to clean it up and find this proof. If it exists.

The side characters really made this story. In order to manage a modicum of respectability, Gabriel and Octavia fake an engagement to explain why they are together at the house alone. They recruit several fantastic people from the town to help out at the house, filling in as housekeeper, cook, seamstress, groom... But instead of lord and lady and their servants, the group become more of a family as they spend time together, growing and bonding.

It's no surprise that Gabriel and Octavia fall in love by the time a month has passed. But they both fall in love with the house and the people and the life they could have together and that's what makes this story so sweet. Plus the dogs. The dogs were adorable.

I did feel the story dragged a bit at the start but by the second half, I was devouring each page. Truly, a charming story and an equally charming couple that I was so delighted to see find their common ground, find a way to be together, and find their happy ending.

4.5 stars - Four Weeks of Scandal is a yummy historical romance. In it we find two, not quite gentry, who end up fake engaged to protect their reputations. While this is their first meeting, they were nearly engaged when her father wagered her hand in marriage during a card game with his father. He’s handsome and bookish. She’s spontaneous and a little reckless. Together they are delectable. I loved experiencing them fall in love!

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

I have not read the other books in this series, and it worked well as a standalone.

The story features a businesswoman and academic MCs coming together over the belief that each has inherited a house.  It quickly heads into fake engagement territory (which is a particularly favorite of mine) and also involves cleaning up the dilapidated house (which is also a favorite of mine).

This read fairly fast, and was easy to pick up and put down over a week or so, with likeable and very three dimensional characters.  Octavia in particular is impulsive, brash, and assertive and although has a character arc is unapologetically herself which I liked, particularly when it came to asserting her desires.  This is a very sex positive book in that regard.  Conversely, Gabriel is a bit of a cinnamon roll.  You think he is tough and crusty, but in reality he is this delicious, soft gooey man who is handsome, intelligent, caring, and the first to fall in love (that may, again, be a particular favorite kink for me).

The intimate scenes are there, but fairly light and vanilla, and the supporting characters bring a warmth and humanness to much of the book.  There is little angst, and mostly just a lot of back and forth in a crumbling country house between the MCs who are first locked in a battle, but soon give in to Feelings.

I debated putting a CW or not on this post, because I do think its important to mention that while Octavia and her sister running a gaming house in London, both MCs parents were unscrupulous gamblers that were so deep in their addictions they did some unconscionable things.  Its not dwelled upon overmuch, but it still might be difficult for people who have faced abandonment or parental rejection as the result of addiction.  It could be healing, too, as Frampton really focuses on found family with a deft touch that feels well deserved for both characters.

There were bits that sagged and dragged, not exactly a barn burner, but overall it was an entertaining read.  I am keeping my tongue in my mouth a bit about the title because its a stretch, but I also am keeping my eyes still in my head expecting someone, somewhere to shout about historical accuracy based on these two characters living together for months in a house unchaperoned by anyone else than household staff.  Even if they were fake engaged.

I am not exactly sure the year this was set, but it gave off early Victorian vibes.

I would recommend this for readers looking for a fake engagement with low angst and some extreme home make over elements.  And a delicious cinnamon roll of a hero.  Although some of those notes were stronger than others, it added up to a fun, light read.

Octavia and Gabriel arrive to her dead father's home, both claiming an inheritance on the property. Gabriel claims that his father won it in a card game, while Octavia insists that her father must have won it back. Who is right?

This was another book that didn't stick with me deeply, despite being an enjoyable read. Octavia is well-intentioned but has definitely gotten herself in over her head with a loan shark. I enjoyed the secondary characters that make up their found family. Definitely worth your time if you're a fan of historical romance.

While I have often seen a lot of books that I am interested in by Megan Frampton, I have never gotten around to reading any of her books until this one and I am glad that I did. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Four Weeks of Scandal and the love that grew between the two characters was a refreshing change from what I am used to in historical romance.

The main thing that I liked about the book was that there were no titled lords or ladies and while the characters had careers and jobs, there were still money problems. Seeing something other than balls and worrying that they would end up in gossip papers was very enjoyable.

Octavia and Gabriel were two very real characters with flaws and imperfections that made you root for them. Their comparison with the myth of Hades and Persephone was intriguing and left me worried that the two wouldn't have their own HEA.

Octavia is the daughter of a gambler who runs her own gambling hall. She’s a risk taker who leaps first. She has borrowed money from a dubious source and needs to pay it back quickly. She decides to return to her village home to settle her father’s estate.

Gabriel is the son of another gambler who used to gamble with Octavia’s father. He has an IOU showing his father won Octavia’s family home and he intends to live there as his family home burned down. To complicate matters, their father’s had previously gambled their hands in marriage. Octavia and Gabriel make a deal to allow Octavia thirty days to find proof of who the rightful owner is.

This is a wonderful book. Both characters grow and learn over the course of their relationship. There is also a great play on Hades and Persephone. You can’t go wrong with a Megan Frampton book.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have read this author before and enjoyed her books. This book was lite and airy – it clicked and flowed. Sweet quicky regency romance between Gabriel and Octavia. The basic premise of the book is both believe they own the house both fathers gambled on. I like the interaction between the town folk and H & H. It will make you smile and it goes along. It is a stand-alone book – but I did read the 1st book in the “series” and I was curious about this one. It was worth the read. I recommend this author and book -

Four Weeks of Scandal is book 5 in the Hazards of Dukes series. I binged this series just last year and was excited to read the next installment in the series. Octavia, the heroine of this book, we actually met all the way back in book 1 of the series which was her sister Ivy’s book, Never Kiss a Duke.

Octavia fled her home with her older sister Ivy when she was just 14-years-old. Their father was a gambler who put his love for gambling over everything else, including his daughters. Estranged for years, Octavia and Ivy now co-own a gambling house in London and haven’t seen there father since. When Octavia learns of their father’s death she returns to their small village, determined to claim her inheritance—the home she grew up in because surely he left them the house, which she can fix up, sell, and use the money to pay off her own debts. But of course, things don’t go as smoothly as all that when she arrives and finds out Gabriel Fallon is there claiming he is the rightful owner of the house as his father won it in a gamble. Gabriel and Octavia decide, since neither will budge, that they’ll spend one month trying to find proof/paperwork of who rightfully owns the house…and along the way they have to be fake engaged to pull it all off.

This was my least favorite read in the series sadly. I had a hard time with Octavia’s character, she comes across very immature and selfish. The way she talks to Gabriel was annoying, he is a scholar and often uses “big words” which she will just flippantly say she has no idea what he’s talking about like she has zero interest in any thing he has to say. But then the next second she’ll say she loves to learn and is curious, after she just waved off whatever he was talking about like it didn’t matter since she didn’t understand him. I loved Gabriel much more so the handful of times she talked like that just kind of irked me. I just didn’t feel the chemistry between Gabriel and Octavia and wasn’t rooting for them to be together. And I’m all for steamy reads and dirty talk but the way it came off in this book just did not fit. It took me out of the scenes because the way they’d get when it came to their physical relationship (loads of dirty talk and light spanking) just did not fit their characters at all. Moments I liked: fake engagement, takes place outside of London and no one is an aristocrat/in society, a whole crew of villagers coming to stay and work for them on the house, the villagers working at the home becoming like a little found family, their 2 dogs Nyx and Cerberus, he studies Greek mythology and shares stories with everyone in the house, she kisses him/makes the first move, her sister Ivy and Sebastian (from Never Kiss a Duke) make an appearance, their Pomegranate Compromise.

Thank you to the publisher (Avon Books) for an e-ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts in this honest review are my own. Four Weeks of Scandal has a publish date of June 28, 2022.

Octavia and Gabriel fight over who actually owns her late father's house. Both Octavia and Gabriel have gambling fathers who tend to lose to each other with regularity. While they try to figure out who has the rights to the house, they enter a fake engagement and start to restore the house. I enjoyed the bookish and steady hero who just wants a place to call home. The Greek mythology parallels were also fun to read.

The chemistry between Octavia and Gabriel grows naturally, and I found myself rooting for them from the start. They have been touched by similar childhood experiences, and this made their romance that much more attractive. The plot was engaging, and I enjoyed the book very much. I want to thank NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I recommend this book!

I tried and tried to get through this book and it just isn't happening. Normally I enjoy this author's stories but this one just is not holding my interest. Hard pass on this book.

This book was absolutely delightful! The chemistry was spicy, the concept was unique, and I didn’t feel lost even though I hadn’t read any others from this series. This was an excellent piece of romance. I’m looking forward to reading more from Ms Frampton

**3.5 STARS**

I have not yet read the previous books from the Hazards of Dukes (lol) series but I honestly feel like you don't need to. I mean, of course, if you love this book, absolutely go back and read the others, I'm just saying I didn't feel lost reading this book like I can with other books in the middle of a series.

This book follows the love story of Gabriel and Octavia. There's slow burn, found family, forced proximity, so if you love tropes, you'll find them here. Gabriel is a likeable character who wants to take the house they both believe they own and make it a home, while Octavia is a bit more cynical and wishes to sell the place off. I really appreciate that Gabriel treats her with respect, as we all know that women were generally regarded as lesser during this time period. I was a bit frustrated with Octavia at first, but as the book went on, she really began to grow, and learned that she could rely on others for help...maybe I was so frustrated with her because I see a lot of myself in her....but that's a discussion for another day. This novel teaches the reader that independence can sometimes be a crutch for those too fearful to trust others, and I love when a story leaves you with a lesson.

I suppose my biggest issue with the book is the pacing....some parts feel rushed but mostly, it just feels dragged out. As I said before, it is a slow burn- which I usually love- but here it just felt like I had to force myself to keep going to get to the 'good' parts, even though I really enjoyed Megan Frampton's ability to flesh out her characters, even those deemed as "side characters." Overall, it's an enjoyable read, just a slow one.

So this book is a super slow burn. Octavia and Gabriel are thrown together both debating who the property belongs to. They start to see each other for who they really are and start to like things about each other.

I did really enjoy Gabriel's character, he was sweet and gentlemanly. He didn’t treat Octavia as less because she was a woman. And he had so much care and consideration for her. And an immense amount of patience no matter what happened.

And the storyline was great, I felt the hurt of the characters and what they had to endure to become the people they are.

So I'm not going to lie this book was hard to keep reading because of how slow the burn is, if your into that then it shouldn’t be a problem for you. But that’s just not my thing. I don’t want a instant love story but somewhere in between would be nice.

There was a lot of repetition in the story line where I felt like it was unnecessary. Like every time they referred to the pond it was the pond where she saw him for the first time or he saw her for the first time. We read the beginning so if wasn’t necessary to say at every point.

“Spontaneity shows that your mind is agile, that you are able to juggle multiple ideas in your head, and that you are seldom surprised for long.”

Which was repeated many times. And I understand the concept of keeping the reader abreast of the situation but this was just too much repetition for me.

So one thing that kind of annoyed me a bit was Octavia, she was extremely selfish and impetuous. She didn’t think about anything she did, she just did it. No caring about her sister or Gabriel. And she wasn’t that smart .

This was a bit frustrating, and hard to understand, because I feel like the time period that this book took place she would not have been able to get away with that without causing a huge scandal. She's extremely stubborn and listens to no one, she also thinks she's never wrong.

I did like seeing that Octavia's character had some growth and starting caring about people around her a bit more. And she actually asked for help. I do understand that Octavia has had to thing about herself but she also has a sister that, cares about her a lot so she isn't alone in the world.

I also don't think that she could be a gambling house owner and there not be any scandal especially because she was a woman.

All in all it wasn’t the worst book I read but there are definitely character flaws that I couldn’t get over to fully enjoy this book the way I should have. I really enjoy historical romance but this one was just a bit hard to believe.

The spice 🙌🏻 Was just enough for me! I love a good historical romance with just enough steam. Thank you for the early access!

Four Weeks of Scandal by Megan Frampton is another installment in "A Hazards of Dukes" series. This book features Octavia Holton, Ivy’s sister from Never Kiss a Duke and makes for a fun quirky read. We know that Octavia feels that she is not as level headed and prosperous as her sister in business matters right from the start as she is running off to her deceased father’s village to claim a much needed inheritance, in the form of a decrepit house. She needs to fix and sell that home she had grown up in to pay off her debts. There is just one minor problem the house is also claimed by the son of her father’s best gambling buddy, Gabriel Fallon.

Gabriel tells Octavia that his father won the property in a bet and actually holds the notes to prove it. Octavia not allowing herself to be meekly put out claims that perhaps, her father had already won it back as those two where notorious for their non-stop back and forth wagering’s. After all, it seems that one wager if followed through would have had these two wed. With those things in mind Gabriel strikes a four-week bargain with Octavia. They will stay in the house making the necessary repairs while pretending to be engaged for respectability sake, while looking for a new bet amongst their fathers in the form of a gambling note, a letter, or will that will definitively prove the ownership of the house.

Though that sounds simple enough, it ends up to mean a lot of time spent together talking, laughing, reminiscing and learning about each other during long days and evenings researching and sharing space. The pair seems destined to actually have that betrothal fulfilled as the whole village seems to think that they are indeed “setting up house”. They now find themselves with chaperones, cooks and other house staffs abound, all whom are quite vested in this romance leading to matrimony. Four weeks, sounded short and simple but now it’s turning out to be a long enough time to find one’s heart true desire and decide when true love has indeed being found. My review was given on the ARC copy received from the Publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.