Female blacksmith who claims to be in love with a con artist to save him from hanging? Sold! Gwen Culley had an unconventional upbringing. She was raised by her father and uncle and is now owner of the family blacksmith business. Kellen’s father has been pretending to be the new duke and when the ruse is over, he leaves Kellen to take the brunt of the town’s anger. After Gwen saves him, the two have to pretend to be in love until they can tie the knot!

Sometimes you just need a quick and dirty read - if that’s what you need, I would highly recommend this book! Sophie Jordan is one of my favorites and while I felt the pacing was off at times with this particular book, I absolutely loved both characters. Nothing gets me like characters who have lacked care and love and are finally getting exactly what they deserve! I also love to read women in unconventional roles in historical romance, because they did exist!

This was a fast read. The author weaves a tale of a strong woman in a man's job making a good living. One day her world changes when she finds a man hidden in her shop. Very unique and entertaining story.

The last thing Gwen Cully expected when she went to work in her smith that day was to save a conman from being hanged and then end up betrothed to him – but that’s exactly what happened! Gwen was working in her smith when the man she knew to be the scoundrel impersonating the Duke of Penning’s heir entered and begged her to hide him from the angry mob chasing him. She thought he was exaggerating, but when she sees the townsfolk baring down on them, she lets him hide. Unfortunately for him, someone comes into the smith and sees him and he is dragged away. With the townsfolk intent on hanging him!

Kellan Fox knows what he did was wrong and to be honest, he is tired of his nomadic life, but he made a deathbed promise to his mother to watch over his father and has felt duty-bound to keep his word. But this is the last straw, his father scammed the people of the town into believing that he was the long-lost Duke of Penning and that Kellan was his heir, but when his con was exposed, he took off, leaving Kellan to take the fall. And now with a rope around his neck, it seems like he will indeed pay the price for their sins. But to his surprise, the lovely blacksmith tries to stop the mob from killing him. Going as far as to proclaim her love for him. And it works, sort of…because they end up betrothed to prove that they really love each other.

Gwen and Kellan don’t want to marry, but she knows if she doesn’t marry him, she will be ruined and her business will suffer even more than it has since her father and uncle died. So she suggests a compromise, they marry and spend one year together, in an in-name-only platonic marriage – and then he will be free to leave. Kellan agrees, as he owes her his life, and even offers to help her around the house and the blacksmith shop. It seems like an ideal partnership until it becomes clear that the platonic part is going to be harder to adhere to than either of them thought. Is it possible that this relationship built on a lie could be a love match? Can Gwen trust him or is Kellan just playing her for a fool?

This was a fun, fast-paced story with extremely likable characters and a fresh twist on the marriage of convenience trope. This story has witty banter, believable character development, a marriage of convenience, lies, dodgy relatives, a bully, great secondary characters, trust issues, steamy love scenes, and finally a very lovely HEA complete with an epilogue. This is the third book in the series, but they are very loosely connected and can easily be read as standalone titles. I enjoyed this story and would happily recommend this title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

After the death of her father and uncle, Gwen Cully is left alone to forge ahead as the village blacksmith. When a competing (and male) smithy moves into town, Gwen is finding herself stretched thin.
Growing up under the tutelage of his con-man father, Kellan Fox finally runs out of luck. Having been roped into another of his father's schemes, Kellan is abandoned by his father when their rouse posing as the Duke of Penning and his heir is found out. In his bid to escape, Kellan encounters Gwen when he attempts to hide in her shop. When the unruly mob decides to hang him- Gwen feels the need to step in and literally save Kellan's neck.

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The issue I keep coming up against with this story is that all the tension and suspense really happens in the first part of the book. I was really drawn into the unconventional main characters - but it almost just fizzled out after that. Each subsequent conflict and even the sexy times happened and resolved so quickly I thought on numerous occasions that one of the characters must be asleep and dreaming for things to work out so easily.
I wanted more drama and tension between Kellan and Gwen throughout the story. I wanted to see the sexual tension not just be told about it. I wanted to see more specific and chosen action from Gwen as well.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Despite being unfamiliar with the Duke Hunt series, I had no problem swooning to the floor with The Scoundrel Falls Hard. This book was chapter after chapter of delight and I was so pleasantly surprised by this romance. Everything was working for me and it was nearly perfect. It featured all my favorite tropes and even introduced a new motif I now adore: Marriage of Convenience, Fake Relationship, and the criminally underrated Lady Blacksmith. Our couple had a fascinating dynamic and I loved to read their interactions. Gwen was a lovely heroine and an incredibly relatable protagonist. I couldn’t imagine being an independent female blacksmith surrounded by gross dudes intimidated by her fortitude. Thankfully, Gwen focused on her craft and let the other schmoes melt some metal at Super Weenie Hut Jr’s down the street.

I didn’t know what to expect from The Scoundrel Falls Hard. but it opened up with a declaration of love for a stranger on the gallows. Kellan was a cheeky hero and it was great to see all his con artist tricks fail with Gwen. This opened the door for more genuine emotions and a quicker route for an honest relationship. My only critique would be that I wasn’t invested in the tertiary characters and I always want to selfishly focus on the main couple. I’m reading the book for romance, not friendship; let’s be real. I tend to get tunnel vision when it comes to romances where secondary characters have to be really special for me to turn my head.

The Scoundrel Falls Hard was an invigorating hammer straight to the literary anvil. It’s always neat for books to surprise you instead of having unmet expectations or copycat romances that are a dime a dozen. I may read the previous books in this series, but they may not live up to this installment. This was a swell historical romance that definitely stood out from the hundreds I’ve read since middle school. I certainly want to see more female blacksmiths, both in fiction and in real life. It’s an underrepresented career and we need more females in the field! Gwen is an inspiration and perhaps she can craft me a brawny hero like Kellan in her smithy. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I sang “Hot in Herre” while I waited in her forge.
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2.5 🌟's!

📝 tropes: anti-heroine (blacksmith), fake marriage of convenience, only one bed, forced proximity, workplace rom, nursing back to health
🌶 spice: 2.75/5
❌ CW: misogyny

this series overall has not been giving 🥴 the premise and some parts of the story really engage you in but then the overall structuring has holes in it and it just.. didn't work for me .. again.

this third book in the series tells a marriage of convenience romance between our blacksmith heroine and our thief hero whose about to be hanged for a crime. she swoops in and saves him in time by declaring that they're in love and so ensues this fake marriage/workplace romance.

it's fun at times seeing their sizzling attraction (the steam was prob the main positive statement i have about this book) but i think that the FMC was super frustrating in believing the worst about the hero but then quickly reverting back and saying ily and making up like???? there was no tension, no communication and then suddenly everything magically appeared to be ok and we got to the epilogue so 😐 yeah. lots of structural issues imo.

wish i could say better things but that's just how i felt about this book and the series overall :/

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to the publishers Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-ARC via Netgalley. Releases August 23, 2022!*

This book was decent! Not my favorite Sophie Jordan but perfectly engaging and fun to get through.

I wish there was more background to both of the main characters, and it was also more difficult to get into than many of Jordan's other works.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed book two of this series, so imagine my surprise when I hated this pretty much from the jump. It's like Jordan used Regency England as a backdrop for modern characters. Like, villagers regularly refer to the main girl by her first name. Ummm, no.

I loved the set-up with a lady blacksmith and a man who’d been impersonating a duke’s heir. I loved that the village felt so concrete and real from the start. But even in the early chapters there was just a bit too much “I am so awkward and tall and not like other women” from the heroine, combined with a lot of “hero is so big he makes me feel feminine — which is to say tiny and delicate — by comparison.” I’d hoped for a historical heroine who wasn’t delicate and aristocratic, but who was strong and working-class and, let’s face it, interestingly butch. And I liked that the hero clearly thought she was spectacularly attractive from jump.

But I couldn’t shake the sense that the heroine was being presented as a little too unusual or outlandish. There’s a bit of the freak-show air that I found off-putting. Yes, women doing forge work would have been rare — but plenty of women worked in small English villages. Tailoring, tavern-keeping, laundry, shops and servants and farms and so on all had women doing significant amounts of daily labor. Widows often continued a business after the death of their husband, so even women working alone wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. Yet Gwen is caught up in this idea that she is just So Wrong and So Different. It just ended up clashing a little too hard with my hopes, to the point where the book stopped working for me.

Wow! My glasses steamed up on this one! This story grabs you right at the beginning and doesn't let go. I finished it in two days (could've done it in one, but - parenting). When I say steamy, I mean - don't let your grandma catch you reading this one.

This is the third in Jordan's "Duke Hunt" series and it's the story of town blacksmith, Gwyn Cully and the "Scoundrel" who's been impersonating the local viscount, Kellan Fox. She saves him from a lynching, and they must pretend to be engaged to keep him alive and her reputation and forge intact. There's a lot of forced proximity. If that's your trope of choice, then you've hit the motherload.

There was probably a longer, sweeter way to draw out this HEA, like a love triangle with the real Duke (I kept hoping for it), but Jordan took the path of least resistance to the bedroom instead. It was a little too short of a read. The villains didn't get their comeuppance and HEA ending resolved itself too quickly.

You know how the couple always has a fight and breaks up for a bit before they have their epiphanies and make up? Well, the epiphanies and makeup part was kind of swept under the rug. Some of the explanation in the epilogue of what Kellan was up to in the time after the breakup should've been another chapter where we got to experience Kellan's confrontation with this dad. He also should've decked Mr. Meyers in the church just for fun!

This entire series has been fun and sexy, and the trend continues in this new installment. Pick it up for a quick vacation read!

Cover = gorgeous, story = fun and flirty. Steam Level 5 out of 5.

This is an awesome book! A female blacksmith finds true love with a scoundrel and a future that they don't know.
For years, fiercely independent Gwen Cully has worked as the village blacksmith, keeping her family’s business going. But when a local rival threatens her livelihood, Gwen has nowhere to turn ... until a devastatingly handsome fugitive takes shelter in her shop and sparks fly.
Unrepentant rogue Kellan Fox’s entire existence has been a dangerous game of deception that leads him into a fight for survival—and straight into the arms of a tall, fiery beauty. When Gwen protects him from an angry mob of villagers, Kellan sees the perfect solution to both their troubles. A marriage—in name only—that will last a single year.
Only a marriage of convenience can’t hide their searing attraction. It glows hotter than Gwen’s forge and reaches deep below the tempting mask Kellan wears for the world. With every sizzling glance and scorching kiss, Gwen surrenders more of herself to the molten passion she finds in Kellan’s strong embrace. But can she ever truly trust her heart to a scoundrel?
I received this complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

I was a bit unsure of a hero being a "guilty as charged" con artist matched with a female blacksmith, but that combination worked like a charm! I loved the banter between Kellan Fox and Gwen Cully. They were both compelling characters but Kellan 's protective nature of Gwen is what put this story over the top. Yes, the ending was rushed but not enough so to ruin the enjoyment of the book. This will be in my re-read list for sure!

Gwen Cully faces two challenges in the small village of Shropshire. For one thing, she's something of an outcast for her size--six feet tall and not a small woman, she's seen as mannish and strange. Additionally, she's a blacksmith, which doesn't help matters; and a leering man and his sons are attempting to run her out of business.

But as a fundamentally decent person, she can't help but take pity on Kellan Fox when he comes running into her shop, seeking refuge. Kellan and his father spent the past year fleecing the fiefdom, pretending that his father was the new duke when in fact the two of them are career con artists. When Kellan is about to be hanged by the outraged townsfolk, Gwen does the logical thing--claim to be in love with him in order to incite sympathy and quite literally save his neck.

The issue is that if Kellan is going to spared for the sake of love, he and Gwen are going to have to prove that their love story is legitimate--which means getting married. In three weeks. Or else.

Sophie Jordan is like... The fun, slightly dramatic romcom writer of the historical romance writers of today. Which means that if you read her books, you're certain to get a fun romp, good sex, and a happy ending. They may not be quite as angsty as some of the fare I read, but they have pathos and they're fun and they're sexy and they're so beach-read-friendly that they should probably be on every beach read list.

This is probably one of my favorite books by Sophie yet. As her books so often do, it plunges you into the action immediately--no preamble, no bullshit, just kissing and fake dating and attraction and fun, fizzy party times. Gwen and Kellan have instant chemistry, not least because her time as a blacksmith, subject to the village's scorn has actually introduced her to the ways of the world. He's a scoundrel, yes, but she's not a babe in the woods. She's a virgin, but she can drive.

And it's also like--such a fun, high stakes choice? Gwen claims to love this man because he's literally about to die. She's actually saving his life. And he has to go with it, because the alternative is literally dying, but Gwen is hot, so.

Speaking of Gwen being hot--I fucking loved that Gwen is a tall, big woman. And he's so into it. And I'm gonna say this as someone who isn't short and isn't at all small--though I'm not as tall as Gwen. I loved that Sophie included Gwen being made to feel feminine and delicate and treasured with Kellan. To me, a lot of "big girl" romances put the girl with a soft, slight, cinnamon roll of a man. And that's fine. But when that is almost all you have, it feels very much like "well, gender roles are big and small, so let's just flip that, girl is big one now". And if you're a bigger girl who wants to be the big one, all power to you. But like. Not everyone does. It was so refreshing to read a historical romance heroine who like, loved herself and valued herself but also wanted to feel a bit fragile and held and gentled in her love interest's arms. I loved that she got that. It was very personally pleasing to me.

And the chemistry between them is intense. They do that whole "fake marriage, temporary, will not interact" thing. But it lasts.... not at all. This book is hot. You have it all--from finger sucking to voyeurism. Zero complaints there.

If I had to critique anything, I'd say that the ending is quite rushed. This is a character story, right? Kellan has his issues, Gwen has hers. There is a bit of a "stake" in the end, but there isn't a ton of plot. And I don't have much of an issue with the plot being light, but I do wish the ending had been drawn out a bit.

But with that being said--I'm not mad. The opposite. It's a good book, a lot of fun, and perfect for that summer-moving-into-autumn moment when it's being released. Kind of hot and summery, but moving into that "autumn festival" feeling.

Recommended for everyone in general--highly recommended for people who love a fake dating moment, want to feel good about their not-tiny bodies, or need some good smut.

Thank you to Netgalley to providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick, hot read. Kellan is the son of a con artist who has taken a step too far in impersonating a duke. Gwen is a soft-hearted blacksmith who takes pity on Kellan in the midst of a village mob out to hang him for his and his father's misdeeds by shockingly declaring they are in love and engaged (even though they had never previously spoken). She is trying to maintain her hold as the preferred village blacksmith after the deaths of her father and uncle, and he has to prove that he can stick around long enough to save her reputation in exchange for her saving his life.

This was a quick, hot read. Not a lot of emotional depth or angst but met my perpetual craving for new historical romance.

Gwen Cully is a blacksmith and she is alone in the world she lost her dad and her uncle to sickness. So she has no one to rely on except herself. But one day when she's working Kellen Fox Kellan Fox burst into her life. His entire life since he was little has been a dangerous game of deception that leads him to fight for his life. After Gwen protects him from an angry mob of villagers Kellan sees the perfect solution to their troubles marriage in name only for a year. So after she agrees to this arrangement she fights as hard as she can not to fall under his what she thinks of as a web of deception. But the more they get closer and the more their passion growth hotter she can't resist. But there is one question that she has the end of the day can she truly trust him or is he just deceiving her like he's been born to do? I was given this Advance copy from netgalley and this is my honest review. To say that I enjoyed this book would be an understatement.

3.5I enjoy Sophie Jordan’s books and this was just another example of a good time. Gwen Cully is not your typical woman; a female blacksmith, six feet tall and described as Viking-princess like, she’s the kind of woman that knows how to survive amidst a patriarchal society. But she puts her livelihood and good name on the line when she decides to save “scoundrel” and deceiver Kellan Fox from a group of irate villagers, determined to hang him for his crime of pretending to be a Duke’s son. This opening scene had me hooked and the lengths to which Gwen and Kellan would both go to see Kellan from being hung had me excited for the rest of the book. After an oh-so-hot first kiss I just felt like I kept wanting more. Once Kellan moves into Gwen’s smithy the book seemed to linger for quite awhile. The best parts were the dialogue between Kellan and Gwen, but my reading slowed down with a lot of the internal dialogue. I think I could have used more character development from Kellan—Gwen knows nothing about him and we slowly begin to discover who this man is, but he just didn’t seem real enough to me to be worthy of saving. Ultimately I enjoyed the premise of this book more than the actual story itself. I think a bit more action between the characters on the page could have helped turn this from a novella type feel to a full blown story. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Gwen Cully is a blacksmith, down on her luck, working the family smithy on her own since her father's death. With unfriendly competition in town, literally knocking on her door, she feels trapped.

Kellan Fox is the son of a professional con artist. One who has left town after claiming to be the Duke of Penning, who recently came back to town. Now the town is in an uproar and wants someone to pay, and Kellan is still around.

Kellan hides in Gwen's smithy, only to be pulled to the town square and tied to a tree. To save his life, Gwen confesses to the villagers how she loves him. The Duke of Penning offers Kellan a choice: marriage or death.

This romance involves close proximity and a slow burn. Both hero and heroine are of the working class, and I greatly appreciated the differences noted between classes.

Overall this is a very well-written book that kept my attention the whole way through. I thoroughly enjoyed Gwen & Kellan's story.

My only complaint about this particular book that the ending feels very rushed!

That being said, I adored the idea that the heroine, Gwen Cully, was a blacksmith. Being a blacksmith and a woman requires you to be tough, but Gwen has a soft heart. She saves a swindler from the hangman's noose, and then to save her reputation becomes engaged to him. They make a deal to stay together for a year, and then he will disappear. This being a romance, we know this won't happen. I just wish that when the inevitable big blow-out happened, literally pages from the end, it wouldn't have been so quickly resolved.

This was my first Sophie Jordan, and overall I really enjoyed it! Always here for a lady blacksmith, and starting a book off with an almost-hanging was certainly exciting and different. I also loved that the scoundrel really did fall hard. My only confusion was how lightning-quick the ending seemed.

This was a fun quick read! I was hooked right from the beginning and really rooted for the two MCs. I enjoyed that Gwen and Kellan weren't the typical historical romance archetypes and had a very unconventional meet cute! Will be picking up more from this author in the future.