2020 Monthly Status Update: June

the-month-june

June started out VERY strong for me reading wise since I was “off the grid” but then once I was back from vacation I had so much work to do it was hard to get much reading done. Here are some reading highlights from June for me:

Monthly Stats:
# books read this month: 13
# pages read this month: 3,993
# books read year-to-date: 45
# pages read year-to-date: 14,574

Other Posts this month:

Nothing else for this month

Favorite books from this month:

Dating You / Hating You by Christina Lauren (4.75 stars – love all their books)

Year One by Nora Roberts (4.5 stars – different and really interesting)

Next Month TBR List:

  • One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
  • Incognito Ex by Geri Krotow

And then I’ll also be catching up on backlog! I’ve been reading more lately from my personal library too (both physical copies and kindle copies) and I love the balance I’ve been finding between reading things that I’m scheduled to read and reading things just because I want to read them. And I’ve been participating in a book club again which I really enjoy. I’m looking forward to sitting in the sun and reading during the warm and sunny month of July. Happy reading everyone! And I hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend!

2020 Book #45 – Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean

Title: Daring and the Duke
Author: Sarah MacLean
Date finished: 6/28/20
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: June 30, 2020
Pages in book: 384
Stand alone or series: #3 in the Bareknuckle Bastards series
Where I got the book from: Edelweiss
NOTE: 
I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with the much-anticipated final book in her Bareknuckle Bastards series, featuring a scoundrel duke and the powerful woman who brings him to his knees.

Grace Condry has spent a lifetime running from her past. Betrayed as a child by her only love and raised on the streets, she now hides in plain sight as queen of London’s darkest corners. Grace has a sharp mind and a powerful right hook and has never met an enemy she could not best…until the man she once loved returns.

Single-minded and ruthless, Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has spent a decade searching for the woman he never stopped loving. A long-ago gamble may have lost her forever, but Ewan will go to any lengths to win Grace back…and make her his duchess.

Reconciliation is the last thing Grace desires. Unable to forgive the past, she vows to take her revenge. But revenge requires keeping Ewan close, and soon her enemy seems to be something else altogether—something she can’t resist, even as he threatens the world she’s built, the life she’s claimed…and the heart she swore he’d never steal again.

My rating:  3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I loved the start of this book – there was so much tension and the characters had such strong personalities right from the start. The heroine especially was a badass, I loved how violent she was, which I didn’t expect. And I loved the turnaround from the normal plot ending where Grace was the one that had to chase after Ewan and Ewan was the one in danger. The gender roles in this book were reversed in a number of different areas and it made for a really interesting story. The story went on a tad long for me, I thought there were a couple areas that felt superfluous. I think what really made this book as much of a hit for me was Grace. She was so bright – with her wardrobe and her hair and just her personality, she felt so vibrant and alive. I really enjoyed the book and I would recommend it!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page