One Duke Down

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Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good historical romance novel. I only started reading them a couple years ago, and while I have read some clunkers, there are way, way more good books than bad out there. I took forever to pick them up because I tended to think the covers were embarrassing or just plain ridiculous looking. Now, I will be the first to happily admit that the reason I wanted to read One Duke Down was because of that absolutely gorgeous cover. How rare is it to see both characters on the cover smiling? Especially on a photo-realistic cover like this one?

Thankfully, One Duke Down lives up to its cover. Keane, the Duke of Hawking, is absolutely head over heels for Poppy, a fisherman's daughter. They meet in unusual circumstances (when don't characters in romance novels meet in weird ways??), but it's easy to see how they click together right away. I love it when a hero is just a total simp for their love, and Keane fits the bill perfectly. He's willing to stand up for her almost immediately, and once he finds out about certain things in her past, he's just raring to go beat someone's head in for her. It's amazing, it's perfect, it's what we want to see in a romance hero.

Poppy is independent, but fiercely loyal to her family. She's very easy to like, and I loved that she wasn't willing to bend to The Duke's needs right away — she got what she wanted and then she decided to help him. She falls for him in a slower manner, but it's still a joy to read.

Some parts of this book were a little eye-rollingly cringey, but to be quite honest, I've come to expect that with romance novels. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this one and do recommend that you pick it up. Poppy and Keane are adorable together, and I wish we got slightly more of an epilogue, honestly. But! No big deal — this one comes in at a solid 4 stars.