The Duke at Hazard
Ratings10
Average rating4.5
The Duke of Severn is one of the greatest men in Britain.
He's also short, quiet, and unimpressive. And now he's been robbed, after indulging in one rash night with a strange man who stole the heirloom Severn ring from his finger. The Duke has to get it back, and he can't let anyone know how he lost it. So when his cousin bets that he couldn't survive without his privilege and title, the Duke grasps the opportunity to hunt down his ring-incognito.
Life as an ordinary person is terrifying...until the anonymous Duke meets Daizell Charnage, a disgraced gentleman, and hires him to help. Racing across the country in search of the thief, the Duke and Daizell fall into scrapes, into trouble-and in love.
Daizell has been excluded from polite society, his name tainted by his father's crimes and his own misbehaviour. Now he dares to dream of a life somewhere out of sight with the quiet gentleman who's stolen his heart. He doesn't know that his lover is a hugely rich public figure with half a dozen titles. And when he finds out, it will risk everything they have...
Series
Featured Series
1 primary book#2 in The Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune
The Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune is a 1-book series first released in 2024 with contributions by K.J. Charles.
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4.5 stars. K.J. Charles' 2016 blog post about British nobility titles yielded this gem: ‘Duke' is an immensely important title, with only a handful existing at any time, except in romantic fiction where they outnumber the servants. So now that KJC has finally decided to give her latest MC that rare title, you can be sure he will not be a cliched handsome, arrogant rake. In fact, the fourth Duke of Severn's looks are unremarkable, and he is in the midst of a dandy existential crisis. He's gradually losing the struggle to fulfill his obligations to the title without completely losing himself in the process. That doesn't mean it's not fun to watch the clueless “Cassian” master such mundane skills as riding in a public stagecoach or getting a laugh in a crowded bar room, but there is significantly more depth to his character than Poor Little Rich Duke. Daizell Charnage has a unique artistic skill that has kept him off the streets and enabled him to cling to a few shreds of dignity after being ruined financially and socially. Once he and Cassian become lovers, it's inevitable that the reveal of The Duke's Big Secret will not go well. Where Luke in KJC's [b:A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel 75505273 A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (The Doomsday Books, #2) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1677601132l/75505273.SY75.jpg 100794063] was hiding an ulterior motive, Cassian is lying by omission about his entire identity, which is arguably even worse. Even if Daizell is the forgiving sort, how can the Duke of Severn and a disgraced near-pauper have a future together? The chemistry between Cassian and Daizell is somewhat slow to develop, but once the Only One Bed trope is deployed, things heat up considerably. This is definitely a kinder, gentler KJC, with a low body count and villains who are wealthy, entitled asshats instead of spies or assassins. The Duke at Hazard can easily be read as a standalone, although characters from [b:The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting 192786618 The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting (The Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune, #1) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1699055167l/192786618.SY75.jpg 87603321] play a not insignificant role in the climactic scene. KJC has proven that she can breathe new life into an old romance novel staple. Perhaps she can do the same for vampires next? ARC gratefully received from the publisher and Net Galley in exchange for objective review.
