Daring and the Duke The Bareknuckle Bastards Book III

3.5 stars, rounding up. A note to start: like I said in my review of [b:Brazen and the Beast 40221961 Brazen and the Beast (The Bareknuckle Bastards, #2) Sarah MacLean https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543966730l/40221961.SY75.jpg 57373068], the premise of this entire series is absolutely bonkers, but really, is it any more unrealistic than the idea of historical England being just crawling with handsome, ripped, socially aware dukes and earls? Anyway. I read this for “villain's love story,” and it definitely does qualify for that, though I think I lost a bit of the context by not having read the first book in this series. There's enough filled in here and in Brazen and the Beast to get the backstory, I think, but you might be a little confused if you only read this one. I LOVED Grace and I wish the book had shown a little bit more of her life in Covent Garden (and again, I need a novella about Zeva to go with the one about Nora, please). I got some major “Harlots” vibes from those sections and wanted more - Grace was pretty solitary outside of her brothers and I would've liked to see more women around her. I did love the scene in the Garden with the women doing laundry, though - that was probably my favorite in the book. I'm glad I read these two books and I'm actually interested again to see what Sarah MacLean's new series is like. (2020 summer romance bingo: “villain's love story.” Would also work for “set on island,” loosely, “secret identity,” “broken nose only makes them more handsome,” and maybe “midsummer ball.”)