To Ruin the Duke by Debra Mullins

Engaging story that falls a little flat

3 Stars

To fulfil a promise she made to her dying friend, Miranda Fontaine knows she must find Thornton Matherton, Duke of Wyldehaven. The sinful duke has been shocking the ton with tales of his drinking, gambling and debauchery and he is also the father of the baby Miranda now must care for.

Wylde has made it his mission to show the ton he’s not as disreputable as his father. That’s not so easy when he realises there’s someone posing as him and dragging his good name through the mud with scandalous exploits. He certainly doesn’t have time for a woman who claims he has a son.

Add in threats, betrayal and many secrets and soon Miranda and Wylde feel that they can only trust each other. But is trust all they feel?

If I’m honest, this book fell short of my expectations. There was quite a lot going on and while a lot of it was far fetched, some of it was needlessly pointless.

With so much going on, the romance often took a back seat and there wasn’t really enough interaction for me to ultimately believe in the happy ever after. Miranda and Wylde were enjoyable enough characters but I would have liked to see a little more depth to both them and their feelings. The love scenes were a little tepid, probably due to the lack of emotion between the two main characters.

Another annoyance of mine was the lack of epilogue. It was as if the danger was over, everything’s fine so the book was concluded without tying up a few loose ends. I’m hoping there are books concerning Wylde’s friends so we can see what happens with those loose ends.

I really wasn’t sure how many stars to give this book. The good points are that it is written well and I never got bored or felt it was a burden to continue with the story. It’s also engaging and readable despite all its other faults and so I’ll have to give it a high 3 stars.