Scarlett is no stranger to danger. She often wears pants under her skirts and carries knives to protect herself as she travels in the worst parts of London. Ambrose, a duke, gets dragged by his brother into solving a mystery. He and Scarlett become an unlikely team investigating what has been happening to missing prostitutes. What neither planned for was for them to develop feelings for each other. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Kensington Books for my honest review.

I don’t know if I’ve read a romance this year that’s been hotter than Scarlett and Ambrose’s. When the human rights crusaderess and the Duke encounter each other, reluctant sparks fly, and the two realize that the other is exactly what they need. As women disappear and Scarlett relentlessly acts to bring good into the slums of London, her love story with Ambrose lights the way,

This book was a wild ride! I loved the historical aspect of it, and the characters really spoke to me. I think this book was a perfect romance combined with some intrigue, and I don’t think anyone will be disappointed by picking it up!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am a sucker for historical romance. Scarlett is a feisty young woman how has had a traumatic childhood and learned how to take care of herself at a young age. She is fiercely independent almost immediately to her detriment. The story begins with a mystery and carries it throughout as we get bits and pieces of clues. I will say that there were not enough clues for the reader to figure it out on their own. While we get an inkling of pretty much all the people involved, the actual mystery was not what I was expecting. The reveal of all the details was a bit lackluster and I would've loved to have seen a scene where Scarlett confronts Linnie.

Ambrose is your classic duke. Completely bound and frozen by his sense of duty that has been ingrained in him since birth. I enjoyed the chapters from his point of view, though I felt like he was constantly offending Scarlett in the same way over and over without learning from his mistakes. I think that was intentional on the author's part as it demonstrates his upbringing being so ingrained in him, but it definitely angered me each time he confessed his desire to protect her. She doesn't want protection but she will probably take a partner.

It is a romance so there is smut. It is well written except for the repeated use of unerring accuracy to describe how Ambrose always found her mouth. It took a while to get to the ultimate sex scene but it was definitely well worth the wait. The author paints a steamy picture which was much appreciated.

I definitely intend to pick up the rest of this series as it comes out. Notwithstanding some minor typos in the kindle version, it was a great read.

I enjoyed this story and liked the strong heroine and the intrigue, however it lagged in a few places and the investigation at times didn’t ring completely true. The story leaves some unanswered questions, especially about the other ladies in the group, but that makes me just want to see where the series goes.

Duchess if you dare by Anna Belle Bryant

Scarlett Wynn has had a very tragic young life having experienced /seen the worst of the underbelly of life. As a young woman she is now a ‘Maiden of Mayhem’ trying to right some of life’s wrongdoings. Whilst saving a stranger from death only to discover he is the Duke of Aylesford. When looking for clues about a missing, her path crosses with the duke who is trying to save the family name from scandal caused by his brother and a mystery he is also trying to solve .

Fast moving story showing both best and worst of all societies and broaching it’s very darkest side. Extremely well written many twists and turns. Fabulous read.

Not your classic historical romance and this is not bad at all. This story is fastpaced and full of action. However, love and romance are the driving forces of the characters' actions. I loved the main couple and I really liked the premise of this book. The female MC is not your usual regency heroine and this is so refreshing. She is daring, dangerous and really brave. It's fun to follow her while she realizes that falling in love is not as bad as she thought.
I will definitely follow the rest of the maidens in this series.

I received an ARC by NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

An intriguing tale about a missing seamstress no one misses and the hunt to find her before a body is found on the Thames. The Duke of Aylesford and Ms. Scarlett undertake the search, separately and together, investigating, asking questions of the wrong persons, until one is kidnapped and the other threatened with death, but, in the end, happiness will out and Ms Scarlett will dare to Duchess—or won’t she?

Very sweet romance with a bit of mystery. Well written quick read, with a strong female lead who is not your normal heroine.

Thank you Kensington Books and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Calling all Stalking Jack the Ripper and Bringing Down the Duke fans! We have hit the jackpot. This books is jam packed with mystery/suspense and a strong, independent heroine and her group of mystery solving partners. The plot keeps you entertained right up to the last page. We follow our main heroine as she tries to solve the mystery of her seamstress disappearance. The characters, I found to be relatable even though they are based in a time period far different from my own. The location, is one of my favorite places to read about: London, England.

This book will keep you guessing and swooning through the whole adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

“Duchess If You Dare” is the first installment in a new historical romance series (Maidens of Mayhem) by Anabelle Bryant, which will follow a group of young women in Regency-era London as they fight to bring justice to marginalized members of society. The first book follows Scarlett Wynn and the Duke of Aylesford as they try to unravel a mystery at a local brothel. The main characters, their individual motivations, the romance, and even the “mystery” are fairly typical of the genre, but none of it was very compelling to me. Scarlett and Aylesford have an “insta-love” romance which was not believable, and they both have complete changes in core motivations by halfway through the book. My biggest issue with this book was that the Maidens of Mayhem group was never properly explained; it felt like there should have been a prequel (or at least a prologue) showing how the women came together to form the group and explain their motivations.

Overall, this was a quick read and certainly involved more physical drama/danger and fight scenes than a typical historical romance; if that’s your thing, then this is worth a look.

Ambrose comes across as a goody two-shoes, and honestly, I would rather throw him into the River Thames than imagine him as the hero. Scarlett is very uptight as well. The story suffers from lots of telling, not showing. Dialogue is serving more to educate/lecture the reader, than to propel the plot forward. The book ostensibly takes place during the Regency period as well, however, the time does not seem fully anchored in the novel.

I was excited by the opening scenes. Scarlett, our heroine, was fighting off some unknown assailant. She’s quick, she’s agile, and she’s good at wielding knives. She wears a cape and her dress is tailored such that the skirt comes off easily, leaving her in trousers to give chase across rooftops and down alleyways. I was even more excited to learn that Scarlett is one of four Maidens of Mayhem, a group of independent and strong women led by Lady Julia who offered up her house as a gathering/hangout place. Charlie’s Angels in Regency London!!!

“Their relationship was an odd one.” This sentence from the book refers to Scarlett and Ambrose and it pretty much sums up the story for me. The story is a combination of a mystery and a romance. Unfortunately, this mixture did not turn out well here. It is as if the story started out wanting to be a mystery, then along the way it got side-tracked and turned into a romance and maybe even an erotica at one point. Then it remembered its original goal and turned back into a mystery. The resulting outcome is an amateurish mystery and unconvincing happily-ever-after.

I would have liked to see more character development. Scarlett, she’s illegitimate, daughter of a whore. Got it. No need to describe this aspect repeatedly throughout the book. Instead, how did she become an expert that throwing knives? Ambrose, he’s a duke and handsome and hot. Got it. But the constant reminders of his title and physique make him less hot and not duke worthy. I wonder what are Ambrose’s hobbies, etc.? Strangely, I like his younger brother, Martin, better.

This was great, so different in your rags to riches kinda way. I enjoyed the characters personalities and I could easily have read a couple hundred more pages. The side characters were also well written and have me hoping for their stories to come.

I wanted to like this book. Scarlett is a strong character with strong goals, and parts of the story were intriguing. The actual plot had merit. However, too much was centered on the sexual side, and I lost interest and basically skipped over the chapters with all the sexual content. Not my thing,although others may enjoy it.

This book was an interesting tale about a secret group of women. It is probably one of a series, since the other ladies of the secret group were mentioned.
Our heroine is the illegitimate daughter of a woman who was led astray by a nobleman. The heroine has no idea who because her mother was forced into.prostitution to support them. The heroine arrived home one day to find her mother dead. She was alone and in order to stay alive, she stole dedication candles from churches and sold the stubs for food. She was approached and offered a position in the group. They were vigilantes and the heroine was a skilled fighter, armed with knives. Her seamstress disappeared and she was investigating it when she met the hero. The hero is a duke, a reclusive duke, but still a duke. He is trying to clean up after his younger brother when he runs across the heroine. They begin searching for the same thing.
This story was very informative about the life of the commoners of the time. It was set mostly in the bowels of London and was filled with action, adventure and danger. This story had intrigue, mystery and corruptness.
This book was very well written and had no spelling or grammar errors. The characters were likeable and developed well during the span of the story.
(This is a spoiler.) But I don't get the attraction of commoners marrying dukes in stories these days. I can see women from the gentry marrying dukes or barons, knights and lesser lords marrying commoners. But not a duke marrying a commoner. The role of the duchess is taught by the parents all the life of the woman. She needs to be of the ton or gentry to get that education, and even a gentrified lady is a large step down for a duke. So this is where the story turns into a fairytale. I like a dose of reality in my stories, so I am giving this a 4.5 stars and recommendation to read.

Ambrose, the Duke of Aylesford, and Scarlett join forces to found what is causing the disappearance of young women who work in brothels.

Scarlett is a strong heroine who is there to help rescue Ambrose during their search for clues in undesirable neighborhoods.

I loved the attraction/growing romance between this pair. This is a well-written, enjoyable, steamy romance with lots of mystery which keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I received an advance reader copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

If this book is anything to go by this series is off to a great start! It has a good balance of romance and mystery and the leading characters are well crafted. Scarlett is a great leading lady - she's smart, resourceful, confident, and capable of saving herself. In many other books she would have been saved by the hero rather than saving herself when she finds herself being held captive. Ambrose is a good complement to Scarlett, and because he comes to realize she is worthy of more than being his mistress I can forgive him for offering her that position in the first place. I liked that Martin is starting to get his life together a little bit by the end of the story, I'm kind of hoping he will get his own story later in the series. The resolution to the mystery left me a little confused about what happened with Linie - her disappearance is what gets people looking closer into the missing women but you never get a chance to find out what was going on. It was also a little frustrating that most of the "bad guys" escape and never have to pay for their crimes. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading future novels in the series.

Usually historical fiction with some romance intrigues me. However, I found the romance (aka lust) to far overshadow historical aspects and plots. Maybe it was my expectations but this book disappointed. I wanted to like it!

Scarlett, an unusual woman for the times who wears trousers and carries (and uses!) knives, meets Ambrose, a manly duke at a brothel. But not for THAT reason. She is trying to locate her missing friend and he has committed to helping his wayward brother. There was immediate chemistry between them. But sadly, not for me. The characters were not likable...not that I need to like them...but I just didn't care. I like substance in characters with some semblance of believability but instead they left me seeking more.

Whilst the premise of the darker side was interesting there were several disconnects in the story itself. I didn't have the desire to keep reading, though I did. More historical bits would be lovely but that's just personal preference. The sex scenes were too...graphic and did not add value, nor did the characters convince me they were in love.

My sincere thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Did not finish...just wasn't my cuppa tea! Didn't care for the writing, the characters...wanted something different for a change, this wasn't it. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.