A Duke's Temptation by Jillian Hunterr

Despite some of the "controversies" about this book, I found this one to be rather funny and very romantic. A Duke's Temptation was my first book by Jillian Hunter and I'm looking forward to read more from her. Although this was not the greatest historical romance that I have read, I did find it to be enjoyable and the characters to be rather charming, witty, and also sweet! Sadly, I had a few unanswered questions that I did not understand... For example, what happened to Captain Jack Grace, Lily's ex-fiance? How exactly did he die? And, I would have liked to know more about Lily's reaction to the incident between Samuel and the villain of the story.

Something that I did love about this book was the romance between Samuel and Lily. It was very romantic-- which was quite obvious because he is a writer and she, a hopeless and romantic reader. When they finally got together, the love scenes was very sensual and hot! Samuel is sureee one good seducer. ;) As a reader, I wasn't really into the love at first sight thing (if you like that, this is the book for you), but it worked well for this book. Samuel and Lily both had an instant connection the first time they met at a masquerade party and they both shared a kiss. Even though Lily forgot to mention that fact that she was engaged! Gasp. Well anyway, Samuel found out and "gave up" on her but of course, something happened that caused Lily to break her engagement and have her reputation ruined in the process. She ends up deciding to relieve her family of her presence and lands a job as a housekeeper. Mind you, she did not know that her master would be the one and only, Samuel, the Duke of Gravenhurst. Coincidence? Naah, haha. After that, the love story truly gets started! I did love how the author combined Samuel's story, The Wickbury series that Samuel wrote, with his own reality. It was very amusing and interesting to read Lily's reaction after finding out that he was no other but Lord Anonymous!

To sum it all up, I give this book a 4 ½ stars. It was much better than the previous book that I had read, A Most Scandalous Engagement by Gayle Callen-- in which I gave a 4 out of 5 stars. Both the H/hr were strong and witty, even if the villain was not as strong as I would have liked. This book was an enjoyable read and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of the Bridal Pleasures series!

Rating: ★★★★☆