Dukes, Actually – Learning to Flirt with the Girl Next Door

Another book in this heartwarming series is complete! I have been feeling sick lately with a cold and some ongoing nerve pain for the past few weeks so I ended up taking a few sick days after the Easter weekend, so I am hoping I will be ready physically and mentally to return to work on Friday, and this week it means working night shift on that day as well as Saturday and Sunday.

Reading became one of my escapes aside from sleep, but I still had a good Easter with a tasty dinner and nice walks so now I’m ready to share my thoughts on the next story I’ve read.

It wasn’t easy finding this image in the best size and quality, unfortunately, but anyway, it will have to do. So, we finally meet the Duke of Azureford after he is mentioned several times in previous volumes. His real name is Adam and he returns to his summer cottage after Theo marries Virginia. Adam is eager to make his summer home a more social-friendly place with a new billiard table and a smaller reading nook while he donates most of his books to the library.

His neighbor Carole Quincy, she’s very independent and helps around the house a lot as her father seems to bury himself in his work, which he used as an escape from grieving when Carole’s mother died. Carole meets Adam when accidentally leaves her sketchbook in his library and lies she lost an earring at a party so that she can retrieve it. Her secret is eventually discovered but they continue to work together nonetheless.

I didn’t think Adam was on the spectrum like Virginia but he did appear to have some social challenges. He knows what he’s doing in the House of Lords but at any sort of soiree he doesn’t know what to do but he hopes with being able to have more get-togethers, he’ll be able to find a suitable wife. As Carole helps him clean out his home, they grow close and she clearly likes him but doesn’t want to get married because she doesn’t want to abandon her father.

Carole begins to teach Adam how to flirt but despite her vows to stay single, she finds herself falling for him anyway while he finds himself feeling the same but at first believes they can’t be together since she has no title. Just like Theo, Adam eventually learns that love is more important than reputation.

I thought it was an interesting twist for Carole to find Adam in London to confess her feelings to him because in this series so far, everything takes place in Cressmouth/Christmas so that was a good story to read. It was actually the shortest in the series so far but I still enjoyed it.