From the glittering ballrooms of the ton to the city's grittiest corners, London has no shortage of wrongs in need of righting—and the Maidens of Mayhem are prepared for the challenge. United by secrecy and sisterhood, these daring women from all walks of life aim to fight injustice wherever they take—even into the arms of unexpected love... These Regency Robin Hood from USA Today bestselling author Anabelle Bryant will storm into readers' hearts!

Scarlett Wynn's tragic childhood taught her that life can be cruel to women with little power. So when a local seamstress disappears, Scarlett vows to find out why. Armed with a weapon and her courage, Scarlett scours London for clues—and crosses the unlikely path of Ambrose Cross, the Duke of Aylesford, at an unlikely place: an upscale brothel. The Duke is trying to solve a mystery of his own, and Scarlett is sure they can help each other—if she can resist the attraction that draws them together...

As Duke, Ambrose is duty-bound to protect his family name from scandal, no matter the cost. But Scarlett's fearless spirit forces him to look beyond his world of privilege. Scarlett is as intoxicating as she is dangerous, igniting a fire in him like no other. But when the pair learn both mysteries they're trying to solve are tied to a string of missing women, the tangled scheme they uncover may put their lives, and their growing love, in mortal danger—and lead them to search their hearts like never before.

Thank you Kensington Books for sponsoring this Goodreads giveaway giving me the chance to read Duchess if You Dare Anabelle Bryant!

A historical mystery filled with mystery and romance.
I had a little trouble staying interested in this book. The chemistry between the characters is good and the primary reason I could finish the book.
It became frustrating when you thought they would accept their feelings for each other. To have the rug pulled out from under you, and back to square one! But that is the only thing that stands out to me. Besides that it was an ok book. Happy reading everyone!
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Blog Review: https://trishadoeseverythingbutstudy2.wordpress.com/2021/02/28/february-2021-rev...

I received a free e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I did not like it.

The sad thing is, I don't even know whether I didn't like it because it was worse than Outrageous, or because it was actually that bad.

So, where to start. the biggest problem I had was the insta-love. Why, just why. And even worse, self-aware insta-love. It's one thing if you incorporate insta-love and then write it into the story as if it was drawn out, at least having the grace to give the reader the impression that they actually know and get each other.

It's a completely different thing if they fall in love and then proceed to wonder about how they fell in love so fast, and surely this was too fast, and this was probably not the correct thing to be doing with your life; regaling with all the reasons as to why they shouldn't be together, and you're nodding along to it all saying EXACTLY you shouldn't be together. And then putting your head in your hands because now you can't even pretend to yourself that this was slowburn and some pages went missing.

The next biggest problem I had with this was that even though the name of the series is Maidens of Mayhem, we got like three scenes of the Maidens total. I get that this is a romance, but if you're going to write it in a way that shows you'll be focusing on plot, and then give the series the name of these supposed badass feminists, at least tell me more about these feminists!??!

The fact is, I wanted to know more about the Maidens, how they operate, who keeps funding them, what all they do, who tells them to do this, what their relationship is with each other, how they hide from the general public, do they hide from the general public (because this was pretty vague), what skills they have, how did they come about these skills, some insight into how they teach each other these skills; anything about their modus operandi really, but instead I was regaled with their undying love for each other, traumatic pasts, and repetitive thoughts about why they won't work.

The saving grace this had was that I was not regaled with too many sex thoughts, and it wasn't as explicit as Outrageous, and that there was only like one scene. And a half maybe.

On the whole, not a good experience. I would recommend it to people who can handle insta-love, and who went into the book expecting it to focus on romance. ( )

Regency ladies taking charge

Unusual subject matter here. A group of women calling themselves the Maidens of Mayhem fighting to uplift the plight of women in London including prostitutes. They “had banded together with a vow to right wrongs in London and fight for women who had no voice against male harassment or otherwise unjust travesties thrust upon their gender.“ worthy indeed but to me the women seemed somewhat distant, they’re waiting stage right as it were. I was a tad nonplussed by how flimsy their support for each other appeared. I know this is the first in the series but that part was somewhat lacklustre.
Wycombe House owned by Julia Wycombe is apparently for them a place where in a “society disinclined to allow females to conduct business, own property or invest finances without the consent or participation of a male, the ... building [has] became their fortress of secrets.” Again I loved the concept ... but!
Scarlett Wynn, “illegitimate daughter of a destitute commoner” treads the streets of the darkest alleyways of London by night dressed in trousers made for her by a young seamstress Linie, accompanied only by her strong will and deadly knives.
When Linie disappears and the spectre of young women being lured away to become sex slaves raises its ugly head, Scarlett starts investigating.
That’s when she runs into Ambrose Cross, fourth Duke of Aylesford, watching the same place but for different reasons.
Their searches combine as does their regard for each other, that of course becomes rather more than a few kisses. Alas I felt the pages spent on their trysting was a tad gratuitous and would've been better spent building up other parts of the story. What will their relationship become—this is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks after all and a duke needs more? Scarlett thinking she wasn’t worthy definitely didn’t meet my expectations of a 'mayhemic' maiden.
As challenges are solved and relationships questioned I was not convinced by Aylesbury. He was just too wooden for me. Scarlett I adored, but I didn’t feel she soared as she could have. I wanted her to be more 'mayhemy'. Still her character raised my star allotment from 2 to 3.
Too many subplots and resolutions too quickly come by, hints of things to come (a Wise Woman?Hmm!) hampered things for me. I felt like there was a prelude that I’d missed somehow.
The Bow Street Runner Howell seemed full on in the beginning and then ...

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change ( )

** 3.25 Stars **

Scarlett Wynn, the illegitimate daughter of a London light skirt who was murdered by one of her protectors, grew up to be one of the founding members of The Maidens of Mayhem. She prowls London by night saving the innocent. One of those innocents is her seamstress, Linie. Scarlett requires special clothing for prowling the city and Linie will make her whatever she wants. When Linie goes missing, it turns out that she also worked at a brothel under the name of Daisy. During her investigation, Scarlett learns that several girls have gone missing from that same brothel.

Ambrose Cross, the Duke of Aylesford, is very, very correct, uptight, staid, ridged, dignified – you name it. His entire existence is given to the furthering of the family honor – the family name. He would never, ever, do anything that would cause scandal or dishonor to his family or his title. His brother, Martin, on the other hand, is a walking scandal just waiting to undo the family name. When Martin gets embroiled in a to-do at a brothel, the Scarlet Rose, he also gets Ambrose embroiled in it. Martin is sure he heard a woman being abused in the room next to his and he wheedles Ambrose into agreeing to investigate.

Ambrose comes across a woman, hidden in a large black cloak, trying to gain entry into the brothel and assumes she must be a worker. As things progress and they encounter each other again, they realize they are working on the same thing. They agree to share information and work together – but neither seems to do that very well. Their personal attraction also grows, but neither will acknowledge it. As danger dogs both of them, the attraction grows stronger. Can a former street urchin become a duchess?

I think this book suffered from an identity crisis. It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a mystery or a romance and so it didn’t do either of them very well. I loved the idea of the book from the book blurb, but, for me, it just didn’t deliver. So many things were never clear – especially about the Maidens of Mayhem. They certainly weren’t a group who worked together to do anything. I couldn’t even determine how or why they came together. How did they come to have the various skills they had – shux – what skills did they have? How were they funded? Then, there was the mystery. It just seemed very, very convoluted with people knowing things they should have known or some fact would just come out of the blue – something there had been no hint of before.

My bottom line is that this was an okay read if you can get past all of the ambiguity. I will probably not read the next book in the series because I didn’t become invested in either the organization or the characters.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

#DuchessIfYouDare #NetGalley
Thank you to Netgalley Kensington Books Zebra for the opportunity to read the e-arc of Duchess If You Dare, and I am voluntarily leaving my review.
I loved both main characters, Scarlett and Ambrose. Scarlett is daring and fearless and fights injustice where she can. She crosses paths with Ambrose, trying to protect his family from the scandal by solving his own mystery. They start to work together as both their mysteries are intertwined.
Chemistry and banter ensue as they work together to solve a mystery they are both intertwined in.
I am sure to follow up with The Maidens of Mayhem series and other works of Anabelle Bryant. ( )