No Good Duke Goes Unpunished: The Third Rule of Scoundrels

If you would like to go through a whiplash-inducing roller coaster of emotion, pick up No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean. William Temple, Duke of Lamont, wakes up one morning hung over in a bed full of blood, with an accusation that he killed Miss Mara Lowe, his father’s betrothed. Twelve years later, Mara shows up and wants to show London she’s still alive in exchange for William forgiving her brother’s debts.

The pair has almost nothing in common, except for the drama that led to the Duke’s dismissal from good society, but somehow they have an attraction to one another. As they fashion a relationship out of thin air, as a reader, I had to wonder what would happen to them after the end of the novel. Would they get to know each other as human beings? Would the novelty of finding one another again wear off?

William is an attractive character, worrying after Mara and showing compassion toward orphaned children. Mara was annoying, apologizing for everything, then running away when things didn’t go as planned. The story was suspenseful, but three hundred eighty pages was too long to tell it.