Book Review: Daring and the Duke (The Bareknuckle Bastards #3) by Sarah MacLean

Daring and the Duke is officially live! I loved all the drama and emotion and really getting to know Grace and Ewan. It was a truly great story!

Daring and the Duke (The Bareknuckle Bastards #3) by Sarah MacLean

New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with the much-anticipated final book in her Bareknuckle Bastards series, featuring a scoundrel duke and the powerful woman who brings him to his knees.

Grace Condry has spent a lifetime running from her past. Betrayed as a child by her only love and raised on the streets, she now hides in plain sight as queen of London’s darkest corners. Grace has a sharp mind and a powerful right hook and has never met an enemy she could not best...until the man she once loved returns.

Single-minded and ruthless, Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has spent a decade searching for the woman he never stopped loving. A long-ago gamble may have lost her forever, but Ewan will go to any lengths to win Grace back…and make her his duchess.

Reconciliation is the last thing Grace desires. Unable to forgive the past, she vows to take her revenge. But revenge requires keeping Ewan close, and soon her enemy seems to be something else altogether—something she can’t resist, even as he threatens the world she's built, the life she's claimed…and the heart she swore he'd never steal again.

4 out of 5 stars

This was a wonderful story! Since meeting Grace and Ewan, I have wanted to know all the nitty-gritty about their history and I really enjoyed learning all the ends and outs as the layers were peeled back. It was passionate and intense and I loved the build to it all.

Grace is an incredibly strong, take no prisoners type of woman. She is living her life on her terms and makes no apologies for it. Ewan, oh my goodness, I loved him and how sweet and tortured he was and this path to redemption he was on. Their history is a tangled web, it’s tense and full of passion, anger, and pain. I hung on every word as it built, tensions arose, and feelings emerged. I loved learning those ends and outs, seeing Grace fight her feelings, and Ewan do everything in his power to become a better man and win her back and prove his worth.

This story had such a serious feel to me but there were a few nice moments of levity woven in that I really appreciated. I liked seeing Whit and Devil again and this fun, dry humor they brought with them. I liked the protectiveness they have for Grace and this bond and family that they've formed.

The descriptions were great, I enjoyed the build, emotion, and drama. I liked the push and pull between them as well as the building passion. I thought the story was well written but I felt the front half was a bit slow and trying to understand their past was a bit confusing at times. At about 33% everything started flowing much better for me and I was totally into the story. The ending was fantastic! I love how far Ewan has some as well as the other characters in the series.

I’m sorry to see this series come to an end but it's one I would highly recommend. Long live the Bareknuckle Bastards!

Complimentary copy received for honest review.