My favorite hero of the The Rules of Scoundrels series, Temple finally gets his book in NO GOOD DUKE GOES UNPUNISHED. Temple has been a fighter all his life because of one mishap. He wakes up in an unfamiliar bed, covered in blood with no memory of last night's events. He discovers that he is in his future stepmother's bed, which leads to him being stripped of his funds and casted as the Killer Duke to all of society.
Mara Lowe disappeared for twelve years and only now has resurfaced. Why? Because she seeks out the man she ruined. You can just imagine the hostility within Temple as he faces off with the woman who degraded his life. However, as I discovered what Mara did, I found myself hating her more than I think even Temple did. Mara has a lot of nerve to do what she did and then come back and ask for money from Temple. In the beginning, I questioned the pairing, wondering how Maclean would pull this off.
Through this book, I went back and forth liking and hating Mara. She has a lot of strength. She is manipulative. And she is inventive. Which I believe makes her a great heroine. But when used against Temple, it also makes her his enemy.
Temple, on the other hand, was the one character that I adored from the very beginning. His plan to make Mara his mistress was smart. She ruined his life all those years ago, so what better way to deal the same wrath than to ruin her as well. However, Temple never imagined that he would start to care about Mara, his former enemy and begin to see her as a lover.
Sarah Maclean has a unique way of creating dialogue that is upbeat and entertaining. The interaction between Temple and Mara, whether steeped in tension or flowing with easy flirtation, is always on spot. I believe that there are some instances concerning Mara that felt too forced as Maclean tried to redeem her. But that is also because she does such a good job of making Mara look bad that the transformation takes a little time.
NO GOOD DUKE GOES UNPUNISHED is my favorite of the series! With unique chemistry between the hero and heroine and a handful of secrets, this book is a gem just waiting to be discovered.
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