Title: Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart
Author: Sarah MacLean
Genre: Historical Romance
Year Published: 2011
Number of Pages: 367 pages
Date Read: 6/6/2011
Series: Love By Numbers #3
Publisher: Avon
Source: Purchased
Content Rating: Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)
After reading "Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake" and "Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord" I was excited to hear about the third book in Sarah MacLean’s “Love By Numbers” series called “Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart” and man was I totally blown away by this awesome romance novel! Full of excitement, forbidden pleasures and pure love making scenes, this novel will definitely stand the test of time!
Juliana Fiori, the Italian half sister of Nick and Gabriel Ralston, is a strong and independent woman who refuses to follow the strict rules of London society and therefore has become a huge topic of gossip for all the gossipmongers of London. Things get even more complicated when Juliana meets up with the disdainful Duke of Leighton, Simon Pearson and she eventually tries to prove to the duke about what true passion is all about!
After reading the second book, "Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord," I will admit that I was a little skeptical in reading the third of the “Love by Numbers” series, but after seeing my friends’ reviews on this book and how many positive compliments I keep hearing about this book, I decided to give this book a shot anyway. Lo and behold, I found myself loving this book every second and I was a little upset that this book came to an end. Sarah MacLean has done an excellent job at writing this brilliant story about a forbidden love between two lovers who came from two different worlds, but would do anything to be together! What I really loved about Sarah MacLean’s writing is how she develops the characters in this book and my favorite characters out of this entire book would have to be the main couple Juliana Fiori and Simon Pearson, along with some returning characters that I had previously loved in previous books! At this point, Juliana Fiori is my absolute favorite heroine in any historical romance novel! I just loved the way that Juliana stood up for what she believed in, even when society is against her and I really loved how devoted she was to having passion in her life, especially when it concerns Simon Pearson, which I will now get to! Simon Pearson, the Duke of Leighton, was first introduced in the second book of the “Love by Numbers” series and at first, I did not like him because of his arrogant and disdainful nature, but after I read this book, I really came to love Simon! What I really loved about Simon is that he always get so tongued tied whenever he is around Juliana and when he is being romantic around Juliana, whew he is something else entirely! I also loved that fact that he is described as being muscular and large, which really got my hero senses tingling and after I heard of Simon’s tragic story about how he had to keep up with society’s expectations of him, it truly showed a caring side to Simon that we were never exposed to before. I loved how Sarah MacLean brought back some of the older characters shown in previous books which includes Gabriel and Nick Ralston, Callie, and Isabel and it was nice seeing them with their loved ones and enjoying each other’s company. I also loved the plot of the story as it sort of has a “Romeo and Juliet” feel since Juliana and Simon are held back from seeing each other because of their families and how they tried to get back together despite all the consequences they would suffer if they remained together and let us not forget the love making scenes between Juliana and Simon as they are hot and sizzling and will set your soul on fire!
For those of you who do not like sex scenes, there are plenty of sex scenes in this book, so it would be best to skim over these scenes.
Overall out of all the books I have read in Sarah MacLean’s popular “Love by Numbers” series, “Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart” is my absolute favorite and I definitely think that romance novel fans will definitely get a huge kick out of this book! Also, I hope that there is a fourth book in the series, because I want to see what becomes of Georgiana and Callie’s brother!
