#Review: DUCHESS IF YOU CAN by Anabelle Bryant

 

2 of 5 stars

Ambrose, the Duke of Aylesford, takes his duties very seriously and has never had a scandal attached to his name, but when his brother Martin becomes involved in a potential scandal at a brothel, Ambrose feels he has no choice in fixing the problem. He throws money at it although this time money doesn't solve it. While investigating the madam of the brothel, he runs into Scarlett Wynn, an intriguing young woman who ends up saving his life from thugs who were bent on killing him. It was a fleeting encounter, but when they cross paths again, Ambrose cannot keep thoughts of her out of his mind. Scarlett is running her own investigation trying to find her seamstress friend who moonlights at the brothel. Can these two meet halfway to solve the mystery?

I wanted to like this book and though the beginning was a little slow, it was necessary to set up the mystery of why the brothel girls were disappearing. Scarlett belongs to a small group of women, the Maidens of Mayhem, who are trying to right wrongs against women one case at a time. I was looking forward to seeing them in action, but aside from a few meetings, the Maidens have no active role in the book. Scarlett is determined to find her friend Linie and the conclusion of this arc was most unsatisfying. There was one sentence about her and that's it. Without any spoilers I was most disappointed that the main villain's conclusion had no effect rippling effect on anything else. After most of the book kept mentioning these two characters throughout, the ending hardly mentions them at all.

I don't enjoy giving bad reviews, but this storyline could have been so much better with a little more fleshing out of the different character arcs. Where is the justice?

I voluntarily read the advanced reader copy and all opinions are my own.