Dare to Love a Duke (Shady Ladies of London, Book 3)

Zara Hampton-Brown narrates a fairy-tale romance between a principled duke and a former sex worker. Profligate rake Tom Powell recently became the Duke of Northfield when his father died unexpectedly. Lucia manages the Orchid Club, a popular secret sex club owned by a member of the ton. Hampton-Brown does an excellent job with the necessary accents. Tom, while British, was raised in Ireland and has a slight brogue; Lucia is Italian and uses Italian words and phrases with some regularity. The secondary characters are also well done. Members of the ton, including Tom's Irish mother, are easily distinguished from one another, and members of the working class also have a range of accents. While the story is perhaps not historically accurate, it is wholly enjoyable. K.M.P. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine