The Trouble With Being a Duke (At the Kingsborough Ball, #1)

by Sophie Barnes

[kimbacaffeinate]

I have always loved Cinderella and The Trouble with Being A Duke offers us a delightful twist on the tale. This is the first book in the Kingsboro Ball series. Barnes delivered an engaging tale with lovable characters and I am looking forward to reading more of her work. Three word review: enchanting, romantic with some humor.

We meet Anthony Hurst, the Duke of Kingsborough who is concerned about his mother. After a year she is still mourning the loss of his father. Long past his rakish ways and ready to settle down and take on his role of Duke, he decides to host a ball. This would be the perfect event to snap his mama out of her depression, and maybe find himself a duchess. A masked Cinderella ball is the theme, and he encounters the most enchanting and mysterious woman. She is a mystery and he sets out to find her. Isabella Chilcott, is a romantic at heart and an avid reader. Her parents have set up a courtship with a respectable man, whom she cannot love, but she is a dutiful daughter. When she hears of the ball, she decided to attend, and there she dances with her very own Prince Charming. The tale that unfolds was clever, with twists and turns. Barnes also provides us with a little mystery, some humor and a little swoon-worthy heat.
Anthony was handsome, sweet, kind, and at times behaved like a stuffy Duke. He is open to change, and treats people of all ranks well. I liked him, and had to giggle at how quickly the man fell for Isabella. It took him a while to figure things out, but I enjoyed watching it unfold. Isabella is wonderful, she loves to read and is a romantic at heart, so of course I adored her. Her loyalty to her parents was honorable, but I wanted her to smack her intended fiancé upside the head a few times. It reminded me once again why I would not want to live in this era. Secondary characters, some good and some evil added to the tale and had me turning the pages in search of my HEA. I felt the characters were fleshed out, and despite the insta-love, the relationship developed slowly, with some moments of heat and felt genuine.

The Trouble with Being A Duke, took the Cinderella story and added some clever twists. Filled with secrets, evil debutantes and a murder. I quickly became invested and consumed this as the outside world slipped away. The hunt to find Isabella and win her heart was a fun one. The Duke makes some mistakes, and others interfere making it a captivating read. I love when an author is able to allow me to slip within the pages and take me from sighing to giggling. The secondary characters were colorful, including the Duke’s mother whom I found devilishly delightful. Of course we need “evil step-sisters” and Barnes did a great job with this twist. There is a murder mystery, and I am curious to see how that develops in the next novel.

Copy received in exchange for unbiased review and originally published @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer