ARC Review: What a Duke Dares by Anna Campbell

This was my first venture with Anna Campbell. I was really looking forward to reading her book because she has such great reviews. I also really enjoyed the plot. The spirited heroine (Miss Penelope Thorne) and the unrequited love she had with the Duke of Sedgemoor.

Penelope and Camden grew up together. They were childhood friends. When the story begins Cam is proposing to Pen for various reasons, none of them include love. Pen refuses to settle for a loveless marriage. She refuses Cam and she takes off to travel the continent. The story skips to the present day where Cam is trying to track down Pen after promising her brother on his dead bed that he would bring her back. Pen is in a lot of trouble. She is held at gun point when Cam finally finds her and essentially rescues her.

When they reunited their feelings for each other have not changed. Cam explains to Pen that she needs to go back home and that her brother has passed. Although they face a difficult journey back they both agree to return to England. On their journey back Cam and Pen flip back and forth… They love each other they don’t love each other.

Cam and Pen were enjoyable characters but it seemed that they were not true to their own characters. Pen was supposed to be a fearless adventurer but there were times that she seemed flaky. Cam was also enjoyable but there were moments when his indecisiveness was overly done.

Overall, this was an interesting story. I loved the first part but the constant changing of their minds made the story drag. Cam wants Pen to marry him she refuses. He tells her that he will marry another woman she is heartbroken… Needless to say this aspect of the story became very tedious. The author also introduced a secondary story line with two other couples, Harry and Sophia. I have to confess I could not have cared less for them. I usually put the story down at this point and moved to another book. It seemed to me that the author did not have enough of Pen and Cam’s own story to go on without including Harry and Sophia.

The adventure parts of the story were really exciting and fun. The author did a great job of making their adventures fun and exciting. I plan to read more books by her, but for me this was an enjoyable read but nothing I felt overly wowed by.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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