Erica Ridley: One Night of Passion

Meet the unforgettable men of London’s most notorious tavern, The Wicked Duke. Seductively handsome, with charm and wit to spare, one night with these rakes and rogues will never be enough…

Lifelong romantic Thaddeus Middleton is on the hunt for a wife. He hopes to find a woman more attracted to him than to money. Instead, he finds himself drawn to a spitfire who isn’t interested in him at all! At least, that’s what she says when she’s not kissing him beneath the stars…

Miss Priscilla Weatherby will inherit a fortune… provided she remains unwed and scandal-free. Easy enough, until she meets a man more dangerous than haughty lords and heartless rakes. Thad is a sweet, sexy delight, whose passionate embrace will ruin everything—including her! She’ll sacrifice anything for independence. Even love…

I got to be honest. I have been on a roll with this series, mostly because they are the shorties I need in my life right now. See my review for the first and second novellas in this series. Enough chunky emotion and delightful romance, but abbreviated. You know, because home improvements. And my own writing schedule. And in laws. Life.

So if like me, dear Regency Reader, you are finding your reading time slashed by the stuff of life, I recommend picking these up. It took me a couple of hours, mostly hiding out in the bath tub, to finish and I was well entertained.

This is the third installment in the Wicked Dukes Club, a series where Erica Ridley and Darcy Burke are alternating titles. This is Ridley’s second novella, and features a beta hero who is toothache sweet and a funny, kind of weird wallflower who longs for adventure. She’s a bit older at 24, albeit a virgin who has never been kissed, and lives with a naughty parrot and a grumpy grandma.

Thad is on the hunt for a wife this Season after feeling the burn of his empty nest (his ward was married off in book one) when he spies Priscilla at Almacks holding up the wall. A bit of insta love, but mostly because she quickly rebuffs his request to dance. And pretty much tells him to bugger off. And that drives the man wild.

The rest of the novella is him courting and her side stepping, until she can no longer resist the handsome, sweet hunk. There is little angst or drama, just the push and pull of two people who seem fated to be mated.

Thad is lovable, at least in my book, because not only is he beta but he is not titled. Or super rich. He is handsome, but he is also incredibly kind. Gah, I get so tired of the perfect Dukes. I get some love the fantasy of sa-xy lordlings and their luxurious lives. If you are one of those Regency Readers, this book will probably make you go blah. Or maybe it will change your mind about reading non-Duke oriented Regencies.

Priscilla is the type of heroine I expect, headstrong, focused but also willing to risk everything for the man she loves.

Overall, a sweet and simple romance that is a speedy and satisfying read. There is one night of passion, which is not in depth but still features on the page intimacy.

Just released, I recommend this series for Reg Rom lovers looking for something quick, sweet and often funny to squeeze in between the dogged days of summer.

CW: vague references to suicide, issues of abandonment

5 Stars 4.25 out of 6 Beta hero courts sassy wallflower