Stacy Reid: Duchess by Day, Mistress by Night

Georgiana Rutherford, the widowed Duchess of Hardcastle, longs for a passionate affair. And when the enigmatic and ruthless Mr. Rhys Tremayne, better known to most as the Broker, crosses her path, the attraction between them is undeniable. But she cannot possibly truly feel this way for this man.

Rhys Tremayne has built his wealth and empire on secrets dealt on the black market of the London underworld. He is determined to remove his sisters from the depraved world they’ve known their entire lives. And the duchess appears to be the perfect sponsor for his sisters’ introduction into respectable society.

Except the more he gets to know the beautiful and kind Georgiana, the harder Rhys falls, even though the most they could have is love in secret.

Each book in the Rebellious Desires series is STANDALONE:
* Duchess by Day, Mistress by Night
* The Earl in My Bed

This was the first Stacy Reid I have read, I think based on a recommendation.  Off the bat, I can say she is definitely a writer I will read again.

Great character depth, tension, well written intimate scenes, this book had a lot to love.  Its a class difference book, with a Dowager Duchess and a ruthless business man (with gentry roots) who find themselves inextricably drawn to each other.  Insta-love/lust abound.

There is a villain/kidnapping plot and some masquerading, house parties and other tropes of Reg Rom sprinkled throughout.  Angst is present, but the pace is fairly swift pulling you along as the romance buds from attraction to love.  The biggest obstacle for them is their class difference, and I like the way Reid wraps this up in the end, even though it was surprising (and therefore a treat!).

I put a content warning on it for a lot of intimate scenes, albeit fairly vanilla, adult subject matter and violence.  I think the violence is the bit I am most concerned about, specifically murder.  There is a blasé attitude about murder in this book that just didn’t sit great with me and honestly impacted the rest of the book for me; my score reflects that this had a negative impact on the rest of my experience with the story.  I don’t want to spoil it from a plot perspective, but I will say that it felt unnecessary in some respects.  But worse, it was introduced and then pretty quickly moved past with little commentary from characters.  Other readers (judging by reviews) were not as bothered by this subplot, so it may be that you can move on as easily as the characters.

Adult subject matter included domestic violence, infidelity, and crime.

I like masquerade elements, and this has some of that to support the character arc.  I wished that had been the focus from jump, but I do understand plot wise why Reid made the choices she did.  Rhys is an alpha hero and Georgiana is no shrinking violet, but she is definitely sheltered (and knows it).  On the one hand, its a bit opposites attract but Reid really focuses on the spark that pulls them to each other.

This was a part of a series, but worked great as a standalone.  There were some interesting supporting characters and I thought the romance element was really strong.  Based on the minor introduction of characters for the next book, which is a second chance romance, I will definitely be picking that one up.

Reid also has a variety of other historical romances to choose from, and judging by this book, well understands the genre, historical details, and romance to deliver a great reading experience.