Book Review: As the Earl Likes by Darcy Burke

Title: As the Earl Likes
Author: Darcy Burke
Series: Rogue Rules #4
Pages: 312
Publication Date: Oct. 17, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Historical
Synopsis:

Heir to a dukedom, Clive Halifax, Earl of Shefford, is weary of fixing his father’s scandalous messes and watching his mother suffer for them. Sheff vows to live as the Lothario everyone believes him to be, never to wed. However, his parents will not stop insisting he marry, so he chooses the most inappropriate bride he can find and pays her to be his fake betrothed for the remainder of the Season.

Josephine Harker lives at the edge of Society with a mother who runs a gaming club and an artist father who flits about the ton. She just wants the ability to choose her own path instead of what society dictates—or what her parents think is best for her. When Shefford, a notorious rake, proposes a faux engagement along with a substantial sum, she cannot refuse.

Dangerously captivated by one another from the outset, their attraction explodes into a searing passion they can’t deny. But the last thing Jo wants is to risk her heart on a rogue who can’t see he’s much more than his reputation—or that there is such a thing as true love.

LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org

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This is the fourth book in the Rogue Rules series, and it’s just as fabulous as the first three books. The story follows Sheff and Jo, friends who agree to a fake engagement and get much more than they bargained for.

Sheff and Jo have so much chemistry, and their friends-to-lovers romance is slow-building swoon-tasticness. Neither wants to marry, which is why their arrangement and fake engagement work for both of them. Sheff gets his mother and the ladies of the ton off his back, and Jo gets her much-wanted independence. Though they both get what they want, neither anticipated their feelings deepening. Their growing feelings aren’t the only surprises for Jo and Sheff. Family secrets, lies, and more come to light, and there are a couple of reveals that change Sheff and Jo’s views on love and marriage.

I also adored the strong friendships in the story. Jo has an amazing circle of women who support and encourage each other wholeheartedly. Sheff’s friends are great too, and we even get to see some old favorites from the Phoenix Club. These relationships contrast with some of the other relationships explored in the story. Jo’s parents and Sheff’s have tumultuous marriages, which is the main reason both main characters have avoided getting married. Their parents’ relationships are interesting juxtapositions to the many happy marriages we’re seeing in Jo and Sheff’s peers.

I’m loving this series and would definitely recommend it to historical romance readers. It’s romantic with a great blend of sexy and sweet, and the characters are all fantastic.

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• The romance.

• The friendships.

• The rogues!

• fake dating
• friends to lovers

Darcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, emotional historical and contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. Join her Reader Club at http://www.darcyburke.com/readerclub.

A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, their two hilarious kids who seem to have inherited the writing gene, two Bengal cats and a third cat named after a fruit. In her “spare” time Darcy is a serial volunteer enrolled in a 12-step program where one learns to say “no,” but she keeps having to start over. Her happy places are Disneyland and Labor Day weekend at the Gorge.

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