Book Review – How to Deceive a Duke by Samara Parish

  

 

How to Deceive a Duke by Samara Parish follows Fiona McTavish, a woman who enters a risky arrangement with her former lover, a powerful duke, only to find that lingering attraction and hidden motives threaten to unravel both her plans and her heart.

Fiona is a brilliant chemist and engineer, but also a rebel who defies society’s expectations. She has no interest in being a proper lady and would much rather spend her time in the lab than planning social events. Her latest invention, friction matches, has the potential to secure her financial independence. However, her plans are derailed when she is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit. The only person who can help her is the man who broke her heart years ago.

Edward Stirling, the Duke of Wildeforde, is determined to restore his family’s reputation after his father’s scandalous death. When Fiona turns to him for help, he can’t refuse, even if it means agreeing to her condition that she live under his roof after her release. As they spend more time together, old feelings resurface, but gossip about their arrangement begins to spread. Edward must decide what matters more: protecting his name or following his heart.

I thought the novel was an okay read up until the ending, which left me very frustrated. Many of the characters acted in ways that felt illogical or immature. Edward often made major decisions for others without giving them a choice. Edward decides to marry Fiona and then break up their relationship without even talking to her.

Edward was furious with his brother for making a mistake and essentially cut him off, yet the brother is never mentioned again, and there’s no indication of any reconciliation. Meanwhile, Fiona damages Edward’s reputation similarly, and he forgives her without much consequence. The inconsistency was frustrating.

Another issue was the repeated references to the scandal surrounding Edward’s father. It’s treated as a major plot point, yet the details are never fully explained. If it’s meant to be central to the story, it feels incomplete without that context.

As for Fiona, she started off as a strong, compelling character, and I was rooting for her early on. But by the end, I found her increasingly difficult to like. She often acted selfishly, rarely considering how her decisions affected others. She constantly doubts Edward’s feelings, despite his actions showing otherwise, yet she blindly trusts her father, Alistair, who repeatedly abandons her. Her stubbornness also became frustrating. She refuses help even when her situation is dire, insisting on doing everything her own way, or this must be another way, even when she, herself, admits there is no other way. She claims she doesn’t want to marry Edward, yet she becomes upset when he shows attention to other women.

I also found parts of the plot difficult to follow, particularly Fiona’s time in prison and her eventual release. Her insistence on disguising herself as a man, “Finley,” didn’t always make sense. At first, it seemed tied to selling her matches, but she attends many business meetings openly as a woman and is frustrated when she isn’t taken seriously. If the concern was avoiding legal trouble, it seems like she could have created a different alias or approach from the beginning.

I did enjoy parts of the novel, especially in the beginning, but the ending fell short for me. Despite my frustrations, I would still be open to reading more books by this author.