How (Not) To Be Seduced By Dukes by Marian Tee

At 34 years old, Rathe Wellesley, a powerful and gorgeous billionaire nobleman, has his life all planned out – or so he thinks until he meets Mary, a lovely but socially awkward genius who is nothing like his future duchess should be.

Raised by a crazed and oppressive stepfather, 18-year-old Mary Ashton finds herself swept off her feet by the duke and tossed out of her home for daring to kiss a man before marriage.

By choosing to be with Rathe, Mary’s life is completely transformed, leading an ordinary life as a college student during the day…and living the glamorous and passionate life as the duke’s mistress at night.

It’s not the life she’s dreamt of but the look in Rathe’s eyes keeps Mary from leaving. It’s a look that tells her maybe, just maybe he could fall in love with her, too.


So I mentioned in Twitter last night that I wanted to take a break from all the hot athlete and rockstar heroes I've been reading about too much lately. Because I. Wanted. Normal. And then I ended up reading this book instead. Which had a duke in it. Ggg, sometimes I do have difficulty defining normal. Ha!

I think this may the first book I read that really tackled age differences. I'm sure there were innumerable times when it has been mentioned in books...but merely in passing. But in this story, it was a serious part of the plot to the point that it really affected the personality of a main character.

But I couldn't help but like Rathe. He tried to his best to avoid  this relationship because he was much older than Mary. And I somehow thought though that Mary was too young in a sense that MT should've aged her a bit older (say, 20?) because I know I could handle a story with an older hero instead since the age gap was really one of the focal points of the story.

This may have been the shortest Pusketeer book but this also had the darkest undertone. I was pretty used to the feel good ones that I read first that I was kind of expecting the same thing here. This turned out to be surprise...and a good one at that.

So this was the last MT that I have in my TBR pile but probably not going to be my last. I really still need to warm up to her style. But I still had a fun time everytime I read her books. Yep, I will most likely read some more of her stuff.


Finale verdict: 6/10. Okay read.


Pusketeer series reviews:
How (Not) To Be Seduced by Billionaires
How (Not) To Be Seduced by Rockstars