Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners. Colorful supporting characters, plentiful plot twists, and the trials of star-crossed lovers make for a sizzling and heartwarming page-turner. Problem:It’s the wrong bookIt’s the wrong editionOther Details (if other): Cancel Thanks for telling us about the problem. Meanwhile, Charlene reluctantly cedes her place to Dorothea, certain a duke would never marry an illegitimate woman. Charlene’s spirited manner, martial arts skills, and instant rapport with James’s biracial daughter (whose existence and acceptance by her father are absolutely scandalous to most of the London elite) immediately put her at the top of the list, but soon James’s suspicions of trickery dampen his ardor. Summary: James, the scandalously uncivilized Duke of Harland, requires a bride with a spotless reputation for a strictly business arrangement. When James invites four women to audition for the role of duchess, Charlene is hired to stand in for her look-alike half-sister, Lady Dorothea, until Dorothea returns from abroad. James, a second son who unexpectedly inherits a ducal title, arrives in London prepared to marry an impeccable bride, produce an heir, and return to the West Indies to run his fair-wage cocoa farms. Charlene, the illegitimate and unacknowledged daughter of an earl, longs to save herself and her sister from prostitution by opening a boarding house for impoverished girls. Debut author Bell begins the Disgraceful Dukes Regency series with a winning tale in which disreputable but charming protagonists bond over a shared passion for righting social injustices.

How the Duke Was Won by Lenora Bell