what I’m reading: no good duke goes unpunished (rules of scoundrels book 3) by sarah maclean.

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished is the third book in The Rules of Scoundrels series by Sarah MacLean.

This is Temple and Mara’s story. Temple, the third owner of The Fallen Angel, is known as The Killer Duke. Accused of murdering Mara Lowe on the eve of her wedding, the only thing Temple remembers is waking up alone covered in blood. But Mara is not dead and when her brother gets into a colossal gambling debt with The Fallen Angel, Mara makes a deal with Temple – she will come out of hiding and clear his name if he wipes her brother’s debt clean.

Temple is the ultimate alpha hero. He is dark, brooding, and sarcastic. In the years since being branded The Killer Duke, Temple has used the moniker to his advantage and has made a name for himself as not only one of the owners of The Fallen Angel, but as an undefeated fighter. Not only is he is feared, but he is worshiped by many.

Mara is meh. I didn’t really connect with her character. I get that she had a sad past and had her reasons for running away, but there was no reason to let everyone thing she was dead so long. Mara had been in hiding for 12 years! I didn’t really understand why she was in hiding for all that time, especially since her actions basically ruined a man’s life. I understand that she didn’t realize at first that everyone thought she was dead, but you would think that she would want to clear Temple’s name because he was innocent and, oh yeah, it’s the right thing to do.

To be honest, Temple and Mara aren’t my favorite couple. Nothing really stood out about either of them. In fact, I had read almost the entire book and only had about 50 pages left and it took me almost a week to read those last pages. I kept picking up the book and then putting it down to reach for something else.

Although not my favorite in the series, I still enjoyed this book, especially because of all the cameos made by other characters in the series. As I’ve said before, Sarah MacLean is a terrific writer and the Rules of Scoundrels series is excellent.