View source for The Duke Can Go to the Devil by Erin Knightley

{{infobox1
|title=The Duke Can Go to the Devil
|sort=Duke Can Go to the Devil
|author=Erin Knightley
|reviewer= Louise Jones
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= The third book in the trilogy about three Regency ladies, it is May's turn to take centre stage and find romance. Oh, if only things were that simple!
|rating=5
|buy=yes
|borrow=yes
|pages=336
|publisher=Piatkus
|date=September 2015
|isbn=9780349410678
|website=http://www.erinknightley.com
|video=
|cover=0349410674
|aznuk=0349410674
|aznus=0349410674
}}

As Regency ladies go, Mei-li Bradford is anything but conventional. For most of her life, she has travelled the world with her sea-captain father and seen exotic sights and locations that others could only dream of. Her upbringing amongst sailors has clearly rubbed off on her, however. Mei-li, or May to her friends, can drink and curse like a man and has no respect for propriety and convention. She may look like a well-bred lady, but certainly does not act like one. Therefore, disaster surely beckons when an uptight Duke shows an interest in her. His stuffy ways and conventional habits are anathema to May's free-spirited nature.

''The Duke Can Go to the Devil'' is the third book in Knigtley's ''Prelude to a Kiss'' trilogy, which tells the story of three friends who meet in Bath during a music festival and form an instrumental group. In the previous books, May's friends [[The Baron Next Door by Erin Knightley|Charity]] and [[The Earl I Adore by Erin Knightley|Sophie]] each found their happy endings, but things don’t seem so straightforward for May herself. Despite her attraction for the Duke, she finds herself arguing with him at every turn, as they seem to disagree on absolutely everything. For William, who aims to find a future Duchess who shares his values, the feisty May is everything he is NOT looking for in a bride. Still, he can't get her out of his mind...

I have read the other books in the series and think I enjoyed this one the most. The path to true love certainly wasn’t straightforward and every time May and William resolved their differences, fate would throw up yet another obstacle in their way. The small cast of characters meant that the individual players all had distinct and well-rounded personalities and even the minor characters were interesting. I particularly liked May's stodgy aunt Victoria, who May sees as her personal jailer, preventing her from a life at sea. William's flirtatious mother-in-law Vivian was also a highlight, but I appreciated the way that Knightley gave some background information as to why Victoria and Vivian acted the way that they did, which changes the reader's perception of them both.

I'm heartbroken that the trilogy has ended, as I hate to say goodbye to these well-loved characters. The final chapter seemed to hint at a possible spin-off story, so I'm hoping that there are more romantic adventures to be had in Bath in the future. Many thanks to the publishers for my review copy.

Do read the first two books in the series: [[The Baron Next Door by Erin Knightley|The Baron Next Door]] and [[The Earl I Adore by Erin Knightley|The Earl I Adore]]. It's really no hardship!

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