A Dozen Dukes to Add to Your TBR: Historical Romance Round Up (Volume 2)

What a Difference a Duke Makes by Lenora Bell (2018)

Book 1 in the School for Dukes Series This one is a bit of a Mary Poppins retelling, with our serious duke with rebellious twins needing to hire a new governess. Because his kids keep running off the other ones. Of course our duke underestimates her at first, but then is impressed by her ability to connect with his children. It’s pretty much your classic governess-widower story.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Some Dukes Have All the Luck by Christina Britton (2022)

Historical romance in Regency-ish era England; Book 1 of the Synneful Spinsters series. Odd-girl Bronwyn aspires to be a published entomologist, much to the dismay of her social-climbing parents. They push her to marry a titled gentleman and are even more abrasive after a past heartbreak and a recently lost chance at courtship by a duke. Meanwhile, Ash is trying to recover his runaway wards and shield them from his own dukedom’s cruel reputation. They literally bump into each other in the street, and unexpectedly meet again at his manor when she visits his playful and inquisitive wards. Ash gets the bright idea to marry a woman who will care for the wards and proposes to Bronwyn. We have a delightful marriage of convenience, where they do participate in the marriage bed, and a supportive friendship between the two. Loved seeing these two slowly learn to trust each other, but they’re both still hanging on the past hurts and betrayals. I love how quick Ash is to defend Bronwyn’s intelligence. Basically, any support of a partners’s aspirations as an A+ in my book.

Advance ebook provided by Forever via NetGalley. Print book provided by Forever.

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Beguiling the Duke by Darcy Burke (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Lords in Love series. A duke’s carriage loses a wheel in a small village and he takes shelter in the small village of Marrywell. The village is completely pre-occupied with its annual matchmaking festival, so there’s no room at the inn and no workers to help fix the duke’s carriage. The local squire provides shelter for the week the the duke grows closer to the squire’s daughter. Sadie has been maintaining her father’s home and taking care of her four brothers for years and hopes that this year’s festival will prove fruitful for her marriage prospects. And this time, with the duke at her side, she’s actually getting the attention she deserves. But of course, Sadie and the duke are finding themselves drawn to each other instead. Relatively low on the angst and heartache scale here and a delightful read.

Advance ebook provided by Darcy Burke via NetGalley.

The Duke by Kerrigan Byrne (2018)

So… the blurb on this one made me think it was an amnesia romance at first, but it wasn’t. Our guy just didn’t recognize the lady because she looked different and he met her in a different setting. This book reads more like a standalone than the others. We interact a little with previous characters, but it’s not as strong of a connection to the other books. Overall, I enjoyed this book and really liked how Imogen transformed herself over the years.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Duke Gone Rogue by Christy Carlyle (2021)

Historical romance in Victorian-era England; Book 1 of the Love on Holiday Series. This was the first book I’ve read from this author and I will definitely be reading more! The Duke of Ashmore has distanced himself and his reputation away from his rogue of a father as much as possible, but has gained himself a reputation as a curmudgeon and a bore. Sent away by his sister, he visits one of his properties in Cornwall for a seaside holiday. While there, he meets Maddie, a local nursery owner who works almost as hard as he does and is part of a dozen committees in town. They start to spend more time together and soften each other’s productive edges. Unfortunately, with their social class differences, they both know that they will have duties and responsibilities that will ultimately keep them apart. Unless someone is willing to compromise.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Never Kiss a Duke by Megan Frampton (2020)

Book 1 of the Hazards of Dukes series. Our guy Sebastian who starts the book as a duke isn’t actually a duke after all. His parents’ marriage was actually illegal because his mother was the sister of his father’s first wife. And apparently that’s not allowed in these times. He’s directionless and needs to find employment, so he asks for a job at his favorite gambling hell. The owner Ivy is skeptical of his competence at first, but gives him a chance. And with all that forced proximity and physical attraction, they can’t seem to resist starting an affair.

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Sins of a Wicked Duke by Sophie Jordan (2009)

Historical romance. Regency or Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Penwich School for Virtuous Girls series. We start with a tragic prologue of three girls who become friends at a terrible girls’ school where meals are withheld and punishments are severe. Fallon escapes the unwanted advances of her employer’s son, and meets a devilish duke who attempts to both save her and seduce her. She rejects him as well and decides to dress as a boy for her next employment. Unfortunately, the employment agency has sent her to the demon duke himself, where she obtains a position as a footman. Although she hopes to escape Dominic’s notice, she sees firsthand the wicked behavior that he engages in and can’t help expressing signs of disapproval. Dominic has his own troubled backstory with a pious grandfather and physically punishing governess and seeks to live up to his wretchedness. He’s baffled by his unease around the new footman and unsure why he cares so much about the boy’s approval. He doesn’t yet realize that the footman is the very same woman he can’t get out of his mind since that chance meeting long ago. This one was fun to read to see all the chaos and calamity unravel, which is often the case with a servant in disguise.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.

From Duke Till Dawn by Eva Leigh (2017)

Historical romance in Regency/Victorian era England. We have a grumpy and serious duke who was recently jilted by his fiancee. But he isn’t really heartbroken over her. He’s still kind of pining about another woman he met long ago that got away and he couldn’t find again. His two young friends (the main characters in the other two books in the series) drag him out gambling. And when he’s at the gambling hell, the lost lady of his heart is there, running the casino. There’s a bit of an encounter there, but ultimately he finds out that she had scammed him out of money all those years ago, and now he wants revenge. Sad news though, the next day, her partner in crime steals all the money and leaves her the target of a whole bunch of unpaid people. And so she needs to ask the duke for help, but he’s mad at her. It’s a huge mess, pretty much. This wasn’t my favorite of the series, but it does introduce the Orchid Club, which is a sex club that comes into play throughout the series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart by Sarah MacLean (2011)

Simon is known as the Duke of Disdain and has a perfectly proper match lined up since he hates being part of any sort of scandal. He’s attracted to Juliana when he first meets her, but quickly dismisses her when he realizes that she’s illegitimate. Despite Juliana being unworthy of his public courtship, he still seeks out her attentions in private and the two grow closer. It’s pretty heartbreaking for the fiery Juliana to be subjected to this type of rejection, but our duke does finally get it at the end. Even if he needs a push from others in his life.

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The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan (2020)

Book 1 of Wedgeford Trials Series. Chloe is a village-dweller preparing for the annual festival. She makes lists on lists on lists and is the ultimate planner and perfectionist. She’s hoping that this will be the year that her father’s Unnamed Sauce makes it big and they can build their sauce empire. Jeremy, who has visited the annual festival for years, hasn’t been seen for three years (not since Chloe last told him to “be serious”). He’s back to see Chloe and maybe finally tell her that he’s actually the Duke of Lansing who happens to own the whole village. Chloe is a neurotic list-making basketcase who doesn’t take care of herself; Jeremy is a jokester who is coping with his stressful station in life by being self-deprecating.

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Catch a Falling Duke by Eve Pendle (2021)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 3 of the Fallen series. This book takes place about ten years after the first two books in the series, with Hugo (Emily’s brother) having just inherited the dukedom. While Hugo is looking through papers in the study, he finds that his family fortune is founded upon something horribly upsetting. As Hugo runs away from his estate to think, he encounters a woman at an inn and spends the night with her. Beatrice is a lonely widowed farmer, who’s parents have also died, and is looking to find a man named in a letter she found of her mother’s. She and Hugo spend the next day looking for the man, only to be met with disappointment. While Hugo ultimately admits his troubles to Beatrice (and also the fact that he’s a duke), Beatrice insists there’s no future between them due to the differences in social standing and they part ways. At some point, Hugo finds a way to try to prove his commitment to Beatrice, taking whatever part of her life he can get. We get to go back to Bea’s farm and meet all her farmhands and essentially her found family. This was a delightful way to tie things back together and we get to learn how Hugo copes with his grandfather’s ill-gotten wealth.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (2000)

Book 1 of Bridgerton Series. Regency-era romance. Daphne Bridgerton is in her second Season of the Marriage Mart and looking for a suitable husband. She’s been friend-zoned by all the reasonable candidates and only gets proposed to by old guys or the idiotic Nigel Berbrooke. Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, is back in London after his father’s death. The Ambitious Mamas have identified Simon as an oh-so-very-eligible catch for their daughters and he wants to avoid them. Simon and Daphne decide to fake-court so that Simon will appear unavailable and Daphne will appear more desirable. But of course they’re actually attracted to each other. Problem is that Simon has no desire to marry or have children (because of his own experiences with his father). They get caught in a compromising position and need to marry anyway. Expect angst with poor communication between our two leads, the absolute worst motherly “talk” about how babies are made, and a trigger warning about non-consensual relations between our couple. Starts as a fake-relationship trope, but it doesn’t last that long.

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