Designs on the Duke by Alexa Aston (2023)
Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Suddenly a Duke series. Tragic upbringing for Elijah, who’s crusty old duke of a father accused his wife of being unfaithful and tossed the pregnant duchess off to a small cottage at one of his estates with no money or support. She gave birth to twins and eventually sent them off to war. While in battle, the elder of the twins passes away, leaving Elijah to be the heir. He then receives a letter that his father has died, leaving his brother the next duke, though his brother is gone too, meaning Elijah is the new duke. He’s back in England to reclaim his birthright and set things to rights. Unfortunately, the crusty old duke was a spiteful piece of work who sold off every single piece of furniture in the house. Luckily, they run into Abby, who is soon to open her own furniture shop filled with her designs. Abby lived in poverty until her father’s death, when her new guardian took her own and brought her with him in his worldwide travels. With all the knowledge gained in traveling the world, she has developed a keen sense of style and design. Neither Elijah or Abby are interested in marriage: Elijah doesn’t want to continue his horrible father’s bloodline and Abby doesn’t want to cede her independence. But as they start working together to furnish his home, they begin to admire each other’s strength and honor more than even their initial attraction.
Advance ebook provided by Dragonblade Publishing via NetGalley.
Give the Devil His Duke by Anna Bradley (2023)
Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Drop Dead Dukes series. After a huge scandal that killed her father and cast out her mother many years ago, Lady Francesca is back in London for the Season, looking to convince her uncle to give her some money so that she and her mother can buy coal and food for the winter. She somehow catches the attention of Giles, the handsome duke who intends to marry her cousin and is also the son of the man who ruined her family. With all sorts of gossip stirring in the scandal sheets, Giles tries to make amends by showing politeness and courtesy to Francesca. She’s not really interested though, even if he is rather handsome. This story had more unexpected twists with the manipulations of Francesca’s cousin and horrible aunt and uncle, but luckily Giles has a supportive friend group and family.
Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
The Duke’s All That by Christina Britton (2024)
Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Synneful Spinsters series. Seraphina is living in the Isle of Synne with her two sisters running the circulating library on the island. She’s got a mysterious past and a bit defensive and skittish. Turns out she was married many years ago, betrayed by her love, sent to an asylum, and then ran away with her sisters to protect them from their father. Her security is disrupted when her long-lost husband Iain shows up on the Isle to demand a divorce from Seraphina. He believes that he was betrayed by her all those years ago, then believed she was dead, and only just learned that she was alive. And now that he’s a duke, he’ll need to marry again in the future and need to be free and clear to do so. He doesn’t tell Seraphina that he’s a duke, just in case she has aspirations of being a duchess, but they do set off on a road trip to get that divorce. Along the way, they do actually start to talk to each other about what went wrong all those years ago and realize that they were both told lies by her father. He’s interested in making the marriage real, but she refuses and wants to go back to her quiet life with her sisters. It’s all a huge mess, made worse by the fact that Iain is still secretly a duke.
Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.
If the Duke Dares by Darcy Burke (2024)
Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Rogue Rules series. Persephone is being forced into an arranged marriage she doesn’t want after her sister is ruined by a rogue and she runs away from her parents on the journey to meet the prospective groom. She actually ends up meeting the duke while she’s busy pretending to be a widow at an inn, but he doesn’t know who she is. At some point, our duke Acton realizes that his supposed bride is out on the road alone, so he goes to find her and protect her. While they both agree that they aren’t interested in marrying each other, they start a slow and tentative friendship. Persephone learns that Acton is not as terrible as his reputation and Acton learns that he should learn to treat women better. We get some more of Acton’s backstory regarding his relationship with his estranged mother and sisters, which is really interesting to learn. I liked seeing how these two started to trust each other and then to enjoy each other’s company. Definitely a slow-burn romance here, with Acton showing lots of character growth.
Advance ebook provided by Darcy Burke.
Her Duke at Midnight by Christy Carlyle (2023)
Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Wanton Widows Club series. Adam is known as the Heartbreak Duke after a previous affair ended in scandal. He’s always been upfront with the women he’s with and he tries to deter any sort of attachment. When his friend convinces him to attend an upcoming house party, he swears not to entangle himself with any woman there. Cecily is a widowed countess set to attend the same house party as her first outing out of mourning from her cruel husband. Her friend encourages her to seek an affair, but to specifically avoid the Heartbreak Duke. However, Adam is the only man that Cecily is drawn to and they end up together anyway. And he pretty quickly changes his tune on attachment and marriage.
Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.
Any Duke in a Storm by Amalie Howard (2024)
Historical romance. Victorian-era. Caribbean Seas. Book 4 of the Daring Dukes series. Everyone is at sea in this one with danger and smuggling and covert spy operations. Lisbeth is all the things: countess, British spy, and dangerous sea captain. She’s deep undercover to bring down a smuggling ring on behalf of the American government. Somehow she gets entangled with Raphael, the son of a disgraced French duke, who is part of that smuggling ring, but really just seeking revenge against his uncle for betraying his father. These two bicker and fight and struggle for dominance, all while lusting after each other like crazy. High on the steam and high on the action-adventure in this one.
Advance ebook provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley.
The Duke’s Quandary by Callie Hutton (2014)
Historical romance, Regency England. Book 2 of the Marriage Mart Mayhem series. Best friend of the man from the first book, Drake, a new duke is seeking the perfect wife this Season. While chaperoning his sisters through the marriage mart, his mother is also hosting another young lady, Penelope, who is an orphaned acquaintance. Penelope is clumsy and awkward in society and she would much rather be in the garden pursuing her botany. Drake and Penelope are the worst match possible, but they are undeniably attracted to each other, so it was entertaining to see how they work out their differences.
Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.
Ten Rules for Marrying a Duke by Michelle McLean (2022)
I love when a woman does the proposing in this era because it’s so unexpected. Arabella goes straight to a rakish duke’s house and proposes to him. She’ll give him an heir if he marries her. She’s out to save her family’s reputation after her older sister eloped and wants to protect her younger sister’s prospects. They arrange ten rules for the marriage. I love this clear and open communication between the two. Well, until they start to have feelings… This one is another lovely low-angst humorous book.
Advance ebook provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley.
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The Duke Beneath Her Mistletoe by Nicki Pascarella (2023)
Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Eatons of Trent series. This book takes a little while to get into the plot, but once we do, it’s a lot of adventure. William is a new duke tasked by his cousin Prinny to investigate workers rights along with the secret writer of political papers that seem to rally the workers. A factory making lace is the main target of the worker uprising, so William spends Christmas at the local earl’s house to learn more. At the same time, William’s friends gossip about how that earl’s sister Georgiana is a spinster who hates men and somehow William gets drunken goaded into a bet that he’ll bed her within a week. On Georgiana’s side of the story, she is actually the political writer promoting fair labor for her village friends and causing all this ruckus. And she’s uninterested in courtship or marriage. Somehow, when William comes to the castle for the holidays, he’s presented as a serious suitor and she does her best to stay away from him. Since William isn’t used to being rejected, he’s even more intrigued by her. Meanwhile, all this political unrest is happening in the background and William starts to side with the workers more than the overseeing aristocrats. And when he finds out that Georgiana is the secret writer he’s been looking for, he jumps to her rescue. And despite William and Georgiana’s contentious beginnings, it looks like they start to respect and admire the other along the way. Great start to the series and looking forward to reading more about Georgiana’s siblings.
Advance ebook provided by Nicki Pascarella.
Scandalous Duke by Scarlett Scott (2020)
Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 5 of the League of Dukes series. Everyone’s keeping dangerous secrets here. Johanna has renamed herself Rose, given herself a fake background, and become a world-famous actress. Unfortunately, her terrorist of a brother has found her and is forcing her to do some of his bidding, like sneaking documents and explosives from America to England. Meanwhile, Felix, a duke working with the Home Office, has decided to get closer to Rose, believing her to be the terrorist’s mistress. She doesn’t realize he’s part of the Home Office and that he’s just an entitled duke who wants to bed her, but resists anyway due to her own damaged history with men. They’re both trying to prevent their own feelings from getting involved, but they’re terribly attracted to each other and genuinely enjoy each other’s company. Lots of drama involved with explosions and threats of imprisonment, but ultimately Felix is willing to use all of his power to keep Johanna out of trouble.
Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.
When the Duke Bought a Wife by Mariah Stone (2024)
Historical romance. Regency-era England. Prequel novella of the Dukes and Secrets series. Emma is in a terrible marriage with a baronet who is much older and cruel and definitely did not deliver on the financial assistance that her parents needed when she married him. And in the course of traveling through the countryside, he’s had enough of her insolence, so he dresses them both up as pig farmers and sells her in the square in a wife auction. Sebastian happens to be there with his friends and decides to rescue her. He conveniently needs a wife to deter his mother from setting him up with a proper lady and a farmer’s wife is the perfect revenge. Except that Emma is actually a gently bred lady and just doesn’t tell him so. Sebastian is shocked by how well she cleans up and attempts to seduce her on the daily, but she refuses him. Until she doesn’t. This was a relatively quick low-angst romance, with just the right amount of drama and villainy to keep things interesting.
Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.
Fortune Favors the Duke by Kristin Vayden (2021)
Historical romance in Regency-ish era England, Book 1 of the Cambridge Brotherhood series. When I read the blurb on this book, I knew it was going to be younger brother inherits a dukedom, befriends his brother’s fiancee, and then there’d be a bit of a forbidden romance involved. But this book really punched you in the gut with the prologue of a carefree bunch of guys going on a bachelor hunting trip and then tragedy happening. Also, the older brother was really likeable! So you can feel the grief that our hero Quin and the not-quite-widow Catherine are feeling. I really liked this book! Though, I didn’t realize until I was 90% done that it’s closed-door and smut-free. Not my usual type of romance, but the story was compelling and kept me reading, so I didn’t even notice there wasn’t any smut until I was done with the book.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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