Category: Tracy’s Reviews

The Duke by Katharine Ashe

On By TracyIn Regency Era (1811-1820), Scottish/Highlander, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Duke (Devil's Duke, #3)The Duke by Katharine Ashe
Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Devil’s Duke #3

Release Date: September 26,2017

4.5 Stars

Amarantha Vale travels to Jamaica to marry the man of her girlish dreams, but before she does, she will meet the man that will forever own her heart.

Amarantha and Gabriel meet during a hurricane in Jamaica and bond is formed that neither time or circumstance can break. The spend time together over the next 9 weeks and the bond grows even stronger and when Gabe asks Amarantha to break off her betrothal and wait for him, she agrees. But a well placed lie along with vicious gossip, turn their lives in different directions.

Five and a half years later, Amarantha is a widow and has made her way to Scotland to find her missing sister in law. This is where she learns of the Devil’s Duke and realizes that he is in fact the young man she once loved. Unable to believe the lies about him, she sets out once more to find Penny and to get answers about Gabe.

When they finally met again, they are both a bit wary of the other and neither realize that their HEA was thwarted purposefully. Gabe has secrets, that he cannot share, even with the girl that captured and held his heart for these past 5 years. But Amarantha is not willing to walk away without answers. As they grow closer and truths are revealed, another lie interferes with their newly born relationship and a threat that may cost Gabe his life is issued.

Amarantha is not willing to grieve for Gabe again and sets out to save him, but in true Gabe fashion, he would rather sacrifice himself than let others suffer for him.

This is truly an epic tale, spanning several years and two continents. Gabe is a hero every woman wishes she had and Amarantha is a truly lovely (if not slightly misguided) woman. The sexual tension between them is red hot and when they finally give in to the enviable, it is wondrous. The book is well written, flows nicely, has lots of twists and turns, secrets, surprises, cameos from previous characters, amusing moments, tense moments and heartbreaking moments. It was an emotional roller coaster of a read and I loved every second!

I would highly recommend this book and even though it is the third book in the series, it could easily be read as a stand alone title with no problems. I have read the other reviews where the reviewers didn’t care for Amarantha and will say, I was right there with them, but after I finished the book, I had a revelation, I don’t think that Ms. Ashe set out to make Amarantha seem unlikeable, I think she wrote Gabriel too well and made her readers fall in love with him and therefore no heroine would have been good enough for him. So judge for yourself, is Amarantha unlikable? I don’t think so, I think the problem is Gabriel is too wonderful (as if that is a problem).

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an uncorrected eARC that was provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher*

Not A Gentleman by Loreen Augeri

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Tracy's Reviews3 Comments

Not a GentlemanNot a Gentleman by Loreen Augeri
Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Release Date: August 25, 2017

Maybe 3.5 stars.

This was an interesting and unusual story, Juliana Stevenson and her sister Emily are on the run from their evil uncle, convinced he murdered their father and is now trying to sell them into marriage to steal their dowries. Their plan for escape is foiled when Juliana is captured by Nicholas Blackstone. Before he could get Emily, Juliana spooked the horses, giving Emily enough time to get away. She then detains Nicholas by running into the ocean.

Nicholas needs money, he has been in the army for years, but since the death of his father, he has returned home to find his father lost the family fortune and left him with two young siblings and a crumbling manor to take care of. Desperate for funds to repair his home and care for his siblings, so he can return to the army, Nicholas accepts a job to track down the missing Stevenson girls. He doesn’t believe Juliana’s story about her uncle and just wants finish this job, get paid and return to the army.

Both Juliana and Nicholas have scars, both inside and out, and they butt heads constantly, but beneath it all, there is a strong attraction that neither wants to acknowledge. Once Nicholas realizes that he will not be able to track Emily, he decides to take Juliana back to his home and then find Emily. But Juliana has no intention of making it easy for him.

Once they return to the manor, Nicholas informs Juliana that she will be his twin siblings new governess. The twins are as thrilled about this pronouncement as Juliana is, which is to say, not at all and this makes for quite a few amusing scenes. Juliana is still planning on escaping, but her attraction to Nicholas is growing and she needs to make him understand how evil her uncle really is. Not only that, but it seems like someone is out to kill Nicholas and his family.

The story is fast paced with a lot of twists and turns as well as multiple villains, the author does a good job of setting up her story and keeping it flowing, but at times the writing seems a bit jumbled, especially during fight scenes. The sexual tension between Nicholas and Juliana is high and the author doesn’t tease the reader by dragging their attraction out, she writes some steamy love scenes for these two, but she does not make their HEA easy or painless.

I thought this was a good story, but the writing was not quite as smooth as I would have liked and there was more than a little bit of modern verbiage used, which jarred me out of the period. I would be willing to read more from this author and look forward to watching her as she grows and matures into a seasoned writer.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher*