My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

My Once and Future Duke (The Wagers of Sin, #1)My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Wagers of Sin #1
Publication Date: 2/27/18

Sophie Graham had a wonderful life – two loving parents, travel, meeting varied and interesting people – until those parents died of consumption when she was twelve years old. Her grandfather was an awful person who had disowned his son (Sophie’s father) because he married the woman he loved rather than marry as his father wanted. That cold and unfeeling man became Sophie’s guardian. He certainly didn’t want her or anything to do with her so he took her to Miss Upton’s Academy For Young Ladies and left her. He made sure that she understood she was not welcome in his home and would not be coming there for holidays nor would he pay her tuition past the age of eighteen – after eighteen, she would be totally on her own. Sophie made two wonderful friends (Miss Eliza Cross and Lady Georgiana Lucas) at that school and they remained her staunch supporters. Lovely, accomplished and intelligent, Sophie understood quite quickly that the only person she could depend upon to take care of her was herself and she set out to make her fortune and hopefully find a nice decent man with whom to make a family.

You have to admire Sophie because she managed to take care of herself from the time she was twelve. She became strong and independent – and she had a plan. She was going to London as the widow Mrs. Sophie Campbell, and she was going to use her greatest skill to make her fortune. That skill was playing cards and she had learned it at her father’s knee, learning to figure the odds, game rules, etc. She rarely lost. Her goal was to gain a fortune of ten-thousand pounds because that should be enough to help her attract an upstanding gentleman as her suitor. Then, she’d marry and start a family. That plan was going well – she already had four-thousand pounds in her account – but then she lost the biggest bet of her young life!

Jack Lindeville, Duke of Ware, is weighed down by his responsibilities – to the dukedom, his mother, his brother and even the daughter and widow of his father’s best friend. Once upon a time, he had been a fun-loving and happy young man who laughed and enjoyed his life. Then, his father died after a boating accident and duty called with its stifling weight. Now, all Jack does is work and try to control his brother, Phillip, to keep him from running up massive gambling debts. Jack has become cold and hard as granite – and he has no idea how lonely he is. ** Note here — Jack’s mother is a piece of work. If he controlled her, he wouldn’t have too much trouble in controlling Philip. — Just sayin’ **

Phillip’s favorite place to gamble is the Vega Club because of the ambiance and the presence of the lovely Mrs. Campbell. He loses regularly to Mrs. Campbell, but he also loses to many others at the club. One large loss of Phillip’s is the last straw for Jack. His temper is flaring when he arrives at the Vega Club to pay off Phillip’s debt and finds said brother at the tables when he had just promised to stay away from gambling for a month. Jack is incensed and decides he’ll teach Philip a lesson – then he really loses that temper and wagers himself. He certainly doesn’t expect to win the wager and is aghast when he wins – because he has won the company of the lovely Mrs. Campbell for a week. What in the world is he going to do? Why – he’s going to abscond with her to Alwyn, his favorite home – where they are stranded by a rainstorm. He can’t take her back to London because the roads are impassable and the coach has a broken axle.

Jack and Sophie are in for an emotional ride. Watching two determined, smart and independent people work their way through their budding feelings, trying to stay away from each other and coming to terms with their feelings is nerve-wracking. Can they overcome Jack’s mother and her plotting? Can they curb Phillip’s gambling and his animosity toward Jack? Can they really find their HEA? You’ll just have to read this lovely book to find all of the answers.

Please check out my reviews at:
Blog: https://flippinpages.blog/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/flippinpages…
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlippinPagesRev
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarbBookReview

“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”

The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran

On By TracyIn Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Sins of Lord Lockwood (Rules for the Reckless, #6)The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Rules for the Reckless, #6

Release Date: February 27, 2018

I loved this book, it is a complex story with many layers that converge into an intense and gripping read.

The book opens days after William Devaliant, the Earl of Lockwood aka Liam marries Anna Wallace, the Countess of Forth (in her own right). He is aboard a prison hulk being beaten, he was abducted and traded for another prisoner. Later he realizes who orchestrated his abduction, his cousin Stephen and he vows revenge.

Fast forward 3 years, 8 months – Anna has left Scotland and traveled to London to confront her errant husband, he disappeared on their wedding night and she hasn’t heard from him since. But she learns he is back in England and is spending HER money and sponsoring artists in his London townhouse and she is going to set him straight. She enters the house and there is a party in full swing, she is appalled by his servants and the debauchery going on around her. She finds Liam on a sofa with a courtesan attached to him like a leech. He rises to greet her and tells her to leave. She refuses and tells him to send his “guests” home. Liam is not in good shape, he took some drug to gain oblivion, but it has only made him muddled. He can’t believe Anna is here and needs to send her on her way. She flat out refuses to go and wants answers – answers he is not willing to give.

Anna makes herself at home and takes every opportunity to vent her anger on Liam. She has come to town to settle some business matters and to get answers – so far she has only more questions. Liam is not the young man she married, but she sees glimpses of him. Where has he been and why did he leave her? The next day they talk again and he tells her what happened to him, but she thinks he is lying. She makes accusations that he does not deny and she seethes.

Liam doesn’t want Anna in his home, he has put his plan into motion and she is a complication he doesn’t need. But seeing her again brings back something he thought he lost, feelings, he FEELS for the first time in years and feelings he thought gone forever. And when she demands he give her an heir and lays down her rules, he agrees, but has a rule of his own. The passion between them is white hot, but neither is willing to bend and they wage a major war of wills.

Liam is no longer the young love-struck boy she married, the past four years have changed him, irrevocably. But Anna is no simpering maiden and she stands up to this new callous Liam. And when she learns the truth, Anna will stop at nothing to save Liam.

The story has several flashbacks to their first meeting, their courtship, wedding day and the fight they had before he disappeared. These flashbacks are well placed in the story and give the read a much better understanding of these two people.

This is not a light read, but neither is it overly dark. It is a meaty, stick to your ribs kind of story with two very flawed people finding their way back to each other, it is a story of revenge, acceptance, forgiveness and love. I was hooked from the first page, it is extremely well written and even with flashbacks, it is paced perfectly. There are steamy love scenes, moments of heartbreak and sorrow, moments of horror, great secondary characters (including Julian and Emma), a shocking twist and a very sweet epilogue. This is the sixth book in the series, but it could be read as a stand alone title with no problems. I loved this book and would be happy to recommend it!

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

View all my reviews