Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Duke of Strathmore #2
Publication Date: 9/8/17
Number of Pages: 314
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW – Narrator – Janine Haynes

I enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator sounded much more natural in this book than she did in the first one. Her voice was natural and flowed well. The distinction between the voices of the different characters wasn’t particularly pronounced, but there were some differences.

The story was well-written and well-plotted, but I did hear a number of anachronisms in the verbiage. For me, hearing the anachronisms isn’t as noticeable as reading them, so they didn’t bother me as much as they normally would. That said, I noticed fewer in this book than in the first one.

I loved David Radley in the first book, Letter From A Rake, and I loved him even more in this book. Although he is the much loved and fully recognized oldest son of the Duke of Strathmore, he is illegitimate. Even with all of the love and support of his family, he is still not acceptable to some people in the ton. As we learned in the last book, he has loved Lady Clarice Langham for years, but it has remained an unrequited love. He now fully intends to change that – but her father won’t even let her dance with him.

I had a more ambivalent relationship with Clarice. She was such a doormat for most of the book and I just couldn’t identify with her at all. Then, she finally begins to come out of her shell and I came to like her and I could see why David would as well. Finally, she came to be someone who would stand up for what she wanted and I liked her even better.

I really loved the way the author handled the villain. I was really beginning to wonder if he was just going to get by with everything – or just not be mentioned again – but then – well – I won’t tell you, but I liked it very well.

The epilogue was really good. Since I think every historical romance should have an epilogue, I was really happy to see that this book had one. One of the nice things in the epilogue was the introduction of the hero of the next book.

This is an enjoyable read and I can recommend it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Barbara’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Duke of Strathmore #1
Publication Date: 9/9/17
Number of Pages: 304
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW – Narrator – Janine Haynes
** 3.5 Stars **

I believe this was the author’s first book – and that shows, but it is a good story and I look forward to reading more by her. This is the first book of the series and does a good job of introducing the characters for at least the first four books of the series. I believe I learned more about them than I did the hero of this book. It is a typical first book in a series – with many characters and set-up of future stories, etc., so it was very busy. Our hero was a bit on the young side at twenty-three and we could easily tell that from his actions and attitudes and I didn’t really buy into the love-at-first-sight thing. I could see the instant attraction maybe – but – not instantly in love. Then, they didn’t spend enough time together to get to know each other and come to truly love each other. I thought the narration done by Ms. Haynes was done well, but – she often sounded more like she had an Indian accent rather than British.

Miss Millie Ashton is NOT at all happy about being in England. She was born in India to English parents and she’s lived all of her twenty years there. Now, her father is being made a principal of the East India Company and they have returned to England. Millie wonders if she’ll ever be warm again. Then there is English society with their silly rules and views on how someone should look. Millie certainly doesn’t meet society’s view of feminine beauty. She’s more ample in stature and society never lets her forget it. She longs to return to India where she can be herself.

Alexander (Alex) Radley, Marquess of Brooke, is also known as Alexander the Great because of his astonishing good looks, winning personality, charm, confidence, and wealth as well his being the heir to the Duke of Strathmore. Everyone, especially women, is drawn to him like a magnet. He’s also confident – but he’s struck totally dumb when he sees the goddess across the ballroom – standing with his sister.

In a romance where everything that could go wrong actually does go wrong, you have to wonder how they’ll ever come together. Mis-sent love letters, irate fathers, even more irate brothers, mishaps, misunderstanding keep you wondering what will happen to these two next.

This was a fun read, but a bit light on substance with immature characters. I will be looking forward to the next book in the series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.