Four Dukes and a Devil

Four Dukes and a Devil

The Irish Duke by Cathy Maxwell
After her parents died Susan Rodgers was forced to make a living for herself preparing girls for marriage. A huge tool in her recruitment box has been her knowledge of the Order of Precedence which states that the Irish Dukes come last. She shares this knowledge, secure that no Irish Duke will ever challenge her and is shocked when Roan, the Duke of Killeigh, comes to confront her. Both are swept up by the challenge the other presents and it is not long before Roan is trying to convince the beautiful spinster to marry him. Susan is terrified that Roan should be looking for a woman of his own station, but he manages to convince her that she is the only woman he wants. An incredibly short mini-novella, not much happens in the way of relationship development in the story. It is certainly a fun and entertaining read, but too much was crammed into too few pages. There is a brief steamy scene at the end that, while good, the space may have been better used showing the reader why/ how exactly these two came to fall in love with each other as a few stolen moments at very crowded balls doesn't really explain it very well.

The Duke Who Came to Dinner by Elaine Fox
Gray Gilliam's sudden decision to take a walk on the wild side ends badly when a dog runs off with her clothes while she's skinny dipping. Luckily the only person who notices her nude midnight bike ride through town is Sam Gregory, the owner of said dog. Gray is trying to loosen up while on vacation in Massachusetts and on a trip into the town's local dive has her leaving with Sam. Unfortunately back at her place the residential "ghost" decides to take matters into his hands and the night ends with some haunted visitors. The story was certainly better developed than "The Irish Duke" and the relationship really had time to really grow. The two spent quite a bit of time together and made a really good couple. I liked how it ended on a hopeful note, rather than on the completely finished note as it made it obvious that Gray and Sam were going to spend more time getting to know each other. The ghost story seemed a little blah and extra little nonsense, but the steamy scene, while not super exciting, made it obvious that when given more room to breathe, Fox is a great, sexy, writer.

Devil to Pay by Jeaniene Frost
Blake has been possessed by the an evil demon and is determined to kill himself even though the demon is doing everything he can to ensure that Blake does not do so. When Elise finds him reeking of death and blood she is drawn to him and brings him back to her lair. She is a vampire and has no fear of the demon but she wants to help Blake get rid of this evil force that has taken over him so she takes him to her sire, Mencheres. The only way he can think to get rid of the demon for good is to bring Blake out to the deserted salt flats and kill him with no living thing around to ensure that the demon does not possess another being. Elise is terrified of losing this person she is drawn to like she has not been drawn to before, but she is faced with the harsh truth that it may be the only way to get rid of this demon. I am not really much for demons and other-worldly creatures in my romance, but it was certainly exciting. Elise and Blake spent so much time together it was easy to see that they had enough time to "fall in love." There was quite a bit of action, some angst, and some nice steam. Despite this book being fairly good I would not have liked to read a full-length novel about this.

Catch of the Century by Sophia Nash
Victoria Givan is escorted her three orphaned charges to their apprenticeship when she is nearly run over by the a carriage. John Varick, the Duke of Beaufort, feels a sense of responsibility for the four travelers who seem intent on walking 60 miles and he offers them a ride. A night at a coaching inn makes it clear that the two can not be trusted to keep their hands off each other. When he discovers that their planned accommodations are ruins he then corrals them into staying at his house where Victoria and John do their best to avoid each other and temptation. That is easier said than done and after being bitten by a snake Victoria fears dying a virgin- a problem John is more than happy to rectify. The incident forces John to realizes that he wants the maddening and beautiful Victoria in his life for good, but Victoria fears joining John's hoi-paloi world and runs away. It is up to John to find her and convince her that she matters more than any society matron's opinion. Very fun and definitely the perfect length with nothing left out. I feel too much more of their argumentative banter would have gotten on my nerves and the reunion of past-novel characters would have been too frustrating. More a turn towards what I really like to read.

Charmed by her Smile by Tracy Anne Warren
India Byron is desperate to get rid of an unwanted suitor named Peter Harte and enlists the help of the first man she stumbles upon to kiss her. She was unaware that her savior is none other than the Quentin, the Duke of Weybridge, who has quite the reputation as a the ton's most notorious rake. Quentin has been suffering from a bout of ennui and spending time with this spunky, talkative, and very clever young lady may be just what he's looking for. Despite hitting it off so well Quentin is reluctant to make their relationship real even as they continue the ruse at a house party in order to ward of Peter's advances. Quentin is determined to keep things between them away from talk of marriage, even as he is coming to realize that India may mean so much more to him than he was expecting. I think it really says something when I felt like an 80 page short story was too long and I kept waiting for it to end. So many of the parts I wish had been expanded, such as them really getting to know each other and talking were washed over while other things (so unimportant I don't remember) were dragged out. There was steam, but this was the only story that didn't feature a "completion" and it certainly had plenty of angst.

Love with the Perfect Scoundrel

Love with the Perfect Scoundrel by Sophia Nash

Grace Sheffey, the widowed Countess of Sheffield, is determined to run away to her childhood home, the Isle of Mann, after being jilted by a fiance in favor of one of her friends- for the second time. When her carriage overturns on the way to York she sends her companion, Mr. John Brown, ahead for help, but soon the cold and her new wound become to much for her and she sets off herself in search of help, convinced that Mr. Brown had become lost. Michael Ranier finds her half frozen hovering under a tree and takes her to Brynlow, the estate he had recently inherited from a friend upon his friends death. At the home Michael and Grace find themselves all but alone as all the servants except a teenage boy have gone to town during the storm, and it is up to Michael and Grace to care for each other. Michael tends to Grace's wound and reveals bits about his past to Grace including his upbringing in an orphanage, but they both realize that he is hiding something from her. Spending time with Grace, tending to her, watching her nurse an orphaned lamb, and attempting to teach her to cook convince Michael that Grace is tender, loving, and good, and that the men who jilted her must be crazy. Grace is terribly proper and her marriage to a much older man did not entirely prepare her for intimacies between men and women and the lust between these two is explosive.

But Michael is a former blacksmith and farmer, not good enough for Grace, so when Grace's two ex-fiance's come for her he does not even attempt to make her stay. So Grace moves back to London and with the help of her friends in the widow's club she is a member of, begins to reinsert herself into the ton. Back at Brynlow Michael quickly gives up on life without Grace and heads to London in the guise of helping out at the Foundling home where he had grown up. As it is the Christmas season Grace, as well as her friends, have taken up with the Spirit of giving and their charity of choice, giving Grace and Michael plenty of opportunities to interact. Both of Grace's former fiances are doing all they can to keep the two of them apart, but a meddling grandma is the only one who seems to see where Grace's relationship with a blacksmith can lead. It is not long before Michael realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life with Grace and this means being truthful with her about his sordid past. Just as it appears the two of them may be able to escape for what Michael did (or didn't do?) in his past, said past catches up with them and it is now Grace's turn to use her new-found sense of independence and trust in her own abilities to make things right.

I understand that we're supposed to understand that her forgiveness of the friends and former fiances who had jilted her is meant to signify that she did not really love those men and that she is really ready to move on and find love ith someone else. However, it still seems just... too much to really believe that she so easily forgives these men and women and it seemed just as odd that the two men had appointed themselves her protectors after what they had done to her. Why is no heroine in a romance novel ever truly bitter? And the two ex-fiances themselves, I could not really understand why they were so dead set against Michael even after they had learned he was not what they had previously believed. He wasn't the one who left her at the alter for her friend! The two of them are supposed to be friends with each other, but it is by far the oddest friendship ever committed to paper. Their interactions are just nonsensical and ridiculous and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to laugh or cringe-I mostly did the later. The author's writing is pretty, but it is pretty in a flowery, overly romantic style that I had difficulty getting used to. In addition I thought the entire "Widow's Club" was just a sad excuse for writing a bunch of books in a series.

The back story given for Michael, while improbable and definitely far fetched, is at least truthful enough to explain why he is so reluctant to trust Grace with his past, why he is so determined to protect Grace from himself, and why he is so nervous about even being in London. This was a nice change from little lordlings whining that daddy doesn't shower them with enough attentions while sending them to ritzy boarding schools. Grace, however, is not so easy to pin down as Michael. While it is understandable that she is intent on proving herself and leading a comfortable life for herself after growing up poor and then being pampered during her brief marriage. Her personality is a little bit more difficult to pin down. Michael just up and falls in love with her because her aura is innocent and pure and good and she looks like an angel, and this was just not something I could really get on board with. The author did a good job of writing about the attraction these two felt for each other and the sex between them, there wasn't a lot of it and very few little "lead in" scenes," were excellent, if a little flowery.

Rating: The book did drag a little and was definitely one of the slower reads in the genre, but it was fun and a good book with well written characters and no side-plot bogging it down. But overall, not exceptionally special in any way.