Posted on by Maureen

How to Love a Duke in Ten Days by Kerrigan Byrne

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How to Love a Duke in Ten Days is the first book in Kerrigan Byrne’s Devil You Know series. I have been a big fan of her Victorian Rebels series for a few years, so needless to say, I was very excited about the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

Even if you’ve only read one Byrne book before, you already know that the prologue is intense, and this book is no exception. Content warning: Alexandra, the heroine, is raped by the headmaster of her school, and she ends up killing him in self-defense. Her best friends help her bury the body, and they go on to live their best lives.

Flashforward ten years, and Alexandra is traveling to Castle Redmayne to meet up with her friends for a wedding. She doesn’t realize that it’s going to be *her* wedding, but she finds herself married to Piers- the Terror of Torcliff, an enigmatic duke who has inherited a title he was never supposed to possess. Read more

Posted on by Maureen

The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

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The Wallflower Wager is the third book in Tessa Dare’s Girl Meets Duke series of Regency-era historical romance novels. I read this book immediately after listening to the Audible edition of the second book in the series (The Governess Game), and I was looking forward to finding out what was going to happen next in the series.

Lady Penelope Campion is quite devoted to her small group of friends- two of whom have appeared as heroines in the previous books in the series- but for the most part, she avoids Proper Society. She is content to live with her sizeable menagerie of abandoned animals, but her family has told her that she needs to put an end to her eccentric ways and return to the family’s country house.

Gabriel Duke has crawled his way from the (literal) gutter to the top through sheer grit and determination. They call him the “Duke of Ruin” because of his ruthlessly methodical approach to achieving his goals. His newest project is renovating the house next door to Penny. He intends to sell the house to social climbers who will pay top dollar for the cachet of living next door to a Real Lady. So, against his better judgement, he agrees to help Penny find homes for all the animals so that she can remain in London. This is purely a business arrangement, nothing more- full stop. Read more

Posted on by Maureen

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare

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My TBR queue has been in utter disarray for far too long, and I’m taking steps to remedy it. As I prepared for the release of Tessa Dare’s newest book, I realized that I never read the second book in the series. Luckily, I already owned it- and even luckier, I had the Audible edition as well. So, I popped on my headphones, and listened to the book while cleaning my middle schooler’s room while she’s away at camp.

But enough about me.

The Governess Game is the second book in Tessa Dare’s Girl Meets Duke series of Regency-era historical romance novels. As the title suggests, it features the governess trope, which is one of my absolute favorites.

Chase Reynaud is not a duke, although he is next in line for a ducal title. He has, however, already inherited the guardianship of two young girls- and all the responsibility that goes along with that. Read more