How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days

How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days

By Laura Lee Guhrke

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: April 29, 2014

Five years ago, near the end of an unsuccessful season in London, American heiress Edie Jewell was dreading her return to New York. Edie was unsurprised that not even her father’s millions were enough to win her acceptance in New York Knickerbocker society where the nouveau riche label had destroyed the hopes of wealthy young women with far more beauty and grace than Edie possesses, but the whispers that followed her every move after the nightmare in Saratoga left her reputation in tatters. The rattling tongues and her fear of encountering the man responsible for her ruin made New York intolerable for Edie, but her father’s hope that his wealth will be sufficient to overcome the deficiencies of  his tall, ginger-haired, freckled older daughter has proved vain. Even the wiles of Lady Featherstone, the renowned matchmaker for American heiresses in London, have failed. But just when it seems that Edie must steel herself to return to New York, she meets the Duke of Margrave, who accepts Edie’s astonishing proposal: she will pay the heavy debts he has inherited and fund his expedition to Africa, and he will give her the protection of his name and her freedom, insuring the latter by never returning to England.

Stuart, Duke of Margrave kept his promise to his wife for five years. But when an attack by a lioness leaves him a few breaths away from death, Stuart knows he must break his word and return home—to England and to Edie.  His wife’s dismay at his return makes his dream of a real marriage seem impossible, but Stuart, an optimist by nature, persuades Edie to strike a new deal. He has ten days to persuade Edie that she can have a whole and happy life as his wife. If he fails, he will disappear and leave Edie to live her life without the duke.

What follows is a story of sweet seduction that offers a rare blend of serious problems, light-hearted pursuit, and genuine communication. In another reversal from the expected, Edie is the one with the power. Stuart, in his quest to win the favor of his lady, does sometimes manipulate her into situations that push the boundaries of her comfort zone, but she always has a choice. It is a measure of Stuart’s understanding that he recognizes, even before he learns the details of Edie’s trauma, that having the power of choice is essential for her.

How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days is the second book in Guhrke’s American Heiress in London series. I liked the first book, When the Marquess Met His Match, and I thought this one was even better. Edie is an intelligent woman who is using her intellect and her considerable strength to survive a devastating experience, one that leaves contemporary women, with far more resources than a woman in the late 19^th century had, battling anxiety and depression. Stuart is a heart-stealer hero with more than his share of charm, tenderness, and two undervalued qualities—patience and honesty.

I’ve been a Guhrke fan for years, but this one is special even as a book from a favorite author. I did have a quibble with the title, which suggests lighter fare than the book delivers. But that’s a minor point and certainly not enough to prevent my giving this book my highest recommendation and counting it among my top five Guhrke novels.

I really enjoy the American in England trope when it is done well. Guhrke’s Trouble at the Wedding is another excellent example of the trope, as are two of Lisa Kleypas’s Wallflower books. Do you like the trope? What’s your favorite romance with an American heroine in England?

Tuesday Review: When the Marquess Met His Match

When the Marquess Met His Match

By Laura Lee Guhrke

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: 

October 29, 2013

Once Miss Belinda Hamilton of Cleveland, Ohio, was one of the daughters of nouveau riche American millionaires snubbed by New York Knickerbocker society who married an English aristocrat and found social acceptance across the Atlantic.  But Belinda learned firsthand that such unions came with no guarantee of an HEA. At seventeen, she fell madly in love with the handsome, charming Charles, Earl of Featherstone whom she married six weeks after they met. By the time his dissolute lifestyle led to his death of heart failure five years into their marriage, Belinda’s illusions about romantic love had been shattered.

Her husband’s spendthrift ways and her father’s Wall Street speculation left the former heiress a widow of modest means, but her place in English society is secure. That status allows her to supplement her income by serving as a marriage broker. Five years into her widowhood, Belinda has established a reputation as the matchmaker best suited to help wealthy young American women avoid her mistake and find an aristocratic husband who will bring them not only social status but also a happy marriage based on “a solid foundation of sincere affection, shared interests, and like minds.”

The last person Nicholas Stirling, Marquess of Trubridge, rake extraordinaire, expects to have need of is a matchmaker, but when, shortly after Nicholas turns thirty, his estranged father, the Duke of Landsdowne, cuts off the trust fund from Nicholas’s mother, the young marquess feels that marriage to a wealthy bride is his best option. Nicholas refuses to submit to the dictates of the domineering father to whom he has not spoken in eight years and marry the proper wife the duke has chosen for his heir. Since the well-known marriage broker Lady Featherstone is the sister-in-law of his good friend Jack, Nicholas decides to approach her for help, confident that she will steer him toward some likely candidates to become Marchioness of Trubridge.

Nicholas represents all that Belinda detests most, a man with a history of a life devoted to wine, women, and gaming who is marrying only for money to support his decadent lifestyle. Under no circumstances will she be instrumental in leading another young woman into the kind of disastrous marriage that Belinda knew with Featherstone. Not content simply to refuse to help Trubridge, Belinda announces that she will use her considerable influence to thwart his plans. Nicholas, angry that she has judged him by reputation without knowing any of the circumstances, accepts the challenge. The battle begins. Neither is prepared for the attraction that sparks between them and grows with every encounter. The stakes are higher than either expected, and their hearts are on the line. But both Belinda and Nicholas must grow and change before they can claim the kind of happiness they had come to believe was only the illusory dreams of innocents.

When the Marquess Met His Match is the first book in Laura Lee Guhrke’s An American Heiress in London series set in the late 19^th century. Belinda and Nicholas are intelligent, articulate people, and their dialogue is delightful. I especially enjoyed the scenes where Nicholas meets the “perfect matches” Belinda has set up based on his criteria for a wife, but the best scene occurs when Nicholas turns the tables on her and demonstrates why she meets the most important criteria.

Belinda is slow to let down her defenses, but her resistance allows time for the relationship to develop convincingly, and her forthrightness with Nicholas serves as a catalyst for the changes he must make to earn not only Belinda’s respect, but his own. I have a weakness for leonine heroes (Maybe it’s the Leo influence), and from the beginning Nicholas is described as a lordly lion in looks and attitude. I found him an immensely appealing character. And I loved the ending which brought not only the defeat of the villain and the inauguration of the HEA but also the avoidance of what easily could have become a Big Misunderstanding of dismaying proportions.

Guhrke has a gift for creating fully realized characters with rich interior lives and placing them in situations that satisfy the expectations of romance readers. She does it again with this novel. If you have enjoyed Guhrke’s Bachelor Girl or Abandoned at the Altar series, you will find this one to your taste. The American connection gives it a slightly different feel, which should add to the interest for some readers.

The hero and heroine of the next book in the series are introduced in the first book, the Duke and Duchess of Margrave, She is the former Edith Ann Jewell, and their marriage with husband and wife living on separate continents represents Belinda’s “most colossal failure” as a matchmaker. How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days will be released April 29, 2014. I can’t wait to read it. I recommend you read When the Marquess Met His Match soon so that you can join me in eagerly anticipating Book 2.

I love Regency-set historicals, but I am happy to see more romance novels with Victorian and Edwardian settings and even later. Are you strictly a Regency reader? Do you prefer variety? Or are you indifferent to historical period so long as you like the story?

After Christmas Treats: Coming to a Bookstore Near You

December 28 has long been marked on my book calendar as one of those terrific, tantalizing Tuesdays that promise a bounty of books that I’m longing to read. I’ve already read three (all A reads for me), and I am eagerly awaiting the others.

Toni Blake--Whisper Falls (Destiny, Book 3--Avon)

Nobody is better than Toni Blake at giving a reader engaging characters in a story that is both sizzling and sweet. She does it again in Whisper Falls, the third book in her series set in small-town Ohio. If you’re as weary as I am of heroines (and heroes) whose loves are blighted beyond recovery because some past love betrayed them, you will probably find heroine Tessa Sheridan as refreshing as I did. She is battling Crohn’s disease, and it’s a tough fight. Tessa felt real to me. Chronic illness has had both physical and emotional costs, but she’s determined to enjoy life. She’s also an interesting combination of caution and risk-taking.

Lucky is a dark, dangerous biker bad boy, the kind your mother always warned you about but you kept sneaking looks and having fantasies ‘cause he was so-o-o sexy. And he is all these things, and  much more. He’s a guy who made some bad choices, but he’s trying to right old wrongs and make choices now that are best for all concerned. He’s a Romo (brother to Mike, whom you’ll know if you read Book 2), and he has family issues that have to be resolved. He also has a past, and we romance readers know that the past is rarely fully past.

I like my romances with rich contexts, and Blake provides plenty of that. I especially liked the way characters from the earlier books were woven into this one. Their presence had purpose in the story. I never got the feeling they were making cameo appearances to satisfy the series addicts (like me). This book stands on its own quite well. Readers new to the series or to Blake should have no problems with it.

Whisper Falls was another TB winner for me. I'm already wondering what’s happening in Destiny next.

Robyn Carr--Promise Canyon (Virgin River, Book 11--Mira)

I’m always happy to visit Virgin River. It’s filled with interesting people. Clay Tahoma and Lilly Yazhi are terrific additions to the community. Clay has just arrived in Virgin River, and he’s looking to settle down and build a life here. He’s also trying to cut some troublesome ties with his immediate past. Lilly has a past too, one that has taught her to be wary of strong, sexy Native American males. She’s the only one in Virgin River not delighted to have Clay join the community.

I really liked these characters. Their different responses to their cultural heritage seemed genuine to me. One of the things I liked best was that Lilly reconnects to parts of who she is because of her relationship with Clay. The scene where she meets his mother left me teary-eyed. In fact, I loved the family connections in this book—the fierce but imperfect love between Lilly and her grandfather and Clay’s extraordinary history with his son and his close ties with his sister and her family.

Clay and Lilly are good together too. Lilly may be guilty of stereotyping (a certain irony there) when she first meets Clay, but she has good reason for her reservations. The mistake Clay makes with Lilly seemed in character to me, and his propensity to delay the difficult reminded me of some men I’ve known. And Robyn Carr could give lessons in how to make a hero admit he’s wrong and how to atone for his errors.

I’ve read all the Virgin River books, and I have enjoyed them, some more than others. I’d rank this one very close to the first three, which continue to be my favorites.

Note: The count for the series says Promise Canyon is Book 11, but if you include the two novellas, it’s really story #13. I admit I made a chart, so I can keep track of all the character connections in the series. For any of you who are as obsessive as I am with keeping track of such details, the story of Clay’s friend and employer, veterinarian Nate Jensen, and his fiancée, Annie McCarty, can be found in “Under the Christmas Tree,” a novella in That Holiday Feeling (2009).

Laura Lee Guhrke--Wedding of the Season (Abandoned at the Altar, Book 1--Avon)

This is the first book in a new trilogy from Laura Lee Guhrke, and if they are all three as good as the first one, this series should rival Guhrke’s Bachelor Girl series in popularity. I should start by saying that I had three reasons for a predisposition to like Wedding of the Season before I read the first line: (1) It’s written by an author whose books routinely earn keeper status from me; (2) it’s set in the Edwardian period, a time I think we see too little of in romance fiction; (3) it’s a reunion story, my favorite theme. Sometimes having high expectations of a book can lead to a proportional disappointment. That was definitely not the case with WOTS.

Beatrix and Will are a couple with a history. Six years ago, each of them makes a choice that puts a period to their long relationship. She’s engaged again and looking forward to a wedding that will take place--and then Will reappears. The opening scene is marvelous. It sets up the tension between the H/H beautifully, plus it gave me the same feeling I get from the opening scene of my favorite romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s.

The plot is fairly predictable. There’s the heroine with a grievance, the hero with a purpose, the proper new love, and a set of circumstances that force the H/H into one another’s company with the expected result of reunion and HEA. What sets Guhrke book apart from hundreds of other books with the same plot is the skill with which she creates characters with whom the reader falls in love. Beatrix’s determination to have the life she believes she must have and her reluctance to take risks may be maddening to some readers, but she had my sympathy from the beginning. I thought the roadster worked masterfully to show that there is more to Beatrix than even she understands at this point. Will is a great hero, but he's not faultless. His interest in the Egyptian excavation is consuming. Their flaws make these characters interesting, credible, and endearing.

I can’t praise the setting highly enough. Not only is it refreshingly different from the usual Georgian/Regency fare, but it is tied directly to action and character in this novel. The opulent lifestyles of the privileged, the technological advances, the shifting social roles—all these things are part of WOTS. They are part of who these characters are. Wedding of the Season is not only a fun read with a wholly satisfying romance; it’s also an intelligent book. I love that!

December 28 releases I haven’t read but that are on my To-Be-Bought list are:

I've been waiting for Lady Most Likely for ages. Three favorites in one book--how often does that happen? In Too Deep introduces a new series, but it's still an Arcane Society book--and I'm hooked. Mistress by Midnight is the second book in the Courtesans Court series. I think that court was a brilliant idea, and I can't wait to read another book by my friend Maggie.
(Rose Lerner’s second book, A Lily Among Thorns, was on my list for December 28, but according to her website, the release date has been changed to March 2011 for the ebook, June 2011 for the pb. I had wondered how the changes at Dorchester would affect this book. I’m glad it’s just a delay in release.)

Note: I received free ecopies of Whisper Falls, Promise Canyon, and Wedding of the Season from the publishers through NetGalley, but my reviews were unaffected by their generosity. As evidence, I offer the information that I'll use my own $$ to buy copies of all three along with the other books on my list on December 28.