A Duke by Any Other Name

Really enjoyed this story. Laughed out loud thru the whole first half of it. The author is very clever. This was a very unique story of which I’ve never read anything similar.

Why some producer hasn’t bought the rights to this author and started churning out series to rival Poldark or Downton Abbey is beyond me. This one is the best yet and made me lose a day of work, darn her! I sat down to read a few pages over coffee and was lost. From the fractious horse whose behavior while being tacked will have riders nodding at remembered antics to the scents of gardens to the realities of dealing with clothes that fasten up the back because no lady undressed without the help of a maid…I could even taste the wheel of cheese that won the hero’s heart it was so vividly described. But it’s the characters, as detailed, flawed, fractious and woefully human who sucked me into this alternate reality. I simply could NOT figure out how they were going to get out of their conundrum and they had be believing. I sniffled, I groaned, and finally, I cheered! This book has ALL the feels and I was happy to dive in and drown in it until, at last, it was over and I came up, sighing blissfully, for air. If you haven’t tried this author before, dive right in. Any of her series books are complete of themselves and don’t require reading the others before. Just be warned - once you do read one, you’ll be buying everything in front, after, around…this author is completely addictive. And then you’ll find her audiobooks and your ruin is complete. I was given this free review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Nathaniel, Duke of Rothhaven, has secrets, huge, life altering, treasonous secrets. Brooding and secluded, carefully guarding his intimidating reputation, he avoids interactions with even his closest neighbors. But when Lady Althea Wentworth allows her sows to graze in his orchard, he is forced to interact with the insightful, but bullied, relative of the peerage. Late to prosperity and society after a horrifying childhood, Althea recognizes a wounded soul when she sees one. As in many of Ms. Burrowes novels, readers are presented with an (apparently) unsolvable set of circumstances. We readers KNOW that Nathaniel and Althea deserve to have their HEA, but for the life of us, we can’t see any possible resolution. Slowly and steadily, Ms. Burrowes reveals Nathaniel’s secrets, showcasing his true nature, that of a loyal, loving, and lovable family man. I confess that reading one of Ms. Burrowes novels takes me longer than other comparable length books simply because her use of language is just so beautiful that I find myself frequently rereading paragraphs, just to revel in the sentence structure. I read many (MANY!) historical romances and often find myself kicked out of the time period by an author’s use of a contemporary phrase (a character says “NOT!” after a statement, or “rolls her eyes”) or by applying a contemporary moral. You won’t find this error in Ms. Burrowes books. Her language and customs are true to the setting, whether it be ancient Scotland or Regency England. I highly recommend “A Duke by Any Other Name.’ You won’t be disappointed! I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from the publisher and am voluntarily reviewing it.