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568 reviews for:
How the Dukes Stole Christmas
Sarah MacLean, Joanna Shupe, Sophie Jordan, Tessa Dare
3.66 AVERAGE
568 reviews for:
How the Dukes Stole Christmas
Sarah MacLean, Joanna Shupe, Sophie Jordan, Tessa Dare
3.66 AVERAGE
So cute! Four historical novellas, set at Christmas, with Dukes (three titled heroes, and one American named Duke!!) and a shared shortbread thread. I really enjoyed this, and it was my first experience w Sophie Jordan & Joanna Shupe and I’m a fan! I already would read anything Tessa Dare or Sarah MacLean writes.
3.5 Stars!Fun little grouping of novellas!
I did have some issues getting into a couple of the stories...because they're novellas, by nature (obviously), they're going to be shorter than not. Which is fine, but one of the stories felt way too rushed--although for the length of story, it was understandable, but I just...I couldn't get fully wrapped in it like I wanted. Although I did find myself wishing for more on all the stories; I wouldn't mind seeing these characters come up again in future stories by the respective authors!
I loved the theme of shortbread in all of them! It was funny watching people try to shove their "magic love biscuits" at the respective couples! Maybe those silly biscuits really did have a little bit of magic afterall!
The first and fourth stories both had one issue that made me want to smack people: The respective hero found out a slight untruth (which honestly, I don't blame the heroine for at all in either story), and immediately jump to the worst possible case instead of hearing the situation out. I did like the fact that they both ended up realizing they'd made a mistake and then apologized for it.
2021 reread: i stand by my comments from last time— love Tessa's and Sophie's (might be my favorite sophie?? need to read more of her) and while i enjoyed sarah's more this time, I just found the hero unforgivable in Joanna's story. Like he threatens this woman to either play to his tune or be fired, flirts with her and is all "your husband says its ok if we fuck" with that threat of her firing still looming, and then he LOSES IT when he realizes she hasn't been entirely truthful because *checks notes* she's been desperately trying to earn a living for her and her aging, ailing mother? Fuckin pass.
content notes: listened in audio over several days so i probably missed some but I ~did~ remeber drinking, past parental death (in Sarah's, Sophie's and Joanna's) past death of a sibling, and implied domestic violence towards a child
2020: Real interesting on the reread— there were stories I really enjoyed the first go round that just didn’t work for me this read! I think I’m just in a really different headspace than I was two years ago (LOL fair bc 2020 is
content notes: listened in audio over several days so i probably missed some but I ~did~ remeber drinking, past parental death (in Sarah's, Sophie's and Joanna's) past death of a sibling, and implied domestic violence towards a child
2020: Real interesting on the reread— there were stories I really enjoyed the first go round that just didn’t work for me this read! I think I’m just in a really different headspace than I was two years ago (LOL fair bc 2020 is
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
I wanted some light Christmas-y reading, and this was the first library request to come through. This is a collection of historical romance novellas, and my enjoyment of the individual stories varies (Tessa Dare’s being my favorite at ⭐️⭐️⭐️). It’s all pretty much what you would expect as far as romance tropes go. Overall, it was fine but ultimately forgettable (I already had trouble remembering the second story as I came to write this review
I overall had an enjoyable time with this book and really loved the audio. However, I only ended up liking 2 of the 4 stories.
Trigger warnings: death of a sibling (in the past), death of a parent (in the past), implied domestic violence towards a child.
26/12/2019
Does this feature a lot of instalove? Uh, yes. They're romance short stories, of course it does. Did I care? Fuck, no. This is pretty stinking cute and it was the perfect thing to read on Boxing Day when my brain was mush.
29/11/2018
So here's the deal: if you're looking for historical accuracy, you won't get it in any of these stories. Like, AT ALL. They're riddled with anachronisms and things that would literally never happen. So if you want a historical romance that contains anything even remotely resembling authenticity, you should probably just nope your way to the exit right now.
But. If you're looking for a Christmas-themed dose of cheesy romance? This is pretty stinking great.
Tessa Dare's story is ridiculous but delightful. Sarah McLean's was my favourite of the collection purely because it features a 32 year old heroine and a second chance romance. Sophie Jordan's was...slightly eye roll worthy but still fun. And while Joanna Shupe's was my least favourite, I really enjoyed seeing how she included a "Duke" in stark contrast to the other three authors.
Also, I loved the fact that all four stories featured terrible shortbread. In short: it was great.
26/12/2019
Does this feature a lot of instalove? Uh, yes. They're romance short stories, of course it does. Did I care? Fuck, no. This is pretty stinking cute and it was the perfect thing to read on Boxing Day when my brain was mush.
29/11/2018
So here's the deal: if you're looking for historical accuracy, you won't get it in any of these stories. Like, AT ALL. They're riddled with anachronisms and things that would literally never happen. So if you want a historical romance that contains anything even remotely resembling authenticity, you should probably just nope your way to the exit right now.
But. If you're looking for a Christmas-themed dose of cheesy romance? This is pretty stinking great.
Tessa Dare's story is ridiculous but delightful. Sarah McLean's was my favourite of the collection purely because it features a 32 year old heroine and a second chance romance. Sophie Jordan's was...slightly eye roll worthy but still fun. And while Joanna Shupe's was my least favourite, I really enjoyed seeing how she included a "Duke" in stark contrast to the other three authors.
Also, I loved the fact that all four stories featured terrible shortbread. In short: it was great.
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Delightful, charming holiday stories. I loved them all!