Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Originally reviewed for Red Hot Books
A Duke by Default is the fantastic second book in Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series. The book’s main female character is Portia, a wealthy former party girl from New York City who has decided to turn over a new leaf. No drinking, no random hook-ups and she’s taken an internship with a sword maker in Scotland. She is determined to show her friends and family that she’s not flaky and that she can commit to a career path just like her extraordinary twin sister. This becomes difficult when she meets her hot boss and he doesn’t trust her enough to let her use her expertise to help the business.
Tavish MacKenzie doesn’t have time for an American woman who’s constantly looking at her phone. With a failed marriage and a business that’s going the same way he’s doing everything in his power to shut down Portia’s ideas for the business and his attraction to her. When he discovers he’s up for a Dukedom, his entire world turns upside and the fledgling romance between himself and Portia will either withstand the new realities of his life or go the way of history.
I really liked that Cole had Portia and Tav face both everyday differences that might keep them apart, as well as the the type of conflict only characters in a romance novel face. Portia was raised in the lap of luxury, while Tav has had to scrape by since birth. Tav, on the other hand, has a supportive and loving family, while Portia’s parents are less than supportive and pick favorites with their children. This doesn’t even take into account that Portia and Tav’s personalities couldn’t be any more different from each other.These things are real reasons that real couples don’t work out, and reading about Portia and Tav as they overcome these differences is just as rewarding as watching them overcome the fallout of discovering Tav is a duke. These true to life differences enrich Portia and Tav’s characters and made it easier for me to invest in them as fully formed, multi-dimensional characters. I wanted to see Tav’s life made easier because of his story of struggle and I wanted Portia to finally feel accomplished and loved.
While Portia and Tav as a couple were easy to relate and invest in, it was the character of Portia that I loved most about this book. I think it’s easy for most women to relate to a female character that is struggling to find her place, make good choices for herself and have solid, healthy relationships with family, friends and lovers. I was definitely moved as Portia overcame these issues, discovered what was holding her back and faced her personal demons, but what really struck me was that, out of all the issues and challenges Portia had, body image wasn’t one of them. I was thrilled to see a character who is portrayed as smart, funny, sexy and doesn’t spend 60% of the book worried about her looks. Portia’s mind, her accomplishments, relationships and character were the focus of her story arc and I honestly can’t thank the author enough for that.
One issue I often have with Contemporary Romance novels is that they don’t always seem realistic; people don’t have cell phones, weather is never a problem unless it’s a snowstorm that brings characters together and there are rarely negative consequences to the major events that happen in the storyline. Cole totally takes care of this in A Duke by Default. When Tav is revealed as the Royal Duke of Edinburgh, his life and the life of everyone around him is completely turned upside down. Paparazzi are everywhere, it affects his and his sister-in-law’s business and his past, Portia’s past and even Tav’s ex-wife’s past is dredged up and put on displayed for the world to see. It’s clear that Alyssa Cole has considered and researched all the pros and cons of sudden dukedom and it makes the book that much more realistic and easy to immerse myself into.
A Duke By Default is a great book with excellent writing and characters Alyssa Cole deals with some very serious issues regarding relationships and personal growth while keep things fun, sexy and realistic. Believe the hype on this book – it’s fantastic!
Rating: A+
*ARC received from publisher for honest review.
A Duke by Default is the fantastic second book in Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series. The book’s main female character is Portia, a wealthy former party girl from New York City who has decided to turn over a new leaf. No drinking, no random hook-ups and she’s taken an internship with a sword maker in Scotland. She is determined to show her friends and family that she’s not flaky and that she can commit to a career path just like her extraordinary twin sister. This becomes difficult when she meets her hot boss and he doesn’t trust her enough to let her use her expertise to help the business.
Tavish MacKenzie doesn’t have time for an American woman who’s constantly looking at her phone. With a failed marriage and a business that’s going the same way he’s doing everything in his power to shut down Portia’s ideas for the business and his attraction to her. When he discovers he’s up for a Dukedom, his entire world turns upside and the fledgling romance between himself and Portia will either withstand the new realities of his life or go the way of history.
I really liked that Cole had Portia and Tav face both everyday differences that might keep them apart, as well as the the type of conflict only characters in a romance novel face. Portia was raised in the lap of luxury, while Tav has had to scrape by since birth. Tav, on the other hand, has a supportive and loving family, while Portia’s parents are less than supportive and pick favorites with their children. This doesn’t even take into account that Portia and Tav’s personalities couldn’t be any more different from each other.These things are real reasons that real couples don’t work out, and reading about Portia and Tav as they overcome these differences is just as rewarding as watching them overcome the fallout of discovering Tav is a duke. These true to life differences enrich Portia and Tav’s characters and made it easier for me to invest in them as fully formed, multi-dimensional characters. I wanted to see Tav’s life made easier because of his story of struggle and I wanted Portia to finally feel accomplished and loved.
While Portia and Tav as a couple were easy to relate and invest in, it was the character of Portia that I loved most about this book. I think it’s easy for most women to relate to a female character that is struggling to find her place, make good choices for herself and have solid, healthy relationships with family, friends and lovers. I was definitely moved as Portia overcame these issues, discovered what was holding her back and faced her personal demons, but what really struck me was that, out of all the issues and challenges Portia had, body image wasn’t one of them. I was thrilled to see a character who is portrayed as smart, funny, sexy and doesn’t spend 60% of the book worried about her looks. Portia’s mind, her accomplishments, relationships and character were the focus of her story arc and I honestly can’t thank the author enough for that.
One issue I often have with Contemporary Romance novels is that they don’t always seem realistic; people don’t have cell phones, weather is never a problem unless it’s a snowstorm that brings characters together and there are rarely negative consequences to the major events that happen in the storyline. Cole totally takes care of this in A Duke by Default. When Tav is revealed as the Royal Duke of Edinburgh, his life and the life of everyone around him is completely turned upside down. Paparazzi are everywhere, it affects his and his sister-in-law’s business and his past, Portia’s past and even Tav’s ex-wife’s past is dredged up and put on displayed for the world to see. It’s clear that Alyssa Cole has considered and researched all the pros and cons of sudden dukedom and it makes the book that much more realistic and easy to immerse myself into.
A Duke By Default is a great book with excellent writing and characters Alyssa Cole deals with some very serious issues regarding relationships and personal growth while keep things fun, sexy and realistic. Believe the hype on this book – it’s fantastic!
Rating: A+
*ARC received from publisher for honest review.
Portia is incredible and I love everything about her, apart from the fact that she doesn’t have opportunity for internal validation. She is only just getting started on this journey of rewriting her internal monologues and believing the positive stuff about herself. It’s like Cole expended all this effort to make sure everyone understands how incredible she is but didn’t put enough into convincing Portia.
Tav I could easily have done without, regardless of how pretty he’s supposed to be. I’m just done with heroes that can’t figure their own shit out. Tav gets there, in terms of recognising his shitbag behaviour, but only after *everyone* in his life berates him for being an arsehole (and I don’t mean the constant stream of that taking place as the story unfolds, I mean in re the big mistake at the end ... the fact I even feel the need to clarify sums him up nicely). He spends the first half of this hitting every negative stereotype square of toxic masculinity bingo, then spends 3/4 of the second half becoming marginally decent - which just isn’t enough - and at the first chance he gets to prove himself he makes the absolute worst choice possible. She literally asked him about changing his mind, he blew off her concern, then did exactly that because he was all about protecting her without ever even asking if she was alright after what happened. Fuck asking if she needed protection, what about asking if she needed a fucking hug? All the eye roll. #isTHISromance?
The ending is wrapped up so quickly that we don’t really get to see them making it and this is *maybe* HFN, definitely not HEA, and it’s super shaky. One of the only times I’ve read something and wished there’d been an epilogue. This one doesn’t work quite as hard as book 1 to resolve all the lil plot lines, and it’s missing a big chunk of book 1’s charm, but I’m left with so many questions about stuff - not to mention wishing Portia and Reggie had been able to have a more in depth conversation there at the end. Their relationship is fairly central to Portia’s self image and it’s too fast by far. Also where tf are her parents at the end? I guess we’re meant to assume they go on being total wankers? And what about the job sitch? I’m hella disappointed in the ending as it seems she’s going to become something to Tav and the only real post open is the spouse and after all the lead up, I want something better for them.
Once more the peripherals characters are spectacular and set up the next book without being heavy handed. Loved the #girlswithglasses and the #hotmessguru. Some great one liners, mostly in the first half.
Last but not least ... the royal duke of Edinburgh is currently married to the queen of England. Why not use a fake title?
Tav I could easily have done without, regardless of how pretty he’s supposed to be. I’m just done with heroes that can’t figure their own shit out. Tav gets there, in terms of recognising his shitbag behaviour, but only after *everyone* in his life berates him for being an arsehole (and I don’t mean the constant stream of that taking place as the story unfolds, I mean in re the big mistake at the end ... the fact I even feel the need to clarify sums him up nicely). He spends the first half of this hitting every negative stereotype square of toxic masculinity bingo, then spends 3/4 of the second half becoming marginally decent - which just isn’t enough - and at the first chance he gets to prove himself he makes the absolute worst choice possible. She literally asked him about changing his mind, he blew off her concern, then did exactly that because he was all about protecting her without ever even asking if she was alright after what happened. Fuck asking if she needed protection, what about asking if she needed a fucking hug? All the eye roll. #isTHISromance?
The ending is wrapped up so quickly that we don’t really get to see them making it and this is *maybe* HFN, definitely not HEA, and it’s super shaky. One of the only times I’ve read something and wished there’d been an epilogue. This one doesn’t work quite as hard as book 1 to resolve all the lil plot lines, and it’s missing a big chunk of book 1’s charm, but I’m left with so many questions about stuff - not to mention wishing Portia and Reggie had been able to have a more in depth conversation there at the end. Their relationship is fairly central to Portia’s self image and it’s too fast by far. Also where tf are her parents at the end? I guess we’re meant to assume they go on being total wankers? And what about the job sitch? I’m hella disappointed in the ending as it seems she’s going to become something to Tav and the only real post open is the spouse and after all the lead up, I want something better for them.
Once more the peripherals characters are spectacular and set up the next book without being heavy handed. Loved the #girlswithglasses and the #hotmessguru. Some great one liners, mostly in the first half.
Last but not least ... the royal duke of Edinburgh is currently married to the queen of England. Why not use a fake title?
Ms. Cole places her hero and heroine in close proximity in an unusual and creative setting: a sword making smithery. What is refreshing here is how Ms. Cole depicts the struggle of her heroine to find a professional path in life (something many people experience) and the fact that Portia may be experiencing ADHD. Ms. Cole also illustrates the thorny issue of developing a relationship with a boss, and how difficult that path can be.
I struggled a bit with the first book in the Reluctant Royals series, but I loved A Duke by Default. I really connected with Portia and their romance in general, and I enjoyed the background swords (although I wish there was slightly more fencing and sword-making in the book).
*ARC provided by Edelweiss and publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
A Duke By Default is about Portia, who decides to change her life, stopping with the drinking, the partying and the one-night stands. So she goes to do an apprenticeship in Scotland with a sword-master. She has always had an interest for different activities, so she can help them in a lot of ways. She has a boss who has been older and very grumpy since he met her. Then she discovers he's the heir of a duke and starts using her abilities to help him find his place in this new society.
This was an incredible book which strength was mostly the amazing heroine who took no shit from people but who is extremely complex and had a lot of problems to solve. Also, the hero wasn't *my* cup of tea but he was nice and interesting and I totally rooted for this couple. The addition to the plot of the reveal that he's son of a secret duke sold me on this book and I loved the dynamics that the main characters had after finding this secret and I adore that they decided to do something about it to change the way things are in royalty. It had commentaries on immigration and family and I adored how introspective it was. The whole journey that Portia was going through was extremely relatable to me and it was done extremely well. The way Alyssa Cole writes is beautiful and insightful and she makes me believe in the journey that these characters are going through. Something I didn't like was the last few chapters, I feel like this could have been resolved much faster and at the end I wasn't rooting for the couple as much as I was at the beginning.
A Duke By Default is about Portia, who decides to change her life, stopping with the drinking, the partying and the one-night stands. So she goes to do an apprenticeship in Scotland with a sword-master. She has always had an interest for different activities, so she can help them in a lot of ways. She has a boss who has been older and very grumpy since he met her. Then she discovers he's the heir of a duke and starts using her abilities to help him find his place in this new society.
This was an incredible book which strength was mostly the amazing heroine who took no shit from people but who is extremely complex and had a lot of problems to solve. Also, the hero wasn't *my* cup of tea but he was nice and interesting and I totally rooted for this couple. The addition to the plot of the reveal that he's son of a secret duke sold me on this book and I loved the dynamics that the main characters had after finding this secret and I adore that they decided to do something about it to change the way things are in royalty. It had commentaries on immigration and family and I adored how introspective it was. The whole journey that Portia was going through was extremely relatable to me and it was done extremely well. The way Alyssa Cole writes is beautiful and insightful and she makes me believe in the journey that these characters are going through. Something I didn't like was the last few chapters, I feel like this could have been resolved much faster and at the end I wasn't rooting for the couple as much as I was at the beginning.
Alyssa Cole is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She tackles issues of ableism and the trauma it causes masterfully all while centering a romance around a man who can nerd out about swords without coming across as a creep. What can't she do?
This book hit way too close to home for me at times. I'd disliked Portia in the previous book, so I never expected that i was going to relate to her as much as I did but boy did I. From the way people judge and underestimate her because she likes to dress up. To her familial issues. To her own internal issues/struggles and how she dealt/deals with them. Her inner narrative, etc. There's so much nuances to her character that I related to so much but if i were to list them all, we'd be here forever. So let's just go with: this book made my laugh and it made me cry and it made me hurt and ache and stung my soul in such therapeutic ways. Plus: the royal, age-gap romance was a major bonus, but that's just personal preference. Also, it made me realize there's a 95% chance I might have ADHD, so i should probably get that checked at some point in my life? Anyways, I love Portia Monique Hobbs that is all ♡ (although i will say, i feel the book ended in a weird place. I kind of wish the thing with her parents had been resolved or atleast addressed in a way that implied it would be resolved eventually or something.)
I received an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
characters: Black American heroine with ADHD, Scottish/Chilean hero with a Jamaican stepfather, multiple side characters of color
I heard great things about A Princess in Theory, a romance novel with a Black heroine in foster care studying science, with a Black prince love interest. While non-YA romance with M/F pairings is a relatively new genre to me, I was excited to get my hands on an ARC of the sequel, A Duke by Default. In the end, this novel ended up being everything I hoped it would be.
In A Duke by Default, the POV alternates between Portia, an American woman who takes an internship in Scotland, and Tavish, a swordmaker who is really into Scottish history and is supposed to teach Portia how to make swords as well. From the very beginning, their dynamic was everything I loved: there is some age difference, but an even bigger difference in lifestyle.
Read the full review on my blog, A Thousand Worlds.
characters: Black American heroine with ADHD, Scottish/Chilean hero with a Jamaican stepfather, multiple side characters of color
I heard great things about A Princess in Theory, a romance novel with a Black heroine in foster care studying science, with a Black prince love interest. While non-YA romance with M/F pairings is a relatively new genre to me, I was excited to get my hands on an ARC of the sequel, A Duke by Default. In the end, this novel ended up being everything I hoped it would be.
In A Duke by Default, the POV alternates between Portia, an American woman who takes an internship in Scotland, and Tavish, a swordmaker who is really into Scottish history and is supposed to teach Portia how to make swords as well. From the very beginning, their dynamic was everything I loved: there is some age difference, but an even bigger difference in lifestyle.
Read the full review on my blog, A Thousand Worlds.
4.3 Stars
Where do I start when talking about this amazing book? I'm just going to start off and say that I love it. I love the banter between Portia and Tav. It was like a competition with them because they both wanted to have the last word. Their back and forth banter is the cutest, and it is one of things I love about their relationship. Also, their conversation did not feel forced; it felt so comfortable. Portia and Tav made each other stronger. Portia sees herself as someone who is useless and has no skills or anything going for her, but Tav shows her that she is the complete opposite of what she thinks of herself. In his eyes, she is a brilliant and magnificent person that is able to accomplish anything she sets her mind to. He doesn't think she is useless or has nothing going for her. I love how he tried hard to show Portia the way he sees her in his eyes. It's so beautiful. This book made me laugh, cry, and smile so big. I love books that makes you feel so many emotions at once. Pls pick this book up, you will not regret it!
Where do I start when talking about this amazing book? I'm just going to start off and say that I love it. I love the banter between Portia and Tav. It was like a competition with them because they both wanted to have the last word. Their back and forth banter is the cutest, and it is one of things I love about their relationship. Also, their conversation did not feel forced; it felt so comfortable. Portia and Tav made each other stronger. Portia sees herself as someone who is useless and has no skills or anything going for her, but Tav shows her that she is the complete opposite of what she thinks of herself. In his eyes, she is a brilliant and magnificent person that is able to accomplish anything she sets her mind to. He doesn't think she is useless or has nothing going for her. I love how he tried hard to show Portia the way he sees her in his eyes. It's so beautiful. This book made me laugh, cry, and smile so big. I love books that makes you feel so many emotions at once. Pls pick this book up, you will not regret it!
Alyssa Cole is an autobuy author for me for both her contemporary and historical romances. This is book 2 of her contemporary Reluctant Royals series.
Do you have to read the first book to read this one?
Not really as long as you can just accept that her best friend is a Princess. (But you should read the first book because it was wonderful.)
Portia has always felt like she is a failure. She comes from a highly successful family. Her twin overcame a life threatening illness and now runs a very successful website. Her family is pushing her take a job with the family company just so she does something stable. Instead she took an internship with a Scottish sword maker, because that's a practical life skill.
Her skills are a big help to the company though. She increases their social media profiles so they get more business. She redoes their website. It is in doing research for the website that she finds out about her boss's relationship to a former Duke.
I liked that the conflict keeping them apart in the story was a logical one. He's her boss and it is inappropriate and wrong to hit on interns. People should remember that.
This was a fun read that I finished in a few sittings. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
Emily Larkin's Baleful Godmother books are also autobuys for me. This is the first book in a new series but it is set in the same world as her previous books.
Do you have to read the other books to read this one?
The premise of these books is that a long time ago a woman helped a fairy. In exchange all her female descendants are granted their choice of a magical power at some point in their mid-twenties. Each book can be read as a standalone.
Primrose's power is teleportation. That's a good choice. That's the power I would choose. I like that she is first seen using it to go get a book she forgot at her house. However, her magic doesn't really affect the story a lot. The same story could be told without it.
Oliver was an Army officer who came home after he inherited a title. He was far out of the line of succession but several relatives have died unexpectedly in the last year. Now someone seems to be trying to kill Oliver too. The mystery of who it is the main story of the book. It is quickly narrowed down to two suspects but the story twists and turns to keep you guessing.
All the action takes place at a house party where Oliver is the fresh meat being dangled in front of several marriageable ladies and their mothers. He is trying to stay out of their clutches but the marriage hunt is deadly serious.
Primrose and her brother are Oliver's childhood friends who are trying to keep him safe. Their relationship develops because Primrose is the only woman who likes him for himself instead of his title.
This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story