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A review by jennycupcakes
When the Duke Loved Me by Lydia Lloyd
5.0
I am incredibly grateful to have been given an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review. I am so excited for Lydia and her first novel. :)
Y'all!! This book. It took me twice as long as it normally would have to read this and only because I was savoring it. I could read about John and Catherine forever. I'm spoiling the crap out of this so read at your own risk.
This is such a gorgeous story of two people greatly effected by scandal. Yes Catherine lost quite a bit more than John did but both of them suffered for the choices of their families. This second chance romance is also an enemies to lovers with all the best tropes. A dead Duke with a mysterious clause in his will. A disgusting cousin who tries to marry his 12 year old cousin for her dowry and wonders why the Duke would say no and then 5 years later tries to force a scandal again for the money. A duchess who died in childbirth. A secret love child. A beautiful spinster who is only a spinster because of the scandal in her family and the fact that the "ton" seem to think she looks exactly like her "harlot" of an aunt. The heroine spinster is also a bluestocking who supports her family by publishing historical stories in the paper under a pseudonym. The inevitable ink stains on her fingers that the hero finds incredibly sexy. An unexpected hunting party in the area making there only be one room left at the inn and SURPRISE! only one bed. The hot scene in the moving carriage. The masquerade ball where one can listen to people undetected and dance with someone secretly. All the steamy love scenes and premarital secret trysts are fantastic!
Oh and of course the fever that leaves our hero bedridden when he was meant to be chasing after his heroine to profess his undying love for her. And it's not truly a regency romance without a society wedding with tears shed in happiness at the ending and a pregnancy revealed in the epilogue. Oh I LOVE IT! I legit cannot wait to find out what happens to the rest of the Rank Rakes in the rest of this series!
I also just wanted to note that I know historical romance is fiction and certain liberties are taken with settings etc. but I adore how there weren't made up towns and villages. That the sights that Catherine studied and wrote about in her work were real. Nothing turns me off more than something that just would never happen or places, countries, and languages are made up for the sake of a story. (I'm looking at the horrible geography mistakes I've read or the time an actor aristocrat actually spoke the words "MacBeth" in his own theatre.)
So what are you waiting for??? Hurry up and pre-order this one right away! And if you are reading this post August 2023, BUY IT NOW! You won't regret it.
Y'all!! This book. It took me twice as long as it normally would have to read this and only because I was savoring it. I could read about John and Catherine forever. I'm spoiling the crap out of this so read at your own risk.
This is such a gorgeous story of two people greatly effected by scandal. Yes Catherine lost quite a bit more than John did but both of them suffered for the choices of their families. This second chance romance is also an enemies to lovers with all the best tropes. A dead Duke with a mysterious clause in his will. A disgusting cousin who tries to marry his 12 year old cousin for her dowry and wonders why the Duke would say no and then 5 years later tries to force a scandal again for the money. A duchess who died in childbirth. A secret love child. A beautiful spinster who is only a spinster because of the scandal in her family and the fact that the "ton" seem to think she looks exactly like her "harlot" of an aunt. The heroine spinster is also a bluestocking who supports her family by publishing historical stories in the paper under a pseudonym. The inevitable ink stains on her fingers that the hero finds incredibly sexy. An unexpected hunting party in the area making there only be one room left at the inn and SURPRISE! only one bed. The hot scene in the moving carriage. The masquerade ball where one can listen to people undetected and dance with someone secretly. All the steamy love scenes and premarital secret trysts are fantastic!
Oh and of course the fever that leaves our hero bedridden when he was meant to be chasing after his heroine to profess his undying love for her. And it's not truly a regency romance without a society wedding with tears shed in happiness at the ending and a pregnancy revealed in the epilogue. Oh I LOVE IT! I legit cannot wait to find out what happens to the rest of the Rank Rakes in the rest of this series!
I also just wanted to note that I know historical romance is fiction and certain liberties are taken with settings etc. but I adore how there weren't made up towns and villages. That the sights that Catherine studied and wrote about in her work were real. Nothing turns me off more than something that just would never happen or places, countries, and languages are made up for the sake of a story. (I'm looking at the horrible geography mistakes I've read or the time an actor aristocrat actually spoke the words "MacBeth" in his own theatre.)
So what are you waiting for??? Hurry up and pre-order this one right away! And if you are reading this post August 2023, BUY IT NOW! You won't regret it.