paulieg 's review for:

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole

4.0

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I *loved* Portia and Tav (the leads), as well as the book's contemporary setting (urban Scotland) and ambitious scope (sword making/aristocratic etiquette/ social media marketing/ immigration reform/ ADHD/ sibling rivalry & guilt/ empanadas). However, I did not for one minute believe anything about the story's central Reason For Being: a three-month-long sword making apprenticeship, which is what brings wealthy young New Yorker Portia to a struggling historic armory in a small Scottish city. Did not believe that Portia would have ever applied for this apprenticeship, no matter how many advanced Art History degrees she holds or how often her family calls her a dilettante. Did not believe that Jamie (Tav's younger brother, business partner, and creator of the apprenticeship) would have left Tav's petulant assigning of Portia to SPEND A WHOLE MONTH REDESIGNING THE ARMORY'S WEBSITE WITHOUT MAKING ONE SINGLE SWORD, DURING A THREE-MONTH APPRENTICESHIP, unchallenged. There is SO MUCH great writing in this book, but I felt blocked from truly connecting with it due to its many logistical incongruities. For instance in lieu of swordsmithing, I learned an incredible amount of useful information about social media marketing, which Portia excells at and which made me wonder why *that* conceit wasn't the Macguffin to get her to Scotland in the first place. The extended interior angst of both Portia and Tav to delay their HEA was unconvincing, and in short I just wanted all of the book's smart, funny, sexy, and self-aware characters to be allowed to run free and not be hemmed in by questionable plot conventions. All of that said, I really did enjoy reading this book, but had trouble getting past its many logistical roadblocks.