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A review by savvyliterate
Dare to Love a Duke by Eva Leigh
5.0
There are books that you like, those that you love, and those you would be trapped on a desert island with. This, dear potential reader, is a desert island book.
The heir to a dukedom has been playing the field and is looking for a challenge when he is drawn to the manager of the Orchid Club, a sex club where anything goes as long as it's consensual. However, when his father dies, Tom realizes he needs to grow up for the sake of the people he is now in charge of and for his sister, Maeve. Putting the pressure further on him is the father of Maeve's beau, who is basically forbidding any union between Maeve and his son unless Tom toes the conservative line that his father walked. So Tom engages in one very hot night with the Orchid Club's manager, Lucia, then goes off to start adulting. Then everything promptly goes to hell.
There is a lot of amazing catnip for me in this book. At the tip top are the family units established in the series. Tom's father was strict but clearly loved his son. Tom's relationship with Maeve is amazing, and it reminds me a lot of my own relationship with my oldest brother. Tom and Lucia both have non-English parents (he is part-Irish and she is part-Napoli), and their respective heritages are lovingly woven throughout the story. I especially love how Lucia explains the role of religion in her life without any of it turning preachy or it being shoved down anyone's throat. Lucia's found family with Kitty and Elspeth is even more adorable. There is also a same sex relationship that is beautifully written. It is completely organic and natural, just the way it should be in real life.
I love Tom's struggle between toeing the line in the House of Lords and standing by his own progressive needs. He is aware that his actions are going to wind up hurting someone, be it Maeve, Lucia, or innocent people. In one very beautiful scene where he is wrestling with this, he tells Lucia that he just wants to be a good man. The book illustrates very well that no matter what the steps you take to be a good person, you're going to fail somewhere. But as long as you can overall make a net positive in the world, then you are doing OK. Lucia's journey throughout the story to avoid her mother's pitfalls while holding her memory close is just amazing, and I love in the beginning the prayer she sends to her mother in the afterlife. These are both extremely good people, and Tom doesn't hold Lucia's past over her head, which is refreshingly adult.
I also loved the easter eggs to previous books that Leigh has written, and the sex is very, VERY hot and amazingly written. If you don't care for explicit intimate scenes, this story is not for you. I also loved the ending immensely.
This was my favorite book in the "London Underground" series, and it makes me want to revisit the entire series to slot missing pieces into place.
The heir to a dukedom has been playing the field and is looking for a challenge when he is drawn to the manager of the Orchid Club, a sex club where anything goes as long as it's consensual. However, when his father dies, Tom realizes he needs to grow up for the sake of the people he is now in charge of and for his sister, Maeve. Putting the pressure further on him is the father of Maeve's beau, who is basically forbidding any union between Maeve and his son unless Tom toes the conservative line that his father walked. So Tom engages in one very hot night with the Orchid Club's manager, Lucia, then goes off to start adulting. Then everything promptly goes to hell.
There is a lot of amazing catnip for me in this book. At the tip top are the family units established in the series. Tom's father was strict but clearly loved his son. Tom's relationship with Maeve is amazing, and it reminds me a lot of my own relationship with my oldest brother. Tom and Lucia both have non-English parents (he is part-Irish and she is part-Napoli), and their respective heritages are lovingly woven throughout the story. I especially love how Lucia explains the role of religion in her life without any of it turning preachy or it being shoved down anyone's throat. Lucia's found family with Kitty and Elspeth is even more adorable. There is also a same sex relationship that is beautifully written. It is completely organic and natural, just the way it should be in real life.
I love Tom's struggle between toeing the line in the House of Lords and standing by his own progressive needs. He is aware that his actions are going to wind up hurting someone, be it Maeve, Lucia, or innocent people. In one very beautiful scene where he is wrestling with this, he tells Lucia that he just wants to be a good man. The book illustrates very well that no matter what the steps you take to be a good person, you're going to fail somewhere. But as long as you can overall make a net positive in the world, then you are doing OK. Lucia's journey throughout the story to avoid her mother's pitfalls while holding her memory close is just amazing, and I love in the beginning the prayer she sends to her mother in the afterlife. These are both extremely good people, and Tom doesn't hold Lucia's past over her head, which is refreshingly adult.
I also loved the easter eggs to previous books that Leigh has written, and the sex is very, VERY hot and amazingly written. If you don't care for explicit intimate scenes, this story is not for you. I also loved the ending immensely.
This was my favorite book in the "London Underground" series, and it makes me want to revisit the entire series to slot missing pieces into place.