Review: Last Duke Standing by Cheryl Bolen

 Alex Haversham, the new Duke of Fordham, has a problem.  He has the unenviable task of informing Lady Georgiana Fenton that her fiance, Alex’s brother, is now deceased.  When Georgiana finds out, she insists on viewing Freddie’s body with her own eyes.  As soon as she views his corpse, she deduces that he had been smothered to death, and the duchy’s surgeon concurs with her assessment.  

Alex never wanted to become the duke.  Now that he is responsible for his family and duchy,  he is determined to find out who murdered his brother.  However, Georgiana insists on being part of the investigation, partly because of her own suspicions about Alex. In her eyes, he stands to gain the most from Freddie’s death.

As Alex and Georgiana work together to solve the mystery of who killed Freddie, an attraction develops between them.  Can Alex overcome Georgiana’s suspicions, and will the two of them be able to find the real culprit?

I did not realize that there would be a mystery in addition to the historical romance that I had expected to read.  As a mystery, I didn’t really figure out who was the guilty party until the narrative started dropping a lot of obvious hints about the identity of the villain.  Last Duke Standing is mainly a romance that explores the relationship between Alex and Georgiana.   

I’ve previously read a title by Cheryl Bolen under the faith-based Love Inspired line (i.e. Marriage of Inconvenience), but I would classify Last Duke Standing as a secular romance.  There are no x-rated interactions between the main characters, but there are allusions to the hero’s history as a rake.  There are a couple of explicit statements that appear in a letter written by the mistress of the previous duke that might be uncomfortable for a certain audience to read. The couple share a bed, but nothing happens between them beyond heart-felt conversation because the hero is conveniently injured.  This is not a steamy romance.  Generally, Alex is fairly respectful towards Georgiana.  

I’ll admit that the cover of the book appealed to me...Alex’s appearance reminded me of Rupert Penry-Jones' portrayal of Frederick Wentworth in Persuasion (2007).  

I miss the Love Inspired Historical line.  I tried my best to snap up any Regency or Georgian story that Harlequin put out through that imprint.  As I alluded to before, this was how I recognized Cheryl’s name when I was looking through the selections on Net Galley.  

Last Duke Standing is the third installment of a series titled The Lords of Eton, which include The Portrait of Lady Wycliff, The Earl, the Vow, and the Plain Jane, and One Room at the Inn.

Disclaimer:  I was given an e-copy of Last Duke Standing by Net Galley in exchange for a review.  Any opinions stated in this review are mine.  

Review: Sweet Christmas Romances 2017 - by Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Angela Ford, Tammy Tate, and Laura Strickland

I haven't been posting on the blog for a few months, but I have been reading a lot of secular and faith based romances.  This review is based on one of the former:  Sweet Christmas Romances 2017.  It is a collection of short novellas whose authors include Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Angela Ford, Tammy Tate, and Laura Strickland.  These authors match up with the following titles in the following order:  Evie's Christmas Chocolate Kisses (Kleve), Analeigh's Christmas Cookies (Conner), Chrissy's Christmas Sugar Cookies (Ford), Amy's Christmas Casserole (Tate), and Margie's Magic Christmas Bars (Strickland). 

The book caught my attention because of the title, because I wanted to see what was meant by the definition of "sweet."  After reading through the collection, I would say that it has more to do with the recipes that are included after each novella, about a dessert/recipe that has a starring role in each of the stories.  That's not surprising considering the titles of the novellas, but I wasn't able to read what they were until after I had downloaded the book.   I had actually been expecting to read stories that were clean (yes, with that kind of definition of "sweet"), but that wasn't quite the case for all of them.  However, the love scenes for the ones that did have them were not very graphic or the intimate moments were mentioned briefly in passing.  The exception was in Tammy Tate's story, Amy's Christmas Casserole, which had a descriptive sex scene.  If you were expecting to read stories that were clean, then, please, know that not all the stories in this collection will pass muster in this expectation.

One of the stories, and I don't want to mention which one, could have used a bit more editing; there were a number of errors in diction and spelling.  However, I also understand that I was reading a galley/proof that may undergo more work before being placed on the market. Most of the other stories didn't have errors that were as noticeable as the one that I just mentioned.

Of the recipes, I think that the one that captured my interest is Analeigh's Christmas Bourbon Bacon Cupcake recipe, but just so that you know, if you are not tremendously inclined to bake entirely from scratch, the cake portion appears to allow for the use of a Betty Crocker cake mix.  I also find it amusing that the title of novella that this recipe is supposed to go with reads, "Analeigh's Christmas Cookies." (By the way, this was not the story that had the numerous spelling errors.)



Disclaimer:  I received an e-copy of Sweet Christmas Romances 2017 from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  All opinions stated in this review are mine.