Guest Review: A Duke Never Yields by Juliana Gray

Abby Harewood is one of those kind of individuals who is bound and determined to find joy in life and she is bound and determined to find it on her own terms.  Thus, she wants to know the joy of sexual congress, she wants to know the intimacy of sharing that most intimate of experiences with an accomplished lover, and she wants to experience life with all its ups and downs and in any way she can manage it.  The one thing she doesn’t want is marriage to an aristocrat who has it within his power to seduce her, make him love her, and then turn to other women as mistresses.  Nope!!  That just isn’t going to happen to her!  If she isn’t going to get forever, then no one is going to get her!

Now the Duke of Wallingford is quite the opposite:  his “joy” has become jaded as he has lived his profligate life for himself alone, taken mistresses who agree to make him feel good in exchange for wealth and position, using his social position for little else than supporting a useless existence.  Challenged by his grandfather to find a way of making his life something quite different, the duke embarks on a year-long abstinent lifestyle at an ancient castle in Italy along with his younger brother and his uncle.  What they didn’t expect to find was that Abby, along with  her cousin who is fleeing an abusive marriage and her older sister who has essentially been put out on the street after the death of her aristocratic husband, is also in possession of a lease agreement for the same castle for the same year-long period of time.  So they each take up residence in opposite wings of the castle, but what they are also unprepared for is the revelation that they might just be wrapped up in the fall-out from a 300 year old curse and that they might be dealing with individuals who are ghosts.

It’s a complicated story and one that will challenge the reader to keep it all straight.  If you want an easy read that will relax your mind, don’t pick up this novel.  On the other hand, it is a compelling novel that will engage the imagination and if the reader is one that likes solving a  mystery or two, then this will be a very entertaining read.  There are so many ups and downs as the duke and Abby joist with one another, so may times the reader absolutely is convinced that they are going to figure out how to make it work between them, and then something occurs that is completely unforeseen and voila!  It all goes to hell in a hand basket.  The lesser characters are also involved in trying to find their own HEA and their search for true love intersects with the duke and Abby frequently.  And even when you know for a fact that these two have finally “made it,” there is another emotional pothole in their road and everything is up in the air again.  

It is a really wonderful read and for historical fiction lovers it will be a fun read.  Add in some ghosts and a 300 year old curse that remains to be broken by true hearted and genuine lovers, and you have a great romance novel that is sure to be enjoyed by nearly everyone who picks it up.  Abby is a gem;  the duke is stuffy and self-centered–puffed up on his own sense of importance.  His uncle is a genius and an inventor and blows up things on a regular basis, and the duke’s brother is a charming lad who has the hots for Abby’s cousin.  So there’s lots going on here–romance times three, and all in one book.

I am happy to give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

The Series:

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.