Series: Once Upon a Dukedom

Review: The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath

Posted December 5, 2022 by Holly in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine HeathReviewer: Holly
The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath
Series: Once Upon a Dukedom #2
Also in this series: The Duchess Hunt
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: September 28, 2021
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Library, Purchased
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath continues her Once Upon a Dukedom series with this lush love story of a duke who discovers what he desires in a wife may not be what he needs...
Hugh Brinsley-Norton, the Duke of Kingsland, is in need of a duchess. However, restoring the dukedom—left in ruins by his father—to its former glory demands all his time, with little room for sentiment. He places an advert encouraging the single ladies of the ton to write why they should be the one chosen, and leaves it to his efficient secretary to select his future wife.
If there exists a more unpleasant task in the world than deciding who is to marry the man you love, Penelope Pettypeace certainly can’t imagine what it might be. Still, she is determined to find the perfect bride for her clueless, yet ruthlessly charming employer.
But when an anonymous note threatens to reveal truths best hidden, Kingsland has no choice but to confront the danger with Penelope at his side. Beguiled by the strong-willed, courageous beauty, he realizes he’s willing to risk everything, including his heart, to keep her safe within his arms. Could it be the duchess he’s hunting for has been in front of him all along?

The Duchess Hunt is the second book in the Once Upon a Dukedom series. I switched between reading and listening. The narrator, Kate Reading, is a personal favorite.

The Duke of Kingsland needs a wife, but he can’t be bothered with trying to find one on his own, so he puts an advert in the Times and asks anyone interested in becoming his duchess to send him a letter with their qualifications. Naturally, everyone is interested as he’s a duke. When his first choice falls in love with another man, he gives the task of choosing the runner up to his secretary, Miss Penelope Pettypeace.

Penelope has been in love with Kingsland forever, but it’s a quiet kind of love. She’s damn good and her job and loves what she does. She isn’t willing to compromise that for a love that can never be. So she dedicates herself to finding the right girl to be the future Duchess. Things are going well until suddenly the duke seems to notices her as a woman. Where before he treated her well, but just like any other person in his employ, all of a sudden he’s treating her as a woman first. When something threatens to expose secrets neither want revealed, they both realize things are more complicated between them than they ever knew.

This was a great unrequited love story. Penelope was a lovely character. Her steadfastness and attention to detail really came through. She may have been in love with the duke, but it wasn’t a starry-eyed kind of thing. These were two adults who respected one another and I loved that. While I enjoyed the first book in the series, this is definitely my favorite so far.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Once Upon a Dukedom

four-stars


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Guest Review: The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath

Posted April 25, 2022 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine HeathReviewer: Tracy
The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath
Series: Once Upon a Dukedom #2
Also in this series: The Duchess Hunt
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: September 28, 2021
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Hugh Brinsley-Norton, the Duke of Kingsland, is in need of a duchess. However, restoring the dukedom—left in ruins by his father—to its former glory demands all his time, with little room for sentiment. He places an advert encouraging the single ladies of the ton to write why they should be the one chosen, and leaves it to his efficient secretary to select his future wife.

If there exists a more unpleasant task in the world than deciding who is to marry the man you love, Penelope Pettypeace certainly can’t imagine what it might be. Still, she is determined to find the perfect bride for her clueless, yet ruthlessly charming employer.

But when an anonymous note threatens to reveal truths best hidden, Kingsland has no choice but to confront the danger with Penelope at his side. Beguiled by the strong-willed, courageous beauty, he realizes he’s willing to risk everything, including his heart, to keep her safe within his arms. Could it be the duchess he’s hunting for has been in front of him all along?

Penn has worked for the Duke of Kingsland for the past eight years and she’s made herself indispensable.  She is his right hand and he’s not sure what he would do without her.  King hasn’t ever seen Pettypeace (as he calls her) as anything but his secretary, but suddenly he’s seeing her in a new light.  He wants to make a move, but how can he when he knows that it will change their working relationship?

Penn has been in love with King forever, but he’s very closed off and is constantly stating that he doesn’t have a heart.  She knows this to be false.  When he suggests that maybe, after dark when they are no longer working, that she might come to him and they can explore the attraction, Penn goes for it. Everything is great and they are pretty much able to separate their two lives together until their secrets start coming out and then their relationship is tested.

I really enjoyed this book. I love the way that Heath writes, and her books always keep me engaged.  In this story I didn’t love King, but I didn’t dislike him either.  I liked that he knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it (he grew on me eventually).  Penn was pretty open as well and not scared to speak her mind.  Together they were a good couple.  They talked to each other and communicated and I loved that.

The secrets were what annoyed me.  I really wasn’t expecting King’s secret, so that was a nice surprise.  It was Penn’s that drove me bonkers.  I dislike when the secret is kept from the reader.  This is a romance, not a mystery!  In a mystery I expect it and that’s part of the anticipation.  With romance it makes me nuts. Just tell the reader already! We finally find out Penn’s secret about ¾ of the way through the book and it was much more devastating than expected.  I felt for Penn and her past and loved that King got over his shock and continued to love her anyway.

Overall it was an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Once Upon a Dukedom

four-stars


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Sunday Spotlight: Scoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine Heath

Posted March 28, 2021 by Holly in Features, Giveaways | 4 Comments

Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂

I’ve been dying for this book since I finished Beauty Tempts the Beast, where we were introduced to Althea and her brothers. Their father, the duke, was hanged for treason and their circumstances drastically changed as a result. I can’t wait to read more about them here.

Sunday Spotlight: Scoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine HeathScoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine Heath
Series: Once Upon a Dukedom #1
Also in this series: The Duchess Hunt, The Duchess Hunt
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: March 30, 2021
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 368
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Series Rating: four-stars

Lorraine Heath begins an exciting new series with a breathtaking romance about a young woman who must marry a titled gentleman to obtain her inheritance and the usuitable man she begins to fall madly in love with...
She is desperate to wed a duke...
Lady Kathryn Lambert must marry a titled gentleman to claim her inheritance and has finally gained the attention of a duke. Yet she is unable to forget the scandalous second son who aided in her achievement—or his betrayal.
He wants what he can never possess...

Lord Griffith Stanwick is tormented by the bitter truth that as a “spare,” he will never be able to give Kathryn what she yearns to possess. But when his father is found guilty of treason, Griff detours into the dark and dangerous corners of London, haunted by memories of the woman lost to him forever.

Love not to be denied...

As the duke’s courtship intensifies, Kathryn discovers Griff has become a man to be reckoned with. When old passions flare and new desires ignite, she must decide if sacrificing her legacy is worth a lifetime shared with the scoundrel of her heart.

Excerpt

“Griff? What the devil are you doing sprawled out over the ground back there?”

Squinting—was the morning sun always this bright?—he peered up at Althea. “To be honest, I’m not quite sure, but it does appear I got turned about returning home last night.” For some inexplicable reason he’d not used the front door. Perhaps he’d been unable, with clumsy fingers, to grasp the key nestled in his waistcoat pocket. Although, patting said pocket now, he found it empty. Had he misplaced the bit of brass?

“You were well in your cups again, weren’t you?”

“I do seem to recall some celebrating going on.” For a while the games had favored him . . . until they hadn’t. What was a man supposed to do when fortune slipped away except seek solace in drink?

“Well, stir yourself and come out of there,” she ordered briskly, as though she wasn’t three years his junior but was instead his elder.

With a great deal of effort, he shoved himself to his feet, pressed his back to the brick, and crept out through the narrow space between wall and foliage, trying to avoid getting snagged by the sharp-edged leaves of the hedges. When he reached his sister, she scrunched up her entire face. “You smell like a distillery.”

“How do you know how a distillery smells?” Looking past her to the two ladies sitting at the white linen-covered round table, he forced his most charming grin to form, a smile he didn’t feel like granting, not only because of the increased ache in his head but because of what he’d overheard.

“Ladies, how are you this fine morning?”

“I daresay better than you,” Lady Kathryn retorted, using the tone she seemed to reserve only for him.

“Here,” Althea said, reaching quickly for the teapot. “Have a spot of tea. You look as though you could use it.”

Tea was nowhere on the list of things he could use. A hot bath — he did indeed smell like a distillery, along with a cheroot factory — a shave, and the blackest coffee would serve him better. If the other ladies hadn’t been staring at him with twin expressions of disgust, he might have made his excuses and headed straight to his most urgent need: a soft bed. But knowing he’d take some perverse delight in irritating them by delaying his escape and joining them, he dragged back a chair, dropped into it, and took the offered cup and saucer. “You are indeed kind, dear sister.”

It was so like her, looking out for others. He really didn’t deserve to have a sister so generous of spirit. Peering through the steam rising from the brew, he took a long, slow swallow. She’d laced it with an abundance of sugar, and his body reacted with gratitude, the ache behind his eyes dissipating a fraction so the day seemed at least survivable.

Lady Kathryn looked on disapprovingly, a tightness to her mouth, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d announced, “You’re better than this.”

Only he wasn’t. Precisely because of what she had voiced earlier. No one wanted the spare. Not the ladies of the ton. Not his father. Not his mother. Even the heir, two years older than he was, had little time for him. But scotch, cards, and actresses seldom turned him away.

“Perhaps your brother’s presence here is fortuitous,” Lady Jocelyn said. “You no doubt overheard what we were discussing.”

“I apologize, ladies, as it was not my intention to eavesdrop, but you did manage to garner my undivided attention with your dulcet tones.”

While Lady Kathryn fairly glowered, signaling she’d caught the sarcasm in his tone, Lady Jocelyn smiled as though he’d handed her one of the Crown Jewels. She’d never struck him as being particularly cognizant of subtleties. “Then perhaps you would be good enough to share with us how we might impress upon the duke that we are worth considering for courtship.”

“How would he know what a duke wants?” Lady Kathryn asked.

He allowed a corner of his mouth to ease up provocatively, sensually. “A duke wants what any man wants. A woman who is a saint in society and a wild wanton in the bedchamber.”

Her hazel eyes narrowed until they resembled the finely honed blade of a dagger. She riled so easily, and for some inexplicable reason, he’d always taken great delight in pricking her temper. “That is hardly helpful,” she snapped.

“But ’tis true.”

“We are genteel ladies of good breeding, and as such, we’ve hardly been bedded so can offer no insight into our capabilities beneath the sheets, as it were.” He imagined her beneath the sheets, with him stirring her until she fully comprehended her capacity for pleasure. As his body began to respond to the images, he shoved them back. Whatever was wrong with him to even contemplate an intimacy with her? “Besides, it is for our husband to tell us what he wants regarding that particular aspect of our marriage.”

“Why?” he asked, truly befuddled. “Why should he be the only one to have a say? Surely, Freckles, you’ve given some thought to what you might enjoy.”

“I have not,” she countered testily.

“ ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks.’ ”

“Don’t be absurd. Ladies do not sully their minds by thinking carnal thoughts.”

“If you’ve never thought them, how do you know they’d sully your mind?”

“You’re being preposterously difficult.”

“No, I’m actually curious as to what you envision happens between a man and a woman that would be so lurid as to tarnish an otherwise pristine brain if pondered or mulled over.”

She looked as though she’d like to toss her tea on him. “You know well enough.”

Her voice had gone lower, more gravelly, causing his belly to tighten. “Caresses along bare skin, the nip of a collarbone, a squeeze here, a rub there? Kisses along curves, hollows, and dips? How is any of that sordid?”

Her lips had slowly parted, and her cheeks had deepened from an enticing rose into a lovely crimson. He wondered if, like him, she was now imagining his bare hand, fingers splayed, on her bare thigh, slipping up toward that heavenly apex where paradise waited, previously untouched and unexplored. Christ. What the devil was wrong with him? She was the very last woman he had any interest in bedding. It didn’t matter that her coppery hair turned the shade of fire when lit by the sun, and that he had, on occasion and much to his chagrin, wondered if it would be as hot to the touch, if it would spark pleasure. It didn’t matter that her fragrance was more spicy than sweet, and he’d always enjoyed foods with a great deal of seasoning. It didn’t matter that her lips were more pink than red, and on the rare occasion he painted, he preferred the subtle allure of pastels.

“Griff, I’m not quite certain this is an appropriate topic of discussion considering the company,” Althea remarked hesitantly.

“But that is my point.” He did hope they’d attribute the croak of his voice to his having recently been pulled from slumber and not the fact that his mouth had suddenly gone as arid as a desert. “It shouldn’t be taboo. Men are allowed to think about it, discuss it, experience it—without benefit of marriage. Why shouldn’t women?”

A series of gasps met that pronouncement. He shook his head. “Even if a woman is not to experience it without marriage” — although he didn’t agree with that belief — “she should at least be able to think about it and discuss it without shame, without fearing she has mired her mind.” He gave his attention back to Lady Kathryn. “You never think about it?”

“I do not.”

“Then, how can you know what you want, what you might enjoy?”

“As I stated earlier, it is for my husband to show me.”

“You have never struck me as a woman without an opinion on any matter.” He leaned forward. “I would wager a month’s allowance that you have thought about it, and quite thoroughly.”

That her nostrils flared and her breaths seemed to slow only served to tighten his belly more. What images did she conjure in that mind of hers?

“Griff, I do believe you have just called our guest a liar,” Althea said, her upset evident in her tone.

Because she was. Not that he was going to call her on it again, but damned if he didn’t want to uncover her fantasies. “My apologies. It seems I am not yet fit for company as my indulgences from last night are still having their way with me.” He shoved back his chair and stood. Then he turned his attention to Lady Jocelyn, who had first posed the question, because studying Lady Kathryn was beginning to make him feel light-headed as blood wanted to rush where it shouldn’t. “Write to the duke of your comely features, mastery of etiquette, interests, and accomplishments.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

He offered her a small smile. “And may the best lady win.”

With that, he left them and strode into the residence, knowing the hot bath he’d craved earlier would have to wait. Lady Kathryn might not allow thoughts to sully her mind, but now his was filled with a sordid display of her body writhing against his that required he plunge into a bitingly cold tub of water first.

From Scoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine Heath, published by Avon Books. Copyright © 2021 by Jan Nowasky. Reprinted courtesy of Harper Collins Publishers.

Once Upon a Dukedom

Giveaway Alert

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Sunday Spotlight: March 2021

Are you as excited for this release as we are? Let us know how excited you are and what other books you’re looking forward to this year!

About Lorraine Heath

Lorraine Heath has always had a soft spot for emotional love stories. No doubt because growing up, watching movies with her mom, she was taught that the best movies "won't half make you cry."

She is the daughter of a British beauty (her mom won second place in a beauty contest sponsored by Max Factor® during which she received a kiss from Caesar Romero--Joker on the original Batman TV series) and a Texan who was stationed at Bovingdon while serving in the air force. Lorraine was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, but soon after moved to Texas. Her "dual" nationality has given her a love for all things British and Texan, and she enjoys weaving both heritages through her stories.

When she received her BA degree in psychology from the University of Texas, she had no idea she had gained a foundation that would help her to create believable characters—characters that are often described as “real people.” Her novels have appeared on bestseller lists, including USA Today, Waldenbooks, and most recently, the New York Times.


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