Reviewer: Rowena
How the Duke was won by Lenora Bell
Series: The Disgraceful Dukes #1
Also in this series: How the Duke Was Won, Blame It on the Duke, If I Only Had a Duke
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: April 26th 2016
Pages: 384
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The pleasure of your company is requested at Warbury Park. Four lovely ladies will arrive… but only one can become a duchess.

James, the scandalously uncivilized Duke of Harland, requires a bride with a spotless reputation for a strictly business arrangement. Lust is prohibited and love is out of the question.

Four ladies. Three days. What could go wrong?

She is not like the others…

Charlene Beckett, the unacknowledged daughter of an earl and a courtesan, has just been offered a life-altering fortune to pose as her half-sister, Lady Dorothea, and win the duke’s proposal. All she must do is:

* Be the perfect English rose [Ha!]
* Breathe, smile, and curtsy in impossibly tight gowns [blast Lady Dorothea’s sylph-like figure]
* Charm and seduce a wild duke [without appearing to try]
* Keep said duke far, far from her heart [no matter how tempting]

When secrets are revealed and passion overwhelms, James must decide if the last lady he should want is really everything he needs. And Charlene must decide if the promise of a new life is worth risking everything . . . including her heart.

How the Duke was Won is the first book that I’ve read by Lenora Bell and it won’t be the last. It’s also the first book in the Disgraceful Dukes series. I’ve heard great things about this series and after my sister read and enjoyed it, I figured it was about time I read it for myself. I’m glad that I did because James and Charlene were a fabulous couple!

This book follows James, the Duke of Harland and he needs a wife. Someone that he can knock up with his heir so that he can go back to what he loves (make chocolate for hot chocolate). He didn’t want the title of Duke and he certainly doesn’t want wife, or love. So the quickest way that he can think to get back to his life of making chocolate is by hosting a party and only inviting four potential brides so that he can pick one of them then be on his merry way.

Charlene is the bastard child of an earl and nobody is more surprised when her father’s wife shows up at her house to offer her a job that will bring a whole lot of money her way. The money is welcome as she’s tired of struggling to pay the bills and all she’d have to do is pose as her half-sister, the legitimate daughter, Lady Dorothea. If she can pretend to be her, make the duke choose Dorothea as his bride then she’ll walk away with more money than she ever hoped to have.

There was a whole lot of shenanigans going on at this party and even though the beginning dragged a bit, I enjoyed the story as a whole. I enjoyed getting to know both Charlene and James. I enjoyed Alice and I really enjoyed Dalton. Lenora Bell wrote a charming historical romance that really gathered storm as the story progressed and it was a lot of fun. I’m so glad that I took a chance on this new to me author and I definitely recommend her stuff to anyone wanting a solid historical romance.

Both James and Charlene were fun and the chemistry between them steamed up my kindle so they get no complaints from me. I couldn’t wait to jump into the next book so that should say something. I definitely recommend.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Reviewer: Rowena
Blame It on the Duke by Lenora Bell
Series: The Disgraceful Dukes #3
Also in this series: How the Duke Was Won, How the Duke was won, If I Only Had a Duke
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: April 18th 2017
Pages: 384
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Series Rating:

Have you heard? The future Duke of Barrington has just been gambled away by his father. To an heiress!The delicious details thus far...

Nicolas, Lord Hatherly, never intended to marry—nor add to the “mad” Hatherly line—but now he must honor his father’s debt to a social-climbing merchant or lose the family estate.

A notoriously wild marquess, won by her father at a game of cards, is the very last thing Miss Alice Tombs wants. She’s spent the last three seasons repelling suitors in spectacular fashion so she’d be at liberty to explore the world. She’ll just have to drive this one away as well.
Until Nick proposes an utterly tempting arrangement: one summer together to prove the legitimacy of their union, then Alice is free to travel while Nick revels in the time he has left before the Hatherly Madness takes hold.

It will be easy to walk away after a few months of make-believe wedded bliss—won’t it? Alice and Nick are about to find out...one sultry night at a time.

This ought to be fun . . .

I have been looking forward to reading Alice’s book ever since I met her in book 1, How the Duke was Won and she went on and on about being a vegetarian. Her shenanigans were definitely memorable and I was thinking about how far she was likely to come from those days when I started this book. I don’t know why I was surprised that she was being paired up with Nick since this series follows all of the disgraceful Dukes and he was definitely one of those but I was a little surprised.

Nick is known around London for his completely inappropriate parties that he hosts at his house with his crazy father running amock. Nick and his friends love entertaining themselves with strippers and naughty dance shows. Their parties are filled to the brim with all sorts of wickedness and he wouldn’t have it any other way. When his father comes home and announces to a roomful of gentlemen trying to enjoy a show that he has gambled Nick away to an heiress and Nick will marry her pronto, Nick is floored.

The very last thing that Alice wants is a husband. Especially one that is forced on her, no matter how handsome he is. She’s spent so much time making herself as unbecoming as she can to chase away potential suitors so that she can travel that she’s furious when her Dad announces her engagement. She longs to travel to India to present some work on the Kama Sutra that she did and becoming a wife gets in the way of that. Once she’s married, her life is in the hands of her husband and she won’t ever be free again. But when Nick presents an arrangement that just might help Alice out, it’s hard for her to refuse. That’s why she finds herself getting to know Nick and the more she finds out about him, the more curious she becomes.

He’s not at all what she expected but the same can be said for him. They become friends of sorts and the more time they spend together, the closer they get.

I adored seeing them fall in love with each other. Alice was a fabulous heroine who knew her mind and knew what she wanted out of life. I loved how thirsty she was for knowledge and when Nick teaches her the art of lovemaking, it was so much fun. I loved Nick’s mission in life and I adored the way that he took care of his crazy father and felt his very real concerns about his own health as he gets older. The love he had for Alice, the way that he loved her for who she was and not for how pretty she was, hit me right in my feelings.

The romance between Nick and Alice was great. I loved that they fell in love slowly and that they really got to know each other over the course of their time together. They were great characters with great support systems in their friends and I just loved this book to pieces.

Grade: 4 out of 5