My Dark Duke

Elyse Huntington

May 2015 · Sold by Penguin Group Australia

About this ebook

Since his notorious wife died in mysterious circumstances, rumours about James, the handsome Duke of Trent, have scandalized society. Now, he must marry again – but finding an eligible woman willing to overlook his past won't be easy.

Defiantly single, Lady Alethea Sinclair has already turned down six offers of marriage. She prefers living on her own terms and refuses to answer to any man. Yet when Alethea meets the seductive and enigmatic Duke she finds herself strangely drawn to him.

Intrigued by Alethea's defiance of society's expectations, James is instantly taken with the willful beauty and soon they are enjoying a playful flirtation. And when circumstances force them into a comprising situation, he does the honourable thing and marries her.

But adjusting to the constraints of marriage doesn't come easily to the rebellious Alethea and, despite their growing feelings for each other, the Duke's troubled past keeps getting in the way. Can they learn to trust each other and give love a chance before it's too late?

A steamy Georgian romance about desire, the importance of staying true to yourself and the power of the past to cast a shadow on the present.

Ratings and reviews

I don't normally post reviews for books that I've read, but this novel was splendid and worth the time it took to write this review. I wasn't expecting much given that a good many eBooks, frankly and crudely, straight up suck. Additionally, my extensive experience with reading historical romance novels (paperback/hardcover) has also shown me a prolific amount of garbage that manages to make it to print somehow. However, this novel completely surprised me in its quality and witty writing style. Unlike most romance novels, Huntington spends almost half the novel developing the relationship and attraction between the Duke and Alethea. For those who are looking for the protagonists to hit the sheets quickly and often implausibly, this is not the book for you. Huntington slowly builds up the tension and attraction between the Duke and Alethea with great subtlety and realistic deftness. I found my heart pounding along with Alethea's at each meeting with the Duke and the Duke's growing frustration as his attraction to Alethea grows with each seemingly innocent encounter. The humorous and clever interchanges between the two protagonists reminded me sharply of Judith McNaught's writing at her best (i.e. Whitney, My Love & Something Wonderful). I found myself laughing at the clever dialogue. In terms of the sexual content, this is one of the few romance novels that doesn't rely on that to carry the novel, but there is enough of it to satisfy the reader. Although the couple eventually consummates their marriage towards the end of the book, I was amazed to find that the most erotic scene in the book consisted of the Duke reciting the Bill of Rights as he deliberately and methodically removes one of Alethea's gloves, button by button, before finally touching his lips to her bare wrist. The rising tension of that scene was, in all my years of reading romance novels, simply the most brilliant scene that I've ever read. Huntington's command of the narrative defies the standard formula of relying on heavy petting and/or gratuitous sex scenes to setup the foundation of the protagonist relationship. In her novel, it is clear that the interest the two have for each other is founded on common interests, intelligence, mutual respect, and attraction, which I found to be both refreshing and scintillating. I also appreciated that there wasn't any contrived threat to the heroine by some evil antagonist to add unnecessary suspense and to detract from the relationship between the protagonists. Indeed, the tension and obstacles that the Duke (James) and Alethea face are brought on by their own insecurities/emotional baggage and was executed in a way that is realistic without being forced or overly repetitive. Although I don't typically like romance novels written in the Georgian period (IMO, the application of white powder adds a literal and figurative barrier between character interactions), I had no difficulty getting pass this quirk. In fact, another one of my favorite scenes is when James first sees the color of Alethea's hair for the first time. Reading the other reviews, I saw many readers were unhappy with the Duke seeing his mistress for the first and last time since meeting Alethea. While I'm no fan of infidelity and, in fact, have problems romance novels that have it, James was not married or even engaged to Alethea when it occurred. Given the historical context and not comparing it to contemporary dating scene in which abstinence might be expected in the early stages of dating/courtship, his actions didn't qualify cheating. It was clear that at the time, he was deeply conflicted with his growing attraction and love of Alethea in the early stages of their courtship. I actually felt that the way the author presented it added dimensionality to James who never pretended to be a monk or saint. His immediate feelings of disgust afterwards followed by his decision to release his mistress spoke volumes for his fidelity towards Alethea. In all, this was the best romance novel that I've read in over a decade. I eagerly await future novels

About the author

Elyse spent her childhood years in Borneo. She moved to Australia when she was a teenager and was an avid reader of romances. It was her love of historical romance that led her to write My Dark Duke, which was a finalist in the Romance Writers of Australia Emerald Award contest in 2014.

A lawyer by profession, Elyse is a self-confessed compulsive buyer of any books featuring dukes. She also loves reading stories featuring alpha billionaires, undoubtedly because they are the embodiment of modern-day dukes. Elyse spends her free time fantasizing about wickedly handsome heroes and the strong heroines who ultimately tame them.