ARC Review: A Duke By Default by Alyssa Cole

By -
Award-winning author Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series continues with a woman on a quest to be the heroine of her own story and the duke in shining armor she rescues along the way.

New York City socialite and perpetual hot mess Portia Hobbs is tired of disappointing her family, friends, and—most importantly—herself. An apprenticeship with a struggling swordmaker in Scotland is a chance to use her expertise and discover what she’s capable of. Turns out she excels at aggravating her gruff silver fox boss...when she’s not having inappropriate fantasies about his sexy Scottish burr.

Tavish McKenzie doesn’t need a rich, spoiled American telling him how to run his armory...even if she is infuriatingly good at it. Tav tries to rebuff his apprentice, and his attraction to her, but when Portia accidentally discovers that he’s the secret son of a duke, rough-around-the-edges Tav becomes her newest makeover project.

Forging metal into weapons and armor is one thing, but when desire burns out of control and the media spotlight gets too hot to bear, can a commoner turned duke and his posh apprentice find lasting love?


Alyssa Cole writes some of the most exciting romances I've read in recent years, because her casts are diverse and she's telling tales that are as old as time, but that are from points-of-view we don't often get to see. Like her Loyal League series, set during the Civil War, but showing the adventures of a covert ring of abolitionists instead of our usual soldiers and Southern Belles. (Zee reviewed those here and here!) In this, her Reluctant Royals series, we first read the story of the crown prince of an African nation and his betrothed, an American immigrant who knows nothing of her royal past.

 This latest installment, A Duke By Default, is an absolutely wonderful addition to Ms. Cole's already stellar list of titles.  It is top-to-bottom spectacular. I'm not usually a fan of royal romances, but this is something different. It's diverse, it's funny, it's relatable, and the characters are terrific. I love that it's a modern take on the duke trope, and that the duke in question is a genuinely decent man who actually deserves the good fortune bestowed upon him. I also love that Tav's main concern in accepting his new position is helping people—helping his family and his community. Like I said, he deserves his position. 

 I also fell head-over-heels in love with Portia. Portia made some mistakes in the first book, and in this one she is devoting herself fully to being a better person, which you've got to love. Portia is also brilliant, resourceful, can find just about any information you could possibly want, and she's always eager to learn new things. But what I related to most was Portia's inner voice—the one that worries constantly if she's loved, if she's accepted, if she's wanted. Several times I was reading and had to put my reader down, stunned that Portia's thoughts, Alyssa Cole's words; all of those self-doubts could have come from my own head. It's always wonderful to feel like you're not alone in the world, not the only one dealing with a brain that's just an asshole, and I loved finding that in this brilliant, beautiful woman. 

 The bottom line is: I love this book, I love this series, and I want everyone looking for an escape from our dumpster-fire world to read this. It's the multicultural cure for what ails us.

 Wench Rating:

Comments

Post a Comment

You Might Want to Read...

Black Dagger Brotherhood: Scenes That Left us Begging for More

By -
Image
Created by Olga Daniels What better way to prepare for the impending release of the next Black Dagger Brotherhood novel, Lover at Last by J. R. Ward, than to relive some of our favourite scenes in the previous books?! Some of these scenes were selected by multiple Wenches, others are just personal favourites. One is. Clearly. The. Wench. Favourite. It won't be hard to tell which one! After the jump, see which scenes made us ooh, ahh, and pant for more.
Keep reading »

A Tribute to The Fiery Cross

By -
Image
Or How I Learned to Stop, Smell the Pig Shite, and Fall in Love with the Fifth Book in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Series A young White Sow dreams of all the food she’ll be eating to grow into her role in this book As the wait for the new Outlander book and television series drags on (and oooooonnnnnnnnaaaarrrggghhh), many fans have been rereading the first seven books in the series. Fascinating online discussions abound as to the motivations of the characters, the nuances of meaning within various scenes, and future possibilities and foreshadowing. Amongst enthusiastic effusions about all things even remotely associated with our beloved series, I’ve seen one recurring subject of complaint. People like to pick on The Fiery Cross . “It’s too slow.” “It doesn’t have enough action.” “Where’s the mystery?” So during my recent reread, I set out to take a few notes about memorable moments. But I gave that up early on. There were far too many. Because the book was like a beautifu
Keep reading »

When The Music's Over

By -
Image
A SUPER Spoilery Discussion of Feversong by Karen Marie Moning by: Zee the Terrible and Barbara Bones By Olga. It's now been two weeks since we got our hot little hands on Feversong , the final book in the Mac & Barrons part of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. It's almost all we can talk about in the Saucy Wenches hallways (which is really online, but you get the drift) and we have lots of thoughts and opinions so we aren't putting off our Super Spoilery Recap Extravaganza any longer!  Zee told you about how much she loved it in her Wench review, here , and it will surprise exactly no one that Barb did, too. Loved it to pieces. Thought it was pretty much perfect, exactly the kind of conclusion KMM has been promising us since she gave us Iced , leaving everyone precisely where they need to be. That said, we have lots and lots and LOTS of thoughts. So come with us through the jump where we're dishing all the dirt, in filthy, spoilery detail. We menti
Keep reading »

Dani Mega O'Malley: Superstar

By -
Image
Giddy with anticipation for the release of Karen Marie Moning's Iced , a lot of the Wenches have been thinking about Dani "Mega" O'Malley, the young sidhe -seer we first met in Bloodfever , who is poised to step out of the shadows behind Mac and Rowena and take center stage. Though Moning has recently said the three books she is writing for Dani will continue the story we've been following in the Fever books, the POV will shift to reveal the next chapters through Dani's eyes. With our heads firmly buried in Shadowfever in a frenzied effort to finish our rereads before the new release, we Wenches have been wondering what's in store for Dani. But no one has wanted to stop reading long enough to write a proper tribute to our young heroine as she prepares to take the leap to leading lady. Though we all think she's pretty awesome and deserves a big ticker-tape parade to show our support. So a sneaky Wench tried the stealth approach and asked us
Keep reading »

Review: Annihilation (Book and Movie)

By -
Image
When I read Annihilation last fall, I was intrigued, repulsed, mystified, enchanted, horrified, compelled, absorbed, and ultimately so unable to articulate what had happened that I didn’t attempt a review. But it has never stopped growing on me, new insights twining around in my brain. It’s insidious. Then the movie happened. I. Had. To. Go. I didn’t think anyone could film the book, and I was on Cloud 9 when I saw the abundance of rave critical reviews. It got compared to Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey ! It got called “stunning” and the “Best Sci-Fi Film in Years” that “ranks among great philosophical sci-fi”! And though there were many differences from the book, it sounded almost as batshitcrazybrilliant as the book!! Which means there are now two equally haunting versions of this story for me to wonder WTF happened. I might not have all the answers, but I’ve certainly enjoyed replaying scenes in my mind and pondering the possibilities. And I suspect that’s
Keep reading »