To the Duke, With Love

December 1, 2017

Knowing his scandalous past could ruin his sweet younger sister's chances for a good marriage, Sloane Knox, the Duke of Hawksthorn, hopes to short-circuit the gossip and get Adele betrothed before the season begins. He sets his sights on affable Paxton Quick, but then his plans go awry when he finds himself engaged in a fierce battle with Paxton's outspoken older sister, Loretta. She's not about to let her brother be caught in the arranged marriage trap that almost ensnared her, and she challenges Hawk at every turn. Naturally, Paxton and Adele have something to say as well. A colorful supporting cast, including an intriguing street urchin, keep the action swift and realistic. VERDICT Sparks arc between perfectly matched protagonists as they fight their feelings and each other in a sexy, spirited story that will not disappoint. Grey (Last Night with the Duke) lives on the coast of Northwest Florida.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 23, 2017
A duke and a lady determined to see their younger siblings happily married find unexpected romance for themselves in Grey’s fun second Rakes of St. James Regency romance (after Last Night with the Duke). Sloane “Hawk” Knox, Duke of Hawksthorne, hopes to see his younger sister, Adele, betrothed to a decent man before the social season begins in London and the gossips start spreading stories about his involvement with the notorious Rakes of St. James. He’s selected 23-year-old Paxton Quick, nephew of the Earl of Switchingham, as a likely fiancé, but Paxton’s older sister, Loretta, is having none of it—she remembers her horrible uncle’s plans to marry her off to Viscount Denningcourt all too well. She defied them both and ended up exiled to her uncle’s country estate, leading her to distrust all marriage schemers. Despite Loretta’s scorn for Hawk’s betrothal plans, neither of them can ignore their own immediate mutual attraction. Lively dialogue and stubborn protagonists make this story work, though a subplot about an abandoned street urchin is more melodramatic distraction than necessary component. Romance fans will enjoy Hawk and Loretta’s low-key courtship.

November 15, 2017
A duke looking for a husband for his younger sister never expects to find his own ideal mate in the process.Loretta Quick has resigned herself to being banished to a remote country house for years on end, a punishment cooked up by her guardian for refusing to marry the man he selected for her. But her contentment is shattered by the arrival of Sloane Knox, the Duke of Hawksthorn. Along with the rest of society, Hawk has forgotten Loretta even exists. He's looking for Loretta's brother Paxton, hoping to convince him to enter into a betrothal with Hawk's younger sister, Adele, before she makes her debut in society. Hawk's reputation as a rascal has earned him a lot of enemies, and he's afraid someone will try to seduce Adele to get revenge for his own misdeeds. Being engaged before the season starts will protect her. But Loretta has her heart set on Paxton marrying for love and doesn't approve of her brother's entering into an arranged marriage with a woman he doesn't even know. Sparks fly, and Hawk and Loretta find themselves battling not only over their siblings' fates, but over their own attraction to each other. In the second book of Grey's (Last Night with the Duke, 2017, etc.) Rakes of St. James trilogy, the plot is inventive but the characters themselves lack originality, and the prose is painfully overblown: why should Loretta simply turn away from the duke when she could whirl or even swirl away? Both Adele and Paxton are also disappointingly ditzy, although Paxton has his moments.Sometimes the right partner appears where we least expect them.

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November 15, 2017
Loretta Quick didn't walk away from an arranged marriage only to see her brother, Paxton, become trapped in one. So if Sloane Hawk Knox, the Duke of Hawksthorn, thinks he can just take matters into his own hands and arrange a match between Paxton and his younger sister, Adele, well, he is sadly mistaken. Hawk might believe Paxton and Adele are perfectly matched, but Loretta is equally determined that when Paxton decides to get married, it will be for love. Although she isn't afraid to go toe-to-toe with Hawk when it comes to deciding who is going to marry whom in their families, she never expects that she might be the one contemplating matrimony and that the subject of her desires would turn out to be Hawk. The latest sterling addition to Grey's the Rakes of St. James series is another irresistible combination of skillfully nuanced characters, graceful writing imbued with a deliciously dry sense of wit, and lushly sensual romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)