The Duke With the Dragon Tattoo

Starred review from August 6, 2018
Powerhouse Byrne (The Scot Beds His Wife) plays with old-school romance tropes, providing this pirate adventure’s violent, aggressive, and terrifyingly masculine hero with a rich backstory that makes him emotionally comprehensible while giving his gentle, naive partner plenty of agency and maturity in her resistance to being swept away. The amnesiac stranger with whom teenage Lorelei Weatherstoke falls in love while helping him heal from a nearly fatal beating returns years later as infamous rebel called the Rook, murdering Lorelei’s cruel brother in vengeance and sailing away with her as his claimed bride. But she and her sister-in-law hold their own among the pirates, and the Rook begins to view her as neither prize nor inspiring goddess, but as a person. In parallel, he allows the humanity buried deep beneath his self-protective brutality to reemerge, rekindling his social connections in a delightful sort of noble bad-boy network, and becoming more of a charming rogue by the end. Readers who feel guilty about craving the thrill of a Victorian bodice-ripper will appreciate the moral reassurance of Byrne’s sensitive characterizations. Agent: Christine Witthohn, Book Cents.

August 1, 2018

Twenty years ago, Ash crawled from a mass grave--scarred, near death, and with few memories--was rescued and nursed back to health by young Lorelai Weatherstoke, and then disappeared. Ash, now as the infamous Rook, is back with a deadly vengeance, sweeping Lorelai, who was crippled as a child, off to his ship minutes before her wedding and into a world of danger and violence. Ash had once promised to return, but the Rook, lethal pirate captain of the Devil's Dirge and feared across the seas, is not the Ash of her dreams. Yet Lorelai can't help but wonder whether he's still there, inside somewhere, if she can only find him. Hidden maps, a mysterious tattoo, and a treasure hunt burnish the pirate motif; a castle overflowing with characters from earlier stories adds continuity. VERDICT A hero so lost he fears he'll never be found and a heroine who won't give up on him reclaim their love in a bold, lyrical tale that brings the darker side of the Victorian Age into sharp relief; another winner in a stellar series. Byrne (The Scot Beds His Wife) lives at the base of the Rockies.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2018
Lorelai Weatherstoke can't be certain, but she could swear the bloody and bruised body she spotted outside her carriage window moved. Upon further investigation, Lorelai discovers she is right, but whether the man will survive to live another day is questionable. Fortunately, with the help of the village doctor, Lorelai's new patient, whom she dubs Ash since he has no clue as to his identity, does pull through. From that moment on, Lorelai and Ash are inseparable until the day he leaves with Lorelai's brother and never returns. Now, 20 years later, Ash is back in Lorelai's life, but he is calling himself the Rook. Can this dark and dangerous pirate captain, who kidnaps Lorelai on her wedding day, really be the same sweet boy she once loved? Byrne (The Highwayman, 2016) continues her Victorian Rebels series, writing with an intensity and passion that is guaranteed to leave a mark. From the novel's incisively etched characters, including an �ber-alpha hero with secrets to spare, to the bone-melting sensuality that characterizes the hero and heroine's romantic relationship, everything about this deliciously dark and dangerous historical romance is done to perfection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)