One Dance with a Duke

Starred review from April 12, 2010
This standout Regency romance, the first in Dare’s Stud Club trilogy, matches an unlikely heroine with an arrogant, secretive duke. Plump, plain, and poor, spinster Amelia d’Orsay is astonished when Spencer Dumarque, duke of Morland and a famously handsome and wealthy bachelor, literally sweeps her off her feet and out the door at a London ball. The news of a friend’s unexpected death leads them on a significant detour, and Amelia returns home at dawn. Deciding others will believe Amelia compromised after a night in his company, Spencer asks for her hand, leading to a hasty, often conflicted, and deeply passionate marriage. Amelia’s imperfections endear her to both the reader and her husband, while Spencer’s complexity of character sets him well beyond the typical aristocrat and a little bit of a murder mystery adds the perfect finishing touch.

June 15, 2010

Possessed of nothing more than a brashness sparked by too many years of genteel poverty and one too many escapades by her rapscallion younger brother Jack, Lady Amelia d'Orsay literally grabs Spencer Dumarque, Duke of Morland, for a waltz in order to absolve Jack's 400 debt. Spencer is quite taken aback, even as he refuses Amelia's request. There's more to this enigmatic "Duke of Midnight" than his apparent arrogance and more to this generally self-effacing miss, but the death of a friend that same night and machinations involving a horse and a gentlemen's club bring these two into each other's spheres and into a marriage that neither expected.

Verdict Though Dare's last efforts didn't live up to the potential of her sparkling debut, Goddess of the Hunt, this trilogy-opening title displays her charming and witty style and once again will have readers laughing and crying as her wary protagonists dance around their weaknesses to reveal mutual passion and trust. (Twice Tempted by a Rogue [ISBN 978-0-345-51887-3] is due in July and Three Nights with a Scoundrel [ISBN 978-0-345-51889-7] in August.)--Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

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