How to Tempt a Duke

July 27, 2009
Michaels (Becket's Last Stand
) debuts the Daughtry family series with a straightforward Regency-era romance between childhood friends. With the untimely death of his uncle and two cousins, Rafael “Rafe” Daughtry, in France with the British army, unexpectedly inherits a dukedom. War hero Rafe arrives at his boyhood home of Ashurst Hall to encounter Miss Charlotte Seavers. Charlotte, who has forsaken her childhood nickname of Charlie, is still spunky and strong willed but far from the hoyden “menace” he remembered. Rafe finds her boldness admirable, but as the attraction between the pair blossoms, he's disturbed by her skittish manner, especially when he discovers that Charlotte was formerly engaged to his odious cousin Harold. The swift-moving plot and an interesting subplot involving attempted murder are tarnished by a lack of character development, resulting in a merely average read.