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.

Narrator Derek Perkins returns for his sixth gripping performance of the Victorian Rebels series, leaving nothing on the table in this tension-riddled historical romance. The Rook is a man who has forgotten his past and built a life out of bloodshed and violence as a pirate king. When he captures Lorelai, the woman who saved his life 20 years prior, and takes her for his wife, he'll be forced to learn exactly who he is--or risk losing her forever. Perkins provides a sumptuous listening experience as he depicts the tortured soul of the Rook with the desperate growls of a man who is more than half beast and sweetly portrays Lorelai's unfailing love. An enthralling story of ruin and redemption. A.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine