He had pretty much no redeeming qualities, and I wanted her to kick him to the curb. While I found the relationship between Alex and Angelique quite believable and compelling, I struggled to fully buy into Angelique’s reasons for working so hard to bail her wastrel of a brother out again and again. So, she somewhat reluctantly agrees, and the two of them begin a subtle game of cat and mouse as their attraction to one another blossoms. If she accepts Alex’s proposal, he might learn things about herself and her family she’d rather keep hidden, but, if she turns him down, she’ll have no way to keep her failing household afloat. Alex can’t think of anything better.įor her part, Angelique doesn’t know what to do. She’ll make him a huge sum of money, since she’s incredibly skilled with cards and numbers, and she’ll be forced into close proximity with him on a nightly basis. He wants to know more about her, and devises a way to do so. She’s sure she’s about to be thrown out on her ear, but Alex has other plans. When Angelique’s winning causes an unpleasant stir, Alex steps in. She’s determined to provide for herself and her brother, and winning huge sums of money at the tables is the only way she can think of to do so. Faced with starvation and homelessness, Angelique puts her skill with numbers to work for her.

Her family has fallen on hard times due to some shady dealings of her late father’s that her brother has only complicated. Luckily for her and her rather lazy and dim-witted elder brother, she’s also very resourceful. At least, he isn’t until he catches a beautifully alluring woman counting cards at one of his gaming tables.Īngelique Archer is gorgeous and wickedly intelligent. Haunted by past guilt, Alex isn’t looking for love. He has more money than he knows what to do with, but, as everyone knows, money can’t buy true happiness. He’s skilled at making the scandals of London’s richest citizens disappear. No one is even in line to become a duke, so why call it Between the Devil and the Duke? Granted, this is probably a relatively small quibble in the grand scheme of things, but I did find myself devoting quite a bit of thought to it.Īlexander Lavoie is the owner of one of London’s most notorious gaming hells, plus being a partner in the mysterious but hugely profitable Chegarre and Associates.

Then, I got my hands on a review copy, and, while I enjoyed the story immensely, I am sorry to say that, in this listener’s opinion, this is the weakest story in the series.įirst off, the title baffles me. I sped through Duke of My Heartand A Duke to Remember, but had to wait several months for Between the Devil and the Duke to become available. Her heroines aren’t your typical society misses, and her heroes are dark, brooding, and sinfully handsome, just the way I like them.

I’m always looking for fresh voices in historical romance, so was thrilled to discover the work of author Kelly Bowen in early 2016.

Duke of My Heart by Kelly Bowen