A fun thing has started happening, since I’ve had this blog up and running again – I’m starting to get approached by some PR people to do reviews for them! I’ve always been a mood reader, but luckily for everyone, the world kind of sucks right now and I’m in the mood for all the romance. So here I am! And this book is exactly what I needed – dark, but also fun!
In How to Love a Duke in Ten Days, Lady Alexandra Lane was invited to attend the engagement of a mysterious – and supposedly terrible and cruel – duke. She thinks it’s to one of her friends, but in a twist of fate, she realizes that this duke could be the solution to her problems. You see, ten years previously, her world was changed forever, and she’s had to pay off a blackmailer in order to keep that darkness a secret from the world. And she’s out of money. But wedding a duke… that would change everything. It would fix everything, in fact.
Meanwhile, the Duke of Redmayne, Piers Gedrick Atherton, is seeking revenge, and for him, the first step is to get married. But he’s notoriously mean-spirited, so he knows finding a wife isn’t going to be easy. Until he meets Alexandra, that is, and she proposes marriage to him. But he can also see that something dark lies in her past, and once they start spending time together, he realizes he’d stop at nothing to keep her safe.
3 Things I Loved
- Alexandra. Oh, I loved her a lot. She’s pithy, and intelligent, and the story from her past is awful and heartbreaking. And it’s clearly left her with PTSD (although that was obviously not diagnosed at the time this book takes place), so she lives her life constantly on edge, but I kind of loved that too, because it was so real. And she has some kick-ass friends. Speaking of…
- The friend trio. I kid you not, these three spunky women became friends in boarding school because they hated that men could do more than them and they all had red hair. I was giggling to myself at the reasoning, it’s so funny and awesome. I’m hoping there are more books to come with these three.
- Redmayne. So he’s a real grump, but y’all know I love that in a hero. The only difference here is that Alexandra isn’t sunshine. She’s pragmatism. And that seems to be what works for him (and I love that!).
Dislikes/Problematic Content
All I’ve got here (aside from the usual historical romance complaints of everyone being white and heteronormative) is a trigger warning. There is sexual assault on the page in this book, and it’s right at the very beginning. And then the main character has anxiety and PTSD throughout the rest of the book from the assault and the aftermath. I’m not trying to give anything away here, but I think it’s important to note. Take care of yourselves.
Rating
A reminder of the rating scale:
- Red = DNF, I hated everything
- Orange = Ugh, no thank you
- Yellow = I mean, I’ve read worse, but there were problems
- Green = This was good!
- Blue = Oh my gosh, I loved this book!
- Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart and EVERYONE should be reading it!
This was really well-written, and it was more of a slow burn than what I’ve been reading lately. But it was really good, and enlightening, and I really liked it (and hope there are more to come!). I’m giving How to Love a Duke in Ten Days a GREEN rating!
Thank you to the publisher (and publicist!) and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Happy reading!
Snark & Squee 
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