Book Review
Mar. 2nd, 2022 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariRomancing the Duke
by Tessa Dare
Romancing the Duke is a sweet, fun romance novel set in the 19th century. Izzy Goodnight is the daughter of a popular author of children's fantasy. Now nearly destitute after her father's death, she inherits a castle from her godfather. The only problem is that the castle is still inhabited by Ransom, the Duke of Rothbury. He has holed up in the castle after getting blinded in a duel. The last thing he wants is a new housemate, but Izzy, having nowhere else to go, refuses to back down. Ransom ends up hiring her as a secretary to help him go through the correspondence and business that has piled up since his injury, in hopes of finding out how the castle ended up in Izzy's hands. Initially at loggerheads, Ransom and Izzy fall in love.
This book was delightful. It's not the least bit historically accurate - the 19th century is more like a stage set for the story than a real world. Normally, that kind of thing would bother me, but I was having too much fun to mind. There's lots of witty banter, good love scenes, and, I kid you not, adorable 19th century LARPers. Ransom transforms from surly and arrogant, intent on keeping the world and everyone in it away from him, into a caring and gentle man a bit quickly, but it works because the seeds of that transformation are present from his first appearance. Izzy really comes into her own through dealing with the challenges that both the castle and Ransom present, but hers is a more subtle shift. Their relationship is both adorable and lusty in a way I thoroughly enjoyed.
by Tessa Dare
Romancing the Duke is a sweet, fun romance novel set in the 19th century. Izzy Goodnight is the daughter of a popular author of children's fantasy. Now nearly destitute after her father's death, she inherits a castle from her godfather. The only problem is that the castle is still inhabited by Ransom, the Duke of Rothbury. He has holed up in the castle after getting blinded in a duel. The last thing he wants is a new housemate, but Izzy, having nowhere else to go, refuses to back down. Ransom ends up hiring her as a secretary to help him go through the correspondence and business that has piled up since his injury, in hopes of finding out how the castle ended up in Izzy's hands. Initially at loggerheads, Ransom and Izzy fall in love.
This book was delightful. It's not the least bit historically accurate - the 19th century is more like a stage set for the story than a real world. Normally, that kind of thing would bother me, but I was having too much fun to mind. There's lots of witty banter, good love scenes, and, I kid you not, adorable 19th century LARPers. Ransom transforms from surly and arrogant, intent on keeping the world and everyone in it away from him, into a caring and gentle man a bit quickly, but it works because the seeds of that transformation are present from his first appearance. Izzy really comes into her own through dealing with the challenges that both the castle and Ransom present, but hers is a more subtle shift. Their relationship is both adorable and lusty in a way I thoroughly enjoyed.
