The Duke of Her Desire

Starred review from October 9, 2017
Barnes’s perfectly crafted second Diamonds in the Rough historical (after A Most Unlikely Duke) mixes romance and risk in Regency England. Thomas Augustus Heathmore, Duke of Coventry, agrees to watch over the Duke of Huntley’s sisters, Lady Amelia and Lady Juliette, while Huntley is away. The forthright and admirable Lady Amelia captures Thomas’s attention when he discovers her on a dangerous outing in the grimy neighborhood of St. Giles, where she has purchased a building to turn it into a school for poor children. Thomas realizes that Amelia, unlike the other women he knows, cares much more about how her wealth can benefit others than about how she might enjoy it herself. Amelia is also drawn to Thomas, who is interested in sponsoring groundbreaking legislation that would permit illegitimate children to inherit property and titles. Her lust for him runs up against his stoutly honorable intentions, and the sexual tension builds. Appealing protagonists, immense emotional intensity, and a thread of suspense combine to make this a standout.

October 15, 2017
A charming sequel to A Most Unlikely Duke (2017). Unwed at the advanced age of 22, Lady Amelia is fully aware that her chances of making a good match are dwindling by the day. Her brother understands this, too, which is why he has asked his friend Thomas, Duke of Coventry, to help his sister find a husband before the season ends. Now, anyone who has ever read a Regency romance--or seen a Shakespeare comedy or watched a movie starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant--knows how this story will end, but that's an essential element of the genre. No one reads Regency for cliffhangers and dramatic plot twists. The fun is in experiencing an old tale made fresh, and Barnes certainly delivers that. She wastes no time in establishing that her heroine and hero are attracted to each other, and the stumbling blocks on their way to happily-ever-after feel honest rather than contrived. Amelia isn't just a woman of woefully advanced age; she is also a woman new to society, trying to adapt to her new station after a childhood of poverty and degradation, which ended when her brother unexpectedly inherited a title. Her desire for independence is complicated--she doesn't want to marry without love, but she doesn't want to be a lifelong burden on her brother, either--and she is discovering that shopping for bonnets and taking tea with the gentry don't give her the same sense of purpose and accomplishment that caring for her brother and her sisters did. Her desire to do something meaningful turns into a plan that brings her into conflict with Thomas, but it also happens to fit with his own liberal (for his day) political leanings. This is all to say that Barnes creates early-18th-century characters that appeal to contemporary sensibilities without requiring strenuous suspension of disbelief. But this is still an entertainment--more Barbara Cartland than Elizabeth Gaskell--and there is real pleasure in seeing these characters joyfully united. Well-crafted characters and an inventive plot.

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November 1, 2017
Thomas Heathmore, Duke of Coventry, can't believe what his friend Raphe, Duke of Huntley, is asking him to do. Raphe has already arranged for his wife Gabriella's aunt, Lady Everly, to chaperone his two sisters, Amelia and Juliette, while he is away on his honeymoon. But because Lady Everly is a bit free-spirited, Raphe would really like Thomas to keep an eye on Amelia and Juliette as well. Thomas agrees, even though he thinks the whole idea is ridiculous. Of course, that's before he spots a disguised Amelia sans chaperone skulking around the slums of St. Giles. A beautifully matched hero and heroine, an abundance of heady sexual chemistry, and just the right dash of dry wit make for a stellar addition to Barnes' Diamonds in the Rough series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)