The Duke Goes Down

May 17, 2021
Jordan (Rogue Effect) launches the Duke Hunt Victorian romance series with an enticing premise and a dashing hero who suffers from an ill-matched eventual partner. When it’s discovered that Peregrine Butler’s parents married after his birth, making him illegitimate, Perry is stripped of the title of Duke of Penning. Forced to move out of his ancestral manor as a gentleman with no title and no income, he returns to his hometown of Shropshire in the hopes of marrying well. But the local vicar’s daughter, Imogen Bates, has different plans for Perry. She’s holding on to a 10-year-old grudge after overhearing a wildly unkind discussion of her flaws between Perry and his mates when they were teenagers. Ruining his prospects feels like satisfactory revenge—until both she and Perry realize that their mutual animosity hides a passion worth exploring. Readers will wish for a deeper focus on how Perry’s sudden loss of title changes him for the better and will long to see a softer side of judgmental Imogen, who takes her revenge pretty far. Die-hard fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope may forgive this flawed couple, but others will hope for greater compatibility in future installments. Agent: Maura Kye-Casella, Don Congdon Assoc.

July 1, 2021
Jordan begins her new series, The Duke Hunt, with an enemies-to-lovers romance. Peregrine Butler used to be the Duke of Penning until it was discovered that his mother gave birth to him before his parents were married, making him only the illegitimate son of the former Duke. Now, he lives with his mother in Shropshire while seeking an heiress to marry. Imogen Bates, daughter of the local vicar, has known Perry since they were children, and they have never gotten along. Imogen holds a strong grudge against him for mean words she once overheard him saying about her, and she now feels compelled to protect the other ladies in Shropshire from this arrogant man. She starts unflattering rumors about him, but when he discovers and confronts her, she begins to realize there is more to him than she thought. Perry felt adrift after having lost his title, but he starts finding himself again when he's with Imogen, forcing him to reevaluate his future plans. Perry and Imogen are such flawed characters that it can be hard to feel invested in their story. As they warm to each other and their chemistry fires up, it becomes more interesting, but the shift from enemies to lovers feels too abrupt, and the pair's final conflict is more exhausting than climactic. Still, Jordan's writing is often lovely, the setting is charming, and there are intriguing secondary characters who will hopefully get their tales told. Not the best series start, but there's promise for better future installments.

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