ONE DANCE WITH A DUKE

Author: Tessa Dare ISBN: 9780345518859 6/2010 HISTORICAL Publisher: BALLANTINE
Time Period: Regency London, 1817

A handsome and reclusive horse breeder, Spencer Dumarque, the fourth Duke of Morland, is a member of the exclusive Stud Club, an organization so select it has only ten members—yet membership is attainable to anyone with luck. And Spencer has plenty of it, along with an obsession with a prize horse, a dark secret, and, now, a reputation as the dashing “Duke of Midnight.” Each evening he selects one lady for a breathtaking midnight waltz. But none of the women catch his interest, and nobody ever bests the duke—until Lady Amelia d’Orsay triesher luck. In a moment of desperation, the unconventional beauty claims the duke’s dance and unwittingly steals his heart. When Amelia demands that Spencer forgive her scapegrace brother’s debts, she never imagines that her game of wits and words will lead to breathless passion and a steamy proposal. Still, Spencer is a man of mystery, perhaps connected to the shocking murder of the Stud Club’s founder. Will Amelia lose her heart in this reckless wager or win everlasting love?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I loved, loved, loved this book! By page 15, I knew I liked the hero and heroine; and by page 100, I was thoroughly in love with the book in its entirety. Marriages of convenience don’t always work for everyone, but I tend to like them, especially in historical romances, because a lot of the contrivances that are used to keep a couple apart tend to fall to the wayside. That was the case here. Amelia and Spencer are married within the first four chapters, and the rest of the book is about the two of them learning to like, love, and trust each other. Even after they accomplish the first two, learning to trust each other proves to be the hardest, especially given their flaws. Spencer demands complete loyalty from everyone around him—Amelia included—and he can’t understand how she can love her family—and her black sheep brother—as much as she loves him. Likewise, Amelia doesn’t understand how Spencer can expect her to turn her back on her brother at a time when he needs her the most.

Tessa Dare has a tendency to write challenging heroines… that is, challenging for the reader to like. Amelia, I thought, was a departure from the challenging heroine. She seemed a little naïve and tunnel-visioned at times, but I think some of her naiveté stemmed from the fact that Spencer would demand things of her without giving her any justification or explanation for why he was making these demands.

Overall, I thought ONE DANCE WITH A DUKE was an engaging and captivating read. Although I thought the characters had some flaws, that didn’t detract from the story; instead these flaws helped to give depth to the story without becoming annoying. The Stud Club mystery subplot is one I could have done without, just because Ms. Dare didn’t do the best job of making me care about who murdered the Stud Club’s founder, but hopefully, as the series progresses, I’ll grow to care about that storyline more.

ONE DANCE WITH A DUKE is a must-read! I certainly can’t wait for the next installment of the Stud Club.

Jilian Vallade