A Devil of a Duke by Madeline Hunter

May 28, 2018
Mixing of classes – would it really work?

https://www.madelinehunter.com/
A Devil of a Duke by Madeline Hunter is the second entry in the Decadent Duke’s Society series. In this story we have an idea which alllll romances are based on – a peon can live

happily ever after with a prince or princess. While neither one of our characters are royal, the hero is an aristocrat and he brings to the relationship alllll the beliefs an aristocrat in Regency England would bring. And, our heroine isn’t really a peon but a thief. So what we have here is a good old-fashioned class distinction war. I’m really not sure it works in this book. Amanda Waverly is a secretary, something that would have been rare in the Regency period, seeing as how most secretaries were male. But Amanda isn’t just a secretary, she’s also a thief – and a good one. You see Amanda’s parents were thieves and excellent ones too. She learned every trick of the trade but now she’s trying to get away from all that, hence the secretary job. But there’s trouble on the horizon. Her mother has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. If Amanda can steal a valuable artifact her mother will be released. She doesn’t think that should be a problem. She checks out the place the artifact is being kept – in a private collection. She decides that the easiest way to access the house the artifact is by seducing the man next door and then enter his neighbor’s house through his house. Ah, another Romanceland plan.

In order to activate her grand plan, Amanda must attend a costume party where she will seduce Harry (the guy with the house next to the artifact) into taking her back to his townhouse, where he will fall prey to her charms, end up in bed with her, and after an exuberant night of sex, he will fall asleep. She will then climb across windows and roofs to the house next door, get the artifact, and free her mother. But into this scheme comes a proverbial fly in the ointment by the name of Gabriel St. James.

Gabriel St. James is a standard Romanceland rake. He is also one of those rakes whose wing-wang should have fallen off years ago. He is at that costume part keeping an eye on his shy, studious brother Harry. Harry has recently suffered a heart-break and as Gabriel watches, Harry appears to be frantically trying to escape from a woman who seems to be doing her darnedest to entrap Harry. After receiving a “save me” look from his brother, Gabriel steps in and saves him from her clutches. Amanda is a tad bit perturbed that she will have to change her plans, but while she may not be a master planner she is a master thief and she has every confidence she will be able to steal the artifact. In the meantime she has to deal with the instant lust-thing which has sprung up between Gabriel and herself. How do we know about the instant lust-thing? Because we are told. We are told that Gabriel’s horny-toad is activated. We are told that Amanda cannot forget the kiss she receives from Gabriel. I could not find any chemistry between Gabriel and Amanda, not any type of chemistry. There is nothing between them which would allow for any relationship to survive the conflicts which are part of class separation. For me, they did not bond. When I read a romance story I like to think that even though I am reading make-believe, in the end the relationship will work. I could not imagine a relationship between Gabriel and Amanda ever working.

The only bond that worked in the story was between Gabriel and his two friends. The story simply sparkled when the Duke and his friends were together. I loved reading the book when their narrative was being told. By the way, they are all Dukes. Ms. Hunter’s writing is superb when the Dukes are on. It’s too bad the chemistry didn’t extend into the romance part of the book.

Because this is a romance book I find I cannot recommend it. I am very disappointed. I am a great respecter of Ms. Hunter writing, but I could find no romance in A Devil of a Duke. If only the chemistry between the guy-friends had been present between Gabriel and Amanda the story might have worked.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: We are told it's hot