Undercover Duke by Sabrina Jeffries
Sabrina Jeffries, one of the best-known names in historical romance, weaves an enchanting Regency romance with a mystery at its core, as half-siblings investigate the truth about their mother’s succession of beloved husbands – and their own surprising identities as eligible young nobles.
Along with his half-siblings, Sheridan Wolfe, Duke of Armitage, is determined to solve the mysteries behind the suspicious deaths of their mother’s three husbands. His investigations bring him into dangerous proximity with the captivating Vanessa Pryde, but the duke, still haunted by a tragically lost love, is resolved to resist the attraction. Besides, lovely Miss Pryde seems utterly smitten with a roguish London playwright…
Vanessa’s theatrical flirtation is intended only to break through the duke’s business-like demeanour and guarded emotions, for it is Sheridan she truly has her sights, and her heart, set on. As the duke’s jealousy becomes evident, the two find themselves propelled into a scheme involving a pretend engagement, a secret inquiry – and a perhaps not-so-secret leap into true love…
- File Name:undercover-duke-by-sabrina-jeffries.epub
- Original Title:Undercover Duke
- Creator:Jeffries, Sabrina
- Language:en
- Identifier:2960039911
- Publisher:Headline
- Date:2021-05-25
- File Size:907.676 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Copyright Page
- 3. Table of Contents
- 4. About the Author
- 5. Praise for Sabrina Jeffries
- 6. Also by Sabrina Jeffries
- 7. About the Book
- 8. Dedication
- 9. Family Tree
- 10. LONDON SOCIETY TIMES
- 11. Chapter One
- 12. Chapter Two
- 13. Chapter Three
- 14. Chapter Four
- 15. Chapter Five
- 16. Chapter Six
- 17. Chapter Seven
- 18. Chapter Eight
- 19. Chapter Nine
- 20. Chapter Ten
- 21. Chapter Eleven
- 22. Chapter Twelve
- 23. Chapter Thirteen
- 24. Chapter Fourteen
- 25. Chapter Fifteen
- 26. Chapter Sixteen
- 27. Chapter Seventeen
- 28. Chapter Eighteen
- 29. Chapter Nineteen
- 30. Chapter Twenty
- 31. Chapter Twenty-One
- 32. Chapter Twenty-Two
- 33. Epilogue
- 34. Don’t miss the dazzling novels in the Duke Dynasty series
- 35. Be seduced by the Sinful Suitors
- 36. Meet the Hellions of Halstead Hall
- 37. Find out more about Headline Eternal
Undercover Duke, Book 5 in the Duke Dynasty series, was about His Grace Sheridan Wolfe, Duke of Armitage, and Miss Vanessa Pryde, cousin to His Grace Fletcher “Grey” Pryde, the Duke of Greycourt, and niece to Sir Noah Rayner. Vanessa, who had been enamored with Sheridan for a long time, was vexed that she didn't seem to mean anything to him at all, so she pretended to have an interest in a certain poet friend of his half-brother. Sheridan, having had a tragic romance many years prior, had determined he would never allow himself to fall in love again. However, he was never quite able to keep Vanessa far from his thoughts and he was constantly jealous of other men who showered her with attention. With both Sheridan and Vanessa acting as though they weren't attracted to each other, it made for a very aggravating story. The hot again, cold again relationship was very off-putting, to say the least. The way they antagonized one another was stereotypical of the 1970-1980 Harlequin romance novels that bugged me to no end. This book was, for the most part b-o-r-i-n-g. It was so difficult to remain attentive. It had SO much fluff starting with the very beginning that it lacked the ability to hold the interest of the reader. It was definitely yawn-worthy. Too bad one had to read it in its entirety in order to learn the answers to all the intrigue from the four previous books. By the beginning of chapter 4, it was all I could do not to just drop the book and go on to something more entertaining...and there were still 18 chapters and an epilogue to go. The characters of the book were poorly developed. Vanessa was a vacuous ninny head who, for a 25 year old heiress, was dumb enough to think it was a good idea to show interest in one man while in love with another. That she tried to play them against each other showed another facet of her character to have a tendency to be cruel and spiteful. She also was unusually limited in her knowledge of what took place between men and women in the bedroom, more than one would expect for a woman of her age even in that era. Most of the other characters were from previous books and were still decent enough in this one, although they mostly had smaller showings in the story. Other characters that showed up in previous books but had little participation then, now had a greater input but were still mostly underdeveloped and uninteresting. The intrigue was barely touched upon for most of the chapters and the romance got the same lack of attention. The greatest focus was placed on the fluff...again. It just dragged the storyline down. By the end of chapter 5, all I wanted to do was put the book ddown...and take a long nap in hopes of dreaming of better things than this plot line. The emotions of the story were of the usual variety. The angst and drama were unduly exaggerated and out of proportion for most of the chapters. When they needed to be high, they were downplayed. The chemistry and passion were a bit blase and not at all convincing. With Sheridan and Vanessa trying so hard to convince each other they didn't like the other for so much of the book, when they finally admitted their true feelings it fell flat. When the intrigue finally took off, the romance lit up a fair bit as well. However, neither happened in time to give the book any chance of being better than mediocre. For the entire series, the author failed to take into consideration the language of the time period in which she inserted her characters. Each of these stories were definitely more modern than the 1800s should have been portraying, which was disappointing. This book definitely did not merit a five-star rating. However, it was a decent ending to a somewhat decent series.