Who Wants to Marry a Duke by Sabrina Jeffries
From the bestselling author, and Queen of the sexy Regency romance, Sabrina Jeffries comes a sparkling new series about an oft-widowed mother’s grown children, who blaze through society in their quest for the truth about their fathers . . . and in the process find that love just might conquer all . . . For fans of Sarah MacLean, Julia Quinn and Tessa Dare.
Chemistry is everything…
A past kiss with Miss Olivia Norley should be barely a memory for Marlowe Drake, the Duke of Thornstock. After all, there are countless debutantes for a handsome rakehell to charm beyond a young lady whose singular passion is chemistry – of the laboratory type. But Thorn has not forgotten – or forgiven – the shocking blackmail scheme sparked by that single kiss. Now Thorn’s half-brother, Grey, has hired the brilliant Miss Norley for her scientific expertise in solving a family mystery. And the once-burned Thorn, suspicious of her motives, vows to follow her every move…
For Olivia, determining whether arsenic poisoning killed Grey’s father is the pioneering experiment that could make her career – and Thorn’s constant presence is merely a distraction. But someone has explosive plans to derail her search. Soon the most unexpected discovery is the caring nature of the reputed scoundrel beside her – and the electricity it ignites between them…
- File Name:who-wants-to-marry-a-duke-by-sabrina-jeffries.epub
- Original Title:Who Wants to Marry a Duke
- Creator:Jeffries, Sabrina
- Language:en
- Identifier:3906453167
- Publisher:Headline
- Date:2020-08-25
- File Size:887.550 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Copyright Page
- 3. 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. Prologue
- 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. Epilogue
- 31. Read on for a preview of Undercover Duke
- 32. Don’t miss the dazzling novels in the Duke Dynasty series
- 33. Be seduced by the Sinful Suitors
- 34. Meet the Hellions of Halstead Hall
- 35. Find out more about Headline Eternal
Who Wants to Marry a Duke, Book 3 of the Duke Dynasty series, was about His Grace Marlowe "Thorn" Drake, the Duke of Thornstock, and the Honorable Miss Olivia Norley, daughter of Baron Norley. Side Note: While the author noted that Dr. Valentine Rose was the first person to determine whether a patient of his had died from arsenic poisoning in 1806, arsenic testing was, in fact, developed by the English chemist James Marsh and first published in 1836. For the author to take such a drastic creative license as to say the Heroine of this story did so in 1809 was both appalling and reprehensible. When Thorn returned to England from Berlin to take over the dukedom from his late father, he attended a ball where he first met Olivia. Through an unfortunate incident involving a spilled drink, a lapse in judgment, and a stolen kiss, Thorne found himself at the wrong end of attempted blackmail. By the end of the following day, both Olivia and the potential blackmailer both knew precisely how Thorn felt about each of them and they did not speak again for nearly ten years. Upon learning that his half-brother, Grey, had hired Olivia to test his late father's remains for arsenic poisoning, Thorn was floored. Unwilling to trust her, Thorn decided to travel with them in order to keep an eye on her and make certain she didn't cause the family any stress or scandal. Due to the unfortunate way that Thorn met Olivia, he had a tendency to be very distrusting of her every move. He was determined to watch her like a hawk and not let her get away with any sleight of hand trickery while she did her chemistry testing on the remains of Grey's father. Once again there was an over-abundance of fluff floating throughout the story, things that were irrelevant to ... well...anything to do with the book, to be honest. Information that, sure, had something to do with the history of a character's family or home, but wasn't important to the current story itself. So much time was spent on who could make who more jealous or even on fluff that just kept getting worse as the chapters grew longer. The intrigue and drama weren't as prominent in this book mainly because it was detracted from due to all the inconsequential information that was being thrown around. The language in this book followed the same pattern as that in the previous books in the series. It was way too modern for the era, with words that weren't used until at least the 1980s or later. The characters were also too loose in morals and etiquette than they were in the 1800s. The characters were a bit lackluster for the most part. The author never truly explained why Thorn was so set against falling in love. He gave one excuse after another, but none of them made any sense, especially as his own parents had been a love match. He had so many strange ideas about marriage, women, and life in general. Olivia was a bit dimwitted for a 27-year-old bluestocking. She tended to be a bit two-dimensional and tunnel-visioned. The one saving grace of the entire story was the intrigue. When it was finally allowed to take off, the intrigue became a living, breathing entity all its own. It sprouted and grew to such a proportion that it knew no bounds. Unlike the previous books in the series, the intrigue was set loose and allowed to take over the book. It surpassed even the romance between the two main characters. Again, it did not earn a five-star rating.