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A review by bookishnerdyandcurious
A Duke Changes Everything: The Duke's Den by Christy Carlyle
4.0
4.5 stars! Sometimes just wandering the library stacks will net some winners, sometimes you'll get some losers... and you'll never really know until you take the book home (at least if you're in a rush, like I always seem to be). Luckily, this one was another winner from an author I'd heard of, but never read.
Nick owns one of the most notorious gentlemen's clubs in London and is known as a monster, due to a slash on his face and a tendency to not extend credit to titled gentlemen once they've proven their worthlessness. He receives word that his brother has passed away and he has inherited the ducal title he never wanted. All he wants to do is destroy the place where he experienced some of the worst moments of his life, but he's presented with a distraction: his steward, Thomasina Thorne. Mina is determined to show the new duke just how wonderful Enderley can be and hopes to change his mind about tearing it down piece by piece. She doesn't know all of his history with the estate. She just knows that she's got a hell of a job ahead of her - and she can't afford to give into those feelings between them, can she?
Man, this book... it's a slow burn with so much tension between our H/h. When Nick meets Mina and realizes that she's his steward, he's more upset that she kept her sex to herself by signing letters with her first initial and last name than he is with the fact that she's a woman in the first place. I couldn't hate that, I just couldn't. Hell, when presented with a man from Mina's past who throws around a lot of accusations, he's mad but not at Mina. He's mad at the thought that anyone would think poorly of her and would fight the world to protect her. Yeah, a damaged, I'm-never-going-to-fall-in-love-until-it's-too-late, I'm-going-to-protect-you guy is totally my book catnip. So, no wonder this was a win, right? And Mina - she deals with all the opinions of the men in the village and of the gentry: how she's not ladylike, how she is a steward of an estate, how she's unlike most women, how she's a *gasp* spinster (!), and she is completely and unapologetically herself. She has the devotion and respect of the staff at Enderley (who all just want her to be happy) and she devotes herself to them as well. At no time did I ever think she was TSTL - a competent heroine is complete catnip for me.
Nick owns one of the most notorious gentlemen's clubs in London and is known as a monster, due to a slash on his face and a tendency to not extend credit to titled gentlemen once they've proven their worthlessness. He receives word that his brother has passed away and he has inherited the ducal title he never wanted. All he wants to do is destroy the place where he experienced some of the worst moments of his life, but he's presented with a distraction: his steward, Thomasina Thorne. Mina is determined to show the new duke just how wonderful Enderley can be and hopes to change his mind about tearing it down piece by piece. She doesn't know all of his history with the estate. She just knows that she's got a hell of a job ahead of her - and she can't afford to give into those feelings between them, can she?
Man, this book... it's a slow burn with so much tension between our H/h. When Nick meets Mina and realizes that she's his steward, he's more upset that she kept her sex to herself by signing letters with her first initial and last name than he is with the fact that she's a woman in the first place. I couldn't hate that, I just couldn't. Hell, when presented with a man from Mina's past who throws around a lot of accusations, he's mad but not at Mina. He's mad at the thought that anyone would think poorly of her and would fight the world to protect her. Yeah, a damaged, I'm-never-going-to-fall-in-love-until-it's-too-late, I'm-going-to-protect-you guy is totally my book catnip. So, no wonder this was a win, right? And Mina - she deals with all the opinions of the men in the village and of the gentry: how she's not ladylike, how she is a steward of an estate, how she's unlike most women, how she's a *gasp* spinster (!), and she is completely and unapologetically herself. She has the devotion and respect of the staff at Enderley (who all just want her to be happy) and she devotes herself to them as well. At no time did I ever think she was TSTL - a competent heroine is complete catnip for me.