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A review by elleyotter
A Duke Changes Everything: The Duke's Den by Christy Carlyle
5.0
4.5 stars
I do love a good historical romance with a woman in pants, just bucking traditional gender norms all over the place. Thomasina Thorne (Mina to her friends) is smart and not afraid to take charge, and she sees the sense in wearing trousers instead of dresses to get things done around the estate. She also cares about people (and very pregnant cats), and while maybe she longs for fairy tales and a wider world, she's also sort of glad to be bound by her duty to Enderly because it means nothing needs to change... Until Nick comes to the estate...
Nick, like most hot dukes in Regency romances, has a tragic backstory that have turned him into a beast. Between his mismatched eyes and the scar on his face, he's sure that his hideousness is only matched by what lies within. But sorry, Nick, some of us have been dreaming about fairy tale princes with mismatched eyes since primary school (maybe it's a girls who read fairy tales thing?) and anyone who cares about your scars beyond wanting the blood of whoever inflicted them on you isn't worth the breath to dismiss them anyway. In reality Nick's built up this wall around his heart and his spirit so he can't be hurt again.
Nick and Mina together are amazing. Nick's behavior in confronting the place where he was basically tortured is at times bizarre and erratic (especially when you don't know why he's acting the way he is) and Mina does a fairly good job of soothing the crazy new duke while he, for example, escapes through a window to burn a portrait in a leaf pile in the middle of the night. (Stark raving bonkers, this one...) They're great for each other, even though Nick is terrified to stay and Mina is terrified to leave. (But what kind of plot would there be if there was no conflict?)
A Duke Changes Everything is wonderfully written in the alternating third person limited past tense POV. It's first book in the Duke's Den series, though it's written as a stand alone and Mina and Nick's story is wrapped up within the single book. This was the first book I've read by Christy Carlyle, but I'll definitely be reading more.
I do love a good historical romance with a woman in pants, just bucking traditional gender norms all over the place. Thomasina Thorne (Mina to her friends) is smart and not afraid to take charge, and she sees the sense in wearing trousers instead of dresses to get things done around the estate. She also cares about people (and very pregnant cats), and while maybe she longs for fairy tales and a wider world, she's also sort of glad to be bound by her duty to Enderly because it means nothing needs to change... Until Nick comes to the estate...
Nick, like most hot dukes in Regency romances, has a tragic backstory that have turned him into a beast. Between his mismatched eyes and the scar on his face, he's sure that his hideousness is only matched by what lies within. But sorry, Nick, some of us have been dreaming about fairy tale princes with mismatched eyes since primary school (maybe it's a girls who read fairy tales thing?) and anyone who cares about your scars beyond wanting the blood of whoever inflicted them on you isn't worth the breath to dismiss them anyway. In reality Nick's built up this wall around his heart and his spirit so he can't be hurt again.
“I’m not afraid of seeing your scars.”
He settled her with infinite care on the edge of the enormous bed, not quite meeting her gaze. “I am.”
Nick and Mina together are amazing. Nick's behavior in confronting the place where he was basically tortured is at times bizarre and erratic (especially when you don't know why he's acting the way he is) and Mina does a fairly good job of soothing the crazy new duke while he, for example, escapes through a window to burn a portrait in a leaf pile in the middle of the night. (Stark raving bonkers, this one...) They're great for each other, even though Nick is terrified to stay and Mina is terrified to leave. (But what kind of plot would there be if there was no conflict?)
A Duke Changes Everything is wonderfully written in the alternating third person limited past tense POV. It's first book in the Duke's Den series, though it's written as a stand alone and Mina and Nick's story is wrapped up within the single book. This was the first book I've read by Christy Carlyle, but I'll definitely be reading more.