How to Love a Duke in 10 Days by Kerrigan Byrne
Publisher & Release: St. Martin’s Press, August 27, 2019
Time and setting: Regency England
Genre: Historical Romance
Length: 446 Pages
Rating: 3.5 Gold Crowns
Book Description:
These men are dark, bold, and brave. And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees...
Famed and brilliant, Lady Alexandra Lane has always known how to look out for to herself. But nobody would ever expect that she has darkness in her past—one that she pays a blackmailer to keep buried. Now, with her family nearing bankruptcy, Alexandra strikes upon a solution: Get married to one of the empire’s most wealthy eligible bachelors. Even if he does have the reputation of a devil.
LOVE TAKES NO PRISONERS
Piers Gedrick Atherton, the Duke of Redmayne, is seeking revenge and the first step is securing a bride. Winning a lady’s hand is not so easy, however, for a man known as the Terror of Torcliff. Then, Alexandra enters his life like a bolt of lightning. When she proposes marriage, Piers knows that, like him, trouble haunts her footsteps. But her gentleness, sharp wit, independent nature, and incredible beauty awakens every fierce desire within him. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe in his arms.
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Vikki’s Musings
How to Love a Duke in 10 Days is the first book in Kerrigan Byrne’s new series, Devil You Know. I’m so glad I accepted an invitation from the publisher, via Net-Galley, to read and review in advance of publication. My opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way.
What an exciting reading experience! From the first scene until the last, I was completely enmeshed in this thrilling, high suspense romance. Ms. Byrne’s superior skills with Regency romance is evident immediately. This is the best historical I have read this year.
Lady Alexander Lane’s character captured me from the prologue. What happens to her is a woman’s worst nightmare. No wonder she spends ten years disguising her femininity and fearing the dark side of men. She paints them all with the same brush and with powerful reason.
When she meets Piers, the Duke of Redmayne, she only sees a roughly dressed man with a powerful, physical presence. Yet instead of her old demons bursting forth, she’s amazed at her lack of true fear, even though she witnesses his fierce side. She is shocked when she realizes he is none other than the duke who is to wed her friend, one of their bonded trio, bound by each other’s secrets.
Piers is an intriguing hero with great depth. He not only bears the physical scars from a brutal attack, hidden inside, is plenty of hurt from a childhood fraught with disappoint and disillusionment. My heat ached for him. Although he has great reason to distrust women, there is something about the bookish, anthropologist that calls to him, and he accepts her astonishing offer to take Francesca’s place as his bride. Thus, begins a tale of adventure and mayhem.
The chemistry between Alexandra and Piers jumps off the page! Even though she has a terrifying fear of men and anything sexual, she cannot deny her overwhelming attraction, nor can Piers deny his compelling desire for her. Ms. Byrne masterfully builds the sexual tension from their first meeting and keeps it growing throughout the book until the very end. That’s my favorite aspect of historical romance, and her mastery thoroughly entranced me!
If you enjoy historical romance, then you will love How to Love a Duke in 10 Daysas much as I. This book is rich with all the aspects that will call to your love of this sub-genre. This is a novel with complex characters that will pull at your heartstrings, and it has an action-packed plot that will have you waiting breathlessly for the next suspenseful scene. This is an amazing start of an incredible new series. Ms. Byrne has set her bar high, and I can’t wait to read the next book. Happy reading!
How to Love a Duke in Ten Days Blog Tour Q&A
Q: What inspired you to write How to Love a Duke in Ten Days?
A: I’ve always been one of those women who have enjoyed fierce female friendships. I think that soulmates, even for heterosexual women, can be just as necessary with other women as with men, and a real hero must not just love and respect you, but also your tribe. I wanted to write a series where historical heroines could truly have it all, education, dreams, businesses, wealth, genius, revenge, hot sex, AND true love. Where the sacrifices were made on their behalf instead by them, and where their heroes learn to lift them up in all ways, heal their pains, calm their fears, become their best friends, and protect them with what I hope is a great balance between alpha hotness and progressive sensitivity.
Q: Is there one thing you would like readers to take away from this story?
A: That’s tough because I packed a lot in there! I would say the one thing from this book, specifically, is that happiness is attainable against the odds, even when overcoming the worst that people can do to one another. Even though I’m a grown up and a cynic, I still like to write books that remind me that true love conquers all, because that love can come from so many people.
Q: Can you describe your typical day writing this book?
A: This book was especially difficult for me to write, so I spent a great deal of time in my bathrobe. I would get up, my fantastic husband would make me coffee, I’d call my critique partner and we’d do a bit of brainstorming, and I’d write and rewrite for hours, stress, cry, throw things, walk the dog, eat, snack, eat some more, facebook way too much, and then finish under word count, binge a tv show or a book until I stared at the ceiling into the wee hours. Oh, and there was drinking in there at regular intervals.
Glamorous, I know!
Q: Describe the hero and heroine of How to Love a Duke in Ten Days in three words each.
A: The Duke of Redmayne: Wary. Wounded. Wicked.
Lady Alexandra Lane: Brave. Brilliant. Beautiful.
Q: What is the one thing that the heroine, Alexandra, can’t live without?
A: She cannot live without her two dearest friends in the entire world, Miss Cecelia Teague, and Lady Francesca Cavendish. They literally buried a body for her, and would defend her to the death.
Q: What was your hardest scene to write in How to Love a Duke in Ten Days? Your favorite?
A: As with many (most) of my novels, the prologues are the hardest to write, and read, I suspect. Usually I take the characters to the very edge of their breaking point, often times pushing them over so they have what seems like insurmountable conflicts to overcome both internally and externally. So, for this book, Alexandra’s assault was the most difficult thing to get through, and boy did I enjoy being able to help Piers put her back together, because he was just the perfect hero for her. Tender, empathetic, a good sense of humor, and a large dose of protective alphaness.
Q: Why do you write historical romance?
A: I’ve always romanticized the past. I can’t help it. I love the pace and the aesthetic, the gowns and the suits and the manners and the manors. I love to do historical research and it’s so fun to see how much we are influenced by the past and how, even though so much has changed through the centuries, people really haven’t. Also, it’s fun to play with language, mystery, and sex in a time when a scandal was still possible. *wink.
Q: Is there another particular author that inspires you or that you enjoy reading?
A: There is a LIST! I would say in historical romance, though, it’s always always Lisa Kleypas. She has a grasp on the characterization of historical folks that I can never hope to attain. I’m just in awe of her every word.
Q: Where do you go or what resources do you use to make sure your novels are historically correct?
A: I love to find books about a time period at B&N or my local bookshops. I go to Harper’s Bazaar for fashion, and a slew of Victorian references for the time period. I do read blogs and sometimes consult with historians and experts.
Q: Did you learn anything surprising while researching for this novel?
A: Many things! I learned how truly difficult it was to attain an education as a woman as little as a hundred years ago. It’s really incredible how far we’ve come in a century.
Q: What do you do when faced with writer’s block, if you ever are?
A: Oh man. I often am. I usually try to shake it loose with a brainstorming conversation with a few friends I have who always seem to be able to unstick me. I rely heavily on the creativity of others as well as my own.
Q: How did you feel the first time you realized one of your books was a big success?
A: I didn’t believe it. It seems surreal every time I truly realize that a story I wrote entertained another human. Let alone more than one. I’m like… they paid to read it? WHAT?
Q: What’s next for the Devil You Know series?
A: I’m especially excited for the next book ALL SCOT AND BOTHERED because it’s about Alexandra’s best friend the curvy vicar’s daughter, Cecelia Teague. She inherits London’s most infamous and successful brothel, and one imposing, surly Scottish enemy along with it. She and Lord Ramsay, the Lord Chief Justice with an axe to grind against her establishment, can’t be in a room together without the sparks flying. I can’t think about this book without smiling.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A: I hope you enjoy this trio of roguish redheads as much as I enjoyed writing them!
Author Bio:
Kerrigan Byrne is the best-selling author of THE HIGHWAYMAN, THE HUNTER, THE HIGHLANDER, THE DUKE, THE SCOT BEDS HIS WIFE, and coming 8/28/18 is THE DUKE WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.
She lives on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington with her dream boat husband. When she's not writing and researching, you'll find her on the water sailing and kayaking, or on land eating, drinking, shopping, and taking the dogs to play on the beach.
Kerrigan loves to hear from her readers! To contact her or learn more about her books, please visit her sites:
