Title: To Dodge a Duke
Author: Naomi Boom
Genre: Historical Romance / Regency
Age Group: Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

When a duke gets a chance to pursue a lady as someone else, he would be a fool not to take it.

Logan Eastworth, the Tenth Duke of Waking, returns to England to find a woman to marry. When Miss Eleanor Ashford assumes he holds the title of baronet, he does not correct her error. Instead, he plays on her misconception and arranges a house party where he can make her fall for him and not his title.

Miss Ashford desires a marriage of convenience to an earl or higher. Not to some low-life baronet with an estate in the far reaches of England. She has no time for love, even if the green-eyed baronet with a charming smile tries to convince her otherwise.

Miss Ashford has a choice to make. To wed a duke or the baronet setting her heart aflame. Her choice might not be as simple as she believes.

While this is the second book in a series, the Entangled Nobility series, I had no problem following the story or connecting with the characters despite not having read the first book. This makes me believe all books can be read as stand-alones, and probably focus on different characters.

Anyway, on to To Dodge a Duke. Logan Eastworth is the tenth Duke of Waking. However, upon his return to England, Miss Eleanor Ashford assumes he’s a baronet rather than a duke, and he’s not keen to correct her error. In fact, Logan is more interested in getting her to fall for him rather than his title.

Eleanor, on the other hand, wants a marriage of convenience. Rather than a baronet, she’s aiming for someone with the title of earl or higher… Until she starts developing feelings for a certain baronet, and all the things that once seemed crystal clear become hard choices she has to make. Will she marry for convenience, or for love?

The chemistry between Logan and Eleanor seemed very real, and both characters were realistic and intriguing. I particularly liked Logan, he had a certain dashing charm about him. The writing was fluent, and the settings were described well enough that I could picture myself there.

Recommended to fans of historical romance.

 
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Title: No Quarter: Wenches – Volume 1

Author: MJL Evans and GM O’Connor

Genre: Historical Romance

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

Volume 1 of 6 begins in 1689 Port Royal, Jamaica, where Atia Crisp is imprisoned, awaiting trial, while refugees from Strangewayes’s plantation seek their new home. Guided by Capitaine la Roche, they face pursuit by the pirate hunter Big Dick and the perilous terrain of Bocas del Toro. Their future home of Sérénité hangs in the balance, complicated by the outbreak of war with France.

Series Description:

The adventures from No Quarter: Dominium continue with wenches! In 1689, Atia Crisp finds herself imprisoned in the wickedest city on earth, Port Royal, Jamaica, while the refugees from Strangewayes’s plantation in the Blue Mountains are on the run and seeking a new home, deep in the Caribbean. Captain Jean-Paul la Roche must get them to safety and find a way to liberate the woman he loves while waging a war against the English with the pirate Laurens de Graaf.

While besieged people suffer and starve, a group of women form a secret and illegal society deep from within the bowels of the city called: WENCH. A network that deals with smugglers, merchants, cutthroats and thieves. Dragged into the struggle for supremacy of the Caribbean, the women are divided and find themselves engulfed in bloodshed. The pirates of Port Royal and former enemies may be their only hope of escape.

Hell hath no fury like a cross wench!

A few months ago, I reviewed No Quarter: Dominium (Volume 1) by MJL Evans and GM O’Connor. I really enjoyed that book, so I was curious to read this new book in the series. However, it was a bit confusing to me where exactly No Quarter: Wenches fit into the series. Was it a sequel to Dominium? Was it a new series? It did feature the same characters… So after some digging around, No Quarter: Wenches is a follow up of Dominium, but not exactly a sequel. The book I read has several volumes following it (Dominium has six volumes total), and is then followed by Wenches.

So, if you want to read the series in order, which I plan to do once I get some spare time, you have to read all six volumes of Dominium first, and then pick up Wenches. Wenches too, exists of several volumes. If I’m not mistaken, Volume 1-3 are out there, and volume 4-6 are still to be written. The series order is a little complicated at first, but now I’ve got the hang of it, I’m actually quite fond of the format. It reminds me of a TV series, with each volume being an episode, and each subseries (Dominium and Wenches) another season.

Anyway, back to the book at hand. The book takes place in Port Royal, Jamaica in 1689, September. Atia Crisp, the heroine we’ve known since the previous book, is awaiting trial in prison. At the same time, refugees from Strangewayes’s plantation in the Blue Mountains are on the run seeking a new home, guided by Captain La Roche.

The book is impressive in how well it combines historical conflict with fiction and romance. On the one hand, you have Atia, Captain La Roche, and their troubles, but this is all against the backdrop of war between pirates, the French, English and Spanish troops. Everyone is practically an enemy of everyone. While Atia is imprisoned in Port Royal, the city is under siege by the French for example, who are attacking it with their ships.

I really enjoyed the connection between the characters, their depths and motivations – although there’s a large cast, all characters feel three-dimensional and realistic. I hope some of the characters get more depth in the following books, and we get to know them better, but I already felt like the authors did a good job making them seem like real people. The historical setting works well too, and the writing is fast-paced and engaging. Fans of pirate stories and series like Black Sails (and the more light-hearted movies like Pirates of the Caribbean) will love this series.

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