A Duke Like No Other (Playful Brides)

by Valerie Bowman

General Mark Grimaldi is devoted to his service for the Crown, risking his life and giving up everything for his career. The political promotion he’s always wanted is now within his reach, but he needs to convince his estranged wife to return to England and play the role of happy bride in order for him to get the position.

Nicole Huntington Grimaldi has spent the past ten years in France, not having seen her husband since she left England. But now he’s on her doorstep, asking her to return with him, and Nicole sees the opportunity to get something out of this deal. So she agrees, on one condition: she wants a baby.

A Duke Like No Other is a Regency spy caper with Valerie Bowman at her best as husband and wife match wits and may just fall in love in the process.

• ISBN13: 9781250121738
• Publish Date: 1 June 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 April 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: St Martin's Press
• Imprint: St. Martin's Paperbacks
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250121738

Reviews

[kristy]

I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for a review. Mark and his wife, Nicole, had a whirlwind romance & marriage. After a disagreement the two separated and have been estranged for 10 years. For a potential job promotion for Mark the two are reunited and now have to solve a mystery along with sorting out the secrets that have kept them apart in order to potentially have a chance to fall in love again. I really enjoyed this book; it was a quick, light read and I found myself easily invested in the characters and hoping that they would get a chance for a happily ever after. The book is the 9th in the series but I didn't feel that I had to read any of the others to understand what was going on and plan on going back to read the series from the start. I would recommend this to any romance lover who likes their romances to be fun, flirty and with some mystery surrounding them.

[chymerra]

I love a good second chance romance. There is nothing like seeing two people separated by circumstances reuniting. So when I was approached to review A Duke Like No Other and I read the blurb, I accepted.

I enjoyed reading this book. I am a huge fan of Regency Era romances. Something about that period calls to me. I like that the women can be smart but get the man. I also like that the men were willing to do anything to prove that they loved their women. I loved that allure of the ton and the endless balls/functions that the Lords and Ladies attended. I loved the titles (I mean, hello Duke!!!) and the description of life back then. While I know it wasn’t at all easy, I enjoyed reading about that upper-class. My guilty pleasure.

I haven’t read any of the other books in this series. But if they are anything like A Duke Like No Other, I will be happy with them. I liked that while this book is in a series, you can read it as a stand-alone. I have a couple of pet peeves when I read books out-of-order from the series. I can’t stand it when I get a book that is like 254th in a series and it is taken over by the previous characters antics. Or when the author relies too much on the plotlines from the other books and leaves me going “What the heck is going on“. Fortunately for this book, none of what I mentioned happened. While the previous characters are mentioned and featured, they do not take over the plot.

I did like the main characters but I wish that the author came clean with why they broke up sooner. Instead, she let it leak, slowly, throughout the book. Seeing that I read these books on my Kindle, I can’t skip to the end. So reading the flashbacks drove me nuts. I was done with that part of the plot before it began.

I thought that Mark and Nicole needed a lesson in communication. While I agreed with why Mark being so upset with Nicole, it didn’t deserve a break-up. I also think that Nicole might have overreacted a bit when she moved to France. All they needed to do was talk and Mark would have gotten the entire story from Nicole instead of reading it in a letter from her mother.

I thought Mark had a huge chip on his shoulder. HUGE. It was his unwillingness to bend when it came to his mother’s family that left a bad taste in his mouth. He refused to acknowledge anyone. He was going to decline something that he shouldn’t have because of that chip. It wasn’t until the letters that he started to bend. But I did think it was going to be too late to make amends with his uncle and cousins.

I liked Nicole but like I mentioned above, I thought that it was silly that she ran to France to lick her wounds. I also thought that her condition to Mark’s request was a little odd. It wasn’t commonplace at that time for a woman, married or not, to raise a child on her own. And in France of all places. I also found her choice of profession a bit odd and at ends for the era. Not saying that it could have happened but it was very unlikely.

The chemistry and heat between Nicole and Mark were there. Oh, boy was it there. And the sex was hot. It was kind of dirty too. I liked that. I liked that Nicole knew what she wanted and she wasn’t afraid to let Mark know. I liked that Mark didn’t forget what turned Nicole on after 10 years. Like I said, the chemistry and heat between them were hot. I was surprised that my Kindle didn’t fog up.

I liked the mystery angle that was introduced halfway through the book. It made the plot more interesting and added some extra depth to the plot. I do have to laugh at Mark being jealous of Oakleaf. I giggled at that.

The end of the book was perfect. I was very surprised at who the murderer ended up being. It was the last person I thought it was. The author did a great job at casting red herrings all over the place to distract the reader. Of course, the part where Mark and Nicole get back together was the clincher of the book. I had tears in my eyes while reading it. And the epilogue. I couldn’t get over it!!

What I liked about A Duke Like No Other:

A) Regency England

B) Mark and Nicole’s romance

C) Second chance romance

What I disliked about A Duke Like No Other:

A) Took too long to disclose why Mark and Nicole broke up

B) Zero communication between Mark and Nicole

C) Mark’s huge chip on his shoulder

I would give A Duke Like No Other an Adult rating. There is explicit sex. There is mild violence. There is not any language. I would suggest that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

There are no trigger warnings for A Duke Like No Other.

I would recommend this book to family and friends. I would also reread this book.

[Lindsey Gray]

Nine books into this series and it is still as amazing as the first!

You may remember General Mark Grimaldi as a friend of the Cavendish brothers and their wives. Mark has been a spymaster for years all the while holding several secrets of his own. One is that he has been married for a decade, yet his wife has lived in France since their disastrous fight three months after the I do’s. Now, to get the promotion he wants, he’ll need to bring her back to England to play the part.

Nicole Huntington Grimaldi fell in love with a man she never really knew and after three months, it all fell apart. Since she was also somewhat of a crimefighter/female spy, she took an assignment in France and never returned. Even though she was surprised when her husband found her, she honestly never thought it would happen. Mark needs a wife. Nicole wants a baby. Simple, right? Not in the least.

Valerie Bowman takes us on another adventure from the lavender fields of France to the richest homes in London. Mark and Nicole are a unique in the sense that they’ve been married for a decade and aren’t in the fresh blooms of youth. Yet, they are still hold on to old wounds and jealousies like two adults that should know better. I still loved them both to pieces! Mark can be stubborn, but he’s incredibly intelligent and a voracious lover. Nicole wants to guard her heart, but with a husband like Mark, a woman can only enjoy every moment of their intimacies. Both of them have their attitude problems, but Bowman has a way of making the most difficult puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.

I came into this series at book seven and didn’t feel at all lost. Don’t be scared away because this is the ninth book in the series. It can definitely be read as a stand-alone novel. I can’t promise you that you won’t want to go back and devour the other eight novels until the tenth, Kiss Me at Christmas, hits shelves later this year.

If you want your Historical Romance with shocking secrets, a deadly dose of mayhem, and love scenes that singe the pages, A Duke Like No Other is your next must read novel!

I received this book for free. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.