Title: Duke of Desire
Series: Maiden Lane #12
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: * * * * 1/2
Publishers: Grand Central Publishing(Forever)
(10/17/17)
Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-145539147
FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
A LADY OF LIGHT
Refined, kind, and intelligent, Lady Iris Jordan finds herself the unlikely target of a diabolical kidnapping. Her captors are the notoriously evil Lords of Chaos. When one of the masked-and nude!-Lords spirits her away to his carriage, she shoots him . . . only to find she may have been a trifle hasty.
A DUKE IN DEEPEST DARKNESS
Cynical, scarred, and brooding, Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, has made it his personal mission to infiltrate the Lords of Chaos and destroy them. Rescuing Lady Jordan was never in his plans. But now with the Lords out to kill them both, he has but one choice: marry the lady in order to keep her safe.
CAUGHT IN A WEB OF DANGER . . . AND DESIRE
Much to Raphael's irritation, Iris insists on being the sort of duchess who involves herself in his life-and bed. Soon he's drawn both to her quick wit and her fiery passion. But when Iris discovers that Raphael's past may be even more dangerous than the present, she falters. Is their love strong enough to withstand not only the Lords of Chaos but also Raphael's own demons?
I've read and loved every book in this series! I did not realize until almost the end that this was the last book. I can't believe it's over! This series has been an auto buy for me and is going to leave a hole in my "series I read as soon as they come out" list.
There are going to be those who don't like this book because it is definitely darker and grittier than any of the others and it goes a bit more into detail of The Lords of Chaos's (childhood sexual abuse) history. You need this to get a complete understanding of what the other characters have been fighting for over the course of this series.
I did feel though that Iris wasn't as fleshed out as I would have liked. There wasn't as much romance in this book as in the previous ones. And I so loved the romances in this series. I also would have liked to have touched base more with the earlier couples from the series. That said, the book comes to a most satisfying ending and allows you a glimpse at Raphael's and Iris's future. All in all despite the darker storyline, I feel this book achieved a great series' ending!
Maiden Lane Series
1. Wicked Intentions (2010)
2. Notorious Pleasures (2011)
3. Scandalous Desires (2011)
4. Thief of Shadows (2012)
5. Lord of Darkness (2013)
6. Duke of Midnight (2013)
7. Darling Beast (2014)
8. Dearest Rogue (2015)
9. Sweetest Scoundrel (2015)
10. Duke of Sin (2016)
11. Duke of Pleasure (2016)
12. Duke of Desire (2017)
DUKE OF DESIRE- Short Excerpt
Desperately she flung herself at the opposite seat and tugged it up.
Thrust her hand in. A pistol.
She cocked it, desperately praying that it was loaded.
Elizabeth Hoyt is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of historical romance, including reader favorite, The Raven Prince.Elizabeth was born in New Orleans but grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was fortunate to be able to travel extensively as a child, visiting St. Andrews, Scotland; Germany; France; and Belgium. She spent a year in Oxford, England and was a summer exchange student to Kawasaki, Japan.Elizabeth has a BA in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and, as a result of having no clue what to do with her life thereafter, a career history as a barista, a (terrible) sales clerk, a Wisconsin Revenue Service data entry slave, and an archeological field work grunt. Fortunately, Elizabeth married relatively young and produced two children who kept her busy until her mid-thirties. At about this time, when her youngest was entering Kindergarten, Elizabeth’s mother hinted that perhaps Elizabeth should get a Real Job.
Sadly, Elizabeth was so delusional she thought writing a romance novel might qualify as a Real Job.But! Five years later, to everyone’s surprise, she actually sold that romance novel (The Raven Prince) and began a rather successful career as a Romance Novelist. This was most fortunate since Elizabeth is singularly unqualified to do anything else but Make Up Stories. Since then Elizabeth has written over twenty books to critical acclaim including three contemporaries under the pen name Julia Harper.Elizabeth lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with three dogs, a garden in constant need of weeding, and the ever faithful Mr. Hoyt.
Enter win 1 of 10 print copies of Duke of Desire:
Series: Maiden Lane #12
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Genre: Historical Romance
FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
Refined, kind, and intelligent, Lady Iris Jordan finds herself the unlikely target of a diabolical kidnapping. Her captors are the notoriously evil Lords of Chaos. When one of the masked-and nude!-Lords spirits her away to his carriage, she shoots him . . . only to find she may have been a trifle hasty.
A DUKE IN DEEPEST DARKNESS
Cynical, scarred, and brooding, Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, has made it his personal mission to infiltrate the Lords of Chaos and destroy them. Rescuing Lady Jordan was never in his plans. But now with the Lords out to kill them both, he has but one choice: marry the lady in order to keep her safe.
CAUGHT IN A WEB OF DANGER . . . AND DESIRE
Much to Raphael's irritation, Iris insists on being the sort of duchess who involves herself in his life-and bed. Soon he's drawn both to her quick wit and her fiery passion. But when Iris discovers that Raphael's past may be even more dangerous than the present, she falters. Is their love strong enough to withstand not only the Lords of Chaos but also Raphael's own demons?
I've read and loved every book in this series! I did not realize until almost the end that this was the last book. I can't believe it's over! This series has been an auto buy for me and is going to leave a hole in my "series I read as soon as they come out" list.
There are going to be those who don't like this book because it is definitely darker and grittier than any of the others and it goes a bit more into detail of The Lords of Chaos's (childhood sexual abuse) history. You need this to get a complete understanding of what the other characters have been fighting for over the course of this series.
I did feel though that Iris wasn't as fleshed out as I would have liked. There wasn't as much romance in this book as in the previous ones. And I so loved the romances in this series. I also would have liked to have touched base more with the earlier couples from the series. That said, the book comes to a most satisfying ending and allows you a glimpse at Raphael's and Iris's future. All in all despite the darker storyline, I feel this book achieved a great series' ending!
Maiden Lane Series
1. Wicked Intentions (2010)
2. Notorious Pleasures (2011)
3. Scandalous Desires (2011)
4. Thief of Shadows (2012)
5. Lord of Darkness (2013)
6. Duke of Midnight (2013)
7. Darling Beast (2014)
8. Dearest Rogue (2015)
9. Sweetest Scoundrel (2015)
10. Duke of Sin (2016)
11. Duke of Pleasure (2016)
12. Duke of Desire (2017)
DUKE OF DESIRE- Short Excerpt
Desperately she flung herself at the opposite seat and tugged it up.
Thrust her hand in. A pistol.
She cocked it, desperately praying that it was loaded.
She turned and aimed it at the door to the carriage just as the door swung open.
The Wolf loomed in the doorway—still nude—a lantern in one hand. She saw the eyes behind the mask flick to the pistol she held between her bound hands. He turned his head and said something in an incomprehensible language to someone outside.
Iris felt her breath sawing in and out of her chest.
He climbed into the carriage and closed the door, completely ignoring her and the pistol pointed at him. The Wolf hung the lantern on a hook and sat on the seat across from her.
Finally he glanced at her. “Put that down.”
His voice was calm. Quiet.
With just a hint of menace.
She backed into the opposite corner, as far away from him as possible, holding the pistol up. Level with his chest. Her heart was pounding so hard it nearly deafened her. “No.”
The carriage jolted into motion, making her stumble before she caught herself.
“T-tell them to stop the carriage,” she said, stuttering with terror despite her resolve. “Let me go now.”
“So that they can rape you to death out there?” He tilted his head to indicate the Lords. “No.”
“At the next village, then.”
“I think not.”
He reached for her and she knew she had no choice.
She shot him.
The blast blew him into the seat and threw her hands up and back, the pistol narrowly missing her nose.
Iris scrambled to her feet. The bullet was gone, but she could still use the pistol as a bludgeon.
The Wolf was sprawled across the seat, blood streaming from a gaping hole in his right shoulder. His mask had been knocked askew on his face.
She reached forward and snatched it off.
And then gasped.
The face that was revealed had once been as beautiful as an angel’s but was now horribly mutilated. A livid red scar ran from just below his hairline on the right side of his face, bisecting the eyebrow, somehow missing the eye itself but gouging a furrow into the lean cheek and catching the edge of his upper lip, making it twist. The scar ended in a missing divot of flesh in the line of the man’s severe jaw. He had inky black hair and, though they were closed now, Iris knew he had emotionless crystal-gray eyes.
She knew because she recognized him.
He was Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, and when she’d danced with him—once—three months ago at a ball, she’d thought he’d looked like Hades.
God of the underworld.
God of the dead.
She had no reason to change her opinion now.
Then he gasped, those frozen crystal eyes opened, and he glared at her.
“You idiot woman. I’m trying to save you.”
Elizabeth Hoyt is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of historical romance, including reader favorite, The Raven Prince.Elizabeth was born in New Orleans but grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was fortunate to be able to travel extensively as a child, visiting St. Andrews, Scotland; Germany; France; and Belgium. She spent a year in Oxford, England and was a summer exchange student to Kawasaki, Japan.Elizabeth has a BA in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and, as a result of having no clue what to do with her life thereafter, a career history as a barista, a (terrible) sales clerk, a Wisconsin Revenue Service data entry slave, and an archeological field work grunt. Fortunately, Elizabeth married relatively young and produced two children who kept her busy until her mid-thirties. At about this time, when her youngest was entering Kindergarten, Elizabeth’s mother hinted that perhaps Elizabeth should get a Real Job.
Sadly, Elizabeth was so delusional she thought writing a romance novel might qualify as a Real Job.But! Five years later, to everyone’s surprise, she actually sold that romance novel (The Raven Prince) and began a rather successful career as a Romance Novelist. This was most fortunate since Elizabeth is singularly unqualified to do anything else but Make Up Stories. Since then Elizabeth has written over twenty books to critical acclaim including three contemporaries under the pen name Julia Harper.Elizabeth lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with three dogs, a garden in constant need of weeding, and the ever faithful Mr. Hoyt.
Enter win 1 of 10 print copies of Duke of Desire:
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