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Before beginning my review, would like to mention a **trigger warning** here. There is mention of sexual abuse at the beginning of the book. Not graphic mind you, but enough to turn your stomach so it had taken me quite aback. But the whole scene was handled pretty well by the author so kudos to her.

How To Love a Duke In Ten Days is book 1 of the newest series by Kerrigan Byrne titled Devil You Know. TBH, I was waiting for the latest in her other series, Victorian Rebels, which is a series I’ve come to love over the years. So this new venture left me a bit intrigued. Of course, I was going to check it out no matter what and so glad that I did! Just how do two fools fall in love in 10 days? Well, you’ll just have to read to find out. Devil You Know is also based in the Victorian-era England, much like Victorian Rebels, though I didn’t think there’s any connection between the two. Not yet at least.

When the story opens up, we find our heroine, Alexandra, studying in a school for females named de Chardonne. Located in Switzerland, de Chardonne seemed to be a famous educational institution for the young and affluent females, daughters and such, of the peerage. Alexandra came to be here because of the same. Even if her family’s financial situation was quite dire, as it was mired in deep debts, they still wanted her to be ready for the world. This school would educate her to navigate the world of peerage and such, though Alexandra knew that if her family’s secret is out in the world, she would not be welcomed by the Ton.

Mostly an introvert, Alexandra found friends in two other girls who come from somewhat similarly odd family backgrounds. Cecelia, a tall, pleasantly plump girl who could compete with any valkyrie in her stature. She was gorgeous in her own way but had no idea of her appeal; the bookish sort who sported glasses and saw goodness in everyone. She also had sad family secret that made her life miserable while at home. In de Chardonne, she found friends in Alexandra and Francesca, who, on the other hand, was tall, statuesque and undoubtedly striking. Her family background was a little too complicated, and since it played no big part in this story, I’ll refrain from mentioning it too.

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It’s been 6 long years since I’ve read a Sherry Thomas book. She has had quite a few out but I was burned by one particular book SO BAD that I was scared to pick up anything else. This one, The Luckiest Lady in London, isn’t even from the same series as that other book but I had issues why, though I bought it, I never read it.

The Luckiest Lady in London is the book 1 of London Trilogy. Usually I’m a stickler for following series in order but then, this series is quite different. First of all, when I read books 2 and 3, Private Arrangements and His At Night back in 2011/12 they had no series title. Just books that were connected by characters. The Luckiest Lady in London wasn’t even published. And even though I like to recap series info on my reviews, this one will have no recap of the other 2 books. Maybe snippets if I remember anything but that’ll be all.

Private Arrangements was the first book I read by Sherry Thomas, that kind of changed my opinion of a ‘cheating romance’. It’s a theme I avoid at all cost if I know the h or the H of the book has cheated even once. But in here, the author handled the whole thing in such a way that you just feel for the characters. Cheating was kind of technical since the H and h, Camden and Gigi, were separated by a big misunderstanding that pretty much ruined both of their lives. So they tried to move on, even if they were still married and totally in love with one-another, though that takes them a while to discover. His At Night isn’t really directly connected to book 1, though you’ll see references of the H Lord Vere a few times. I have fond memories book 3 and highly recommend that you read both because they’re just so good!

Now Felix Riverdale, the hero of The Luckiest Lady in London, was briefly introduced in Private Arrangements as Gigi’s ex-lover. They had this brief affair that ended as fast it began because they decided that wasn’t the right direction for their relationship. They were still good friends. Frankly speaking, at that time, I wasn’t interested in reading about h or H’s lovers appearing as the hero or heroine of another installment of the series. That seemed to muddy the whole thing for me. I was even annoyed that the author thought Felix even needed a book! So I avoided this book like a plague.

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Diamond In the Rogue by Wendy LaCapra is the third installment of her Lords of Chance series and it was amazing! Yes I’ll go ahead and say it the first thing. I’ve been going through some rough patches in my personal life for the past few months and needed a distraction badly. This book gave me that and more. I’ve been a fan of this series since it began and the installments never ceased to amaze me in the least. I always applaud Wendy’s writing style and her lovely narratives that hook you right into the story. But this book was just chock full of surprises I didn’t see coming. In retrospect, I should’ve expected at least some of them.

Lords of Chance is a Regency set series with 3 peers of the realm, who are also old friends, as the center of the storyline. They go by sobriquet taken from the game of card—Spades, Clubs and Diamonds. Lord Markham came as the extra addition to the group; as Hearts to complete the circle. He’s also the youngest and often jokingly called as the ‘pup’. But unknowing to him, in the beginning of the series he was being groomed by our Spades for an ultimate purpose. No, nothing nefarious but that didn’t mean it was any less important to Spades’ own existence.

In his story, in book 1 Scandal in Spades, we found Giles Langley the Marquess of Bromton, in a dilemma. A big one TBH. He had a very serious family issue that he needed to take care of. It involved the survival of the Bromley bloodline and Giles was ‘trained’ to become someone who’d do anything in his power to keep that bloodline flowing to the next generation. But there was a dark twist in his story which led him to find a proper (or improper, didn’t matter) solution to his aforementioned dilemma. And that’s how Markham came into the picture. Help came in the form of Markham’s elder sister Katherine, the scandalous spinster who made the Regency ‘headlines’ a few times in her life; not because she wanted to make any headline, but because she seemed to had bad lucks where Beaus and fiancés were concerned. But her meeting to Giles was the thing of magic; full of spark and chemistry that both felt and were unable to deny. Both were scared to fall but fall they did despite everything. I love LOVED that book.

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Devil’s Daughter is the book 5 of Lisa Kleypas’s ongoing historical romance series, The Ravenels. Though I’ve had quite the ambivalent feeling towards a few of the installments, I’ve largely enjoyed her return to the world of historical romance since this series debuted in 2015. It was given, that Weston Ravenel, one of the prominent secondary characters of the series, would have his own book. But was I really anticipating the release of his book? Did it meet my expectations?? Let’s see if I can elaborate.

As usual, I’ll begin with a bit of background to connect the dots. So the series is set in the Victorian England. Two brothers, Devon and Weston, two of the very few remaining Ravenels, suddenly come to an inheritance that they never thought of gaining. Devon becomes an Earl when the direct heir to the Treanor earldom suddenly died in a riding accident without leaving any heir. The circumstance of Theo’s death was an example of how wild and unpredictable a bunch the Ravenels are. Having a self-destructive bend is how they’ve always been, probably since the beginning of their line. They were known for wild and fast living and many of their ancestors died young too maintaining that lifestyle. Devon and Weston were most probably heading to that direction, though they had none of the burdens of money and properties… until they were burdened. In fact, Devon and Weston were poor enough to not have any prospects. Both were known rakes, sometimes bullies and had a very debauched lifestyle of a true Ravenel. They’d probably planned on dying young (at least Weston had thought so…). But owning the legacy that was never meant to be theirs changed everything for them. And boy with that legacy came burdens! Not only Devon was now responsible for a dilapidated, debt-ridden mansion that he ardently wanted to raze down and wash his hands off of, but also he had to take care of Theo’s young widow, Kathleen and his 3 sisters; Helen, and the twins, Pandora and Cassandra.

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Lord of Danger was another Anne Stuart book that intrigued me when I read the blurb. I dived into it not really reading too many reviews, but I had heard of it before being one of her classic HRs. My first attempt at her big backlist wasn’t very successful. Didn’t like that book much but I was enough ensnared into the magic of her writing that I wanted to read more. And man was I struck surprised by this one! Lord of Danger, simply put, just worked for me. So marvelously that... ah!

I’m a big fan of well-written medieval romances doesn’t matter whether the hero is a big, grumpy oaf in need of some loving or a straight bad boy who likes to hide away his heart of gold because he feels vulnerable to expose that part of him to the world. Our H, Simon of Navarre falls under the latter category. And though I’m not always fond of bad boy rakes, sometimes even I have to give in and admit defeat to his mastery. I can only say that I don’t blame Alys for falling for Simon.

Alys and her younger sister, Claire, had been living with nuns since they were young. Both born on the wrong side of the blanket so their only eldest half-brother, the legit heir to everything Richard the Fair, send them to the convent. Alys was barely a few yrs old when she was tore away from her ill and dying mother’s arms, never to see her again. I don’t really know much about Claire, only that her mother was either a prostitute or a tavern maid who abandoned her after she was born. Well, yep, their father was a piece of work who couldn’t keep it in his pants. Who knows how many of his bastards roamed all over England! Richard has duly, and may I say proudly(?), followed his father’s tradition in that regard. -_- Both Alys and Claire were much younger than him so when his father cocked up his toes, he banished them ASAP not wanting brats underfoot.