TEST
I enjoyed this book very much right from the beginning, but halfway through I fell head over heels in love with it. I thought the prequel to this book, The Lady in Red, was an ‘A’ read, but this is even better.
He had danced with her on a dare.
So begins the relationship between August Faulkner, now the Duke of Holloway, and Clara Hayward, then daughter, now sister of the Baron Strathmore. That one crass episode, where August asked her to dance because his boorish acquaintances egged him on, is imprinted indelibly on his brain despite the ten years that have passed between that sublime dance and the present day.
Now, August is a wealthy, powerful peer, who is known for his brilliance, ambition, and ruthless business practices. Even as his net worth climbs to the stratosphere, he remains dissatisfied. Meanwhile, Clara has become the headmistress of an elite finishing school in London for the daughters of the nobility and wealthy cits. Neither have married, he, because he’s been too busy, and she, because her intelligence makes her unmarriageable.
What the ton doesn’t know, but August knows intimately, is that the famed Strathmore wealth is on the verge of extinction. When Clara is forced to sell her beloved Haverhall School for Young Ladies, he swoops in to anonymously buy it with the intention of razing that prime London property to the ground and building modern townhouses there. He decides to court Clara and her brother to ascertain if he can acquire their current shipping business and turn it around into a profitable venture.
In the meantime, August has daily battles with his sister, Anne. She’s seeking independence in mind and action; he wants to cosset her and surround her with all the trappings and wealth of a normal debutante at her first come-out. August’s father had gambled away all their money, when he and Anne were very young, and had been thrown into the Marshalsea debtor’s prison, where Anne lived with him for a few years. Meanwhile, August had struggled to survive on the streets of London and had eventually clawed his way out of the stews and built his present wealth. The dukedom came out of the left field for him, but the power and responsibilities settled comfortably on his shoulders. As a result of Anne’s miserable experience as a young girl, August is at pains to pamper her, but Anne has an indomitable spirit that refuses to bow down to his dictates. She forges his signature on a bank draft and runs away to Clara’s summer school on Earl Rivers’ estate in Dover.
When August finds out, he sets out in hot pursuit, hoping to not only convince Anne to return, but to also convince Clara’s brother, Harland, to sell his shipping interests. August has the earl’s commission to look over his Dover estate to ascertain the state of his lands and livestock to justify his inexplicable presence, and, unaware of his ulterior motive, Clara takes his interest in the estate at face value.
As the days go by, both find that their mutual attraction of ten years earlier has matured and intensified in the intervening years. They strike sparks off each other every time they meet even as they grapple to understand each other – each is a study of contradictions. While August’s conscience smites him at his refusal to divulge his ownership of Haverhall, Clara’s legacy from her mother, he is nevertheless able to compartmentalize and rationalize to himself that his desire for Clara has nothing whatsoever to do with his business interests in Haverhall or Strathmore shipping.
There was still no world that existed in which he would turn his back on profit for the sake of sentimentality, legacies be damned.
This can of worms eventually, of course, explodes. I had palpitations as I read this book: When was he going to tell her?
Clara is at pains to make it clear to August that her reputation is everything to her, if she’s to continue being able to guide and teach young ladies of the ton. So she will not become his mistress or conduct a long-term affair with him. Neither considers the possibility of marriage. The sexual tension between them practically hums through the pages of this book.
Both Clara and August are open-minded and attuned to nuance where the other is concerned: words, body language, mood. Neither they, nor any of the other characters, behave in set, obvious patterns. An example is how August tries to understand Clara’s censure of him despite its going against his set assumptions and everything within him rebelling against it.
One day, August barges in on the students’ art class and discovers that they’re painting a nearly nude model of a woman of a certain age. August is indignant:
“With a woman old enough to be my grandmother?”
Clara’s eyes suddenly went cool. “I didn’t realize there was an age at which one can no longer be considered beautiful. Or desirable.”
August felt his mouth snap shut.
I read this story with curiosity and enjoyment, consistently surprised by reactions that seemed unpredictable and fresh to the genre and yet just right for the story Bowen was telling. The characters in all their complexity and humanity made me care for them as they’re easy to root for: intelligent, thoughtful, courageous, loyal, and despite their tough backgrounds, decent and affectionate.
The only fly in the ointment of this excellent book is a caricature villain who, while reinforcing some of the heroine’s insecurities, is adjunct to the plot and detracts from an otherwise sophisticated storyline. The pacing is nuanced and elegant, and it drew me right along from the first page to the last with no lagging anywhere. I enjoyed how organic and unmannered the dialogue between all the characters is, especially August and Clara – it seems to flow seamlessly from their personalities, their actions, and their interactions.
(Harland manages to steal the show in some of the scenes he is in. He’s such an interesting character: a practicing physician-surgeon, who’s also a baron. I hope Bowen gives him a book o his own.)
A Duke in the Night was my second Bowen title, and I’m thrilled that I have found a new auto-buy author. I look forward to diving into her backlist.
Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Apple Books/Kobo
Grade: A
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 19/02/18
Publication Date: 02/2018
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I’m an amateur student of medieval manuscripts, an editor and proofreader, a choral singer, a lapsed engineer, and passionate about sunshine and beaches. In addition to reviewing books for All About Romance, I write for USA TODAY Happy Ever After and my blog Cogitations & Meditations. Keira Soleore is a pseudonym.
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I’m a huge Kelly Bowen fan. I enjoyed this book a lot. It’s a promising start to the series. If you haven’t read her previous trilogy, I highly recommend it: Duke of My Heart, A Duke to Remember, and Between the Devil and the Duke.
Hi PJ. ::waves madly::
I really need to dive into her backlist. The two books (or 1.5) in this new series are so good! He’s my new historical voice. I hope she wins her RITA in July.
I was a bit disappointed too with “A Duke in the Night.”
On the plus side: Clara was a delight to read and I normally enjoy a “older”, more independent, woman as a main character. I found the school set a bit mixed with some great parts (the painting, the awareness of individual capabilities, even the mentor system), but I’m also not that sure if such a school would be so progressive and successful in that specific period (if after the 1850s, I’d be more convinced). Loved the secondary characters, namely the older ladies and Rose. What really didn’t convince me at all was the earlier setup of the romance… I think Ms Bowen writes very well and knows how to lay down a great story, but she didn’t “devise” this love story that well (even if the intimate scenes were very appealing.) I could understand August’s attraction–after all Clara is SO different–but the reverse? Based on a dance some years ago? Nope. I really wished that part was better developed. I also thought the villain was a bit out there and on the two dimensional side.
By the end, I ended up loving some parts intermixed with finding others flat or implausible.
The first chapter of the next novel got my attention and I’m hopeful for a more balanced story.
The villain was a caricature that could’ve been cut from the story without any loss to the story. I’m really looking forward to seeing what she’s going to do with the next books.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the H/h.
I am looking forward to Rose’s book.
Hope Rose’s book works better for you. Have you read her other books?
I’ve read Bowen’s entire backlist, and loved it to pieces. I just snagged this one as an audiobook and hope to start it this weekend. Thank you for such an in-depth review.
Shannon, hope you enjoyed it as much as her previous books.
I didn’t care for this at all in fact I was bored and had a hard time finishing it. August was so pedestrian for a Duke and the romance with Clara was well, boring. And what was the point of the raid and Stilton, both were unnecessary to the story. I would have doubted Ms. Bowen could be so unimaginative, but there you have it!
Mel, I’m sorry to read that you didn’t enjoy this book. Have you read the prequel? I thought that was wonderful with an unusual heroine. And I hope th next one works for you.
I loved the prequel! I was so hoping Clara would get together with Mr. King and had high expectations for a story about her school’s “summer program” . I did not like August at all and there was not one iota of charisma between any of the characters. I was terribly disappointed, but am hopeful for Rose’s tale.
I’m waiting with bated breath for King’s story. You’re right—he and Clara would have made a great pairing, though I liked how August and Clara are together.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the author had been … encouraged … to make August a duke. I don’t know this for sure, in this case, but I know several authors who have been told to make their untitled heroes into noblemen because “dukes sell” according to their agents and publishers
Mel, I agree with your comments. I just finished this book and left my own comments in the other Duke in the Night review here (by Em Wittmann). I felt this books was quite a let-down.
Finished this book last night. I want to go to Clara’s school.
Such a great story! I can’t wait for Clara’s next pupil’s story.
I want to clarify an erroneous impression that I may have given in the review. August does not inherit the dukedom from his father. He’s on a twig of the main family tree, and inherits through a series of fortuitous deaths *after* his father’s own death. As it was pointed out to me by an amateur historian: Dukes couldn’t be arrested or imprisoned for debt. Thus, if August’s father had been in direct line for the dukedom, he wouldn’t have set foot in Marshalsea and August’s backstory would’ve gone up in smoke, So his father had to die first and then all those other worthies.
I read A Duke to Remember after seeing lots of good reviews and, unfortunately, it did not really do anything for me. However, I’m again thinking about reading this one after such good reviews. I’m always hoping to find a new historical writer since my favorite writers release new books so infrequently now, and a couple of my favorites like Cecilia Grant and Courtney Milan seem to have have pretty much stopped writing.
I am so choosy with auto-buy authors these days. For a few years, I went without adding any to the list. Then I read Bowen’s “Lady in Red” and fell in love, which was solidified with this book. Hope you’ll try this book out, but if it sounds like too much of a risk try the prequel novella Lady in Red.
I’ve been impatiently waiting for this to be released! I’ve read all of her books, and enjoyed them immensely.
This is a great Bowen as well.