Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Unwrapping a Review of TO LOVE A DUCHESS, an All For Love novel by Karen Ranney

I have been reading Karen Ranney’s exceptional historical romances for years but TO LOVE A DUCHESS took me by the heart and wrung me out. Emotion is something we enjoy in romance…it’s one of the main reasons we read it...TO LOVE A DUCHESS gives it to us in spades. This first book in the new All For Love Trilogy is a great start and I can’t wait to see what comes to us in the next two.

***print copy provided by author and in return, I am sharing an honest and unscripted review in thanks. 

Blurb for TO LOVE A DUCHESS:

From New York Times Bestselling Author Karen Ranney comes the first book in a royally romantic and deeply emotional new series about taking risks and allowing the power to love satisfy the questions of the heart...

Undercover as a majordomo, spy Adam Drummond has infiltrated Marsley House with one purpose only—to plunder its mysteries and gather proof that the late Duke of Marsley was an unforgivable traitor to his country. At the same time, Adam is drawn to a more beguiling puzzle: the young and still-grieving duchess—a beauty with impenetrable secrets of her own. For Drummond, uncovering them without exposing his masquerade will require the most challenging and tender moves of his career.

That a servant can arouse such passion in her is too shocking for Suzanne Whitcomb, Duchess of Marsley, to consider. Yet nothing quickens her pulse like Drummond's touch. It's been two years since the duke lost his life in a tragic accident—and even longer since she's been treated like a woman. But when Drummond's real mission is revealed, and the truth behind Suzanne's grief comes to light, every secret conspired to tear them apart is nothing compared to the love that can hold them together.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Suzanne Whitcomb, the Duchess of Marsley, lost her husband in a tragic accident and since that day, she has simply been making it through each day, surviving. She feels no joy, no inspiration in living until a new man enters her life—her new majordomo. For the first time in her life, she feels as though she exists. He listens to her, hears her opinions, and when her story comes to light, believes her. As a companion, he makes her feel less alone but as a man, he awakens something in her she’s never experienced before. But she’s a duchess and he, only a servant.

Adam Drummond is a spy. He is a member of the Silent Service. Growing up in Glasgow was hard so as a boy, he joined the army which provided him with food, safety, and place where he could feel he belonged. Still his life wasn’t easy even as his career was successful. A decorated hero, he obtained the rank of Lieutenant. But then grief visited him in the form of losing his wife in a truly horrible attack. Now as member of an exclusive part of the War Department, he has been given the mission of gathering proof that the late Duke of Marsley was a traitor to his country. Going undercover as the majordomo in the home of a man he despised in life proves to be one of the most difficult assignments of his career. Positive the duke was guilty, he knows it’s his grieving duchess who will pay the ultimate price and now Adam is torn between his duty and his growing affection for the beguiling and puzzling widow. How can such a lovely, deserving of better woman grieve so desperately over such a horrible man as the Duke of Marsley?
More so, how can he ever leave her once his mission is done? A lowly boy from Glasgow can never have a duchess.

I loved this story, I inhaled this story. It was an emotional heart-breaker from the start. The depth of emotions these two lived with was so incredible that I worried neither would ever open up to the other but when they did, the journey to falling in love and their eventual HEA was worth the perils.
Tragedy, history, secrets, along with twists and turns, danger, suspense, and the determination of these two extraordinary characters, Suzanne and Adam, create a compelling, page turning experience that makes the ending all the sweeter. This is now my favorite Karen Ranney read. She poured so much heart and sorrow into these two lovers that their attraction was a must or they would surely have been swallowed by their own deep sadness. Plus, Adam is now very high on my book boyfriend list. 

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a read where they become so wholly engrossed in the emotions of a story and the love lost then newly gained that they will sit down with a full box of tissues and not stop reading until they get their HEA. This is one of those reads. I can’t wait to see what the rest of trilogy brings us. Huzzah, Karen.

Happy Reading Everyone!

TO LOVE A DUCHESS, an All For Love novel by Karen Ranney, Avon Romance, available now in print and ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.



Don't forget to check out my debut romance!
Folks are loving it and I think you will too.

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