A DUKE BY DEFAULT
(Reluctant Royals, #2)
Alyssa Cole
BLURB
A NPR Best Books of 2018
A Bookish’s Favorite Books of 2018
A Bookpage Best Romances of 2018
Award-winning author Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series continues with a woman on a quest to be the heroine of her own story and the duke in shining armor she rescues along the way…
New York City socialite and perpetual hot mess Portia Hobbs is tired of disappointing her family, friends, and—most importantly—herself. An apprenticeship with a struggling swordmaker in Scotland is a chance to use her expertise and discover what she’s capable of. Turns out she excels at aggravating her gruff silver fox boss…when she’s not having inappropriate fantasies about his sexy Scottish burr.
Tavish McKenzie doesn’t need a rich, spoiled American telling him how to run his armory…even if she is infuriatingly good at it. Tav tries to rebuff his apprentice—and his attraction to her—but when Portia accidentally discovers that he’s the secret son of a duke, rough-around-the-edges Tav becomes her newest makeover project.
Forging metal into weapons and armor is one thing, but when desire burns out of control and the media spotlight gets too hot to bear, can a commoner turned duke and his posh apprentice find lasting love?
★★★★
Another fantastic novel by Alyssa Cole. This time it’s about Ledi’s (from ’The Princess in Theory #1’) best friend Portia. Portia is well-to-do and seen as the flighty, socialite of her family. Her twin sister, Reggie, is known as the one smart one while Portia is known for her party life.
To escape living under this heavy weight of feeling like she’s amounting to nothing and a disappointment to her family she takes an apprenticeship in Scotland for sword making. This will be her way to show her family that she really is serious about making a difference in the world.
Alyssa Cole does it again with another great meet-cute for this series. Portia meets her handsome boss, Tavish, in a fashion that leaves him not so impressed with her. Shortly after Portia has arrived in Scotland she is preparing to meet her boss when she overhears a woman in distress. It sounds and looks like this woman is trying to fend off an attacker. Portia flies into action trying to help the woman and ends up attacking her new boss, Tavish. She finds out that he wasn’t intentionally hurting this woman and that it was a class he was teaching. Also, this is when she realizes he is her new boss. That’s one way of making a first impression. *LOL*
THE RELUCTANT DUKE is the second book in the ‘Reluctant Royals Series‘. It can be read as a standalone. The Reluctant Duke covers many different topics from racism to ADHD to labeling to parent-pleasing. I’m enjoying this modern day fairytale series. And of course, the audio is well done.
