Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Review and Give-Away for THE HEART OF A DUKE by Victoria Morgan (A Stephanie Kay Review!)


It's release day for THE HEART OF A DUKE! Yippeeee! Victoria Morgan has enjoyed a stellar debut year...her first novel FOR THE LOVE OF A SOLDIER won first place for BEST FIRST BOOK in the Golden Leaf Contest at NJRWA. It was also nominated for Best First Historical at RT Book Reviews. THE HEART OF A DUKE is Morgan's follow-up novel with Berkley.

Stephanie Kay will be reviewing this lovely book today. And I'm giving away a free copy to one lucky commenter. Please leave a comment after the review to be entered in the give-away, and let me know your email address. 
Take it away, Stephanie!
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A Review of The Heart of a Duke by Victoria Morgan
Review by Stephanie Kay

Have you ever read a debut author and when you finished the book, it felt like you were reading a book written by an author who had been published for years? Well that is how I felt when I read Victoria Morgan’s first book, For the Love of a Soldier. If you haven’t read it, you definitely should. She just won the NJRWA Golden Leaf award for best debut novel and is nominated for an RT award for best first historical. She should totally win!
But I’m not here to review her debut novel…I just like any opportunity to promote it, since I LOVED it!
Back to her second book, The Heart of a Duke. Which I also LOVED.  This book is another example of a great historical romance. The plot is well developed, and filled with mystery and suspense. I loved the sharp and witty dialogue. The pacing is fast and I found myself sucked in by the opening scene.
Mistaken identities and kissing. How can you go wrong with that?
Lady Julia, headstrong and stubborn heroine (my favorite type) is tired of waiting for her betrothed, the Duke of Bedford to marry her. She finds him alone one day and taking matters into her own hands, she kisses him. Only it turns out to be his twin brother, Daniel. Our hero. He is adorable, protective, and enjoys taunting her. I love the combination of teasing and sexual tension that carries through the entire novel. Daniel is determined to protect Julia from his villainous brother, and she is determined to protect him at the same time.
What I love about Victoria’s characters is how well written they are. They come alive on the page. I feel like I’m reading about real people, not just characters in a book. But it is not just the hero and heroine that come alive, but her secondary characters as well. I really hope that a few of them get their own story next. Preferably Brett (Daniel’s business partner) and Emily (Julia’s sister).
I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an enjoyable historical romance with a happy ending that will make you smile. Victoria Morgan is a new author to watch and I can’t wait for the next book.
The holidays can be stressful, so take a break from all that cookie baking and present wrapping to read this book! (Apparently exclamation points mean yelling, so I’m ordering you to read this book ☺)
Grade: A
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Stephanie, thank you so much for this great review!!!! (note the exclamation points, Stephanie's favorite punctuation). It sounds like another winner from Victoria Morgan!

Please leave a comment to enter the give-away. Contest open until Friday December 6.

Ciao!
Penny