'She loved someone else, his greatest enemy!'
The Duke Who Lied (The 1797 Club #8) by Jess Michaels
Initially, I was not so sure that Hugh Margolis, Duke of Brighthollow lied enough to earn him the moniker the 'Duke Who Lied.' After all he was only trying to protect his sister from the vicious tongues of the ton.
In protecting his sister Hugh,
'lived the last year regretting that [he] did not thwart [the blackguard] as he deserved.” “And fearing he would do exactly what it appears he’s done...find another victim.”'
So the problem for Hugh comes when the man who seduced his sister renters society and turns his eyes to another innocent, Miss Amelia Quinton.
Unfortunately for Amelia, her father welcomes the scoundrel's suit seeing it as a step up the ladder of society. Hugh is thrown into a quandary, only relieved when Amelia's father calls Hugh's bluff and Hugh finds himself engaged to Amelia. After all, a wealthy Duke trumps a mere gentleman. Amelia is horrified as she has set her heart on the seemingly romantic winsome man she feels she truly loves, the black hearted villain, Aaron Walters. Amelia has been used as a bargaining chip to move the family into more rarified circles.
And that's whereby not revealing the truth about Walters, Hugh has lied by default, the sin of silence. As time goes on Hugh just doesn't know how to come clean.
We are treated to a tangled web of half truths and silences that have two people (clearly meant for each other) horrified by their impending nuptials--even when they're not!
Of course, the rest of the Dukes and Duchesses of the 1797 Club, look on with heavy, but supportive hearts, wanting for Hugh what they have found--true love!
Getting to the HEA is an interestingly rocky path strewn with good intentions gone awry, giving us the delicious tensions that Michaels so aptly employs.
A NetGalley ARC
****
In protecting his sister Hugh,
'lived the last year regretting that [he] did not thwart [the blackguard] as he deserved.” “And fearing he would do exactly what it appears he’s done...find another victim.”'
So the problem for Hugh comes when the man who seduced his sister renters society and turns his eyes to another innocent, Miss Amelia Quinton.
Unfortunately for Amelia, her father welcomes the scoundrel's suit seeing it as a step up the ladder of society. Hugh is thrown into a quandary, only relieved when Amelia's father calls Hugh's bluff and Hugh finds himself engaged to Amelia. After all, a wealthy Duke trumps a mere gentleman. Amelia is horrified as she has set her heart on the seemingly romantic winsome man she feels she truly loves, the black hearted villain, Aaron Walters. Amelia has been used as a bargaining chip to move the family into more rarified circles.
And that's whereby not revealing the truth about Walters, Hugh has lied by default, the sin of silence. As time goes on Hugh just doesn't know how to come clean.
We are treated to a tangled web of half truths and silences that have two people (clearly meant for each other) horrified by their impending nuptials--even when they're not!
Of course, the rest of the Dukes and Duchesses of the 1797 Club, look on with heavy, but supportive hearts, wanting for Hugh what they have found--true love!
Getting to the HEA is an interestingly rocky path strewn with good intentions gone awry, giving us the delicious tensions that Michaels so aptly employs.
A NetGalley ARC
****
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