Lenora Bell

4/4.5 Stars | Hot Steam

Tempted by its delightful heroine-in-disguise premise and the mouthwatering prospect of an uncivilized duke, I couldn’t wait to read Lenora Bell’s Avon debut, HOW I WON THE DUKE. And—oh my swooning stars—how I adored it! Brilliant, uproarious, deliciously sensual, and utterly marvelous, I couldn’t put it down! Every sumptuous minute I spent blithely immersed in Charlene and James’ vivacious tale felt like a precious gift. Cannily penned with dazzling wit, show more artistry, confidence, and command, Lenora Bell’s stellar first novel is a captivating pager-turner that enchants and entertains from its buoyant start to its blissful conclusion.

Worldly, arrogant, untamed, ruggedly sexy, and wickedly delectable, the colossal Duke of Harland branded my heart the instant “His Disgrace” launched daggers at his wall littered with the demure illustrations of marriageable debutantes. Perfectly piratical through and through, James steals every scene he inhabits as he repeatedly and unrepentantly shocks and scandalizes his invited flock of young and bejeweled prospective duchesses and their perpetually huffy and ruffled mamas. It was so much rollicking fun to watch the unkempt duke’s hasty, unorthodox, and hilariously passionless plan supremely backfire the moment he laid his lust-filled eyes on “Lady Dorothea,” aka Charlene.

Already brusque and unhinged prior to her arrival, James’ sudden, acute attraction to Charlene rapidly transforms him into a thunderous, primal beast—barely restrained, frustrated, and starved for her touch. Gratifyingly, as he gets to know her, his heated interest evolves from an inconvenient thorn in his inflamed libido into a full-blown, blinding obsession. James finds himself not only anguished to discover and devour every inch of her succulent curves, he increasingly desires and admires her surprising strength, warmth, nonconformity, and inspiring compassion for those less fortunate. She’s flat-out glorious, and I effortlessly fell in love with her just as James did. They make a riveting pair whose timeless connection and simmering chemistry is enviable, fabulously provocative, and immensely satisfying to read.

I treasured Charlene and James’ winning romance and am now counting down the days until the second Disgraceful Dukes novel, IF I ONLY HAD A DUKE, releases this August. Dorothea and Garrett’s story sounds like my next heavenly escape!

Bottom Line: Lenora Bell’s astonishing debut is not to be missed!

Complimentary copy provided in exchange for an honest review. show less

I've read *four* 4-star books by this author, but this one is horrible, lol. I should have just DNFed it, but I hate abandoning books once I've started. It was sincerely kind of painful though. It was just a barrage of preposterousness. My eyes were trying to roll out of my head in order to escape, lol. The heroine, introduced in the previous book, was a crack shot and inventor of spy gear, determined from girlhood to become a spy. That had a fair amount of potential! But her marksmanship show more and inventing practically weren't touched on again!!! So all we were left with was her determination to become a spy. Fine. But, we quickly learn that she's entirely unworldly, talks out loud to herself about potential secrets, cannot lie convincingly, all her emotions are written transparently across her face, abhors violence, etc. etc. Basically the most ill-suited person ever to consider espionage. The hero is given an attempt at a traumatic backstory, but it sadly just made him seem like a weakling. (backstory circumstances and response ->) He was held for ransom at like age 10, in poor conditions (chained, given little food) for a little over a week. Would that suck? Of course! But does that justify practically being a hermit 2 decades later, keeping concerned loved ones at a distance and having frequent panic attacks? Determining that he can never have love in his life?? Dude. Pull yourself together! He wasn't even beaten or anything. They both cling to these doomed preconceived notions (and others) past the point that any sane person would. The events as well push the bounds of believability. I just kept thinking 'In what world would that ever be reasonable?!'. *sigh* It's like the author brain stormed book ideas, but then never questioned any of those concepts, just including them all. I won't swear off future books by Bell, (there were those 4 that I quite enjoyed) but I will be warrier in the future, and if it starts to seem terrible, I'll be jumping ship. show less

No! No. No!

I couldn't find the strength to finish this because of the MCs. This couple, Lady Beatrice Bentley and Stamford Wright, would have never worked out and as the story progressed, it was difficult to envision a relationship between them.

A bibliophile and a scoundrel? Nope. I love the opposites attract trope as much as the next reader but our heroine was in another stratosphere. Incompatible is putting it lightly and the main characters differences negatively impacted my thoughts show more about them and this book itself.

To add on, this novel was not engaging. I was bored and disinterested and left scratching my head on the 'romance' segment of this read. It didn't do it for me for obvious reasons and I can only hope with the next installment, I can find a deeper connection or attachment with the characters, plot and storyline.

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While I was hoping for a bit of angst, but Beatrice was confident and lovely regardless of her palsy, which is great, it’s just that I prefer to see heroes help heroines heal from insecurity and come out of their shells. There was a bit of that here, but it was mostly that Beatrice is bookish and solely focused on her dictionary, and Ford was provoking and challenging and made her engage with life outside a library. This was very sweet and romantic and I liked it, despite the negligible show more amount of attention it gave to my favored tropes. I am looking forward to this series though! I wonder who is next? (3.5 stars) show less