The Naked Duke

The first thing anyone can say about The Naked Duke is the fact that this is not your mother’s bodice ripper. There is a fair amount of violence in this novel, from rape and murder to attempted rape, and assault and more murder. But that being said the novel itself is very well written and these added elements while making it a little harsher also make it more exciting.

Sarah Hamilton is not your typical heroine of a romance book. She is from America and goes to England when her father dies to see her uncle the Earl. Sarah finds out when she arrives that her uncle has died, and all she’s left with for family is her drunkard rake of a cousin. But don’t count Robbie as a complete sot yet he does come through in the end. Sarah is also show more older and very naive raised relatively sheltered life with some spinsters. But in the end that doesn’t stop her traitorous body from reacting to what she feels.

The Duke of Alvord is an even more of an unlikely person to find in real life let alone in a romance novel. As a 30 year old male, his nickname spread by his vicious cousin Richard is Monk, and shockingly well deserved. But I find these facts to be refreshing in a romance novel. These two people who are relatively innocent in the ways of the bed sheets find themselves unexplainably drawn to one another. It’s nice to see them fight and struggle with it, like a normal person would. Struggling to keep a claim on their morals when wanting to give into the desire that flames between them.

The Naked Duke is an excellent read and if you’re looking for something a little fresh in your historical romance genre this book will do it for you. It is a part of the “Naked” series, and I think it’s a great start to the series. Based on this book I plan without a doubt to continue on and see what the other naked fellows are up to. show less

Yes, romances are fairly predictable. Yes, they follow strict conventions. Yes, they almost inevitably have a happy ending (we romance readers demand it, you know). But that is no excuse to use the most tired plot twists in what would otherwise perhaps be a decent story. In other words, I am sick to death of the bad guy kidnapping the heroine. I mean, if this sort of thing went on in the Regency as often as romance writers use it to add conflict into their novels, well, it's a miracle any young miss stayed out of the nefarious clutches of the baddies for more than an hour at a time. Please, authors, I am begging you, no more kidnappings! Constant abductions are making a mockery of the genre. Okay, with that off my chest, on to the show more actual book (which sadly, does indeed use the kidnapping ploy).

Sarah Hamilton has come to England upon the death of her father, intending to go to her uncle, the Earl of Westbrooke, whom she has never met. She ends up at an inn near the Westbrooke family home, without any belongings and being refused a room at the inn when she is taken under the wing of a drunken nobleman who shows her to "her" room. Exhausted from her journey, she climbs into bed, only waking in the morning to find herself in bed with the Duke of Alvord and being gawped at by quite a few people. Upon finding out who she is (and discovering that the drunken nobleman who ensconsed her in the Duke's room is her cousin, the current Earl of Westbrooke), James, the Duke offers to marry her. But Sarah is an American through and through and has republican ideas and a distinct distrust of titles and the aristocracy. She does, however, agree to be the James' houseguest and accompany his sister through her season. Meanwhile James has determined to marry her and sets himself up to court her, until his evil and nasty cousin threatens Sarah, much as he'd been threatening and actually attempting to murder James for years. So between Sarah's reluctance to marry into the hypocrisy and entitlement of the ton and James' desire to save her from his terrible cousin Richard, questions arise about whether or not the two of them will overcome the obstacles and end up together.

While parts of the storyline are fine, there are enough cliched and heavy-handed bits to detract from the overall. Cousin Richard is so angry and bitter about not being the Duke that he is completely stereotypical and not one ounce of goodness can be found in him. He enjoys sex with women only through rape and murder (and the scene that gives the reader this insight into his soul is very graphic) and has a longtime male lover through whom we are supposed, I think, to understand that he was once a decent human being whose anger has warped his soul to madness. And yet this isn't believable given his actions. Our hero, James, is nice but certainly not one to inspire heartfelt sighs. He is a virgin, certainly unlikely for a romance hero, but even this is a bit off given that he has never, until meeting Sarah, been interested in sex. He's thirty for pete's sake. And he's been completely *asexual* all that time, just waiting for the right woman to awaken his desires? Just a little far-fetched. Sarah is ridiculously wed to her notion that the aristocracy is all terrible contrary to what she witnesses and without reference to the fact that she is indeed one of the aristocracy herself as a result of being the Earl of Westbrooke's cousin. But despite her supposedly being an intelligent character, this never occurs to her at all.

Yes, there are significant problems in this romance but MacKenzie does take a darker tone than is usual in the genre and perhaps her desire to combine the darker with the lighter, more usual fare, helped to create some of these problems. As this is a debut novel, I'd be curious to see if these dichotomies and flaws are melded more seamlessly and smoothed over better in the later books in the series. I do already own the rest of the series and so will eventually read it otherwise I'd probably say that this is one I'd be more inclined to borrow from the library than anything else. show less

This story as a whole wasn’t bad, it was just… boring. Nothing really stood out about it, the heroine, Sarah, wasn’t annoying or bitchy or a doormat; she was just average. Same goes for the hero, James, who was just average (except for the whole virgin thing). Then there’s the villain, who is James’ cousin and is just an average mustache twirling villain who’s out to kill James so he can become the Duke of Alvord.

The most disturbing thing about this book was all the rape. If it wasn’t actually happening then it was either being attempted or talked about. The villain, Richard, rapes the prostitute that was supposed to be put in James’ bed instead of Sarah and then kills her. That whole scene made me wince and debate if I show more truly wanted to continue on. For whatever reason, I was determined to get through the whole story so I continued. But I should've just stopped there because Sarah has at least two different scenes where someone tries to rape her. I managed to make it through the first one, but the one at the very ending of story was just intensely disquieting to me. Most of this book is pretty light-hearted, so to throw heavy subjects like that in and not really deal with them was intrusive and disturbing.

Throughout this whole book it felt like there were two different stories going on. One was a light-hearted comedy of mistaken identity and crazy family members. Then there’s the darker and serious story of Richard’s obsession with overcoming James. I had the feeling Richard could’ve been a really complex and interesting character, but every time I thought Mackenzie was going to go more into his motives and background, his scene would abruptly cut off and things would switch back to James and Sarah’s antics.

So basically, I was either disturbed or bored during this book. I definitely won't be continuing this series. show less

1.5 stars I didn't hate it. It was technically competent. But I DNFd it at 49%.It's a generic Regency with the added bonus of the Snidely Whiplash villain's POV, the co-villain's POV, and the villain's lover's POV. There may have been more, but I don't know. There are the requisite Regency components: an uber-sheltered penniless ingenue out of her element, the heroic duke whose only thoughts consist of mental lusting over her, the too-precious "hook" (that's been done better), the Big Misunderstanding beginning to brew, and the supporting cast on deck for their own stories. And I only made it halfway through.

I thought this was going to be one of those lighthearted, frothy regency romance novels, with lovable mains & giggle worthy situations & perfect for a poolside read. Not so much. Once we get beyond the initial misunderstanding anchoring the plot. It honestly felt like the author couldn't decide if she wanted to go with lighthearted or something more. Richard & Phillip killed any real levity there could have been to be had in this story, so vile were they. Sarah Hamilton lost me pretty early on as a heroine & James (the Duke) was okay but I couldn't understand why he was actually taken with her. Sarah was insipid at times & it made me hard pressed to believe that she'd been a teacher. I liked Lizzie, Ladies Amanda & Gladys more but show more really, that's no compliment in a romance novel. Ultimately, I didn't feel enough for the characters to care or buy into their romance & that was disappointing. This is the first in a series so I won't complain too much more. Hopefully, the others find their stride & tone in other characters.

I will continue with the series as I picked this up as part of a bundle on kindle. Oh, and also, the stories are out of series order in the bundle but thanks to earlier reviews, I knew that going in & am reading them in order. Many thanks to reviewers on the bundled edition. show less

This was just a sweet story! It flowed and progressed very smoothly. Loved both main characters.

I am usually a fan of regency historical romance novels, but somehow I did not enjoy this one very much.
James is the the Duke of Alford and a war hero. He is also a virgin?!? It's not that I need for the main male character to be a rake and sleep with everything that is female, but this is going to another extreme. I don't think that it is possible for a handsome, wealthy 29-year old male to be a virgin. Whores are described as filthy, full of vermin and smelly in this book. Ok, maybe the cheap ones. But what about expensive courtesans? For 10 or more years no beautiful widow has captured his attention? I just don't buy it.