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Review: Lenora Bell’s If I Only Had a Duke

By Cheryl Wassenaar

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We review Lenora Bell’s latest entry in the Disgraceful Dukes series, If I Only Had a Duke.

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When a romance novel opens with letters, I have learned to expect either good things or bad things. I’ve certainly read enough to know at this point. When a romance opens with snarky letters between our protagonists arguing about an art collection, as Lenora Bell’s If I Only Had a Duke does, it is probably going to be good.

This does not mean I do not have quibbles with it, but I have quibbles with practically every single book I read. Regardless, I devoured this one in a day, and am happy to give it a recommendation.

The Good

Our heroine this time is Lady Dorothea Beaumont, which is one hell of a name any way you slice it. Thankfully, it gets shortened down to Thea. Meanwhile, her love interest is Dalton, Duke of Osborne.

I dig Thea, because Thea, like so many of my favorite romantic novel heroines, has an actual passion in life, even if that passion is Not Acceptable to Society. She loves the work of Artemisia Gentileschi, and Dalton happens to have some of her works hidden away in his own Irish estate.

You see, after the events of How the Duke was Won, Bell’s previous work, Thea’s been shipped off to the Emerald Isle, but now has to return for one last Season. Being that she has opinions, she would mostly like to go back to Ireland.

Dalton, on the other hand, is basically Batman but English with a really good fake Irish accent. I’m here for Regency Duke Batman. Like Batman, Dalton has a bit of an obsession problem and has trouble admitting that he has feelings at all. Like most romance novel heroes, he must also realize that he has a heart and it’s functional.

This book shines in the interplay of characters off of and with each other, particularly from Dalton and Thea themselves. I found myself grinning more than once at the sheer number of names and one-liners they use with each other. At one point, Thea calls him a “manipulative, egotistical, flint-hearted rakehell,” to which Dalton replies with a couple more names for her to use. The supporting cast, particularly Con and Molly, were also standouts for me.

Dalton, on the other hand, is basically Batman but English, with a really good fake Irish accent.

The idea of hiding behind something else is a Big Theme, but I didn’t feel like Bell’s writing was trying to beat me over the head with it while reading, except towards the very end. In fact, the story plays mistaken identity for comedy more than once. Frankly, I did not feel as though drinking at every mention on variations of “masks,” “expectations,” or “character uses wrong name” would destroy my liver. Indeed, right up until the last fifty pages or so, I was really into this book, which turns out to be a great adventure with some pretty steamy love scenes.

There’s even some opera involved, and while I wish I can tell you why, I shan’t so that you can experience the magic for yourself.

The Not-So-Good

But, like How the Duke was Won, If I Only Had a Duke gets a touch too treacly for my tastes at the end. As has become standard, the protagonists dramatically split, but reunite for a confession of True Love. However, Dalton says, “I was so focused on revenge I couldn’t imagine any other future. The possibility of a long, contented life with someone to love by my side,” during the big confession scene. I had to pause and put the book down for a moment. It took me out of the story for being a bit too sappy, even for me.

Someday, I will also write a big diatribe on why I dislike the near-ubiquitous overuse of fragments in romance novels. I don’t find Bell’s writing particularly egregious in this regard, however.

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In short, I still like If I Only Had a Duke, and will read the next entry in this series.

Should you like to read If I Only Had a Duke, you can find it at book retailers everywhere.

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