Genre: Historical
Heat Level: Hot
Rating:

Charles de Lacey, Lord Gresham, is running out of time, running from his responsibilities, and running from love.

Destined to be a duke, Charles de Lacey has led a life of decadent pleasure, free of any care for propriety or responsibility. It comes as a terrible shock to learn that he might be stripped of everything, thanks to his father's scandalous past. He has no choice but to find the blackmailer who would ruin him—and his only link to the villain is a woman who may be part of the plot…

To save his fortune and title, he vows he'll stop at nothing—in fact, he's all too eager to unravel the beautiful, tart-tongued Tessa Neville. She intrigues him and tempts him like no other lady ever has. With only his heart to guide him, and keenly aware that his entire future is at stake, Charles must decide: is she the woman of his dreams, or an enemy in disguise?

Series: The Truth About the Duke

Review

I really enjoyed the conclusion.

Linden wraps up the trilogy in fine order with The Way to a Duke’s Heart picking up the timeline where the last book ended. This time Charles De Lacey is the full bearer of the dukedom’s future, and his sibling’s legitimacy. Charles is not who I expected him to be; another reason I enjoyed the story. Previously, Charles has played the indolent, womanizing lord. He never seemed to care about the course of the dukedom, preferring to leave things up to his brothers Edward and Gerard. In this book I got to see Charles accept his mantle, albeit a little begrudgingly, but he still went on the hunt for the blackmailer. He’s not as stupid as I once thought and when he truly applies himself to a task he succeeds. Charles is also a bit of the romantic, and when that side of him is unleashed by Tessa it’s breathtaking to be hold.

Tessa in the same instance is my kind of girl. She’s flawed, and jaded from previous life situations (piece o’ douche ex-fiancé) and doesn’t particularly enjoy the company of men. She handles business matters and has a perfect head on her shoulders for figures. Linden’s heroine is definitely a bit of a conundrum because in our current world she would succeed. In the historical realm of England she’s not that lucky. The challenges she faces with this are immense, but luckily Charles is there to be the knight in shining armor for the worst of them.

In her own way Tessa is all the strengths Charles is missing and vice versa. When these two meet Tessa vows to dislike him forever, which presents the challenge to Charles. I loved watching him get Tessa to open up. He doesn’t do it with flattery, but acknowledgment and respect. Pretty soon these two can’t stop the attraction simmering near the service.

The underlying subplot of the blackmailer is finally concluded in this story, and I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I couldn’t predict the ending. The only secret I’ll reveal is that the previous Duke wasn’t such a bad guy after all. Linden does a fine job of the buildup, a bit of suspense that made me think everything would work out but in some horrible way. Luckily nothing like that occurred and I got to see a wonderful HEA.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Caroline Linden then this book should be on your must buy list. As I said in my review of Blame It On Bath, I couldn’t wait for Charles to meet his match. In this story he most definitely did.

Reviewed by Landra