Last Night with the Duke: The Rakes of St. James

Full review posted at Reader's Edyn on 02/02/20 Esmerelda has had a rough go of it. Her mother was cast out after being widowed and then defying her brother so that she could remarry for love. Mother and stepfather have both since passed away, leaving Esmerelda to support herself and her younger sister. Now running a struggling employment agency, and the owner taking advantage of her, she is wondering where the next amount of money will come from for the past due bills. When the Duke of Griffin happens into her agency, she can’t afford to say no to his requests to chaperone his twin sisters during their debut despite her numerous excuses to try and escape the offer. The Duke posses many problems even though the money is more than she could ever expect to bring in over the next year. What harm could fall in six weeks anyway? The Duke refuses to take no for an answer and she’s run out of excuses. If only he wasn’t so dang intriguing. Griffin is immediately taken with Esmerelda – a Rake by notoriety, his past deeds have set up a possible disaster for his sisters’ debut season. He is in need of extra helps to ensure their reputations remain intact. He knows Esmerelda is the one he requires, and he’ll stop at nothing to ensure her acceptance of his proposal. Before too long, he’s craving quite a lot more from her and considering how best to redirect her refusals into surrender. In a moment of heated emotions, Griffin makes a disastrous mistake and he’s not sure how to fix it. He isn’t accustomed to losing anything he’s wanted – he’s never wanted anything more than Esmerelda – and he isn’t about to start losing now. I am so thrilled to have been able to read and review this book as an ARC. Unfortunately, life happened, and the review never occurred, so I just re-read the book and would willingly do so several more times. I enjoyed myself immensely while reading this beautifully told story of two extremely strong-minded individuals who ultimately attract to each other despite their seemingly opposing personalities and stations in life. Imagine Griffin’s shock when he discovers that Esmerelda is, in reality, one of his peers. I absolutely adored their burning passion and the fact that they fought it for as long as possible without giving in too easily despite their raging desire to succumb. Their sharp wit and delectable banter heightened each engagement. I effortlessly played each scene vividly in my mind as the drama unfolded. Adding delicious detail to the plot were several additional characters. Sometimes I find there are too many characters added to a story in an effort to fluff the content. Not so in this case. Each individual added a memorable contribution and I ended up discovering each one to be just as likable as the last; desiring to find out more about each of them. The other two rakes, Rath and Hawk were delectable, and I am thrilled to know that I have the other two books of the series to dive in to next. I am more than willing to spend several more hours with each of the Rakes of St. James. Even Griffin’s sisters, Sara and Vera, were captivating – so similar in appearance yet completely opposite in mannerisms and delightfully entertaining. I do have one question though – What is Griffin’s name? The entire book he is only referred to as The Duke of Griffin and everyone calls him by his title or Griffin. I don’t recall ever seeing his name mentioned anywhere. Odd, that. He had to have been someone prior to inheriting the title. I did truly find the entries of MISS MAMIE FORTESCUE'S DO'S AND DON'TS FOR CHAPERONES, GOVERNESSES, TUTORS, AND NURSES as included at the beginning of each chapter, to be highly entertaining. What a thoughtful and insightful detail to add. A little something extra added for the benefit of the reader to be able to have a bit of comprehension into Esmerelda’s determination to behave in particular ways as authored by the founder of the agency...

Esmeralda Swift runs Miss Fortescue’s Employment Agency, while she has never been a chaperone, she knows most everything about the position, and when the duke of Griffin, who was literally passing by, offers her to chaperone his twin sisters for the Season, Esmeralda must refuse, and whatever outrageous demands she makes, he accepts, even if Griffin is as stubborn as she is. Chaperoning Griffin’s sisters will be a very hard task indeed, because Esmeralda wonders how she will ever be able to resist the Duke’s considerable charms. LAST NIGHT WITH THE DUKE is not a complicated story, not much happens in fact, but Ms. Grey’s sumptuous writing makes it a delight to read because of the engaging characters and lovely period details. Griffin and Esmeralda’s road to romance is a quaint and elegant pas de deux: they try not to succumb to the attraction: darling, it just isn’t done! She is but a servant, really, oh but one doesn’t choose whom to love, does one? LAST NIGHT WITH THE DUKE hit the spot for me! It’s a simple love story between people who oughtn’t to fall in love, and it’s very well done. I liked that there were no misunderstandings, the push-and-pull was realistic regarding their differences in status, and the chemistry between Esmeralda and Griffin was palpable; it felt real to me, and I just basked in the loveliness of it all. I also liked that Griffin did not try to change Esmeralda, he did however try his darndest to get her to wear other colours than her dowdy grey! LAST NIGHT WITH THE DUKE is a the type of story that could have easily have put me to sleep, or have me skipping pages, but it did not happen because of the quality of the writing, and it takes a real talent to capture my attention when there is so little action, but neither did I feel like slapping anyone, and that is very good indeed. LAST NIGHT WITH TH E DUKE is mostly the road to romance for these two wonderful characters, so readers shouldn’t expect lots of action; neither is there any sex to speak of, but the sexual tension could be cut with a knife. The richness of the descriptions, the superbly conveyed sentiments and emotions kept me entertained and happily reading along. LAST NIGHT WITH THE DUKE is a great beginning to a new series, and I am very much looking forward to Rath’s and Hawk’s stories. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

Good