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N. N. Light
Mar 22, 20183 min read

Duke du Jour by @authorpetie is #Outlander meets #Downton Abbey in Lush Regency England! #romance #r


Title: Duke du Jour (Lords in Time #1)

Author: Petie McCarty

Genre: Regency Romance, Time Travel Romance

Book Blurb:

Jared Langley, present-day Duke of Reston, tumbles into an abandoned fountain on his ducal estate and travels back in time to the year 1816. There, Reston servants and local villagers think him a dead ringer for his namesake and rakehell ancestor—the seventh Duke of Reston, gone missing at the Battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately, Seven got mixed up with French spies out to assassinate the Duke of Wellington, and an unwary Jared ends up in their crosshairs.

Lady Ariana Hart has loved Jared Langley, the seventh Duke of Reston, since she was twelve years old, until the night the rogue broke her heart. Given up for dead, her rakish neighbor makes a miraculous return from Waterloo—only Jared shows up a changed man and reignites all the feelings Ariana had long ago buried.

Jared is in a race against time. He must waylay the suspicions of his quirky servants and neighbors, get to Wellington before the French spies do, fix his fountain—before Seven shows up—so Jared has a way home, and definitely not fall in love with the irresistible Lady Ariana.

My Review:

Duke du Jour is Outlander meets Downton Abbey in lush Regency England.

Jared is the thirteenth Duke of Reston, and as such, he’s stunned to hear his fiancée is fooling around behind his back. He should be heart-broken but he isn’t because he never gave his heart to her. It takes a magic fountain and a tumble through time for him to lose his heart to the beautiful Lady Ariana Hart.

Ariana has been in love with Jared Langley, the seventh Duke of Reston, since she was little. Upon hearing that he’s returned from Waterloo, she shutters her heart and confronts him. The Jared she encounters looks like the Jared she used to love (before he broke her heart) but his actions and words are different. He’s kind, caring and unselfish. The more she’s around him, the walls around her heart crumble. But someone is trying to kill Jared and she helps him narrow down the suspects. Could the rumors of Jared being a spy be true and if so, why can’t she help falling in love with him all over again? Has he really changed or is Jared the rake he’s always been?

I’m a big fan of Regency romance and have been binge-reading quite a bit lately. When I came across Duke du Jour, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m familiar with Petie McCarty’s contemporary romance books but this is her first foray into historical romance. The plot was believable and frankly, I immersed myself into the story right away. The narration dives the reader back in time and everything from the clothing to societal etiquette was spot-on.

The main characters, though, are what makes this irresistible. The romantic chemistry between Jared and Ariana is sweet yet oh so enticing. The barbs they trade throughout the story are humorous and many times, I laughed out loud. I rooted for them the whole way and the ending made me tearful. I was sad when it ended, and I wanted more!

If you’re a fan of Regency romance with some intrigue thrown in, you’ve got to read this book. I highly recommend it and I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Write faster, Petie!

Favorite Character/Quote: “Jared stared into the most expressive green eyes he had ever seen and could actually follow the myriad of emotions funneling through them—relief, surprise, disbelief, anger, worry—and miraculously, the color altered a bit with each vibrant emotion. The emerald eyes eventually settled on fury and sparked with anger—at him. Undaunted, he could only stare.”

My Rating: 5+ stars

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Author Biography:

Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World -- "The Most Magical Place on Earth" -- where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said good-bye to her "day" job to write her stories full-time. These days Petie spends her time writing sequels to her regency time-travel series, Lords in Time, and her cozy-mystery-with-elements-of-romantic-suspense series, the Mystery Angel Romances.

Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband, a spoiled-rotten English Springer spaniel addicted to pimento-stuffed green olives, and a noisy Nanday conure named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in Angel to the Rescue.

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Reviewed by: Mrs. N

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