UP ALL NIGHT WITH A GOOD DUKE

A teacher must educate herself on matters of the heart after she bargains for her future with an ostracized duke.

When she learns that her friend Lucy needs her help, Artemis Jones quits her job at a finishing school and travels to London. While she hopes her presence will make Lucy’s experience of her first season more bearable, Artemis has an ulterior motive: She aspires to find a wealthy and progressive benefactor willing to fund her dream of opening a ladies’ college. And Artemis has another secret: In addition to being a teacher, she’s the author of a series of popular Gothic romance novels. Given her circumstances, Artemis is perhaps the least suitable candidate for Dominic Winters, the widowed duke of Dartmoor, who’s looking for a wife to give him an heir and help handle his teenage daughter, Celeste—but his task is complicated by rumors that he had a hand in his first wife’s death. When Dominic and Artemis find themselves inexorably attracted to one another, they hatch a plan: She will help him reach Celeste, and he will, in turn, fund her school. When the plan leads to a fake engagement and real emotional attachment, Artemis must decide if she trusts the duke enough with her secret identity, and her future. The first installment of the Byronic Book Club series is not only peppered with meaningful references to books by Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters, but also borrows significantly from their aesthetic. As Artemis negotiates with a Byronic hero, windy moors, and the threat of ruin, she sets herself apart from the heroines who have inspired her with her fierce ambition and lack of inhibition. But even as Artemis emerges as a well-rounded, if slightly indecisive, character, Dominic seldom gets the opportunity to cast aside his solemnity. What Dominic and Artemis’ interactions lack in wit and humor, though, they make up for with heat and sexual chemistry, and their romance unfolds credibly in a skillfully woven plot.

An undemanding romance enlivened by an unconventional heroine.