RATING
A Mary Poppins-inspired nanny grabs herself a single dad Duke.
You bet I grabbed this book the second it was brought to my attention! LOL
Overall a cute story with witty banter but it fell short on the romance for me. Lust aplenty if that’s your current mood though.
Wanted: Governess for duke’s unruly children
Edgar Rochester, Duke of Banksford, is one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in England, but when it comes to raising twins alone, he knows he needs help. The only problem is the children have chased away half the governesses in London. Until the clever, bold, and far-too-enticing Miss Mari Perkins arrives.
Lost: One heart to an arrogant duke
Mari knows how to wrap even the most rebellious children around her finger. But their demanding, wickedly handsome father? He won’t be quite so easy to control. And there’s something else she can’t seem to command. Her heart. The foolish thing beats so wildly every time the duke is near.
Found: A forbidden passion neither can deny
As his employee, Mari is strictly off-limits. But what if she’s the one breaking all his rules? In the game of governess versus duke, how can Edgar maintain his defenses when the only thing he wants to do is let the tempting beauty win?
Author : Lenora Bell
Title : What A difference a Duke Makes
Series : School for Dukes #1
Number of pages : 389
Publisher : Avon
Release Date : March 27th 2018
Genre : Historical Romance
A friend no sooner brought this book to my attention that I was already one-clicking. The reason?
A single dad—A Duke at that!— falls for the —Mary Poppins inspired— nanny?
CATNIP ALERT!!!
Overall a cute story peppered with light banter and a couple engaging plot lines but I felt disappointed by the lack of romance built up between the characters. It was more lust at first sight than anything else and I prefer my HR with a good slow burn or at least some kind of teasing. A chase even.
I also like my Dukes roguish and unapologetically rakish but Edgar read more like the pervert he disliked being compared to in this story. His salacious thoughts upon meeting his kids’ governess for the first time left me dubious. I liked him as a father though, the way he opened up to his kids was touching.
Mari—with an i, rhymes with starry— was the cookie cutter strong witted HR heroine. The author did good at characterizing her because I could almost hear and picture Julie Andrews’s “Tut, tut / Tsk, Tsk” admonishing the children. She was cute and lovable, and actually surprised me by going after the Duke. I didn’t not expect that and I can’t say if I liked it or not.
In the end I enjoyed Mari and the kids, Edgar and the kidsbut didn’t care much about Mari and Edgar together, which is a shame when picking up a historical romance.
That was my first book by Lenora Bell and although it didn’t quite hit the mark for me I’ll be reading more from this author, I’m curious about a couple other titles offering tropes I can’t seem to say no to.
(Bell was recommended to me as an alternative to Tessa Dare, in my opinion I understand where the comparison stems from but we’re far from the banter, feels and romance Dare offers.)
Lenora Bell is a USA Today bestselling author of historical romance novels with Avon Books. Her writing has won numerous awards including the 2016 RT Book Reviews Best First Historical Romance award. A teacher with an MFA in Creative Writing, Lenora has lived and worked on five continents. She currently lives in New Zealand with her carpenter husband and two tiger-striped rescue kitties. She loves hearing from readers! Sign up for her mailing list to hear about new books, sales, and giveaways!
