The Romance genre is a trope filled place. Like any other genre, its readers are trained for what to look for, and what to expect. I am a well-trained reader, so much so in fact that I went back to Goodreads early on in reading A Duke in Shining Armor by Loretta Chase to make sure that the book in my hand was in fact the first in the series. I am apparently not the only one with this thought: Ms. Chase dedicated a blog post to assuring us, yes, this is the first. My trope instincts went off because Ms. Chase dumps us into action already in progress: the characters know each other, one of the pairs is already married* (but estranged), and a wedding is supposed to be taking place but the bride and groom are both drunk, and the bride is making a run for it out the nearest library window and the best man is setting off to bring her back, if only he can convince her (and himself) that it’s the best plan.
* I am very, very excited and interested in what will be the third book in this series as it will focus on reuniting a married couple (I presume).
I was immediately intrigued. Add into that a heroine who has been overlooked, is a nerdy book girl (Loretta Chase is writing herself and all of us into the story here, I swear), and a steadfastly loyal to his friends male lead and I knew exactly why so many of my romance reading friends were so happy with this book after a relatively lackluster 2017 in Romancelandia. The year was so lackluster in fact that I read only two romances published in 2017 last year (Pretty Face – which everyone should read after they read Act Like It in time for book three in that series to come out later this year and When Life Happened at PattyKates’ request.)
Ms. Chase does much well in this book, and it’s nice to see her back towards Lord of Scoundrels territory after an enjoyable but not great Dukes Prefer Blondes. In A Duke in Shining Armor Chase deploys a well-paced timeline to keep a short time period from turning into instalove. Chase lays out the historical precedent of how little times affianced couples could expect to spend together in the upper echelons of society in England during the 1830s, and fills a week with more one on one time and varied experiences than many couples featured in romance novels, let alone the real world, would experience, and simultaneously uses the idea of putting a pair together that had spent the better part of a decade keeping each other in their sights we are dealing with people who don’t know each other but would not be considered social strangers. It is just one of many historically accurate details that Chase is known for adding to her writing, and features so prominently on her other blog Two Nerdy History Girls (also a great follow on Twitter for those inclined).
It was also a bit of a cozy read: there was zero sturm und drang until right at the end. We simply have a bit of an adventure, a bit of a misunderstanding, and some work against social expectations and needs. Olympia and Ripley are well matched, even if we get a little less of who Ripley is on the page, but I expect his character will become clearer as we learn more about his compatriots, the Disgraces. Oh, and one of my favorite components: a road trip.
I know I’ve told you very little about the book itself, but there are some great reviews to give you more detail there, I’m just going to sit here in my happy feels about a solidly 4 star (creeping towards 4.5 star) book.
A. Dukes Prefer Blondes was too great.
B. I need to reread this one as, while I enjoyed it, I didn’t find it particularly memorable.
More bullet points:
1. Dukes Prefer Blondes is my favorite Chase.
2. I also went to her website to see if I was starting at the beginning because of how differently this book is written. I like it – I really like getting to know the characters through the story rather than the typical long exposition where everything is spoon fed to you.
Rebuttal bullet points:
alpha: the characters in Dukes Prefer Blondes are great, the plot is not. I also rated that one four stars.
beta: I completely think its memorable to me (and high rated) because it was a refreshing approach in a comfort read, which given my new work situation I am super in the mood for. Everyone’s else’s mileage may vary.
First – *whispers* I concur on Dukes Prefer Blondes *runs away*
Second – At the time I thought it was just a cozy and forget read, but I’m finding weeks later that I’m still thinking about how much I enjoyed it and that it really was a refreshing take on our Duke subset.