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Friday, October 20, 2017

Forever Romance Review + Excerpt + Giveaway: Duke of Desire by Elizabeth Hoyt


Duke of Desire
Maiden Lane, 12
Elizabeth Hoyt
Forever
October 17, 2017



A LADY OF LIGHT
Refined, kind, and intelligent, Lady Iris Jordan finds herself the unlikely target of a diabolical kidnapping. Her captors are the notoriously evil Lords of Chaos. When one of the masked-and-nude!-Lords spirits her away to his carriage, she shoots him…only to find she may have been a trifle hasty.

A DUKE IN DEEPEST DARKNESS
Cynical, scarred, and brooding, Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, has made it his personal mission to infiltrate the Lords of Chaos and destroy them. Rescuing Lady Jordan was never in his plans. But now with the Lords out to kill them both, he has but one choice: marry the lady in order to keep her safe.

CAUGHT IN A WEB OF DANGER…AND DESIRE
Much to Raphael’s irritation, Iris insists on being the sort of duchess who involes herself in his life—and bed. Soon he’s drawn to both to her quick wit and her fiery passion. But when Iris discovers that Raphael’s past may be even more dangerous than the present, she falters. Is their love strong enough to withstand not only the Lords of Chaos but also Raphael’s own demons?

My Thoughts:
At the end of Duke of Pleasure Lady Iris Jordan was kidnapped, because they thought she had married the Duke of Kyle. Nope, so basically Dyemore rescues her. Now Dyemore is pretty dark and mysterious. Honestly with his background it's completely understandable. We actually learn where he received the scar that's on his face. All Dyemore wants to do is take down the Lords of Chaos, which is a great plan. Seriously, they are awful, horrible people with no souls. Iris doesn't know if she could really trust Dyemore, because he was at the meeting. So, we have daring rescue that goes extremely bad. Poor Dyemore. Dyemore basically marries Iris to save her from the Lords of Chaos and it goes down hill after that. Good thing this story has a happy ending, and I believe this is the end of the series. 

Duke of Desire shows the deep dark secrets that lurk behind the Lords of Chaos. Dyemore is willing to go down if that means the end of the terror on England. Things are brought to light, that make this story probably one of the darker Maiden Lane books. However, there is light at the end, but it takes a good portion of the story to show it's brightness. Overall, I did liked Duke of Desire, but I think I love little fairytale Elizabeth adds at the beginning of the chapter The Rock King. Oh my goodness, that story was so beautiful and it made cry towards the end. I could see how Dyemore and The Rock King are very similar. I enjoyed how Iris brings life back to Dyemore, which wasn't an easy task, but she does. Since I'm pretty sure this is the last (but don't quote me on that) this gave a pretty good ending to the series. 

Copy provided by Forever Romance



Excerpt:
Desperately she flung herself at the opposite seat and tugged it up. Thrust her hand in.
A pistol.
She cocked it, desperately praying that it was loaded.
She turned and aimed it at the door to the carriage just as the door swung open.
The Wolf loomed in the doorway—still nude—a lantern in one hand. She saw the eyes behind the mask flick to the pistol she held between her bound hands. He turned his head and said something in an incomprehensible language to someone outside.
Iris felt her breath sawing in and out of her chest.
He climbed into the carriage and closed the door, completely ignoring her and the pistol pointed at him. The Wolf hung the lantern on a hook and sat on the seat across from her.
Finally he glanced at her. “Put that down.”
His voice was calm. Quiet.
With just a hint of menace.
She backed into the opposite corner, as far away from him as possible, holding the pistol up. Level with his chest. Her heart was pounding so hard it nearly deafened her. “No.”
The carriage jolted into motion, making her stumble before she caught herself.
“T-tell them to stop the carriage,” she said, stuttering with terror despite her resolve. “Let me go now.”
“So that they can rape you to death out there?” He tilted his head to indicate the Lords. “No.”
“At the next village, then.”
“I think not.”
He reached for her and she knew she had no choice.
She shot him.
The blast blew him into the seat and threw her hands up and back, the pistol narrowly missing her nose.
Iris scrambled to her feet. The bullet was gone, but she could still use the pistol as a bludgeon.
The Wolf was sprawled across the seat, blood streaming from a gaping hole in his right shoulder. His mask had been knocked askew on his face.
She reached forward and snatched it off.
And then gasped.
The face that was revealed had once been as beautiful as an angel’s but was now horribly mutilated. A livid red scar ran from just below his hairline on the right side of his face, bisecting the eyebrow, somehow missing the eye itself but gouging a furrow into the lean cheek and catching the edge of his upper lip, making it twist. The scar ended in a missing divot of flesh in the line of the man’s severe jaw. He had inky black hair and, though they were closed now, Iris knew he had emotionless crystal-gray eyes.
She knew because she recognized him.
He was Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, and when she’d danced with him—once—three months ago at a ball, she’d thought he’d looked like Hades.
God of the underworld.
God of the dead.
She had no reason to change her opinion now.
Then he gasped, those frozen crystal eyes opened, and he glared at her. “You idiot woman. I’m trying to save you.”


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About the Author:

Elizabeth Hoyt is the New York Times bestselling author of over seventeen lush historical romances including the Maiden Lane series. Publishers Weekly has called her writing "mesmerizing." She also pens deliciously fun contemporary romances under the name Julia Harper. Elizabeth lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with three untrained dogs, a garden in constant need of weeding, and the long-suffering Mr. Hoyt.






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