My One and Only Duke – Grace Burrowes Free Audiobook

Written by Grace Burrowes
Read by James Langton
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Rogues to Riches Series, Book 1
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Release date: November 6, 2018
Duration: 10:16:06

One minute, London banker Quinn Wentworth is facing execution. The next, he’s declared the long-lost heir to a dukedom. Quinn has fought his way up from the worst slums, and now he’s ready to use every dirty trick he knows to find the enemy who schemed against him.

Jane Winston, the widowed and pregnant, crosses paths with Quinn while her father is preaching to the prisoners. Believing his days are numbered, Quinn offers her marriage as a way to guarantee her independence and provide for her child. Neither thinks they’ll actually have a future together.

He’s a wealthy gutter rat out for vengeance. She’s a minister’s daughter who must turn a marriage of desperation into a proper ducal union. Are they doomed from the start or destined for a happily-ever-after?

Burrowes opens the Rogues to Riches series with a gentle, optimistic Regency morality tale, promoting the value of looking toward the future over becoming mired in revenge. Quinn Wentworth’s hard-earned money fails to protect him from being framed for murder, but he hopes to put some to good use by marrying Jane Winston, an impoverished, pregnant young widow: when he’s hanged, she’ll inherit his wealth.

A last-minute royal reprieve leaves Quinn alive with a ducal title that provides responsibilities, more debt than assets, and a new reason to hate his noble rivals. Meanwhile, Jane is stunned to go from widow to duchess. Jane and Quinn face the challenge of building a marriage in truth, and their mutual fondness and fierce protectiveness are palpable as they work through their emotional scars. Witty and complex secondary characters, particularly Quinn’s gossip-loving manservant, Ned, and his cantankerous brother, Stephen (whose brilliant intelligence and physical disability are clear nods to Stephen Hawking), round out the novel’s appeal. –a smart, loyal guttersnipe and the hero’s eccentric sisters are unforgettable–and the attention paid to social and women’s issues of the time is sure to resonate with readers.

VERDICT Skillfully crafted and exquisitely written (the classical allusions are delightful), Burrowes’s latest is pure gold; a brilliant launch to a promising series.

Note – the cover picture says a bonus novella is included; this Overdrive recording does not include a bonus novella.