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Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Blog Tour & Review ~ One Fine Duke - School for Dukes by USA Today Bestselling Author Lenora Bell


Title: One Fine Duke
Author: Lenora Bell
ISBN: 9780062692504
Price: $7.99
On-Sale Date: 7/23/19


Cover Copy:
USA Today bestselling author Lenora Bell returns with her third book in the sexy School for Dukes series.

Ready.
Raised in the countryside by her overprotective uncle, Miss Mina Penny’s dream of a triumphant London season is finally here. She determined her perfect match long ago: Rafe Bentley, the wickedest rake of them all. There’s only one very large, very unyielding obstacle: Rafe’s brother Drew, the reclusive Duke of Thorndon.

Aim.
This was supposed to be simple. Duke goes to London. Duke selects suitable bride. Love match? Not a chance. But when Drew meets Mina, she complicates everything. How can a lady armed with such beauty and brains fall for his irresponsible degenerate of a brother? Drew vows to save her from heartbreak and ruin, no matter the cost.

Desire!
But Mina is no damsel in distress. She’s daring, intuitive, passionate…and halfway to melting Drew’s cold heart. And although Mina thought she knew exactly what she wanted, one breathtakingly seductive kiss from Drew changes everything. Now Mina must decide between long-held dreams and dangerous new desires. Could her true destiny lie in the arms of a duke?

Author Bio:
Lenora Bell is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of historical romances. 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.



Excerpt:

“There he is, Wilhelmina,” Grizzy whispered, staring reverently across the crowded ballroom. “The Duke of Thorndon.”
Holy hell he’s handsome, thought Mina.
Jaw-dropping-on-the-floor handsome. Drool-on-your-lace-fichu handsome.
Distract her from her plan with his brother, handsome.
Her uncle had been right. Thorndon was a fine figure of a man. Objectively speaking, the finest she’d ever beheld.
Tall as a doorframe, with a face hewn from the same granite as the rugged Cornish coastline.
A face rendered seductive by contrasts: sharp cheekbones and curved, sensuous lips. Gleaming ebony hair brushed his collar. His eyes were a light, gold-tinged brown—the only warm thing about him.
He owned this ballroom. Literally. And he owned everyone in it by dint of his oversized presence and the cold, unsmiling arrogance scrawled across his face.
He didn’t even follow the dictates of fashion, preferring plain black attire to the white pantaloons and gaily-colored waistcoats of the other gentlemen.
Why should he follow the dictates of fashion? Everyone should follow him.
“When you’re introduced to Thorndon, pray speak as seldom as possible,” Grizzy whispered. “Attempt to appear biddable and do try to recall my decorum lessons. Remember, no one in London knows anything about you, thank the Lord.”
Mina had seen several polished, elegant young ladies staring at her, nudging each other and whispering. She was an outsider, a usurper, her proper place in the social hierarchy not yet established.
They needn’t worry. She had no designs upon their prize duke. And she was about as unpolished as a debutante could be—as rough as an un-sanded plank. If anyone touched her they might get splinters.
She longed to shed her country skin swiftly and emerge as the sophisticated social butterfly her mother had been. But she knew that it would take time, observation, and experimentation.
Her first flirtatious conversation, first kiss, first taste of brandy, first adventure…it was all ahead of her.
She couldn’t wait to taste it all.




Oh wow, this book really took me by storm and is so well deserving of huge 5 stars, or in this case Teacups! Fill them up ladies because you’re gonna need it. We first start off with a man running for his life bare naked down the streets of London, it is no other than rake Rafe the brother to the Duke of Thorndon who happens to be coming by in his carriage. Seeing his brother he scrambles him inside and they get to his townhouse and Drew (Thorndon) inquired about a letter he received regarding their sister. Rafe, of course, gets upset and off he goes, not revealing anything to Drew, he only informs him that he’d best be prepared for the upcoming ball as their mother is on the marriage hunt and with Drew, back in town, she’s going to be trying to find him a match. Drew has lived the past five years in the countryside attending to their decrepit estate and trying to revitalize and found through farming he has been able to put to rest some of his past, a past that is now coming back to him in full force with the threat in the letter. He does desire marriage but he wants a calm lady who is good with her hands and isn’t afraid of farming, he definitely does not want a whiny girl.

We next meet Whilemena or otherwise known as Miss Mina Penny at her Uncle’s townhouse where she’s being prepared for the season. She truly does not desire marriage except to only one person and that is for a very specific reason, to be a spy and live a life of danger and adventure. That particular person happens to be Rafe, the Duke of Thorndon’s rakish brother. She’s met him several times at her uncle’s country estate and knows of his ventures in antiquities and also know the underlying darkness of those ventures and that he’s truly a spy. Coming from generations of spies, she too desires the same. However, at the ball thrown by Thorndon’s mother, it isn’t Rafe she dances with and soon begins to be very attracted to, but the boorish and reclusive Duke of Thorndon. As the story continues so many amazing and quite humorous things occur between the pair and whilst Mina still tries to be with Rafe and see her dream fulfilled it is Thorndon that soon captures her heart! Will she continue her dream of being a spy and marry Rafe or will she allow her heart to open up to country boy Thorndon and be a simple, yet very happy country miss?

Truly a remarkable read and I really fell in love with Drew and Penny and felt the pain they both have suffered in their younger lives, especially Drew. Ms. Bell is truly a phenomenal storyteller, she grabs the reader from the first page and does not let go, with scene after scene we are more drawn into the lives of her amazing characters and I truly can’t wait to see more from this series ahead.


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