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Dear Lady Truelove #1
The Truth About Love and Dukes
Dear Lady Truelove . . . I have fallen in love, truly and completely in love, for the first time. The man whom I hold in such passionate regard, however, is not of my station. He is a painter, a brilliant artist. Needless to say, my family would not approve . . .
Henry, Duke of Torquil, wouldn’t be caught reading the wildly popular “Dear Lady Truelove” column, but when its advice causes his mother to embark on a scandalous elopement, an outraged Henry decides the author of this tripe must be stopped before she can ruin any more lives. Though Lady Truelove’s identity is a closely guarded secret, Henry has reason to suspect the publisher of the notorious column, beautiful and provoking Irene Deverill, is also its author.
For Irene, it’s easy to advise others to surrender to passion, but when she meets the Duke of Torquil, she soon learns that passion comes at a price. When one impulsive, spur-of-the-moment kiss pulls her into a scorching affair with Henry, it could destroy her beloved newspaper, her career, and her independence. But in the duke’s arms, surrender is so, so sweet . . .
Henry, Duke of Torquil, wouldn’t be caught reading the wildly popular “Dear Lady Truelove” column, but when its advice causes his mother to embark on a scandalous elopement, an outraged Henry decides the author of this tripe must be stopped before she can ruin any more lives. Though Lady Truelove’s identity is a closely guarded secret, Henry has reason to suspect the publisher of the notorious column, beautiful and provoking Irene Deverill, is also its author.
For Irene, it’s easy to advise others to surrender to passion, but when she meets the Duke of Torquil, she soon learns that passion comes at a price. When one impulsive, spur-of-the-moment kiss pulls her into a scorching affair with Henry, it could destroy her beloved newspaper, her career, and her independence. But in the duke’s arms, surrender is so, so sweet . . .
369 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 28, 2017
About the author
Laura Lee Guhrke
46 books1,715 followersFrom the publication of her very first historical romance, Laura Lee Guhrke has received numerous honors and critical acclaim for her novels and her writing style. She has been honored with the most prestigious award of romance fiction, the Romance Writers of America Rita Award, and she has received additional awards from Romantic Times and All About Romance. Romantic Times has proclaimed her, “One of the most natural voices in historical romance to be found today”. Her books routinely hit the USA Today Bestseller List, and Guilty Pleasures has been honored with the Romantic Times Award for Best European Historical Romance of 2004. Among her publishing credits are twelve historical romances, including her latest, And Then He Kissed Her, now available from Avon Books.
Laura is currently hard at work on her thirteenth historical romance for Avon Books. She has also written articles for various publications, including the Romance Writers Report, The British Weekly , and the Irish-American Press.
Laura is currently hard at work on her thirteenth historical romance for Avon Books. She has also written articles for various publications, including the Romance Writers Report, The British Weekly , and the Irish-American Press.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 324 reviews
April 25, 2017
Are you suffering the pain of unrequited love? Are you baffled by the unaccountable behavior of the opposite sex? Are you tormented by an affair of the heart and feel there is no one to whom you can turn for understanding and advice? Fear not. Lady Truelove can help.
And help she did! Why, oh why, besides being allowed no peace at the breakfast table, can't he lead a well-ordered and uneventful life like any other respectable peer of the realm? Is what Henry thinks brooding over the latest issue of the Society Snippets, a gossip rag hosting a popular advice column that might be just about to ruin his family's reputation. Of all the preposterous things responding to his mother's letter suggesting her, a duchess, who is at present nowhere to be found by the way, to listen to her heart and marry a penniless Italian painter almost twenty years her junior! As her son and as the Duke of Torquil, it is his most pressing duty to take matters into his own responsible hands and immediately rectify the situation. And moreover, to add insult to injury, when storming the blasted magazine's offices to investigate his mother's whereabouts and finally confront the meddling columnist, who is it there standing in front of him, squared shoulders and raised chin? Nothing less than a spinster, a suffragist, a radical, and possibly a Marxist, counselling the lovesick of London—Unthinkable! Ridiculous! Outrageous!—especially because he finds the shocking woman attractive! It's July 1892 and the world is going crazy!
Oh well, Miss Irene Deverill has always known that publishing a scandal sheet was a daily and exciting challenge, though at least so far it had never entailed fending off angry, self-righteous, breathtakingly handsome dukes. This one in particular is now threatening to buy out from her father the business she has worked so hard to make profitable again and to close it down if she doesn't agree to follow his plan, which consist in spending two weeks in his household pretending to enjoy The Season with the Torquils sponsorship while hiding her Lady Truelove identity in order to convince the duchess to end the affair with her younger lover. A daunting prospect, but everything Irene holds dear is at stake, so even if the pompous stuffed shirt is as maddening as they come and has elevated concealing his emotions to a fine art, complying is the only choice...
In this highly entertaining example of the enemies-to-lovers scenario, Laura Lee Guhrke has cleverly packed together a witty romantic comedy and a layered character-driven plot, narrated with a smooth, engaging writing and punctuated by lively dialogues and sparkly banters. And it's not a laugh-out-loud kind of comedy, but a gentle background humour accompanies every interaction, so that even in the most tensed or touching moments the story never loses its general cheerful mood.
Henry and Irene are also a classic case of opposites attracting each other, though for as much as they antagonise and spar, the chemistry is constantly palpable and their romance is sweet and sensual at the same time. For all their differences they talk, reveal some of their vulnerabilities and learn to compromise without renouncing their personalities, which stay true and non-stereotyped till the end even if undergoing necessary changes. There's a rewarding completeness in this couple, in the proper aristocrat with a hidden romantic side, safely guarded under a poised façade, and in the forward-thinking, modern but not anachronistically portrayed, intelligent and strong heroine. They both contributed to an enjoyable story that while maintaining a light tone, it doesn't forget to let more meaningful matters emerge to the surface.
I guess you know you've found a winner when a book reminds you of all the reasons why you love a genre and keep on reading it. It's the feeling I had throughout The Truth About Love and Dukes, not a single page excluded.
Buddy-read with Anna :)
May 2, 2017
I assume it’s difficult to invent a reason for two people who travel in different socio-economic circles, who have nothing in common, whose slim chance of communication would be through a lawyer or a personal secretary to meet, to spend enough time together, to overcome initial disdain and to fall in love. Enemies-to-lovers is my favorite trope and I was excited to dive into the story. Ever since I read And Then He Kissed Her and Conor's Way, I became a fan of the author. Unfortunately, the story didn’t work for me.
I don’t know where to start…at the beginning, I suppose. Its unbelievably contrived nature was the proverbial miner’s canary. Imagine a Duchess penning a letter to a certain scandal sheet advice columnist and asking for a relationship advice. Bear in mind:
Setting aside a mature woman behaving like a teenager, the letter and the response served its purpose. It allowed the Duchess’s proper and priggish son, Henry, Duke of Torquil, to meet the letter’s publisher, beautiful and provoking Irene Deverill.
It seems HR land nowadays is saturated with suffragist heroines. I suppose it’s publishers’ answer to readers' demand for a strong and capable woman. I’m all for it if it’s done in the period appropriate fashion. It’s historical romance after all. There are many fine examples, including some of Ms. Guhrke's work. But sometimes the desire to show a new and independent woman goes overboard like in the case of Miss Deverill. There is a suffragist and there is Irene- a notch above –a militant domineering new woman, full of contradictions with appalling lack of self-awareness or humor, a person with no regards for how her actions may hurt people around her. I could go on and on. Needless to say, I didn’t like her.
And than there is Henry, the Duke- dutiful, starchy, propriety-conscious man who, after spending a week in Irene’s presence, completely lost his marbles and manliness. In a bizarre role reversal the powerful rich duke becomes a weak dormant creature capitulating completely to the heroine’s conditions. I thought if I read one more his “I’m sorry” for the carnal thoughts (thoughts, mind you, not actions) he had for our beautiful well-endowed Irene, I would smack my book into the wall. I love my sensitive and understanding heroes but I don’t care if they turned into effeminate ones.
With the characters like this it was a tough going for me to finish the story. Add to this anachronistic dialog, unbelievable situations, actions that made no sense, and I had to double-check if I’m reading the author whose books I enjoyed in the past. A disappointing read overall.
I don’t know where to start…at the beginning, I suppose. Its unbelievably contrived nature was the proverbial miner’s canary. Imagine a Duchess penning a letter to a certain scandal sheet advice columnist and asking for a relationship advice. Bear in mind:
1) Every public move of the Duchess is under a microscope not only because of her station but because of her affair with a certain Italian painter. Scandalous rags are full of salacious gossips and innuendoes about it already.
2) The letter is worded in a way to recognize her as an author.
3) The Duchess has two unmarried daughters whose lives along with other family members would be greatly affected by the publication of the letter.
4) When given a choice of private or public correspondence with the columnist, the Duchess chose the latter. Her reasons? They are so convoluted, hypocritical and stupid, that I would have hard time putting them in writing.
Setting aside a mature woman behaving like a teenager, the letter and the response served its purpose. It allowed the Duchess’s proper and priggish son, Henry, Duke of Torquil, to meet the letter’s publisher, beautiful and provoking Irene Deverill.
It seems HR land nowadays is saturated with suffragist heroines. I suppose it’s publishers’ answer to readers' demand for a strong and capable woman. I’m all for it if it’s done in the period appropriate fashion. It’s historical romance after all. There are many fine examples, including some of Ms. Guhrke's work. But sometimes the desire to show a new and independent woman goes overboard like in the case of Miss Deverill. There is a suffragist and there is Irene- a notch above –a militant domineering new woman, full of contradictions with appalling lack of self-awareness or humor, a person with no regards for how her actions may hurt people around her. I could go on and on. Needless to say, I didn’t like her.
And than there is Henry, the Duke- dutiful, starchy, propriety-conscious man who, after spending a week in Irene’s presence, completely lost his marbles and manliness. In a bizarre role reversal the powerful rich duke becomes a weak dormant creature capitulating completely to the heroine’s conditions. I thought if I read one more his “I’m sorry” for the carnal thoughts (thoughts, mind you, not actions) he had for our beautiful well-endowed Irene, I would smack my book into the wall. I love my sensitive and understanding heroes but I don’t care if they turned into effeminate ones.
With the characters like this it was a tough going for me to finish the story. Add to this anachronistic dialog, unbelievable situations, actions that made no sense, and I had to double-check if I’m reading the author whose books I enjoyed in the past. A disappointing read overall.
April 5, 2017
First let me say that I enjoyed this book!
At the same time I alternated in cheering and hating both the hero and the heroine! Call me inconsistent! LOL
The story is quite unsual, but at the same time... not!
Heroine, Irene
what I liked:
- her independence,
- her hard work
- her strong character
- her desire not to compromise
- her willingness to desregard the society's preconceptions and do what she wanted
what i didn't like:
- her stubborness
- her desregard of other people feelings while stating the contrary
- her desgregard of how society's preconceptions can affect others' lives
- her judgement of hero's character before knowing him at all
Hero, Henry
what I liked:
- his love for his family
- his honorableness
- his quick admissions of his own faults
- his tender heart he's trying so much to disguise
what i didn't like:
- his stubborness
- his desregard of other people feelings while stating the contrary
- his over-regard of how society's preconceptions can affect others' lives
- his judgement of heroine's character before knowing her at all
You see? :-)
While reading I found some really fun and à-propos gifs that I want to share with you!
This one is about the heroine's desire for women to get to vote and to get to manage their own life as they wish. To stop being just property of their male relatives being they fathers, brothers or husbands. A noble purpose I liked very much!
But, as you can immagine, the hero is not a fan! LOL
When reading historical romance the problem of virginity always arises! It was such a big problem in those days...
What do you say? I would have gotten richer than Croesus or whould they bruned me at stake? LMAOOO
The ending was soooo sweet...
At the same time I alternated in cheering and hating both the hero and the heroine! Call me inconsistent! LOL
The story is quite unsual, but at the same time... not!
Heroine, Irene
what I liked:
- her independence,
- her hard work
- her strong character
- her desire not to compromise
- her willingness to desregard the society's preconceptions and do what she wanted
what i didn't like:
- her stubborness
- her desregard of other people feelings while stating the contrary
- her desgregard of how society's preconceptions can affect others' lives
- her judgement of hero's character before knowing him at all
Hero, Henry
what I liked:
- his love for his family
- his honorableness
- his quick admissions of his own faults
- his tender heart he's trying so much to disguise
what i didn't like:
- his stubborness
- his desregard of other people feelings while stating the contrary
- his over-regard of how society's preconceptions can affect others' lives
- his judgement of heroine's character before knowing her at all
You see? :-)
While reading I found some really fun and à-propos gifs that I want to share with you!
This one is about the heroine's desire for women to get to vote and to get to manage their own life as they wish. To stop being just property of their male relatives being they fathers, brothers or husbands. A noble purpose I liked very much!
But, as you can immagine, the hero is not a fan! LOL
When reading historical romance the problem of virginity always arises! It was such a big problem in those days...
What do you say? I would have gotten richer than Croesus or whould they bruned me at stake? LMAOOO
The ending was soooo sweet...
April 25, 2017
I absolutely loved this book! In fact there were a couple of points in the story where I had to put the book down and just breathe--I mean it was that good. The story has all these great things going for it--a very Downton Abbey vibe, a cool and aloof duke, a wonderful bright and headstrong suffragette heroine who runs her own paper and writes an advice column, and all the clashes that could come of these two meeting and crossing wits. Don't miss this book if you love historical romance.
April 20, 2024
Review from 2017
I've given this a B for content and an A- for narration at AudioGals, which I suppose is technically 4.25 stars
The first book in Laura Lee Guhrke’s new Dear Lady Truelove series, The Truth About Love and Dukes is an enjoyable opposites-attract story that sees a very proper and oh, so correct duke finding love with a most unlikely young woman. The “uptight lord gets the stuffing knocked out of him by unconventional young lady” is a familiar trope, but it works quite well here; the central couple has great chemistry and the author takes a good look at the difficulties inherent in having a relationship outside your class. On the downside, however, you do need to get past the rather improbable catalyst (a duchess writing a letter to a ‘lonely hearts’ column and agreeing to its being published) and a heroine who, in her quest to maintain her independence and snap her fingers at social convention, is sometimes insensitive to the possible effect of her actions on others.
When Henry Cavanaugh, Duke of Torquil reads the letter written by his mother to the popular advice columnist, Lady Truelove, he is outraged. The duchess publicly writes about having found love for the first time in her life and her intention to marry the man she loves in spite of her family’s disapproval. When it appears that the advice dispensed by Lady Truelove has inspired the duchess to an elopement, Henry is appalled at the thought that his own mother could be so careless of her reputation and of the way her actions will reflect on her family – especially her unmarried daughters. He is absolutely furious and immediately heads to the publisher’s office, suspecting that the columnist may know his mother’s whereabouts and is surprised when he is greeted by a stunning young woman who calmly informs him that she is the publisher of Society Snippets. Henry also suspects that she is Lady Truelove, but she will not admit to that, and takes offence at his high-handed expectation that she will reveal his mother’s secrets simply because he is a duke and must therefore be obeyed.
When Miss Irene Deverill refuses to cooperate, Henry realises he’ll have to take a different tack. In an underhanded move, he goes behind her back to her father, who, in spite of being an habitual drunkard, still owns the family newspaper business. Henry offers to buy the business AND to facilitate an introduction for Irene and her younger sister to their maternal grandfather – a viscount – who disowned his daughter when she ran off with their father.
Irene is furious and couldn’t care less about regaining her social position, but can do nothing; her father owns the company and can dispose of it as he sees fit. But Henry makes her an alternative offer. If she – as the voice of Lady Truelove – can persuade his mother not to marry her lover within the next two weeks (at the end of which the wedding is due to take place), then he will back out of his deal with her father and she can continue to run her newspaper. And in order to bring her into his mother’s orbit, he informs Irene that she and her sister will be staying with his family for the whole of that period.
This naturally brings Henry and Irene into frequent proximity, too, and as they continue to spar and disagree, the sparks fly and the sexual tension that has been simmering since their first meeting starts to come to the boil. Henry is infuriated by some of Irene’s ideas, but is irresistibly drawn to her intelligence and drive, while Irene is unimpressed by all the pomp and circumstance of life in a duke’s household, but can’t help finding Henry incredibly attractive, especially when she watches him interacting with his family and starts to see the man beneath the starch.
While the author does a fantastic job of building the mutual awareness and sexual tension between Henry and Irene, there are a few things about the story and characterisation that didn’t quite work for me. In the attempt to satisfy a twenty-first century audience’s requirement for independent, strong heroines in historicals, an author can sometimes shoot herself in the foot by making the divide between the heroine’s more progressive outlook and the hero’s less progressive one impossible to breach in a way that is satisfying in terms of the romance. Irene’s support for women’s suffrage is admirable, as is her desire for independence and the fact that she is fiercely protective of her newspaper business. But her insistence on defying convention and challenging Henry about every single thing makes it difficult to believe that a relationship between a woman like her and a man like him can ever work. I’m not saying Irene should have been a doormat or unenlightened. Just that it’s a difficult line to walk in an historical romance, and I don’t think Ms. Guhrke manages it here.
She does, however, do a good job when it comes to exploring the problems of a cross-class relationship in the 1890s. Henry has been brought up to believe in duty and responsibility and to take them seriously while Irene doesn’t care about rules and wants to shake things up. Even after they have acknowledged the depth of their mutual attraction and agreed to act upon it, the differences in their social positions and outlook stand between them and one of the best, most heartfelt scenes in the story is the one in which Irene finally comes to a full understanding of what they can and cannot have together.
With all that said, though, I enjoyed the story more than I expected to, which I suspect is largely due to the engaging performance delivered by Carolyn Morris. She’s one of my ‘go to’ narrators for historical romance, bringing both technical accomplishment and emotional nuance to her work and clearly demonstrating her affinity for the genre. Her pacing in both narrative and dialogue is spot on and she differentiates well between the various characters, especially between Irene and her sister, and between the ladies and Henry’s snobbish sister-in-law, catty Carlotta (which I thought was rather an odd name for a lady in a late Victorian historical – we’re not told she has Spanish origins). I’ve always been impressed with the way Ms. Morris portrays the heroes in the books she narrates; her natural speaking voice is more of a mezzo than a contralto, yet she manages to imbue them with just the right degree of masculinity by means of a very small drop in pitch – only a semitone or two – a darkening of timbre and an alteration in her manner of speech, perhaps making it a little more deliberate and adding a slight drawl. Her interpretation of Henry brings him vividly to life in all of his aristocratic sexiness, and her performance as a whole is attractively animated and expressive.
The Truth About Love and Dukes gets a recommendation on the basis of the performance and the strength of the writing and chemistry between the central characters. I ended up liking and sympathising with Henry – who experiences the most character growth – more than I did Irene, but there’s nonetheless much to enjoy in this late Victorian-era romance.
I've given this a B for content and an A- for narration at AudioGals, which I suppose is technically 4.25 stars
The first book in Laura Lee Guhrke’s new Dear Lady Truelove series, The Truth About Love and Dukes is an enjoyable opposites-attract story that sees a very proper and oh, so correct duke finding love with a most unlikely young woman. The “uptight lord gets the stuffing knocked out of him by unconventional young lady” is a familiar trope, but it works quite well here; the central couple has great chemistry and the author takes a good look at the difficulties inherent in having a relationship outside your class. On the downside, however, you do need to get past the rather improbable catalyst (a duchess writing a letter to a ‘lonely hearts’ column and agreeing to its being published) and a heroine who, in her quest to maintain her independence and snap her fingers at social convention, is sometimes insensitive to the possible effect of her actions on others.
When Henry Cavanaugh, Duke of Torquil reads the letter written by his mother to the popular advice columnist, Lady Truelove, he is outraged. The duchess publicly writes about having found love for the first time in her life and her intention to marry the man she loves in spite of her family’s disapproval. When it appears that the advice dispensed by Lady Truelove has inspired the duchess to an elopement, Henry is appalled at the thought that his own mother could be so careless of her reputation and of the way her actions will reflect on her family – especially her unmarried daughters. He is absolutely furious and immediately heads to the publisher’s office, suspecting that the columnist may know his mother’s whereabouts and is surprised when he is greeted by a stunning young woman who calmly informs him that she is the publisher of Society Snippets. Henry also suspects that she is Lady Truelove, but she will not admit to that, and takes offence at his high-handed expectation that she will reveal his mother’s secrets simply because he is a duke and must therefore be obeyed.
When Miss Irene Deverill refuses to cooperate, Henry realises he’ll have to take a different tack. In an underhanded move, he goes behind her back to her father, who, in spite of being an habitual drunkard, still owns the family newspaper business. Henry offers to buy the business AND to facilitate an introduction for Irene and her younger sister to their maternal grandfather – a viscount – who disowned his daughter when she ran off with their father.
Irene is furious and couldn’t care less about regaining her social position, but can do nothing; her father owns the company and can dispose of it as he sees fit. But Henry makes her an alternative offer. If she – as the voice of Lady Truelove – can persuade his mother not to marry her lover within the next two weeks (at the end of which the wedding is due to take place), then he will back out of his deal with her father and she can continue to run her newspaper. And in order to bring her into his mother’s orbit, he informs Irene that she and her sister will be staying with his family for the whole of that period.
This naturally brings Henry and Irene into frequent proximity, too, and as they continue to spar and disagree, the sparks fly and the sexual tension that has been simmering since their first meeting starts to come to the boil. Henry is infuriated by some of Irene’s ideas, but is irresistibly drawn to her intelligence and drive, while Irene is unimpressed by all the pomp and circumstance of life in a duke’s household, but can’t help finding Henry incredibly attractive, especially when she watches him interacting with his family and starts to see the man beneath the starch.
While the author does a fantastic job of building the mutual awareness and sexual tension between Henry and Irene, there are a few things about the story and characterisation that didn’t quite work for me. In the attempt to satisfy a twenty-first century audience’s requirement for independent, strong heroines in historicals, an author can sometimes shoot herself in the foot by making the divide between the heroine’s more progressive outlook and the hero’s less progressive one impossible to breach in a way that is satisfying in terms of the romance. Irene’s support for women’s suffrage is admirable, as is her desire for independence and the fact that she is fiercely protective of her newspaper business. But her insistence on defying convention and challenging Henry about every single thing makes it difficult to believe that a relationship between a woman like her and a man like him can ever work. I’m not saying Irene should have been a doormat or unenlightened. Just that it’s a difficult line to walk in an historical romance, and I don’t think Ms. Guhrke manages it here.
She does, however, do a good job when it comes to exploring the problems of a cross-class relationship in the 1890s. Henry has been brought up to believe in duty and responsibility and to take them seriously while Irene doesn’t care about rules and wants to shake things up. Even after they have acknowledged the depth of their mutual attraction and agreed to act upon it, the differences in their social positions and outlook stand between them and one of the best, most heartfelt scenes in the story is the one in which Irene finally comes to a full understanding of what they can and cannot have together.
With all that said, though, I enjoyed the story more than I expected to, which I suspect is largely due to the engaging performance delivered by Carolyn Morris. She’s one of my ‘go to’ narrators for historical romance, bringing both technical accomplishment and emotional nuance to her work and clearly demonstrating her affinity for the genre. Her pacing in both narrative and dialogue is spot on and she differentiates well between the various characters, especially between Irene and her sister, and between the ladies and Henry’s snobbish sister-in-law, catty Carlotta (which I thought was rather an odd name for a lady in a late Victorian historical – we’re not told she has Spanish origins). I’ve always been impressed with the way Ms. Morris portrays the heroes in the books she narrates; her natural speaking voice is more of a mezzo than a contralto, yet she manages to imbue them with just the right degree of masculinity by means of a very small drop in pitch – only a semitone or two – a darkening of timbre and an alteration in her manner of speech, perhaps making it a little more deliberate and adding a slight drawl. Her interpretation of Henry brings him vividly to life in all of his aristocratic sexiness, and her performance as a whole is attractively animated and expressive.
The Truth About Love and Dukes gets a recommendation on the basis of the performance and the strength of the writing and chemistry between the central characters. I ended up liking and sympathising with Henry – who experiences the most character growth – more than I did Irene, but there’s nonetheless much to enjoy in this late Victorian-era romance.
November 21, 2021
Laura es de mis autoras favoritas en romance histórico y debo confesar que este no ha sido su mejor libro.
Para empezar no me gusta mucho las protagonistas sufragistas porque para ellas es todo negro o blanco y al principio Irene así era.
Segundo la historia romántica tardó en arrancar, todo era muy enemies más que lovers.
Y al final ya que los teníamos enamorados el libro terminó.
Hubo momentos que se me a figuró bastante en Y entonces él la besó, pero ese libro es un pedazo de libro se los recomiendo es mi favorito de la autora.
Henry me agradó mucho era muy duque, altivo, con ese grado de arrogancia, de deber y responsabilidad.
También era muy protector, parecía que era frío, pero por dentro era todo fuego.
Las escenas candentes entre Irene y Henry fue lo que más me gustó.
Y la confesión o sea SEÑORA CONFESIÓN, de las mejores que he leído.
Para empezar no me gusta mucho las protagonistas sufragistas porque para ellas es todo negro o blanco y al principio Irene así era.
Segundo la historia romántica tardó en arrancar, todo era muy enemies más que lovers.
Y al final ya que los teníamos enamorados el libro terminó.
Hubo momentos que se me a figuró bastante en Y entonces él la besó, pero ese libro es un pedazo de libro se los recomiendo es mi favorito de la autora.
Henry me agradó mucho era muy duque, altivo, con ese grado de arrogancia, de deber y responsabilidad.
También era muy protector, parecía que era frío, pero por dentro era todo fuego.
Las escenas candentes entre Irene y Henry fue lo que más me gustó.
Y la confesión o sea SEÑORA CONFESIÓN, de las mejores que he leído.
May 23, 2017
I barely made it through this. Nothing really happened. There was plenty of bickering and I mean plenty. It was ridiculous in the beginning with Henry’s mother, a duchess, writing to a gossip newspaper to get love advice. Of course Henry goes to the newspaper office where he met Irene, the love advice columnist. They get off to a rough start with each of them thinking the other insufferable. They truly were insufferable, and that’s what made this story hard to bear.
Irene was a feminist in an era when women weren’t even supposed to express their opinions let alone publish a newspaper like she did. She was adamant she would be dependent upon no man. It often felt like she viewed men as the enemy rather simply thinking women deserved more.
She never knew when to shut her mouth and often came off as combative, which isn’t the best way to sway people’s opinions. She drove me nuts. Not everything is meant to be a slight against women.
In some ways she was contradictory. It didn’t add up with her ridged, independent personality to also relentlessly advocate for love. Her views on relationships made her look foolish. She was completely unaware of the complexity of relationships especially among high society but thought she knew it all. She was clueless when it came to understanding how her actions affected others. People always had to point out how her brash behavior could hurt the people she cared about and prevent others from caring about her beliefs. That would have been okay if she were a teenager, but she was 25. Irene should have known better by then.
I admired Irene’s desire to be independent. Her pride in her work was excessive.
Yes she published a newspaper, but the focus of it was gossip. It was nothing but a trashy, completely unrespectable publication, and she was too stupid to see it. Don’t ardently defend your work when it isn’t truly something worthy of defending. I was impressed that she ran a newspaper. Doing so sparked her feminist ideals making her think she was paving the way for other women, but that only works when people in the right places value your work. The same people whose opinions she needed to change to help advance women’s causes were the same people whose secrets she was exposing in her newspaper. Not a smart move.
Henry was exactly what a duke was supposed to be: unbending and controlling.
He wasn’t known for his compassion and expected people to follow the rules of society. This was a case of tell not show because he did care about others. Once Irene came into his life, the intractable duke suddenly became a pushover. Every time Irene suggested how he should deal with a situation he eventually did what she suggested. Sometimes he should have stood up for himself.
The romance was aggravating. All they did was argue, and it wasn’t witty or humorous either. Obviously they were going to end up together or there was absolutely no point to this story, but I would have been happier if they parted ways.
Irene was a feminist in an era when women weren’t even supposed to express their opinions let alone publish a newspaper like she did. She was adamant she would be dependent upon no man. It often felt like she viewed men as the enemy rather simply thinking women deserved more.
She never knew when to shut her mouth and often came off as combative, which isn’t the best way to sway people’s opinions. She drove me nuts. Not everything is meant to be a slight against women.
In some ways she was contradictory. It didn’t add up with her ridged, independent personality to also relentlessly advocate for love. Her views on relationships made her look foolish. She was completely unaware of the complexity of relationships especially among high society but thought she knew it all. She was clueless when it came to understanding how her actions affected others. People always had to point out how her brash behavior could hurt the people she cared about and prevent others from caring about her beliefs. That would have been okay if she were a teenager, but she was 25. Irene should have known better by then.
I admired Irene’s desire to be independent. Her pride in her work was excessive.
Yes she published a newspaper, but the focus of it was gossip. It was nothing but a trashy, completely unrespectable publication, and she was too stupid to see it. Don’t ardently defend your work when it isn’t truly something worthy of defending. I was impressed that she ran a newspaper. Doing so sparked her feminist ideals making her think she was paving the way for other women, but that only works when people in the right places value your work. The same people whose opinions she needed to change to help advance women’s causes were the same people whose secrets she was exposing in her newspaper. Not a smart move.
Henry was exactly what a duke was supposed to be: unbending and controlling.
He wasn’t known for his compassion and expected people to follow the rules of society. This was a case of tell not show because he did care about others. Once Irene came into his life, the intractable duke suddenly became a pushover. Every time Irene suggested how he should deal with a situation he eventually did what she suggested. Sometimes he should have stood up for himself.
The romance was aggravating. All they did was argue, and it wasn’t witty or humorous either. Obviously they were going to end up together or there was absolutely no point to this story, but I would have been happier if they parted ways.
December 17, 2017
Enjoyable, but I have mixed feelings. Guhrke has always been one of my favorites, but in her last few books, I'm just not feeling it.
September 28, 2018
Not going to do much of a review here, but I enjoyed this listen. Carolyn Morris is a narrator worth seeking out. I liked the slow build, but I did think it a bit too calculated at times. I thought that the romance needed just a bit more development. Great characters. I liked how deserving love at 50 was a theme here.
Note to Hoopla users: Hoopla has the author's last name spelled wrong as Gujrke for this audiobook only, so this does not come up under the author's name, unfortunately.
Note to Hoopla users: Hoopla has the author's last name spelled wrong as Gujrke for this audiobook only, so this does not come up under the author's name, unfortunately.
March 27, 2017
There has been a subtle shift in female characterisation in Historical Romances. No longer is a feisty, independent spirit enough for the ideal heroine of the past – now she must be purposeful and liberated enough that she doesn’t need a man in her life if she so chooses. These thoroughly modern women are very easy to relate to intellectually but they aren’t the most believable when it comes to finding their romantic side. Laura Lee Guhrke does her best to find some balance between both in her latest release The Truth about Love and Dukes.
The advice was titillating for anyone reading between the lines. Lady Truelove, a columnist for the popular newspaper Society Snippets, has just encouraged a Lady to elope with a roguish foreigner! The whispered gossip in every ballroom already linked the dowager Duchess Torquil with the handsome Italian painter Signore Foscarelli; however seeing it printed clearly in black and white is scandalous. It’s even worse for the members of the Cavanaugh family to see their private family business splashed on the pages of such a publication. Henry Cavanaugh, Duke of Torquil, is annoyed that his mother would write a letter soliciting advice from a stranger and is livid when he discovers that she has heeded the columnist’s advice to run off with an obvious fortune hunter. Determined to stop his mother from making a mistake that will disgrace the entire family, Henry goes right to the source of the news to either get a retraction or find out exactly where his mother has fled.
Irene Deverill expected to generate buzz by publishing the duchess’ letter but didn’t expect her son to storm into her offices demanding to confront Lady Truelove about it. Writing under a pseudonym gives Irene the freedom to provide honest advice to her readers while creating a distance between that role and her job as editor of Society Snippets. Torquil’s insistence that she reveal the duchess’ confidences goes against her commitment to journalistic integrity and also pricks at her belief that a peer has no right to force his will on others.
Please read the full review at All About Romance
The advice was titillating for anyone reading between the lines. Lady Truelove, a columnist for the popular newspaper Society Snippets, has just encouraged a Lady to elope with a roguish foreigner! The whispered gossip in every ballroom already linked the dowager Duchess Torquil with the handsome Italian painter Signore Foscarelli; however seeing it printed clearly in black and white is scandalous. It’s even worse for the members of the Cavanaugh family to see their private family business splashed on the pages of such a publication. Henry Cavanaugh, Duke of Torquil, is annoyed that his mother would write a letter soliciting advice from a stranger and is livid when he discovers that she has heeded the columnist’s advice to run off with an obvious fortune hunter. Determined to stop his mother from making a mistake that will disgrace the entire family, Henry goes right to the source of the news to either get a retraction or find out exactly where his mother has fled.
Irene Deverill expected to generate buzz by publishing the duchess’ letter but didn’t expect her son to storm into her offices demanding to confront Lady Truelove about it. Writing under a pseudonym gives Irene the freedom to provide honest advice to her readers while creating a distance between that role and her job as editor of Society Snippets. Torquil’s insistence that she reveal the duchess’ confidences goes against her commitment to journalistic integrity and also pricks at her belief that a peer has no right to force his will on others.
Please read the full review at All About Romance
September 2, 2021
This one took me back to Evie Dunmore's Bringing Down the Duke and And Then He Kissed her by Laura herself, two books I thoroughly enjoyed.
I love suffragist heroines, and although Irene isn't in the same league as Dunmore's fiesty suffragist ladies, she's still quite likeable. I didnt care much for the earlier marriage side story - it didn't add anything to the book nor Henry's character.
I love suffragist heroines, and although Irene isn't in the same league as Dunmore's fiesty suffragist ladies, she's still quite likeable. I didnt care much for the earlier marriage side story - it didn't add anything to the book nor Henry's character.
January 1, 2021
THIS ONE MOVED SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slowly. It followed more the duke's mother's romance more than the main romance. It focused a lot of female rights, feminism, and strong female characters but it lacked romance. It lacked chemistry. And therefore, as a romance, it bored me.
December 14, 2018
Solid work with engaging characters. Definitely had the emotional impact needed for a good story. Characters were well fleshed out and I enjoyed scenes at the newspaper.
I'm glad too much time wasn't spent on the whole "lamenting different social status" plot point. When honestly it was barely an actual barrier to the main characters being together.
It did not have as much of a unique plot as Guhrke's first few wonderful works and the start was awkward and highly unlikely, but things gelled later in the book and it had a lot of eventual charm. Particularly in the familial love displayed and their interaction. One of the most "real" seeming families I've encountered in a while.
While the quality of language isn't what it used to be, (I used to find so many lovely unique ways of phrasing things in her work) the standard of writing is still high after some bumpiness and over-exposition at the beginning.
Issues of the time period were incorporated without heavy-handedness.
Lines I Liked
“I can see, Miss Deverill,” he murmured, leaning closer to her, “that Carlotta’s tail isn’t the only one you intend to twist this evening.”
She turned, pasting on an innocent expression. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do. As for steering my ship,” he added, leaning back and adopting a more conversational tone, “I doubt you’d want to.”
“And why is that?”
“It would mean you’d be part of my crew, and if that were the case, you’d be required to obey my orders.” He paused, his gaze lowering to her mouth. “Without question.”
Her heart gave a sudden, hard thud in her chest. She felt pinned by that look as if by an arrow, and she was unable to move even after he lifted his gaze again to hers. His words ought to have inspired any suffragist worth her salt with the desire to bash a candlestick over his head, and yet, Irene could not have summoned the proper outrage for such a course”
I'm glad too much time wasn't spent on the whole "lamenting different social status" plot point. When honestly it was barely an actual barrier to the main characters being together.
It did not have as much of a unique plot as Guhrke's first few wonderful works and the start was awkward and highly unlikely, but things gelled later in the book and it had a lot of eventual charm. Particularly in the familial love displayed and their interaction. One of the most "real" seeming families I've encountered in a while.
While the quality of language isn't what it used to be, (I used to find so many lovely unique ways of phrasing things in her work) the standard of writing is still high after some bumpiness and over-exposition at the beginning.
Issues of the time period were incorporated without heavy-handedness.
Lines I Liked
“I can see, Miss Deverill,” he murmured, leaning closer to her, “that Carlotta’s tail isn’t the only one you intend to twist this evening.”
She turned, pasting on an innocent expression. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do. As for steering my ship,” he added, leaning back and adopting a more conversational tone, “I doubt you’d want to.”
“And why is that?”
“It would mean you’d be part of my crew, and if that were the case, you’d be required to obey my orders.” He paused, his gaze lowering to her mouth. “Without question.”
Her heart gave a sudden, hard thud in her chest. She felt pinned by that look as if by an arrow, and she was unable to move even after he lifted his gaze again to hers. His words ought to have inspired any suffragist worth her salt with the desire to bash a candlestick over his head, and yet, Irene could not have summoned the proper outrage for such a course”
March 9, 2019
This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance
The Truth About Love and Dukes was a wonderful book and I have always enjoyed reading this author however, this book was a bit different than I was expecting. I think what Laura Lee Guhrke has NEVER lost is sexy bantering and I am not sure if it was due to the talent of the narrator or if it was the story itself, but I found myself amused by the angst the develops between these two here. The Truth About Love and Duke is Gurhke's first book in her "Dear Lady Truelove". If you love journalistic set ups, than this book is much for you. Now many have compared this book as a copy cat for one of my favorite books from her "And Then He Kissed Her" DONT LISTEN, I definitely don't agree with that evaluation. There are so many differences in this book from her backlisted novel.
The Truth About Love and Dukes begins with our hero, who is the Duke of Torquil, and when he and his siblings see a newspaper article about a woman writing to "Lady Truelove" about a certain set of circumstances and too many details of those circumstances come too close to their mother's situation who has become romantically involved with a Italian painter. Even though he knows that she was never happy with his father, who could be a hard man before he passed away, he knows she is only thinking of herself when they find some of her things gone, with a note implying she is going off to be with her painter. Henry is determined to find his mother's location through this "Lady Truelove" but what he finds is an independent woman who is more than willing to battle him verbally. But the situation takes a turn for the worse when Irene realizes the mistake of poking the angry bear when its hurting, and they find themselves battle with each other and the love they find. But can a newspaper woman and a Duke find a happy ending?
I simply adored this story so much here, it was so enchanting and boy the angst between these two is some of the best I have seen in a long while from this author and I had a blast with their interactions with each other but most especially in the beginning. Their first meeting was so hilarious and I was so highly entertained by this one here. I really loved how strong both of their personalities are in this book. They are both fighting for what they believe in and even though they are on opposite sides of the situation, they do learn to appreciate each other. I really liked both the hero and heroine so much in this book. The heroine is feisty and yeah she is a bit arrogant and proud and she can be self righteous at times, but the hero definitely knows when to fight her on things and when to back down. I like that they can argue and battle with their wills of each other, but also I love the passion between them. Seeing them journey together in their desire for each other, and find a way past what is forbidden was truly fun and there is such a depth of emotion that comes into play in this story. Even though they love each other, both Irene and Henry have to fight themselves in different ways to come to terms with their own shortcomings before they can really embrace what they have together and there is such growth that we see from both of them here.
Overall I found The Truth About Love and Dukes to be a sexy, humor filled romance that will give its readers delights, smiles and swoony moments to satisfy!!
The Truth About Love and Dukes was a wonderful book and I have always enjoyed reading this author however, this book was a bit different than I was expecting. I think what Laura Lee Guhrke has NEVER lost is sexy bantering and I am not sure if it was due to the talent of the narrator or if it was the story itself, but I found myself amused by the angst the develops between these two here. The Truth About Love and Duke is Gurhke's first book in her "Dear Lady Truelove". If you love journalistic set ups, than this book is much for you. Now many have compared this book as a copy cat for one of my favorite books from her "And Then He Kissed Her" DONT LISTEN, I definitely don't agree with that evaluation. There are so many differences in this book from her backlisted novel.
The Truth About Love and Dukes begins with our hero, who is the Duke of Torquil, and when he and his siblings see a newspaper article about a woman writing to "Lady Truelove" about a certain set of circumstances and too many details of those circumstances come too close to their mother's situation who has become romantically involved with a Italian painter. Even though he knows that she was never happy with his father, who could be a hard man before he passed away, he knows she is only thinking of herself when they find some of her things gone, with a note implying she is going off to be with her painter. Henry is determined to find his mother's location through this "Lady Truelove" but what he finds is an independent woman who is more than willing to battle him verbally. But the situation takes a turn for the worse when Irene realizes the mistake of poking the angry bear when its hurting, and they find themselves battle with each other and the love they find. But can a newspaper woman and a Duke find a happy ending?
I simply adored this story so much here, it was so enchanting and boy the angst between these two is some of the best I have seen in a long while from this author and I had a blast with their interactions with each other but most especially in the beginning. Their first meeting was so hilarious and I was so highly entertained by this one here. I really loved how strong both of their personalities are in this book. They are both fighting for what they believe in and even though they are on opposite sides of the situation, they do learn to appreciate each other. I really liked both the hero and heroine so much in this book. The heroine is feisty and yeah she is a bit arrogant and proud and she can be self righteous at times, but the hero definitely knows when to fight her on things and when to back down. I like that they can argue and battle with their wills of each other, but also I love the passion between them. Seeing them journey together in their desire for each other, and find a way past what is forbidden was truly fun and there is such a depth of emotion that comes into play in this story. Even though they love each other, both Irene and Henry have to fight themselves in different ways to come to terms with their own shortcomings before they can really embrace what they have together and there is such growth that we see from both of them here.
Overall I found The Truth About Love and Dukes to be a sexy, humor filled romance that will give its readers delights, smiles and swoony moments to satisfy!!
December 25, 2017
It seems this author isn't for me. Still, I'm not giving up since some of my friends really like her books. Who knows, I might stumble upon one I enjoy.
God, where to start? First, I hated the heroine with a passion. I hated her speeches. I don't mind ideas presented in the book, but when those ideas end up being crammed down my throat every couple of pages, it stops being enjoyable. I don't appreciate being preached by anyone.
I didn't like how selfish and prejudiced she was at first. Selfish when it comes to her sister and people she is dishing her advice to and prejudiced against Henry and his world. Of course there had to be a female character like Carlotta to be horrible when they meet just so you have to take the heroine's side. Fortunately, that doesn't last very long.
I liked Henry and he is the only reason I'm not labelling this as 'I don't like it'.
I'm sad to end my reading challenge like this, but what can you do.
God, where to start? First, I hated the heroine with a passion. I hated her speeches. I don't mind ideas presented in the book, but when those ideas end up being crammed down my throat every couple of pages, it stops being enjoyable. I don't appreciate being preached by anyone.
I didn't like how selfish and prejudiced she was at first. Selfish when it comes to her sister and people she is dishing her advice to and prejudiced against Henry and his world. Of course there had to be a female character like Carlotta to be horrible when they meet just so you have to take the heroine's side. Fortunately, that doesn't last very long.
I liked Henry and he is the only reason I'm not labelling this as 'I don't like it'.
I'm sad to end my reading challenge like this, but what can you do.
March 31, 2017
This book is really hard to review. First of all, this is my 6th read for Laura Lee Guhrke, so yes I am a fan of her writing.
This book started really good then it became boring with so many details and information , for a while I felt as if I am reading in circles. Also, if you read
you will find many similarities with it . So it seemed to me a repeated plot.
This book started really good then it became boring with so many details and information , for a while I felt as if I am reading in circles. Also, if you read
you will find many similarities with it . So it seemed to me a repeated plot. 
March 24, 2017
Not your typical historical romance. This one takes place in the 1890.
Our heroine, Irene, runs a gossip newspaper and writes a Dear Abby type column. She gave some love advice to a Duchess and her family figured out it was her writing the letter. Her son, Henry, the Duke, goes to the paper to find out where his mother has gone and to pitch a fit to the paper.
Honestly, I didn't care for Henry. He was very arrogant and narrow minded. Several times in here Irene pointed out that just when he seems to be doing something nice he screws it up. She's right. He just made me like him less and less. The letter he wrote at the end for his apology to Irene was swoony, so was the delivery of it. It wasn't enough to change my opinion though.
Our heroine, Irene, runs a gossip newspaper and writes a Dear Abby type column. She gave some love advice to a Duchess and her family figured out it was her writing the letter. Her son, Henry, the Duke, goes to the paper to find out where his mother has gone and to pitch a fit to the paper.
Honestly, I didn't care for Henry. He was very arrogant and narrow minded. Several times in here Irene pointed out that just when he seems to be doing something nice he screws it up. She's right. He just made me like him less and less. The letter he wrote at the end for his apology to Irene was swoony, so was the delivery of it. It wasn't enough to change my opinion though.
September 6, 2018
While this story had some outlandish instances that probably would have never happened in the 1800's high society, it was still very fun to read. I love to read HR not for historical correctness, but more so the romance and fairy tale happy fall-in-love moments. And this hero did it for me. He fell hard for his heroine and some of his romantic confessions were so heartfelt and moving, that I actually felt my heart hurt for a second. That's what I look for, those moving moments :)
The heroine was not my favorite of all times, I'm not big into the protesting, stubborn women's movement types, because that's how they normally come across, but this one was....ok. Her sister Clara that will be in book 2 seems like my perfect heroine though.... Off to read it next!
The heroine was not my favorite of all times, I'm not big into the protesting, stubborn women's movement types, because that's how they normally come across, but this one was....ok. Her sister Clara that will be in book 2 seems like my perfect heroine though.... Off to read it next!
April 17, 2017
This was the first Laura Lee Guhrke DNF for me.
While I appreciate all the suffrage and work women went through to become acknowledge contributors to society, I don't understand why every Suffragist is a flaming harpy bitch! Holy hell, Irene tried to come off as this woman who didn't want to live her life as a spectacle, she wanted to do whatever she felt like without recriminations from a society she cared nothing for. It was almost as if she couldn't grasp the simple fact that society wasn't going to change their minds about her overnight. She expected to write shit about people in power, screw whomever she wanted, and not have a single consequence.
Henry was an asshole, but as a Duke, I understand his desire to keep control over his family and the things said about them. At first, he came across as this hard, arrogant, DUKE, a man who would stomp over anyone who go in his way. Then, suddenly, he gets a little taste of Irene and he loses if F#*KING mind. He turns into this weak-willed, distracted, annoying, pushover who just does whatever his cock and Irene want. My GAWT man, grow some stones...and then throw them at Irene!
The heroine is a self-important, ignorant, arrogant, self-absorbed harpy. The hero is an arrogant ass turned mush-brained cock boy.
I stopped reading right after these two had tepid sex in the hotel room. I just didn't care about them, their relationship, or whatever the hell happened to their families.
A disappointment that makes me leery about ever picking up another LLG book again.
While I appreciate all the suffrage and work women went through to become acknowledge contributors to society, I don't understand why every Suffragist is a flaming harpy bitch! Holy hell, Irene tried to come off as this woman who didn't want to live her life as a spectacle, she wanted to do whatever she felt like without recriminations from a society she cared nothing for. It was almost as if she couldn't grasp the simple fact that society wasn't going to change their minds about her overnight. She expected to write shit about people in power, screw whomever she wanted, and not have a single consequence.
Henry was an asshole, but as a Duke, I understand his desire to keep control over his family and the things said about them. At first, he came across as this hard, arrogant, DUKE, a man who would stomp over anyone who go in his way. Then, suddenly, he gets a little taste of Irene and he loses if F#*KING mind. He turns into this weak-willed, distracted, annoying, pushover who just does whatever his cock and Irene want. My GAWT man, grow some stones...and then throw them at Irene!
The heroine is a self-important, ignorant, arrogant, self-absorbed harpy. The hero is an arrogant ass turned mush-brained cock boy.
I stopped reading right after these two had tepid sex in the hotel room. I just didn't care about them, their relationship, or whatever the hell happened to their families.
A disappointment that makes me leery about ever picking up another LLG book again.
February 10, 2018
4.5/5.
This was a fabulous read. Henry is the Duke of Torquil, a man committed to his duties to his family and dukedom above all others, all too aware of his lofty position in society and how any misstep of his can adversely affect those under his responsibility. So His Grace ensures each step is precise and sure, not deviated from the path of righteousness and propriety. Irene Deverill is the publisher of a popular gossip tabloid and the voice behind the influential Dear Lady Truelove column, which dishes out advice to members of the ton. She is also a suffragist to boot. She attracts his wrath, when she advises his mother to follow her heart and marry a much younger, penniless, Italian painter. He seeks her out and it is instant antagonism and fiery attraction at first sight. Making use of his plentiful ducal power and money, he holds her beloved newspaper hostage, releasing it back to her only if she succeeds in talking the Dowager Duchess out of her scandalous matrimonial plans.
The premise is a bit weak, I admit, the excuse poor to get her within his sphere. But once there, the sparks fly. They have heated exchanges, they share hotter glances. It builds up to an inferno of passion, both have no hope of controlling, much to the frustration of Henry. He, who was all that was cool and proper, now finds himself in a constant bother, obsessing over a passionate, sassy, independent working woman, totally unsuitable for him in all ways. Moreover, Irene refuses to allow him to do his ducal thing with her - assert his power over her and be grouped under his responsibility umbrella. And when the simmering passion turns to boiling and then full on combustion, it makes for quite an exciting read indeed.
“Here in this room, when it is just us and there is nothing else, this time has been the happiest of my life, Irene. But life cannot just be this room. And out there, I am in agony.” With that confession, her heart seemed to part from her completely, tearing out of her breast and tumbling straight into his hands. In that moment, she fell in love with him.
"For I love her. And it is a love unlike anything I have ever felt. It is deeper than any mere physical passion. It is stronger than my pride, and deeper than a lifetime of convictions, and wider than the world in which I live. It is soul-deep and life-long, and I have come to understand that all the other aspects of my life—my wealth, my position, what others think of me, and even my duty to my title and my estates—mean nothing without her by my side. I shall do what duties of my position I can fulfill, but if I cannot, by some miracle, convince her to change her mind, marriage shall not be one of them, and I shall go on alone all my remaining days.’”
“You broke my heart, damn you, just at the moment I realized it was in your hands.”
This was a fabulous read. Henry is the Duke of Torquil, a man committed to his duties to his family and dukedom above all others, all too aware of his lofty position in society and how any misstep of his can adversely affect those under his responsibility. So His Grace ensures each step is precise and sure, not deviated from the path of righteousness and propriety. Irene Deverill is the publisher of a popular gossip tabloid and the voice behind the influential Dear Lady Truelove column, which dishes out advice to members of the ton. She is also a suffragist to boot. She attracts his wrath, when she advises his mother to follow her heart and marry a much younger, penniless, Italian painter. He seeks her out and it is instant antagonism and fiery attraction at first sight. Making use of his plentiful ducal power and money, he holds her beloved newspaper hostage, releasing it back to her only if she succeeds in talking the Dowager Duchess out of her scandalous matrimonial plans.
The premise is a bit weak, I admit, the excuse poor to get her within his sphere. But once there, the sparks fly. They have heated exchanges, they share hotter glances. It builds up to an inferno of passion, both have no hope of controlling, much to the frustration of Henry. He, who was all that was cool and proper, now finds himself in a constant bother, obsessing over a passionate, sassy, independent working woman, totally unsuitable for him in all ways. Moreover, Irene refuses to allow him to do his ducal thing with her - assert his power over her and be grouped under his responsibility umbrella. And when the simmering passion turns to boiling and then full on combustion, it makes for quite an exciting read indeed.
“Here in this room, when it is just us and there is nothing else, this time has been the happiest of my life, Irene. But life cannot just be this room. And out there, I am in agony.” With that confession, her heart seemed to part from her completely, tearing out of her breast and tumbling straight into his hands. In that moment, she fell in love with him.
"For I love her. And it is a love unlike anything I have ever felt. It is deeper than any mere physical passion. It is stronger than my pride, and deeper than a lifetime of convictions, and wider than the world in which I live. It is soul-deep and life-long, and I have come to understand that all the other aspects of my life—my wealth, my position, what others think of me, and even my duty to my title and my estates—mean nothing without her by my side. I shall do what duties of my position I can fulfill, but if I cannot, by some miracle, convince her to change her mind, marriage shall not be one of them, and I shall go on alone all my remaining days.’”
“You broke my heart, damn you, just at the moment I realized it was in your hands.”
July 28, 2018
Laura Lee Guhrke is an HR author who I deeply respect. I've read just a few of her books and among them, ''And Then He Kissed Her'' is her brand work. It is one of the best books I have read from this genre and I have judged her a bit because she had never succeeded in creating another equally similar magic. The Truth About Love and Dukes will prove itself with time, but the reason why it is necessary to write this review is to accent how spectacular is to observe and read an HR writer who obviously evolved as a person.
HR genre is a safe place and it is not devoid of being highly imaginative and creative, but there are certain society rules which have to be followed, and thus they tend to become tedious and repetitive because I devour so many of them when I go on my binge hunt. They start resembling the same and this is the time when my bickering becomes the loudest.
Guhrke follows the public demand and she naturally raises her writing bar because although you cannot change so many things within the HR structure, when you read a book that was written in the 80s, 90s and now, you see the difference.
It is not endearing anymore to have submissive women as role models. The time of the big shark men is finished too, and although the gender roles within the HR are always going to be equally measured and proportioned, HR is finished with creating parallelly completely different lovers.
The masculine vulnerability has become very important in HR but the vulnerability is not a factor which becomes clearer, but it is the acknowledgment of the men authenticity when the main male character embraces its vulnerability as natural as its own dukedom.
I am truly saturated with HR books where I have to struggle to see his true face, no matter what his true face is. And this is the reason why Guhrke is a smart writer ... because she pays attention to the changing world outside her and she creates a new kind of HR depth. It is still the good old peerage romance but realistically even Prince Harry has his Meghan Markle.
And it is time to embrace the modern aristocracy within the confines of HR - that the clashes between gender roles are becoming more subtle as it is not a clash anymore but more attuned adjustment.
HR genre is a safe place and it is not devoid of being highly imaginative and creative, but there are certain society rules which have to be followed, and thus they tend to become tedious and repetitive because I devour so many of them when I go on my binge hunt. They start resembling the same and this is the time when my bickering becomes the loudest.
Guhrke follows the public demand and she naturally raises her writing bar because although you cannot change so many things within the HR structure, when you read a book that was written in the 80s, 90s and now, you see the difference.
It is not endearing anymore to have submissive women as role models. The time of the big shark men is finished too, and although the gender roles within the HR are always going to be equally measured and proportioned, HR is finished with creating parallelly completely different lovers.
The masculine vulnerability has become very important in HR but the vulnerability is not a factor which becomes clearer, but it is the acknowledgment of the men authenticity when the main male character embraces its vulnerability as natural as its own dukedom.
I am truly saturated with HR books where I have to struggle to see his true face, no matter what his true face is. And this is the reason why Guhrke is a smart writer ... because she pays attention to the changing world outside her and she creates a new kind of HR depth. It is still the good old peerage romance but realistically even Prince Harry has his Meghan Markle.
And it is time to embrace the modern aristocracy within the confines of HR - that the clashes between gender roles are becoming more subtle as it is not a clash anymore but more attuned adjustment.
April 16, 2017
4.5
Not only is the dialogue witty, it's meaningful too. Feminist heroines are, sometimes, written as 'feisty.' Irene is a credible, intelligent, passionate, and effective heroine. Henry, the hero, is a layered stuffed-shirt. A perfect pairing!
Buddy Read with Christina
Not only is the dialogue witty, it's meaningful too. Feminist heroines are, sometimes, written as 'feisty.' Irene is a credible, intelligent, passionate, and effective heroine. Henry, the hero, is a layered stuffed-shirt. A perfect pairing!
Buddy Read with Christina
October 25, 2017
Je n’avais pas pris autant de plaisir à lire une romance historique (autre que cowboy) depuis bien longtemps ! Ahh Henry (looong soupir) ...
April 20, 2019
The main characters spend a frustrating large amount of time apart - talking and talking with everyone else. BUT, the time spent together is LLG super quality
October 9, 2017
Dear Lady Truelove,
I'm wondering if you can help me. I used to have a very good relationship with Laura Lee Guhrke books, but lately the thrill is gone. I'm wondering if you could advise me about this: Should I continue to read her new books as they are released or is it time for me to move on and look for a better, more stimulating relationship with another author?
Thank you, Lady Truelove.. I await your valuable assistance with my problem.
Signed: A Disappointed Reader
While I await Lady Truelove's answer, I will write a short review of this book. What do we have here? A heroine who is a very independent New Woman, working to make a success of the newspaper her drunken father had run into the ground. She has turned it into a more gossip-oriented tabloid rather than a serious newspaper, but needs must... Then we have our hero (a duke, natch) who has turned against love across the social divide because of a failed relationship in his past. He is drawn to the heroine but she has two strikes against her: 1) Not Debrett's material and 2) a scandalous working woman. And there's the hero's mother, a mature widowed duchess who seems to have the emotional E.Q. of my preteen granddaughter. Last and definitely the most annoying, we have a bunch of snobby upper-class relations of the duke who look down on the heroine and her sister because they are not high enough socially and wear off-the-rack clothing.
Excuse me while I yawn. I couldn't even find much chemistry between the H and h to keep me interested. But then, I don't know. Maybe it's me, not LLG.
I'm wondering if you can help me. I used to have a very good relationship with Laura Lee Guhrke books, but lately the thrill is gone. I'm wondering if you could advise me about this: Should I continue to read her new books as they are released or is it time for me to move on and look for a better, more stimulating relationship with another author?
Thank you, Lady Truelove.. I await your valuable assistance with my problem.
Signed: A Disappointed Reader
While I await Lady Truelove's answer, I will write a short review of this book. What do we have here? A heroine who is a very independent New Woman, working to make a success of the newspaper her drunken father had run into the ground. She has turned it into a more gossip-oriented tabloid rather than a serious newspaper, but needs must... Then we have our hero (a duke, natch) who has turned against love across the social divide because of a failed relationship in his past. He is drawn to the heroine but she has two strikes against her: 1) Not Debrett's material and 2) a scandalous working woman. And there's the hero's mother, a mature widowed duchess who seems to have the emotional E.Q. of my preteen granddaughter. Last and definitely the most annoying, we have a bunch of snobby upper-class relations of the duke who look down on the heroine and her sister because they are not high enough socially and wear off-the-rack clothing.
Excuse me while I yawn. I couldn't even find much chemistry between the H and h to keep me interested. But then, I don't know. Maybe it's me, not LLG.
May 14, 2017
It's been about two weeks since I've finished reading this, and already I couldn't remember how it had ended... that's how interesting this was.
Irene, the main character is a suffragist who owns a newspaper, so I was hoping for something more interesting than this...
I liked seeing how women of such different social spheres interacted... and that was about all.
The romance was lacking. The characters were boring. I couldn't care less if the couple stayed together.
I found Henry's mother to be ridiculous. It was insane.
First book by the author that I almost DNF'ed.
February 21, 2019
A nearly flawless enemies to lovers romance featuring a stuffy cinnamon roll of a hero and the spitfire heroine who challenged every aspect of his well ordered existence with gumption and flair. This was such a fun book! I won’t call it a slow burner as the story took place a little over two weeks and there was a lot of lust involved BUT, by the end I was wholly convinced that the leads were absolutely made for each other. Speaking of endings, OH MY GOD HENRY’S LETTER WAS EVERYTHING. I’m still crying about it. And the library scene. And the carriage scene. And the boat scene. I really, really, really loved this book in case that wasn’t obvious.
March 4, 2019
3-3.5 stars - Historical Romance
March 10, 2017
I absolutely Loved this book. Laura Lee Guhrke is one of my all time favorite writers.
Henry Cavanaugh is the Duke of Torquil. He is responsible, loyal, an outstanding landlord, a staunch member of the Tory party in the Lords and an all around perfect Gentleman who will do anything to protect his family.. Until the day his widowed mother's letter to a lovelorn advice columnist in a gossip rag is published and reveals that his mother is planning on marrying an Italian artist 17 years her junior. Henry is determined to stop her and also he wants to get his hands around the neck of the mysterious Lady Truelove for encouraging his mother to this reckless decision.
When he arrives at the office of Society Snippets he encounters the owner and editor of the gossip rag, Miss Irene Deverill. He has never met any woman who immediately puts him on the defensive and is not afraid of what he could do to her and her little gossip paper. She is opinionated, rude, dismissive and to his dismay, beautiful. Even though he doesn't like her he hasn't been this attracted to a woman since he was young and made the biggest mistake of his life.
Irene Deverill has no use for the Aristocracy. Her mother was the daughter of a Viscount who was disowned when she married her father. After her mother died her father fell apart and almost lost their only source of income, the newspaper that her grandfather had built. She took over the business and made a success by changing the format from a regular paper to a paper that appealed to the rich by printing all the scandalous goings on of the Ton. She has no intention of stopping or changing the format of her paper. Henry the Duke of Torquil immediately rubs her the wrong way and she has no intention of letting him boss her around.
This is the start of a tumultuous relationship that will prove life alternating for both Henry and Irene. Irene is completely baffled by the way Henry conducts himself and his views on everything from how he protects his mother and sisters to the right of woman to vote. Henry has never met a woman like Irene and has no clue on how to reason with her.
Laura Lee writes a witty, fiery story of two people who have nothing in common but can't seem to stay away from each other. The situations that they get into with each other are explosive, surprising each other with the feelings that they bring out in each other. Henry tries everything he can think of to stay away from Irene, but he cannot seem to stop thinking about her and how much he has grown to want her. The struggle that he goes through is deeply moving and Laura Lee's writing captures the frustration and conflict that he experiences. The social conventions of the time period that are so important to Henry mean almost nothing to Irene. Will she be able to convince him that her way of thinking is the key to happiness or will Henry stick to his principles and never see her again.
This is a must read if you love an intelligent, powerful love story that will have you cheering until the end. I have read everything Laura Lee has written and have saved them to all to read again and again. She really knows how to keep you reading late into the night. Do not miss this the first book in The Dear Lady Truelove Series!
Received a complimentary copy for an honest review.
Henry Cavanaugh is the Duke of Torquil. He is responsible, loyal, an outstanding landlord, a staunch member of the Tory party in the Lords and an all around perfect Gentleman who will do anything to protect his family.. Until the day his widowed mother's letter to a lovelorn advice columnist in a gossip rag is published and reveals that his mother is planning on marrying an Italian artist 17 years her junior. Henry is determined to stop her and also he wants to get his hands around the neck of the mysterious Lady Truelove for encouraging his mother to this reckless decision.
When he arrives at the office of Society Snippets he encounters the owner and editor of the gossip rag, Miss Irene Deverill. He has never met any woman who immediately puts him on the defensive and is not afraid of what he could do to her and her little gossip paper. She is opinionated, rude, dismissive and to his dismay, beautiful. Even though he doesn't like her he hasn't been this attracted to a woman since he was young and made the biggest mistake of his life.
Irene Deverill has no use for the Aristocracy. Her mother was the daughter of a Viscount who was disowned when she married her father. After her mother died her father fell apart and almost lost their only source of income, the newspaper that her grandfather had built. She took over the business and made a success by changing the format from a regular paper to a paper that appealed to the rich by printing all the scandalous goings on of the Ton. She has no intention of stopping or changing the format of her paper. Henry the Duke of Torquil immediately rubs her the wrong way and she has no intention of letting him boss her around.
This is the start of a tumultuous relationship that will prove life alternating for both Henry and Irene. Irene is completely baffled by the way Henry conducts himself and his views on everything from how he protects his mother and sisters to the right of woman to vote. Henry has never met a woman like Irene and has no clue on how to reason with her.
Laura Lee writes a witty, fiery story of two people who have nothing in common but can't seem to stay away from each other. The situations that they get into with each other are explosive, surprising each other with the feelings that they bring out in each other. Henry tries everything he can think of to stay away from Irene, but he cannot seem to stop thinking about her and how much he has grown to want her. The struggle that he goes through is deeply moving and Laura Lee's writing captures the frustration and conflict that he experiences. The social conventions of the time period that are so important to Henry mean almost nothing to Irene. Will she be able to convince him that her way of thinking is the key to happiness or will Henry stick to his principles and never see her again.
This is a must read if you love an intelligent, powerful love story that will have you cheering until the end. I have read everything Laura Lee has written and have saved them to all to read again and again. She really knows how to keep you reading late into the night. Do not miss this the first book in The Dear Lady Truelove Series!
Received a complimentary copy for an honest review.
October 27, 2019
It took a while for this to catch my interest and it wasn't until the last 25% that it really started working for me. The writing was lovely and I enjoyed the setting more than I anticipated. Of course there was drama and a "come to Jesus" moment because there always is in this genre. That being said that drama was minimal and not melo- in the slightest. Overall, an enjoyable experience and I'm glad to put a dent in the backlog I have for this author.
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