Hawk is a reformed rake, and as such he knows all about disreputable men and the emotional scars they can leave on young women. His sister Adele is about to enter her first season and he's set on ensuring she avoids any ill-suited men and potential ruin, so his plan is to choose her husband for her and marry her off first.

His choice: Loretta's brother. After her own disastrous experience with an arranged engagement, Loretta is set against her brother marrying for anything other than love and swears she'll fight against Hawk to persuade her brother not to settle for anything less.

For a few reasons, I couldn't quite get into this book. There was no chemistry between Hawk and Loretta, despite them falling in lust instantly and in love within a matter of days - on the whole, their romance was fairly unbelievable. Hawk's attitude to Farley and Adele's spoiled nature really tainted them as characters for me, and I honestly felt disappointed by the decision made by Adele and Loretta's brother at the end of the book. As for Farley, I'm not actually sure what his role in the book was or why that subplot was introduced...

Overall, a quick and light read, though it felt like the book had the potential for more.

Rakes of St. James are back and this time its Sloane Knox, Duke of Hawkshorn ‘s turn. In To the Duke, With Love. Sloane is trying to circumvent what happened to Griffin (Last Night with the Duke) and his sisters, he didn’t want it to happen to him. So, he went on a mission to find a suitable groom for his sister Adel. But, a person was standing in his way. That person was headstrong beguiling Loretta Quick the sister of the man he suspects will make a suitable husband. However, Loretta who avoided the arranged marriage trap, refuse to see her brother pushed into something he didn’t want.
This story was somewhat better than the first book but not by much. The story started off good, the banter between the two main characters was fun. But again, that didn’t even hold my attention for long. I got through about half the story before, I got bored with the story and start skimming the pages. I did find that I like one of the secondary characters…. Farley. It would have been nice that he received an HEA but it was not to be in this story.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It was book two in the series. I haven’t decided if I love it yet or not. In this book we have a duke that is just kind of a controlling know it all.. I just wasn’t a huge fan of him.

This story contains a key element for me sticking with a story and really liking it – talking, lots and lots of talking. I love the banter and the witty comebacks. Hawk and Loretta and terrific when it comes to banter. I liked that Hawk knew what he wanted and did not give up. The side stories of their siblings' arranged marriage and the street urchin added a nice touch. Thank you Ms. Grey for bringing the street urchin’s plight out in a manner that was realistic. In the end, this story is a very nice read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I loved the chemistry between Hawk and Loretta from the very beginning. I don't really understand why Loretta punished herself all because she did not desire the husband her Uncle picked for her. I was surprised how headstrong Loretta was with Hawk but coward to her Uncle. I can not wait to read more books from this author.

It is possible that I am in a historical romance rut where every book I read does not excite me, but I was just not feeling this novel. It is entirely possible that I just need a dynamic palette cleanser to give me back the enjoyment of trashy romances. 

This novel did not keep me enraptured, but it was not horrible by any means. It just fell short. In a historical romance, I am looking for drama and passion, but this book was much more melodramatic. The "villain" of the story, her uncle just did not have enough evil page time to give the story more action. The passion between the main characters was short and sparse. 

If one is looking for a melo, not a lot of sex, historical romance, this one could be for you. Sadly, it was not one I overly enjoyed.

Utterly boring! Let's start off with Hawk. A rake who doesn't want his sister's reputation compromised. Yet, he has no issue with plotting constantly compromise Loretta. Then there's Loretta, a complete ninny. And very self-righteous and downright annoying. How she took to Farley and wanted to keep him. When he was just a rude ingrate. Paxton and Adele, featherbrained idiots. Paxton constantly smiling and never being serious for more than 30 seconds. Adele, a spoiled brat who felt everyone should cater every last one of her needs. I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen, something, anything significant. But the plot never seemed to pick up. I skimmed through pages only to find more of the same. Just plain awful.. This is my honest opinion and I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for my opinion.

A great second book of the series. A slow seduction... I loved how the book developed in storyline and character development. This Historical Romance is a 2 for 1. Two couples get together in this book in two different ways. Who says one is better than the other? This is a must read! And can be read as a standalone if you haven't read the first book. Both are page turners.

To The Duke, With Love by Amelia Grey reminded me why I love historical/regency romance.

There's just something about the balls and gowns, dukes and duchesses, society and all that, it makes me wish I've been born then... I think what I found most interesting about this book was that for once, there weren't balls for the heroine to attend. Imagine that!

I enjoyed the banter between Loretta and Hawk from the moment they first meet. Sparks fly, yet I didn't think it was love at first sight as they're just intrigued by what they see.

Hawk is the perfect (alpha) gentleman. Once he sets his mind on winning Loretta, he doesn't waver. Even when he shares with his friends the challenge she presents, he's always thinking of how not to lose her when he's only just found her. I loved that. He sort of reminds me of Sebastian, the Duke of St Ives, one of my favorite heroes of all time.

I liked that Loretta isn't the naive type of heroine. She's no damsel in distress, and has learned to live within the means her uncle provides as part of her punishment for not marrying the man of his choosing. She's also not quick to fall for the duke. She knows he can get her out of her misery but she refuses to do that because that would be too easy, and she wants true love. I was totally digging her reasons.

However, I did find Paxton, her brother, and Hawk's sister annoying and unreal. Hawk's sister was too childish for a young woman who's 18 years old, and therefore the arrangement between her and Paxton didn't seem right to me. Thank goodness his sister was in few scenes, else I'm not sure I would've been able to read the book.

All in all, this was a good book that I might read again.

This was an enjoyable read that I read a couple weeks ago and honestly not much of it stuck with me which makes it harder to review. I enjoyed it but didn't love it. The attraction was a little too instant for me and while I know arranged marriages aren't too unusual back then it still rankled me a little especially when we meet Hawk's sister and she was so willing to put her entire future in Hawk's hands. She's the sort of females in these books that irritate me when they find little need to think for themselves and rather rely completely on the men in their lives. The conflict over Loretta's vow never to marry was resolved just a little too easily for my tastes especially since such a big deal was made of it. It was one of those moments where I felt like "That's it?! All that bemoaning and hand wringing and then it's solved just like that?".

Other than that the story itself moved along nicely and was a pleasant read but not one I would rush to go read again.

The Rakes of St. James continues with the Duke of Hawksthorn or Hawk trying to protect his little sister by betrothing her to Paxton Quick, younger brother of Loretta Quick, before the season. He is hoping an engagement will protect her from whomever it is that seeks revenge against the three rakes. Apparently, he has been watching the gentlemen around London for some time looking for the one that will be a good match for his sister, Adele. My first thought was – would Adele be amenable to an arranged match? Apparently so, as you find out deeper into the book.

Hawk goes to Mammoth House in the country to make the offer of his sister in marriage to Paxton. Instead of Paxton, he comes upon Loretta, Paxton’s sister. He quickly realizes he has come up against a young lady who is so adamantly against arranged marriages, she walked out of the church to keep from taking part of her own arranged marriage. While she is convincing him this is not a good idea because she wants her brother to marry for love, he is falling in love with her and her strong personality. But, keep in mind she walked out on marriage once already.

Loretta does not live at Mammoth House because she wants to live there. She was banished there by her uncle and guardian after refusing the arranged marriage he planned for her. That evening a street urchin knocks at their back door for food during an ice storm. Loretta is so taken with the little boy, Farley, that she wants to make him part of her household. Through out the book Hawk warns her against this telling her Farley will not change. She believes he is wrong.

There are several strong characters in the book, among them Paxton, who always appears to be kind of happy go lucky. But, when push comes to shove he proves to be as strong as Hawk himself. All together these characters weave together to make a really good romance.

Ms. Grey is great about making her romantic books realistic in so many ways leaving you feeling the book ended better than you would have thought. She brings in the other rakes of St. James to help keep you in touch with them. I am already looking forward to Rath’s story. Since he does not have younger siblings as Griffin and Hawk, his story should be as different as the first two.

This story was interesting, but not the best of this author. Still, I liked the H and h, and liked them together, I suspect there is another book or two to come in the series for the siblings of this couple, and to reserve the story of how the young waif from this story ends. This story just didn’t seem quite as dynamic as some of the others I’ve read of the author. Still a fun regency romance.

I couldn't get through this and decided to throw in the towel pretty early; was skimming by the time I got to 25% and stopped even trying not long after. Pretty quickly after starting, I had a feeling this wasn't going to be the book for me. I put it aside for Mary Balogh's Someone to Hold , which I proceeded to read cover to cover, and it reminded me again that there are too many books, too little time, and I wasn't going to waste any on a book that I couldn't get into.

What put me on alert immediately was the insta-lust that takes place between the hero and heroine. I'll admit it's hard for me to like that in HRs period, but it has been known to happen. The reason it didn't work here is the same reason why it normally doesn't work, and that's because it caused way too much eye-rolling and was SO over-the-top!


Loretta walks in, Sloane turns around, and BOOM , he's immediately struck: "She looked pure, sweet, and completely untouched by masculine hands. [what does that even mean?? what did he expect, handprints?] A sudden, deep rush of desire flamed through him, and the rhythm of his heartbeat changed." Puh-leaze. And of course, let's not forget to mention his on-fire loins—"Had she been his mistress he would have forgotten all about the growl of hunger in his stomach and fed the raging appetite in his loins." Better keep that thing on a leash, buddy.

Our heroine isn't much better: she's "quite simply shaking in her slippers" from when she first sees him, and not from fear or nervousness, but "because the moment she saw him, something changed inside her and she still wasn't sure what to make of the new, startling, and unexplained feelings that had swept over her at the sight of him. [I get desire and I get instant attraction, but all the "first sight" lightning strikings are too much for me!] She wasn't out of breath, yet she was breathless. She wasn't dizzy, yet she felt light-headed. She wasn't hungry, yet looking at him caused a ravenous appetite to rise up within her." Someone give the woman a meal (and enough with the constant sexual hunger).

Mind you, all of this is in the first 10% of the book, within only a few hours of meeting each other. And pretty much nothing has happened, except some back-and-forth banter that felt very forced, and lots and lots of dirty thinking. There were definitely some interesting possibilities and I had been excited by the summary—I love cast-out heroines and was looking forward to seeing how she would navigate everything, plus a good "enemies"-to-lover (even if not really outright enemies) plot can be the best when done well!

Other than both the leading characters' over-the-top-ness, the hero was arrogant and domineering, the heroine got on my nerves, her "vow" that she has to stick to is silly, etc. Seems to have pretty stellar ratings thus far though, so I'm glad others enjoyed it more than I did.


This review is of an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Some changes and/or edits may be made to the final published version.

To the Duke, With Love was another excellent historical romance by Ms. Grey. Solid romance with heat.

Hawk Sloane is a Duke who, due to the death of his parents, became responsible for his young sister Adele. Now it's time for Adele's first season, and as a result of a prank Hawk took part in when he was younger, he fears some members of society will take revenge on him by hurting Adele. Hawk decides the best way to prevent that from happening is to get Adele engaged before the start of the season, and he has searched for the "perfect" match for her. He has decided that Paxton Quick is the one, and so he sets off to approach Paxton about said marriage. What he didn't anticipate is finding Paxton has an older sister, Loretta, who has been banished to the country three years earlier when she refused to marry the man her Uncle arranged for her to marry. Loretta is determined that her brother will never be forced into a marriage based on anything but love, and she butts heads with Hawk over the marriage. While locked in this battle these two find themselves attracted to each other and they have to find a way to have a happily ever after for all concerned. What ensues is an enjoyable romance novel.

I received an ARC for my honest opinion.

Hawk comes to Loretta's family to match his sister with Loretta's brother to protect her since people might ruin her seeking revenge on Hawk. Loretta refused to marry years earlier so is away from society and vowed to never marry. She wants her brother to marry for love and is not keen on the idea of an engagement between the siblings. There is immediate attraction between Hawk and Loretta which struck me much more as infatuation and lust instead of love. I would have preferred a slower build up to their relationship. I also thought her vow to never vow extreme. I enjoyed the book overall, thank you.

This is a lovely written book. I liked the romance between Hawk and Loretta. He knew he wanted her and helped her to realize they could be together. His sister and her brother just added to story. I liked the personalities of the characters.

I have to commend Loretta for staying true to the vow that she felt that she made to never marry and stay pure. Lord knows most would have given in to Hawks advancements. However I thought that the book was a little too tame because of this. I did enjoy it though and will refer it to my friends.

This was the first book I have read from Ms. Grey and I truly enjoyed the novel. I have had issues in the past with books the jump into mad passionate sex in the first chapter, so I was very pleased that this one didn’t! The story had a good story line …the characters were believable …and I liked the second story plot of Farley thrown in. I would look forward to reading more from this author and search out her work!

I would like to thank Ms. Grey, the publishers and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved Hawk and Loretta's story. It was so real that you felt a part of the book. I enjoyed every part of the book and felt like I was right there with the characters. A book not to miss.