Who Wants to Marry a Duke - Sabrina Jeffries

Thank to NetGalley, Sabrina Jeffries, and the publisher for the ARC.

Let me preface this by saying I am a huge Sabrina Jeffries fan. I’ve been reading her books since her School for Heiresses series and I have been eagerly waiting for this one. While this could be read as a stand-alone, I would definitely recommend starting with Project Duchess and reading through the others. Otherwise you’re starting in the middle (almost toward the end) of a family mystery.

The Marlow Drake, the Duke of Thornstock, Thorn to his friends and family, was caught in a compromising position with a young lady almost ten years ago. After being blackmailed into proposing, and then being rejected, he decides to become the rakehell the gossips make him out to be. Olivia Norley is a woman of science. She wants to be a chemist, but agrees to debut for her parents sake. In her first season she’s compromised by a Duke, but turns down his proposal when it becomes clear how much he resents having to ask for her hand. Ten years later the two meet again when Thorn’s older brother, also a Duke, asks for Olivia’s help in determining if his father was poisoned with arsenic.

Is it too cliche if I say these too had some serious chemistry?! Because they definitely do! From almost the beginning of the book they couldn’t keep their hands to themselves, even when they were trying not to like each other. And it only got worse (better?) when Thorn and Olivia realized they shared a love for the theater. This book really pushed all of my buttons. I love a smart heroine who wants to make a name for herself but falls inconveniently in love with a man who respects and supports her, even if he doesn’t know anything about chemistry.

And if their explosive chemistry (I know I couldn’t help myself) wasn’t enough, Sabrina Jeffries expertly weaves in the continued investigation into the untimely deaths of four Dukes, all connected to Thorn’s family. No one writes a romance series with an overarching murder mystery quite like Sabrina Jeffries. The Duke Dynasty books remind me so much of the Hellions of Halstead Hall series in all the best ways. All in all I felt very satisfied with Thorn and Olivia’s story, but can’t wait for the final book to see the mystery resolved and the last Duke in the Duke Dynasty meet his match!

Enjoyed this story very much. The intelligent heroine who helps work on the mystery. The brooding duke. Delightful. Follows others but can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone. Looking forward to more.

Who Wants To Marry a Duke

When I pick up a Sabrina Jefferies book, I know strong characters—female and male, intrigue, secrets, romance and sizzling love scenes will entertain me. Who Wants to Marry a Duke, the 3rd book in Duke Dynasty, delivers! Matriarch Lydia Fletcher married three times. All 3 husbands were dukes and died suddenly, leaving her a widow with 5 children. Three sons each inherit a dukedom: Grey, Thorn and Sheridan. About 30 years later, they suspect that their respective fathers were murdered: Gray suspects poison, Thorn suspects a tampered carriage and Sheridan suspects murder, too. This book is Thorn’s story. Each book in the Duke Dynasty series continues the mystery.

Olivia Norley is a chemist with few social graces. At a ball, she spills her drink on Thorn’s waistcoat. Olivia volunteers to clean it and they find a private place. Her stepmother catches them kissing. Thorn is blackmailed into offering marriage. Olivia realizes that neither wants to marry and refuses him.

Years later Olivia and Thorn are “introduced” by his brother Gray at a ball. Believing that his father was poisoned, he has hired Olivia to use her chemical skills. The plan is to exhume the body and she would conduct experiments to find poison. Olivia and Thorn and distrust each other. He decides to accompany them to Grey’s estate. For Olivia and Thorn, the attraction for each other increases. Olivia proves that Gray’s father was indeed poisoned, but the proof is dramatically destroyed. The question: is someone trying to prevent exposing the truth or is Olivia the target?

Thorn turns his attention to his father’s death. Was the carriage tampered with? As Olivia and Thorn grow closer, his secret threatens to destroy. Although Gray and Thorn gather more evidence about their fathers’ deaths, the mystery continues.

This is book three of the Duke Dynasty series. I enjoyed the first two in the series the best so far, but Thorn and Olivia’s story is still satisfying and answers some questions raised in the previous novels. Of course, there are still things to find out and I certainly look forward to the next book in Ms. Jeffries series. Thank you NetGalley for this copy to read and enjoy.

I usually love Ms. Jeffries's books, but this one just didn't have the romantic sizzle that most of her books have. The mystery of who killed Grey's father and the chemical experiments took center stage in this story. I also wasn't happy that the mystery is still ongoing and that knocked another star off the rating especially since it will be another year before the next book is released. By then, I will have forgotten most of the storyline. This book was a disappointment, but it won't stop me from reading more by this talented author.

This is book three on the Duke Dynasty series. In this book, Thorn and his brother, Gray, are looking into the deaths of their fathers. Gray hires Olivia, a chemist, who also has a past history with Thorn, Thorn is distrustful of her intentions. He thinks that years ago, she and her mother set him up, and blackmailed him, in order to make him propose. But after spending time with her, he finds he’s still attracted to her.
I really enjoyed this book. It was another well written book, and I absolutely adored these characters, and loved reading their love story. And I loved finding out how the characters Gwyn and Joshua, from the previous book are. I can’t wait to read about the others, and find out what happened to the former dukes.

Sabrina Jeffries' work was brilliant. I just had to finish the book. The characterization was amazing.

Thorn is one of three ducal brothers who decide to investigate the mysterious deaths of their mother’s three late husbands. One of those brothers enlists the services of Olivia, a young amateur chemist who has an unfortunate past with Thorn that resulted in scandal and decade-long resentment for both of them. Of course, spending time together in close quarters makes it hard to remember why they ever disliked each other.

This is such a charming series. I enjoy getting to visit with all of the various half- and stepsiblings who make up the complicated family tree. I was hoping the central mystery might get wrapped up in this book, but prepare yourself for another cliffhanger.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review.

Well this was just as awesome as I was hoping. The characters are extremely well written, love the quirkiness of our h, as well as our H. He is written in a way that you want to not like him, then you understand him and grow to love him. This story is extremely well written, at no point do you feel anything is missing. Looking forward to reading more from this series.

Who Wants to Marry a Duke by Sabrina Jeffries

Humor, Sex, Romance, Murder and of course it all leads to human drama!
I don’t know if you all will remember Cary Grant, a famous filmstar, but he was in a movie Arsenic & Old Lace where his two Aunts are poisoning men who are nearly at the end of their life cycle and to add to the mayhem Grant’s brother who is a psychopath serial killer with a deranged surgeon friend has arrived to add to the circus and in this book we find some similar circumstances as a deranged killer who is killing the husbands of the Duke of Thornstock and Duke of GreyCourt’s mother. Thorns father was killed in a carriage accident and he thinks that the carriage was tampered with. Thorn and his twin sister Gwy were raised in Prussia, but Thorn is an Englishman. His half brother Grey believes his father was poisoned by arsenic!
When Thorn first arrived in England he was besieged by the ton trying to marry him! At one ball a young lady came upon the Duke with stains on him and she was a budding chemist under the tutelage of her uncle. Miss Olivia Norley had the perfect item in her reticule to aid the man to save him embarrassment. In doing so, he gave her a kiss and her stepmother walked in and said she was compromised and she would see the Duke in the morning. She asked her daughter to leave the room and blackmailed the Duke that if he didn’t offer for her, she would release some damaging stuff about his father. The next day, the daughter not knowing any of this refused his offer which upset the stepmother and the Duke was livid because he didn’t know what games they were playing. The stepmother then told everyone that the daughter refused the Duke because he was a rake. Of course this was not true, but the Duke proceeded to then act a little wild. He also wrote plays, but nobody not anyone in his family except one friend knew that he was the author of these plays for the theatre.
Over the years, lady Olivia became even more studious in her chemistry studies that the Duke of GreyCourt has enlisted her aid in conducting the tests on his father’s exhumed remains to verify if he was indeed poisoned by arsenic.
Thorn at first doesn’t want her to do the tests because he doesn’t trust her, but he realizes that she is and never was in league with her stepmother.
The author, Sabrina Jeffries does an amazing job tying things together so that the book flows together and you don’t get confused about who is what and who is part of what family. There are four principle people who could be the killer and they all have family members and complicated connections, but Sabrina Jeffries makes it remarkably easy for you to connect. I recommend this book for anyone who likes a mystery and romance with humor tossed in to keep a balance of a compelling story!
I received a advanced copy from netgally, but this is my opinion!!!

Olivia and Thorn were great together. I loved their initial meeting and loved watching them find each other again 9 years later. They both have unusual pastimes for the time period, but it worked really well with their story line. Can't wait for the next story to find out who has been after them all.

Wow! This novel!! Anyone who loves historical fiction will love reading this. I did! 5 STAR!! Olivia and The Duke are very relatable characters and they take you for a ride!!!.

This story was a nice addition to the prior stories. Even from the beginning, I had no idea what would happen with Thorn and Olivia. The dismissed engagement, the time jump, and murder. It had everything and I was rooting for Thorn and Olivia the whole time. I also loved that Grey and Beatrice and Gwyn and the Major were back - I love checking in with old favorites. I enjoy that the murder plot of the dukes runs though all the stories and has so many layers to it. Wonderful story, I enjoyed it.

This book was fun and a really quick read. I particularly liked how passionate both Olivia and Thorn were about chemistry and theater, respectively, and the way that played into their banter. It was clear that they "got" one another, which can sometimes be glossed over in relationships. I was worried at first that Thorn was just going to be an ass, but while he had his issues/stubbornness about some things, he also showed a surprising ability to change his mind as he learned things/got to know people better.

This author does not disappoint!
I did not realize that this was the third of a series ( so I went and read the first book after I finished this one.) . However, it can be read as a stand alone.
The plot is thick- not to mention it is hard sometimes to keep the characters straight. It is helpful that there is a family tree at the beginning of the book to sort out the convoluted relationships of the siblings.
The protagonists of this tale are Marlowe Drake , Duke of Thornstock (Thorn) Who is a secret playwright and Olivia Norley, a lady chemist.
One of the duke’s half brothers hires Olivia to determine if his father was poisoned. Thorn starts to believe that his step- father might also have met his end as a murder rather than an accident.
Together they set out to prove the first duke’s death while contending with blackmail and attempted murder. Along the way, of course love finds them eventually marrying and the ending leads one to believe there will be a continuation of the story.
I received this book to read and write an honest review..

I enjoyed it, even if it wasn't as much as I hoped I would. Sabrina Jeffries is not one of those authors that disappoint, however I felt the third installment did not live upto the previous two.

You can always count on Sabrina Jeffries for a good read. Even this book, where the H, Thorn, is my least favorite of the siblings in this series.

Olivia was a different heroine, a chemist who wants to make a name for herself in that field. She and Thorn were constantly questioning each other’s motives initially but then started to change their opinions the more they were together.

I didn’t think there was a lot of character development initially but as the story went on, both Thorn and Olivia started to have more depth to them.

I like how this series continues to have lots of appearances by the other family members we’ve met, and we found out who Sheridan’s h is going to be in the next book. Bonus points for the ongoing murder mystery which adds more in depth plot compared to your average Regency romance.

This reads as a stand-alone but I think you’d enjoy the book more if you read the previous books and novella in the series.

4 stars

The next episode in the Duke Dynasty. There are three dukes and they start to suspect that their fathers or uncles were murdered. In this story Grey wants to find out if his father was poisoned so he commissions the heroine to use her chemistry on the remains. Unbeknown to Grey his step brother had met Olivia nine years previously and though he liked her, Thorn feels she and her mother was trying to trap him. This book is not so engaging as books 1 & 2 but its a quick read and reasonably enjoyable. It moves the mystery on and I'm invested enough in the arcing story to look for book 4!


I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is the 3rd book in the Duke Dynasty series about stepsiblings who are in search of the truth what happened to their mother’s three husbands who all died. This book can be read as a stand-alone book, but if you read the other 2 books in the series you will enjoy this book because the heroes and heroines of the previous books appear in this book. This book is about Thorn, who is a Duke, and Olivia who is a chemist. Thorn and Olivia met years ago at a ball where Olivia spilled a drink on Thorn and while trying to clean it up they were caught kissing by Olivia’s step-mother who blackmailed Thorn into proposing. Oliva turned him down. Thru the years, Thorn never forgot the girl who tried to catch him in a marriage trap but turned him down. Years later they meet again because Thorn’s brother Grey hires Olivia to look into Grey’s father’s death. Every time Thorn is with Olivia he cannot help himself – he is attracted to her. I really enjoyed this story and Thorn and Olivia. There is love, family and mystery. While reading this book, I kept thinking to myself, Who wants to marry a Duke? – I do!!! I cannot wait for the next book in the series to read about Sheridan, the Dowager Duchess last son not married.
I received a free copy of this book by Netgalley for my honest opinion.

I can always count on Sabrina Jeffries to write a delightful story with a great storyline and interesting, engaging characters. This one certainly fulfills all those attributes. The heroine, Olivia Norley is a quirky, but charming, avid chemist. She meets the Duke of Thornstock at a ball , and while applying her genius chemistry skills in removing a stain from his shirt, they are caught in a compromising state. Her scheming Mother blackmails him into asking for her hand in marriage, but she turns him down. They don’t cross paths again until years later when his half brother hires her to use her chemistry skills to determine foul play in his father’s death, and as it turns out, several others. Thorn does not trust her and is determined to follow her closely. Close enough to drive her crazy, and fall in love. Thoroughly enjoyed the plot and delicious romance. A great read!