Cover Image: The Duke Effect

The Duke Effect

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Member Reviews

I was SO excited going into this book because Sophie Jordan did a wonderful job of writing Nora as a funny and entertaining character in the two previous books in The Rogue Files series. I really thought that this was going to be my favorite installment as Nora is the main character.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. First of all, I found Nora to be less interesting/dynamic in this book, and Constantine was likable enough as the hero, but I didn’t love him either. Second, I felt that Jordan waited too long to introduce the actual romance into Nora and Constantine’s relationship, so it didn’t feel believable. I didn’t really feel the chemistry between them and when they professed their love for one another at the end, it just felt forced on the author’s part. I liked the epilogue, but again I just didn’t believe that these characters had this undying love for one another.

On a kind of random note, there was a side character that Nora was trying to cure throughout the book, but there was no real resolution to that plot line, and that felt odd to me. Also, there was no interaction with Nora’s sisters/family at the end, which didn’t really make sense because they all have such a close relationship with one another in previous books.

I still love Jordan’s writing style and did overall enjoy this book, but it’s definitely my least favorite book that I have read from her so far.

**Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review**

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Has anyone else been dying for Nora’s story? Just me? Well, I can’t recommend this enough to those who have been following the series. I’d you’re brand new, I do recommend reading in order if possible.

Pretending to be her deceased father (who was a physician), Nora has been corresponding with several gentleman and trading medical advice. But she never expects one of them to show up at her door seeking help. Constantine is angry by the deception but they’re able to call a truce in order for her to treat the duchess. A lot of this book deals with women’s roles in society and how they are treated. Nora is far from typical and I love how strong she is.

Constantine is a bit of a jerk initially but he grows on you quickly and I adore how he grew at the end of the book. I don’t want to spoil the ending but it’s basically perfect. You’ll get to see Nora’s sisters and their husbands and catch up with them as well. Loved it! 4.5 stars

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3.5 rounded up. This is the latest in The Rogue Files series. It is a stand alone novel but I read the previous book in the series last week. This is Nora's story. Nora is a herbalist, and is the healer in her village since the passing of her father, the town doctor. When Constantine shows up at her doorsteps we learn that she has been corresponding with him for years over the treatment of pain, using her fathers signature. Due to the untimely deaths of his cousins Con is heir to a Duke. His aunt suffers from chronic pain and he has sought his doctor pen pal when London medicine doesn't work. Nora is unmasked but wants to help.

Nora is fiercely independent and has never wanted marriage. She is happiest with her herbs and curing ailments. Con had planned a life in the military. He is honorable and duty bound. He never planned to marry, but now as the heir, he must have a proper wife. The current Duke, Con's uncle, sees Nora as beneath him and not a person to help his wife or for Con to marry.

I liked the set up and prickly Nora. I appreciated the reappearance of the aphrodisiac potion that was in "The Virgin and the Rogue". I had a harder time with Con. I wasn't sure if he really went from attraction to love. He seemed to be fine with choices being made for him. He didn't take action to get out of his assumed courtship but waited to be released. I wished to know more of his thoughts and would have liked to know some of the personal things he and Nora shared in their letters.

Sophie Jordan writes fun books and builds sexual tension well. I read the whole book in one day. Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers and the author for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

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This was a really cute love story. The heroine is the younger daughter of a physician who has learned from her father and become the local "healer." The hero is a war veteran who has returned to London to take on his responsibilities as the heir to a dukedom. There is a case of mistaken identity at the beginning of the story, as the two have been writing to each other for years - only, the future duke believed to have been corresponding with the heroine's father. The heroine must regain the hero's trust to continue their relationship. They become close when she begins treating his relative. They have a cute flirtation that gets mores serious after the duke consumes an aphrodisiac - this sounds bonkers, but it works. I generally prefer romances where the hero and heroine get together much earlier on; these two hold out on committing to each other up to the very end. I love historicals where the heroine has a job or interests outside of the "norm." I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical romance, especially ones featuring a heroine with a job.

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Where do begin

I love a story of a woman with her head on her shoulders. Someone who wants a career instead of just be a mom and wife. This book was great at that. It also was a good read with out the drama of someone interfering in the soon to be relationship. There was no massive drama just a good romance story.

Nora is a great female lead and Constantine is a good male in this book. I felt I would have liked more romance in the book but the bits of romance there was didn't let me down. It was a interesting story and some parts left hanging and never solved but that isn't a big deal.

I enjoyed this story in a whole it was well written I'm just more of a more romance person on a level of more kissing more ect. So this definitely lacked it all up until the last couple of chapters. I love a good book that gives me butterflies for the romance. But all in all the book still did not let me down and it was trully a good read.

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A fun, even historical romance novel starring a soldier-turned-heir-of-a-dukedom and a suddenly aristocratic healer. Nora Langley has never given much thought to marriage and prefers her life of healing and studies. Constantine Sinclair is a career soldier who is thrown into dukedom after the deaths of three of his cousins. When Constantine pays a visit to the doctor he's been conversing with via letters, Nora's deception is found out. What follows is a relatively usual romance novel, but charming nonetheless. There's quite a bit of fun with a tonic that causes uncontrollable lust and a satisfying epilogue. A solid four star read.

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An entertaining and well written regency romance. Good plot and character development. I highly recommend this book. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

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If you're a fan of Sophie Jordan, I think this one is going to be for you. I enjoyed it, but not enough to give it more than 3.5 stars. I wanted to love this one so much, but it didn't have those sharp, really polished edges that SJ's books usually have.

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Nora is a woman who has been trained by her physician father to mend people. She has no desire to marry, but would rather become a doctor herself. Constantine is a soldier who is called home when he unexpectedly becomes heir to a dukedom. Neither of them wants to do what society expects from them. I received an ARC from NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for my honest review.

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Usually Sophie Jordan is a must read for me, but this book fell flat. The use of the “medicine” from the previous book as another way to force sexual interaction was tired. I also didn’t feel the hero/heroine had a great chemistry.

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This was a sweet read, but it felt rushed. I enjoyed the story, what was there, but honestly it was a bit lacking. I wanted some kind of drama or danger the couple had to overcome. Instead it felt very high school romance and then ended far too quickly. It read more like a free novella than a full length novel. I love this author and I liked the characters there just wasn’t much to the story and it ended surprisingly fast with no real culmination. I feel like it needs some more work and a few dozen more scenes to be well rounded.

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Nora has been posing as her father, giving medical advice via mail. She is intelligent and a bluestocking, with no desire for marriage or kids, unlike her sisters. She lives in a time where women cannot become doctors and men believe a woman's place is at the home and they have delicate constitutions. Nora's life comes to a halt when Colonel Constantine Sinclair appears on her doorstep needing her father to help with the Duchess of Birchwood's affliction. Constantine is a soldier, intelligent, the new heir of a duke, who wants to learn all that he needs and comply with the wishes of the duke. Constantine is outraged when he discovers the truth, threatening Nora and then gets caught up in agreeing to let her help the duchess. Two people, who do not completely belong in this aristocratic society, come together, with some blunders and mishaps along the way. The world was changing and both needed to decide if they wanted to stay in the past or strive for something better.
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Sophie Jordan never disappoints. I was so excited when I saw her book in Net Galley and got approved for an ARC.

The hero and heroine just absolutely had an amusing connection. The hero is a military man. He is a man of few words and fewer emotions. He seems so serious and just not reactive. I was almost worried he and the heroine would not have a connection. The heroine was humorous and just assertive and persistent and passionate about what she does. Them spending time together really set off sparks. And when the ball got rolling it was unstoppable. This book contains a love scene that is hot. And a proposal fit for the movies. The beginning may have been a bit slow but the ending more than made up for it.

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This was a cute book. It was a very fast read and I enjoyed it, that being said I feel like there needed to be more. Some kind of dastardly deed needed to be in there, not just some slight snobbish down- looking from the upper ton and servants, but a real gritty problem. The resolution also felt too easy. Our hero tells the duke goodbye, and that’s it, no up commences for the lord of the minor attitude. The author says she likes to imagine our heroine helped the duchess, why not write that then. That would help get one up on the old duke at least. Personally I would have liked to see Con inherit and see what the ton made of our Doctor Duchess when she resigned as a leader of society. In the end it was sweet but personally I found it a little lacking in resolution or dramatic substance.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for my unbiased, honest opinion.

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Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'll start by saying that I admired Nora's determination to fullfill her dream of becoming a respected herbalist. She didn't allow Constantine or society to hold her back from helping others and redefining what it means to be a woman with a career. Having said that, I was unsatisfied with the pace and quality of her romantic entanglement with Constantine. The man is fixated on the fact that she lied to him by impersonating her father and is skeptical of her abilities to heal all throughout the novel. He gives into his baser sexual desires and botches the scenes by insisting that she must marry him since she is now compromised. I just wasn't convinced that he truly came to respect and love her for who she really is and what she can do outside of the bedroom. The novel has an intriguing heroine but the hero needs work.

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I’m a fan of the Rogue Files series so with that being said I was extra excited to get an opportunity to read this book. I’m a little sad that this is the last book in the series but all good things must come to an end. Nora is everything I wanted her to be and more. That girl has guts. She isn’t afraid to do or say what’s on her mind. The hero shows up expecting to see his doctor friend who he has corresponded with for years only to discover that the doctor has been dead and his daughter has been the one writing to him. Nora pleads with Constantine to keep her secret fearing that the people will lose respect for her. Con threatens to reveal her as a liar and storms off to London. The story unfolds when Nora follows him secretly to London to convince him that she is a healer and can be of use if only he will not expose her. If your a fan of the series you will love this book. It’s also a great stand alone. I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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The Duke Effect is a romantic and entertaining novel by Sophie Jordan. It has a strong female lead with a lot of back and forth between the two main characters. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun read.

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Nora Langley has been giving medical advice for years... under the name of her deceased father, a well-known doctor. Nora studied under her father before his passing and as a knack for healing. When Constantine Sinclair finds out that he has been receiving medical advice for years from a young woman and not the renowned doctor that he thought he was, Constantine feels betrayed. In a desperate bid to get Constantine to keep her secret, Nora moves to London to care for the woman who raised Constantine - the Duchess of Birchwood. Despite their initial feelings toward each other, both eventually find that they can't resist each other.

This is a classic enemies-to-lovers plot, and I couldn't get enough of it. Nora is a headstrong young woman who is ahead of her time. Constantine, the serious soldier-turned-heir, is surprising in his tenderness toward Nora, despite his feelings of betrayal. The "will-they/won't-they" between Nora and Constantine will keep readers engaged, while the characters themselves will cause readers to fall in love with them and their story. My only criticism - I didn't want it to end!

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This was not my jam and I was so looking forward to this book. In Sophie Jordan's last novel "The Virgin and Rogue" we were introduced to Nora, who had created a potion for cramps that also made one hot and bothered. Nora had created lust in a bottle in hilarious fashion. I was looking forward to Nora's book.

Our quirky heroine had followed her father's footsteps and had been practicing medicine since his demise. She had even practiced medicine under his name. A long relationship by letters with Constance Sinclair, who was in the army, saw a friendship bloom. When he unmasks her as a woman then actually a male doctor and the writer of medical advice, things get tricky.

I loved this setup I thought it would be more integral to the book. It wasn't. This set up reminded me of one of my favorite Tessa Dare books "When a Scot Ties the Knot"; but the letters they wrote back and forth to each other were never paraphrased or brought up except in the first chapter.

The romance was lukewarm for me and I had problems with the intimacy scene toward the end. Not my cup of tea but those that are invested and love the series will gobble up this volume.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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How I adore tales of cool, controlled dukes/or future dukes. I love the sound that they make when they fall (down, in love, in lust, whatever!).

Constantine Sinclair, a soldier, bound by duty and honor, is now heir to a dukedom. He runs headlong into a force he cannot withstand; Nora Langley, a determined bluestocking who dreams of becoming a doctor. This is at a time when medical schools in England are barred to women.

Sadly, Sinclair became the heir of his cousin, the Duke of Birchwood, after both of the Duke’s sons died within a year of one another. Now, the Duchess of Birchwood is ailing. Hoping to find help for her Constantine arrives at the home of Dr. Langley, with whom he had maintained a correspondence on things professional and personal. He is surprised to find that Dr. Langley died some time ago and Langley’s daughter, Nora is the person who answered his letters, responding with medical and personal advice. Sinclair is furious, threatens to expose Nora and leaves for Birchwood the next morning. Nora, not only worried about exposure, but anxious to try to help the duchess, slips away without telling her family and follows him.

At Birchwood, Nora finds the Duchess is a charming woman, the Duke is quick to become Nora’s enemy, and Sinclair is preparing to make an offer of marriage to the beautiful Lady Elise, who was betrothed to his dead cousin.

I found this to be a pleasant read. The premise was good, the characters interesting and, well, hey, it was written by Sophie Jordan.

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