The Duke Effect is a historical romance featuring a young botanist heroine who has been masquerading as her deceased doctor father, and corresponding with a soldier about medical issues on the front. Unbeknownst to said heroine, Nora Langley, her soldier, Constantine Sinclair, is now the heir to a duke, and is seeking medical assistance for the current duchess. When he finds out about Nora's deception, he's incensed, and away the story goes. I give a qualified positive review for The Duke Effect--while Nora's vocation is interesting, as are the obstacles she would face to actually practice medicine, the beginning of the book is rough, spending too much time telling us how she is *definitely* not typical this and *definitely* not typical that. Constantine seems almost disproportionately angry at Nora, though on the face and time period, it makes sense while he would be so upset. Perhaps I needed a better scene of introspection, because he seemed kind of childish. Later in the story, when it's clear that the two are meant to be together, it appears as if the author makes Con a dolt, incapable of having an adult conversation with Nora, simply to prolong the drama. The book was good but could have been great. 3.5 stars.

I received a complimentary ARC from NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.

Nora Langley would rather study plants and work as a healer than find a husband. She's good enough that she's been treating her late father's patients and answering his letters for five years after his death. One of the men she writes is an army colonel who she imagines to be an older gentleman. Constantine Sinclair is anything but old when he shows up on her doorstep expecting to meet the male doctor to whom he's been writing letters for years. As the new, unexpected heir to a dukedom he never thought he'd inherit, he is hoping the good doctor can help him alleviate some of the current Duchess of Birchwood, the woman who raised him with her husband after Con became an orphan. Sparks fly and not in a good way when he realises that Nora duped him! He leaves after being cajoled into spending the night after they argue about it, threatening to tell everyone she's been duping. In a bid to keep him from ruining her reputation professionally, Nora goes to London and avails herself to help the duchess.

This book is a delicious slow burn! I truly loved it and couldn't put it down. I adored the banter between Nora and Con. It felt authentic and it was fun to see how they would get to their HEA. Highly, highly recommend it!

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Nora Langley grew up the daughter of a physician and learned from him. She lived with her recently married sister and her husband, a Duke. Surprising Nora on her quest for willow bark to make tea is Constantine Sinclair, swimming naked in the pond. She falls out of the tree, and thus begins their relationship from suspicion to love. A sweet story!

The man has no skills, “you really know how to charm a lady.” She held up two fingers. “I’ve been insulted with two thoughtless proposals from you now. Two.” She angled her head. “But can we even call these proposals since you have proposed nothing? You simply told me what we’re going to do as though you hold authority over me.” Constantine's woman often thinks he's lost his mind, "he blinked. “What? No! I am completely of sound mind. I am perhaps the most clear-headed I’ve ever been!” I liked this book, I liked Constantine.

What a great romance! Nora is such a compelling character. She is brilliant and unshakable. Constantine is used to command. Their first meeting is horrible, Nora is going to make things right. Pick up this story and enjoy the ride!!

It was an okay read, I like that the female character was a doctor. I found that interesting but the rest of the story fail flat. The male character was not interesting at all in my opinion, but it is my opinion so you don't have to take my word for it.

Nora's book was so much better than Charlotte's in comparison. I really enjoyed this one, and was happy that the love potion was also included in this story. Whenever there is a love potion, you know automatically it'll be hot and steamy, and it definitely had heat to it. I loved her personality, and her wittiness. To me she is the more interesting of the sisters. She is strong willed and not afraid to stand up for herself. She is not your typical heroine. She is a herbalist who as a little girl worked side by side her father, Dr. Langley until his passing. She dreams of becoming a doctor one day.

Constantine was orphaned as a young boy, and was raised by a distant relative the Duke of Birchwood. He leaves and joins the military and returns home after being summoned. He is to be the heir to the Dukedom. He has no choice and feels he owes it the current duke for taking him in and raising him.

How they met was funny. She falls off a tree, into a pond where con's cooling off. He is NAKED. She started yelling at him. She demands he gets out, and stares at his behind as he walks away.

From there on, all the action begins, and I seriously could not get enough of Constantine and Nora. Their love story is sweet and with plenty of bickering back and forth but they make a wonderful couple. It took a love potion experiment for them stop being stubborn and finally touch eachother.

Again, I really enjoyed book. At first I didn't think I would since I didn't like the other book that belong in this series. Lastly, I would recommend this book and I also want to mention it could be read as a standalone.

This book was an arc provided by Netgalley for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley!

Wow! Steam on high!
A little rocky at first, but the writing smoothed out and I really enjoyed it. I didn't really buy the connection between the two main characters going from one extreme to the other so quickly, especially by the male lead.
However, as the novel evolved so to did the characters. And I grew to like them both very much. After I finished I wanted more!

I have been really looking forward to Nora’s story and I wasn’t disappointed. I love a heroine whose whole existence isn’t looking for love. Nora has always been interested in healing and followed her father around for most of her life in order to learn more about helping others. I loved that she was interested in medicine and her experiments. I’m glad her experiment from Charlotte’s story made an appearance, I loved its effect on people. Since her father’s passing she has kept up his correspondence with others looking for help in medical situations, but she has never disclosed that she is in fact a she and not her father. So Constantine is rather upset to discover the person he thought he was writing all this time was in fact a fraud. He had hoped to get Dr. Langley’s help for the current duchess who has episodes. However he leaves threatening to expose all Nora has worked for and refusing her help. Well what’s a girl to do? Nora of course has the answer and that leads to sneaking away to London where she will have to do some fast talking to get herself taking seriously. I really enjoyed this book and am thankful to Netgalley for gifting it to me in exchange for my honest review.

Sophie Jordan's latest entry in her Rogue Files series, The Duke Effect, is another wonderful book and a joy to read. I couldn't put this one down and finished it in almost one sitting! Nora Langley, the youngest of the Langley sisters, has continued her late father's work as an herbalist, and has been communicating as him for years with people who write to him for medical advice, never thinking that any of them will find out about her deception. When Constantine Sinclair, a recipient of her letters comes looking for Dr. Langely, she is unprepared to deal with the consequences. Constantine has surprisingly become heir to a dukedom, and he compels Nora to heal the ailing duchess or else he will reveal her deception.



This was a fun, quick book with a very tight plot and compelling characters. Both Nora and Constantine had a lot of internal growth over the course of the book, and it was very refreshing to read a story in which both the hero and heroine both have improvements to make. The aphrodisiac from the last book in this series (The Virgin and the Rogue) makes a repeat appearance, with again delightful results.



I would definitely recommend this book! I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my review. Thank you!!

[NOTE : Review will be published on blog, twitter, instagram the week of publication.]

I really enjoyed this book. But I really enjoy all of Sophie Jordan books...

This was a one sit read for me. It was an easy and lovely read. What I love about Jordan's books is that they are really romance centric- which may sound funny when talking about a romance book but these books hyper focus on the relationship and the love between the characters. This book was no different. I loved it. Can I say "I loved it" anymore? Probably!

You can't help but relate to our heroine. All she wanted was to be a doctor. That's it. And for her to fight and claw to get where she wanted to be was so relatable.

And our hero definitely grew on me. I wasn't sure what to think of him when he was first introduced but of course, Jordan did not let me down.

This was another great addition to the series and I'm already ready for the next book!!! Maybe it will be the brother?!!?!!? God, I hope so. This series can never end! Ever!!!

We finally get Nora Langley's story, the youngest sister who grew up learning medicine from her beloved father. She becomes the town's local healer. After her father dies, she begins exchanging letters with military officers by providing them with medical advice and signing them under her father's name. Enter Colonel Constantine Sinclair, who is shocked to learn that the "male" doctor he had been corresponding with is actually Nora. He is ready to expose her as a fraud, but finally agrees to let her help a family member who has been suffering of pain.

Overall, I liked this book and I thought it ended the series well. I was expecting a little bit more than what we actually got. It felt a bit rushed and not enough emphasis was put on the actual relationship between the hero and heroin. Not enough build up, or chemistry. Half the time it seemed as if they only wanted to avoid each other. The "aphrodisiac" potion made it's return in this book. The whole scene just felt a little bit forced and weird. I won't spoil it, but you will understand once you read it. With that said, it was a satisfying ending. You don't have to read the series as a whole, but I highly recommend that you do.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

LOVED this one, thank you NetGalley!

This had so many of my favorite romance tropes and moments. Impeccable tension building (in a carriage), putting old powerful dude in his place (a la AOC, but seriously the scene is ripped from the headlines), and all of the beautiful trappings of historical romance escape that I needed right now (pretty dresses, super sexy hero, longing glances across the room).

This was a short, quick read and I would have loved even more pages. I adore when romance writers challenge themselves with a complicated or potentially problematic premise (ahem, aphrodisiac potion) and masterfully write a story with consent, respect, and modern feminism imbued throughout. Excellent work, Sophie Jordan!

This was a very quick and enjoyable read. The main characters were both interesting and relatively well developed. The fair protagonist strikes that nice chord of being a woman ahead of her time while still finding sweeping romantic love. I think I may have become more invested had I read the previous books, I think there is a lot of backstory that may have filled in some gaps. That said, this reads well as a standalone featuring many romance classics. The tale does require a small suspension of disbelief (the love potion sub-plot took this to the very edge of silly), but that is the great thing about fiction: love potion tropes work just fine! I have the previous books on my holds list and look forward to reading more in this series.

I have always liked the books in the Rogue Files series by Sophie Jordan. They are fun, witty and have a nice level of heat

I liked both Nora and Constantine. I wanted the author to spend more time on the relationship that developed through their correspondence. I also thought the love potion, which worked in the previous book, didn’t work as well in this book. Constantine’s reaction to the potion had a very simple resolution that didn’t involve anyone else’s help, but then, I guess, where is the fun in that?

Usually the epilogue features the character that the next book is about, but this time the epilogue is Nora and Constantine in the future. So this may be the last book in this series?

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the ARC

Nora Langley prefers science over people. Her two older sisters have recently disappeared into matrimonial bliss, and are anxious to pull her in the same direction. But she's happy with her experiments, herbal remedies, and correspondence. Where she *might* have been impersonating her late doctor father, giving advice in his name to soldiers in far-flung places. She would go to medical school herself, but they don't let women attend, so she has to content herself with things as they are.

Constantine Sinclair is shocked that the learned (male) doctor he's come to consult turns out to be a charlatan. The young woman he meets confesses that she, not her father, has been corresponding with him from England to the battlefield all these years. He is ready to expose her as a fraud, but agrees to let her first try to help the duchess who raised him, who has been in chronic pain.

This was an interesting premise, but the execution wasn't as effective as it could have been. The high-stakes medical mystery isn't a substantial part of the plot, and nearly fizzled out by the end. Speaking of the ending (no spoilers), it was a bit abrupt, although we get an epilogue that wraps up some elements.

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