After Dark with the Duke

Starred review from September 27, 2021
Rumors and respectability are at the forefront of Long’s exceptional fourth Palace of Rogues Regency romance (after I’m Only Wicked with You). Disgraced opera singer Mariana Wylde flees her London home after she’s threatened by a mob accusing her of using her feminine wiles to incite a duel. She finds refuge at the Grand Palace on the Thames, a boarding house run by Delilah Hardy and Angelique Durand where war hero James Duncan Blackmore, the Duke of Valkirk, also resides. The image-conscious duke initially rebuffs and ridicules Mariana, until Delilah and Angelique step in. As penance for his poor behavior, James offers to teach Mariana Italian, and their enjoyable tutoring sessions soon lead to frank discussions and intense attraction. But as Mariana considers an offer to sing in a new opera in Paris and James contemplates remarrying after the death of his wife five years before, it seems the differences in their social stations may be insurmountable. Long’s intelligent, complex protagonists and their credible hidden depths feel remarkably real, while the slow-burning evolution of their romance and genuine impediments to their love will keep readers hooked. Add in witty dialogue and sharp commentary on class restrictions, and the result is a standout historical romance. Agent: Steve Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency.

October 1, 2021

The Grand Palace on the Thames has new guests. Opera singer Mariana Wylde (nicknamed the "Harlot of Haywood Street" by the broadsheets) arrives just before curfew, begging for a room. She never expected an old lover and a new beau to come to blows over her, let alone fight a duel that almost killed both and caused her fall from fame. But Mariana's arrival is a godsend for the ladies of the Grand Palace, who quickly set about planning an event to restore her reputation and fill their coffers. The other new guest is the respected general James Blackmore, Duke of Valkirk, who sought rooms at the Grand Palace for solitude to work on his memoir. He's quite contemptuous of Mariana at first, since he saw too many young men die in battle to tolerate their potential deaths over a woman of her ilk. But there's something about Mariana that makes him feel alive again, and he's not quite sure how to deal with these feelings. VERDICT Long continues her "Palace of Rogues" series (after I'm Only Wicked with You) with another strong heroine and the entertaining residents of the Grand Palace. A must-buy for libraries that own the series.--Melanie C. Duncan, Washington Memorial Lib., Macon, GA

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2021
Desire and disdain collide as an opera singer who's been publicly shamed clashes with a priggish, aristocratic military hero. Soprano Mariana Wylde seeks refuge at the London docklands boardinghouse known as the Palace of Rogues after a duel between a former lover and a current fan makes her a tabloid scandal. To her dismay, Gen. James Duncan Blackmore, the Duke of Valkirk--who's lodging there temporarily while writing his memoirs--takes an immediate dislike to her for her perceived debauchery. Initial skirmishes between the two culminate in a mean-spirited action on his part, precipitating an apology and a period of forced proximity between them. While the duke, who speaks Italian, gives private lessons to the soprano, who only sings it, they begin to slowly share their fears and traumas, and the two bruised souls drop their bellicose facades and begin a secret affair. Despite their electric attraction, however, her disrepute presents an insurmountable barrier to a legitimate relationship in his eyes, yoked as he is to his own reputation as a moralist. Long specializes in crafting tension between people whose sexual and intellectual compatibility are at odds with their place in social hierarchies and prescribed gender roles. But even as British society seems unlikely to accept this union, the plucky proprietresses of the Palace of Rogues and the other charming lodgers there model alternatives to a conventional life. It's up to the duke to overcome his black-and-white perspective as he comes to see how sexist stereotypes demonize nonconforming women while excusing men. If the novel's agenda is obvious--questioning the patriarchal hypocrisy that condemns women after taking away their choices--the execution is subtle and moving. Scenes where the protagonists' spoken words compete with their body language mirror the strain between socially dictated mores and individual desire. The only sour note is the hero's background, which falls into a long romance tradition of British imperialists--one that needs to be retired, or at least interrogated. An enemies-to-lovers romance that deserves to be savored.

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Starred review from October 15, 2021
After an angry mob fueled by a false rumor descends upon her lodgings, opera diva Mariana Wylde, the "Harlot of Haywood Street," seeks refuge at the Grand Palace on the Thames. There Mariana receives a warm welcome from not only the proprietors but also the rest of the guests staying at the boarding house. Well, all except one, General James Duncan Blackmore, the duke of Valkirk. To say that James, who literally wrote the book on honorable behavior, is a tad frosty towards Mariana would be an understatement. However, if Mariana possesses one skill besides being gifted with a voice like a nightingale, it is her ability to decipher exactly what a man wants, even an enigma like James. When choreographing the delicate dance of seduction, Long (I'm Only Wicked with You, 2021) once again proves she is a literary equivalent of Balanchine by expertly timing the romantic push and pull between her protagonists until she ultimately delivers their smoldering and sensual pas de deux. The latest in the Palace of Rogues series is another bravura blend of bracing wit and thrilling romanticism.

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