The Duke's Desire: A Regency Holiday Romance

Meg is such a fun character—grounded and self-confident. Lucien is devoted to his goal, but as success draws closer, he begins to wonder what he might be giving up. His struggle is real, intensifying the passion and emotion between him and Meg. I enjoyed the audiobook narration. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Erica Ridley once again offers an enjoyable, light-hearted, witty, and romantic addition to her popular series, The 12 Dukes of Christmas, which is set in the village of Cressmouth where Christmas is celebrated year-round. Lucien le Duc is one of the handsome blacksmith brothers in Cressmouth. Lucien, a curmudgeonly type of character, is the antithesis to his charming brother Sebastian. He has never made a great effort to learn English as his goal has always been to return to France to reclaim family property lost during the French revolution. He decides he needs to properly learn and read English if he wants to have his family visit him when he returns to France. He hires Margaret (Meg) Church, a free-spirited and outgoing local spinster, to teach and enhance his limited English skills. During their time together, Meg and Lucien develop a friendship that eventually develops into a great liking for one another. They both know there is little hope for a future together as he wants to return to France and she wants to stay in Cressmouth. Additionally, their backgrounds are so different, as he is from the aristocracy and she isn’t. I loved the dynamics between Lucien and Meg. He was such a dour character and she was able to get him to open up and reveal his true personality. The banter between them, especially her bawdy innuendos, was delightful. There is one intimate encounter between them that is so sweetly written, my heart swooned. Their story was such a fun tale to read and I loved the epilogue. It was perfect. I highly recommend this read. One of the best offerings in the series. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this work and offer this voluntary review. All opinions stated are my own. Reasons I enjoyed this book: romantic; wonderful characters; happily ever after; funny; entertaining; witty.

This story is sweet and poignant and filled with the magic of Christmas, (and Cressmouth). With the other le Duc siblings happily settled, I’ve been anxiously waiting to see how Lucien’s story would play out. Meg is so delightfully outlandish. So many of her comments had me howling with laughter. I adored watching this pair banter, no matter what language it was in. It broke my heart that circumstances were conspiring to keep them from being together. To the point that I was nearly in tears a couple of times while reading this book. I loved the ending and I can’t wait to dig into the bonus epilogue. I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book from the author through NetGalley.