A Duke Like No Other (Playful Brides Book 9) by Valerie Bowman Review

Hi ForeverBookers,

I’ve just finished “A Duke Like No Other” and I liked it. 

“A Duke Like No Other” is about the relationship between Nicole, a headstrong girl and Mark, a man concerned with getting what he wants. The Playful Brides series is a collection of standalone novels. 

NetGalley gave me permission to read “A Duke Like No Other” so it’s thanks to them that I was able to read it! 

2 Stars!

I read this for: 

• Book Bingo on Facebook! It completes the challenge of reading a book about death. There’s a Murder mystery that takes place within “A Duke Like No Other” - https://m.facebook.com/events/1442935242483308. 

Spoilers Below...

“For the love of God, he’d nearly died for this promotion”

At the beginning of “A Duke Like No Other”, Mark’s biggest concern is getting the job of Home Secretary, “or die trying” to get it. He’s advised that he needs to be married and settled to get the job, though. 

“Lord Tottenham doesn’t want a secretary who’s a bachelor. He wants someone settled,”

shows that Mark will have to prove that he’s wed before getting the job of Home Secretary. To do this it’ll mean opening up old wounds with his wife, whom he no longer associates with. His wife Nicole, lives in France, while Mark lives in England. He needs Nicole to return to England. There’s something she wants in trade for playing the happy wife, however, a baby. 

“No, you dolt. I don’t want a divorce. I want you to have sex with me.” 

The couple go through a lot of will they/won’t moments. These were sometimes annoying. The book could have been shorter without so many of these and it’s relatively short to begin with. They actually have sex nearer the end, so there’s a LOT of build up to it, maybe too much build up. 

“He collapsed at dinner, that’s true, but it was no heart condition,” is what Oakleaf, a police investigator Mark knows, says. The Duke in waiting, collapsed at dinner. The current Duke is sick, and so won’t be around for much longer.

This is the murder mystery element, which was surprising, as it took quite a lot of the plot away from the main couple. I didn’t hate it but I thought this book was going to be solely a romance novel, which it isn’t. That’s what the cover and title suggested to me. If you’re looking for a cute romance, I wouldn’t suggest this, as the main plot, I feel is surrounding the murder mystery and just who the next Duke will be, rather than the romance. Why does someone want to kill the Duke in waiting, though? You’ll need to read to find out! 

What did I like about “A Duke Like No Other”?

I liked the romantic parts we got, although I did expect a LOT more of them.

I liked our main couple. They are quite modern in that they weren’t living together at the beginning of the story. Only when Mark’s job is bought up so they consider living together again. I would have liked to have seen them in more scenes together, in the present. I feel like we saw too much of how they got together and not enough of them actually together. 

I liked the baby plot line. I always like books that include the want of a child, although I felt that this was more used as a plot device rather than just something that happened. 

What didn’t I like about “A Duke Like No Other”? 

I didn’t like that the editing wasn’t done very well. I think there were two or three occasions where either punctuation was missing or the novel just didn’t make sense. 

I feel that Mark and Nicole, could have been much stronger characters. They both felt rather weak to me. Like they couldn’t get anything done, without the other one there during the events of the novel. Before the start, they were living apart! I wish that there had been a little independence shown by them both.

I didn’t like that the plot was dominated by the murder mystery, as that isn’t what the book is sold as, I don’t feel. 

The book had past elements, as well as the present parts. The past elements, I felt were lacking depth. There could have been more story thrown into them, which would have given us more information and made the book longer. 

I honestly can’t remember any of the characters, but Nicole, Mark and Oakleaf. They didn’t stand out. The murderer, for example, isn’t that present in the book. 

Overall, “A Duke Like No Other”, unfortunately wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t hate it but I feel that I could have really loved it if the romance was more so drawn upon. The characters should have had more depth and been fleshed out more, too. Also other parts didn’t really make sense to me. That’s why I’m giving the novel, 2 Stars!