Review: How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days by Kate McKinley
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2014
The first book in Kate McKinley’s newest novella series, What Happens in Scotland. I very much enjoyed her entertaining, provocative, and erotic historical debut series, By Invitation Only, I knew I would love this, too.Miss Pippa Welby is the proud daughter of a very successful coal mining magnate who is commandeered—in cahoots with her father—into a betrothal to Lucas, the powerful and handsome—natch—Duke of Arlington. Indeed, when they first meet, he slights her—much like Mr. Darcy slighted Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Lucas is used to getting whatever he wants whenever he wants it but he hadn’t counted on the willful Pippa. She detests the aristocracy ever since they belittled and bullied her when she was a student at a London finishing school. She determines to make herself so repellent to him that he will break the engagement, so she comes up with some crazy schemes with her oldest friend, Charles Hurst. Instead, Lucas finds Pippa refreshingly different and decides to wear down her resistance with seduction and an outrageous public courtship.Lucas is a reserved young man, forced to wear the mantle of duke from a young age when his parents died of illness. He and his sister, Evelyn, have only each other and Lucas has vowed to be unlike his kind and generous father who lost the family fortune. He has set his sights on Mr. Welby’s mines and determines to marry Pippa to gain an even larger fortune than he has now.Pippa has no idea why Lucas has sought her out, determined to make her his bride, however, she does suspect it is her fortune and not herself he’s interested in. “She would only marry for love.” As Lucas woos her at every opportunity and even defends her when the ton turns up its nose at her, her defenses weaken and she falls in love with him as their attraction ignites. But as Lucas falls for her, too, he regrets wanting her only for her fortune initially; he can’t bear to get too close to her for fear she’ll leave as his parents did.Kate McKinley writes with a freshness and energy that sparkles on the page. There is laugh-out-loud humor, tender emotion, and lovely period descriptions in a short format, the novella. Unlike some people, I enjoy novellas very much; action must move along quickly but that’s what makes them fun. If you’re looking for an entertaining and quick read, it can be read in one evening. The use of a modern word, overdrive, can be overlooked in the general entertainment of the romance.There is also mention of the famous actor, Edmund Kean, performing at the theatre in Richard III, adding a nice period touch to the Regency setting.Memorable moments:"Women in general had a tendency to go mad from time to time. The madness was cyclical and yet still somehow dangerously unpredictable."“'Let's discuss this in a more private setting.' In his bed, their naked bodies tangled in the sheets, perhaps.”Scotland does come into the story here, but I won’t say when. Oh, and there’s a cliffhanger ending as a  nice segue into book number two.A sexy and witty romance. This novella releases today.