Headstrong Miss Daisy Morton must make a choice: play the fiancée to a duke she doesn’t love, or face ruin.Daisy’s loyalty to her friends is always getting her into awkward places. Unfortunately, those places include the bedroom of the stern young Duke of Loxwell, where she is caught hiding by one of society’s most notorious gossips.For mysterious reasons of his own, the duke saves her reputation … duke saves her reputation with a false engagement. There’s only one rule: she can’t fall in love with him.
Simple enough. What are the chances that the true love Daisy has always dreamed of should turn out to be the strict, strait-laced, surprisingly tender duke with a devastating smile reserved especially for her?
Alexander Balfour, the new Duke of Loxwell, lives for honour and duty. The dukedom weighs as heavily on his shoulders as the responsibility of setting an example for his four unruly sisters.
And that honour has sealed his fate forever. A fatal mistake in his past means he cannot fall in love without betraying those he holds dearest.
Even if Daisy turns his world upside down in a hundred different ways, she cannot save him from his lonely penance.
Or can she?
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This book was a joy to read. The characters all have such in-depth personalities. I like that one of the characters seem to always get herself into mischief. Others are high society snooty ladies and a mother that prone to theatrics. The book includes a romance, a mystery as well as the importance of family. All of which made this book very entertaining!
Great characters and storyline!
Due to her best friend Edith’s carelessness in breaking an antique vase as she searched for secret panels in her brother’s new house, Daisy Morton stays behind to clean up and remove the broken pieces and is discovered in a very compromising position – hiding in the bedroom of Alexander Balfour, Duke of Loxwell. To save her reputation, Alexander immediately proposes a pretend engagement until things settle enough that they can go their separate ways without scandal.
These two are such opposites! Daisy was lively, daring, unconventional, and loyal to her friends to the point of getting herself in trouble. Alexander instead appeared aloof and disinterested, was stern and preferred following rules. He is Daisy’s best friend’s older brother. He feels undeserving of happiness, despite how he cares for Daisy who has been attracted to him for the past year. There is also a mystery that Daisy has found herself involved in when she hears something she shouldn’t while she was half-way under Alexander’s bed reaching for a key she had spotted. Will this put her in danger from the two men who had searched his room? And will Alexander and Daisy be unable to resist their growing feelings for each other?
This was a sweet romance and really well-written. The characters will draw the reader in, and the mystery will entice the reader to read on and find out what is happening. Grab your copy and enjoy a wonderful story.
There was plenty of romance, humor, and moments of suspense in this romance. From the beginning Daisy is involved in intrigue as several people enter her friend’s brother’s bedroom where she is hiding a broken vase looking for that vase. She comes across something else while in hiding and I had a feeling that’s what they were really looking for. Alexander feels guilty for a past action and feels like he is not worthy of Daisy even though he can’t help but fall for her. Even though it was only supposed to be a temporary engagement, her heart becomes involved too. His sisters meddle in their romance and I can’t wait to read who they end up with in future books.
I love a good regency romance that helps me tune out the world for a moment in time, and this delivered. It kept me entertained and smiling, just what I love a book to do. I would recommend this author and can’t wait to look for other titles by Gemma Blackwood.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A Duke She Can’t Refuse is the first book in a new series by Gemma Blackwood.
Will Daisy Morton face ruin or fake an engagement with the Duke of Loxwell?
While trying to help her best friend, Edith, Daisy gets caught laying on the floor on Alex Balfour’s bedroom. For reasons of his own, Alex proposes a fake engagement to save her reputation and to help keep the matchmaking mommas at bay.
Daisy overhears something that could potentially cause harm to others and herself and shares the info with Alex who decides to look into it.
Alex has feelings for Daisy but a fatal mistake from his last is holding him back from taking a chance on love.
Daisy finds she has more feelings for Alex then she thought possible.
Will this Duke be able to overcome his past to find the love of forever? .
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A loving heart is your greatest strength what a wonderful thought.
Miss Daisy is a bit in a pickle caught in a place she should not have been but Alexander Balfour comes to her rescue but there is one rule. Can she live with that and what of Alexander is he immune? Of course this author will give the reader more perhaps a mystery and a bit a danger too. I want to borrow from the author “A loving heart is your greatest strength” will the characters come to understand that simple but true thought. This was an excellent read written by a talent author and if I could give it more than 5 stars I would. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
This book was a very enjoyable read with the well written storyline and characters that were very likable, believable and very engaging which kept me totally enthralled until the turn of the very last page!
Promise Meant To Be Broken
My first book by Gemma Blackwood and let me just say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoy books written during another time. But not all books are created equal. This story kept my attention from beginning to end and I enjoyed the well-balanced characters throughout the book.
Daisy is a young woman accomplishments and poise she is fantasized or dreamed about her potential made from an early age. She is a good friend of the Duke of Loxwell three sisters and has a small crush on him.
Alexander never expected to become a Duke and when it happens he is determined to be one of great solecism and poise. He is also determined never to have love in his life believing he is undeserving.
These two characters will balance each other out during the course of the story line and the secondary players make a well-rounded cast for lively story.
Looking forward to reading other books by this author in the future.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Daisy is hiding in Alexander Balfour’s bedroom and this could lead to her being compromised if she is found. Needless to say, she is discovered by Alexander (the new Duke of Loxwell) and he decides that a proposal is in order, even if it is a false one, and she agrees to this.
There is also a mystery to be solved, as well as finding the ‘bad’ man and sorting hm out.
All this while these lovely characters really do fall head over heels for each other and very nearly make a total mess of their relationship.
I loved how this story is put together and all the angst that seems to go with falling in love.
This story is a great start to a new series and I look forward to finding out what beautiful love-adventures Alexander’s sisters will find themselves in in each of their own stories, for I cannot imagine the rest of the series being about any other characters.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Yay! I love Gemma Blackwood and am so glad that she has started a new series. A Duke She Can’t Refuse pairs a headstrong heroine with a strait laced duke and is utterly delightful!
This story is about Alexander, a Duke and Daisy, who liked her best friend’s brother (Alexander) for awhile. Daisy and Alexander are forced to enter into a fake engagement. I enjoyed Daisy’s relationship with Alexander’s sister – she is a loyal friend. Along with friendship and love there is a mystery which is an added bonus. It was nice reading about Jemima and Ralph from The Baron’s Inconvenient Bride – Daisy is Ralph’s sister. I read this book in one day – I didn’t want to put it down.
I received a free copy of this book from Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Headstrong Miss Daisy Morton must make a choice; play the fiancée to a duke she has a secret love for, or face possible ruin.
Daisy’s loyalty to her friends is always getting her into awkward places. Unfortunately, those places include the bedroom of the stern young Duke of Loxwell, where she is caught hiding under the bed by one of society’s most notorious gossips.
For mysterious reasons of his own, the duke saves her reputation with a false engagement. There’s only one rule: she won’t fall in love with him or will she?
This is one of the best books I have read by this author. It is a sweet type of story with no overt physical contact.
I gave this latest Gemma Blackwood book 4.25 of 5.0 stars for plot, story line and characterization.
I would recommend this book even for the teenage fan of Historical Romance.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
As is a requirement in a Regency romance, the well meaning, naïve heroine finds herself in what the requisite gossip deems a compromising position. To save her reputation, the stiff but good hearted hero, who is not coincidentally an eligible and handsome duke, offers her a temporary engagement. Mix in a bumbling friend, an over eager mother and a bit of a mystery and all’s well that ends well. Well written and enjoyable if not particularly novel.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I found Gemma Blackwood’s Duelling for a Wife very entertaining and gladly accepted the opportunity to read a free copy I received via Booksprout; the thoughts expressed are my own.
Being a faithful friend to Edith lands Daisy in a false engagement. As is often the case in such a story line, it works well for Alexander, a new duke, to help deflect the interest of the young ladies. Until he develops feelings for her.
Alexander has no intention of marrying, at least not for love it seems. There is mention of this in his thoughts several times, but it takes more than halfway through the book to find out why. It seems a bit of a contradiction as he is otherwise very dutiful to his sisters and his title, but he seems to have forgotten the need to marry for an heir some day.
There is a mystery introduced as Daisy overhears intruders while she’s hiding in Alex’s bedroom. She does not tell him until quite a bit later in the story, and then only in bits and pieces over time.
A Duke, a mystery, and a pretend engagement lead to love. Daisy has known Alexander for years as her best friend is his younger sister Edith. She has secretly loved him but he always seems so stern. Now that he is a Duke it is worse. Then due to Edith’s carelessness, and Daisy’s trying to help her, Daisy is caught in Alexander’s bedroom. He immediately proposes a pretend engagement, until everything dies down and then Daisy can end the engagement. But there is a mystery they has to be solved, which puts Daisy in danger. Alexander is falling in love with her but due to a misguided sense of morality he believes he isn’t disserving of love. Daisy will have to change his mind and solve the mystery. I received a free copy of this book from Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Daisy’s loyalty to her friends is always getting her into awkward places. When her friend Edith breaks a vase Daisy finds herself in the bedroom of the Duke of Loxwell, where she is caught hiding by one of society’s most notorious gossips. For mysterious reasons of his own, the duke saves her reputation with a false engagement. There’s only one rule: she can’t fall in love with him. Alexander Balfour, the new Duke of Loxwell, lives for honour and duty, he also wants to see his four sisters happily married.
A well written novel that I read in two sittings. There was a fake engagement but also a mystery about the vase, which led Daisy into danger. I love both Daisy & Alex, she was headstrong but also very caring & fiercely loyal to her friends. Alex appeared to be stern but cared for his sisters & was consumed by guilt. I loved their journey to a HEA which wasn’t smooth but it was very entertaining. He start of a new series & I look forward to the rest of the Balfour siblings having their stories especially Selina I also loved that we caught up with Ralph & Jemima from The Baron’s Inconvenient Bride
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read
A Duke She Can’t Refuse is book one in The Impossible Balfours series by Gemma Blackwood. I think this should actually be read after the last book in Blackwood’s Scandals of Scarcliffe Hall book 4 – The Baron’s Inconvenient Bride. Although A Duke She Can’t Refuse can be read as a stand alone, there are certainly plenty of references to the hero and heroine from book 4. This story is about Daisy Morton the sister of Lord Northmere (book 4’s hero). I loved Daisy right away. She is loyal and kind. I wished for more of a physical description of each of the characters. I like to picture characters like a movie as I read, and other than Daisy’s dark hair, I couldn’t find much of a physical description. Also the first chapter introduces a whole slew of people that left me baffled. But I pressed on. Alexander Balfour, Duke of Loxwell is a very well developed character. He is Daisy’s best friend’s big brother. Who hasn’t crushed on their best friends big brother? “Alexander had been a duke for a matter of months, but Daisy’s fascination with him had begun over a year before. There was something about a man with the broad shoulders of a prize-fighter and the impeccable dress of a gentleman, the tousled dark hair of a poet and the stern manners of a school master, that could not help but catch her attention.” I thought the pace was good and there were some twists and turns that kept me hooked. This is a clean sweet romance. I am looking forward to more by Blackwood.