When passion begins to boil, fame and fortune no longer seem to matter.The Duke of Ravenscar intended to debut the most acclaimed ballerina in the civilized world to open his London theater. But when the ship arrives with an understudy, Drake is convinced the fortune he has invested will be forfeit. Until he sees the woman dance.Britannia LeClair arrives in London excited to be performing the … excited to be performing the lead in La Sylphide. A foundling, she has had to work harder and with more determination than anyone in the corps. At last, her debut in London proves her worth despite her lowly birth. Until she meets the smoldering gaze of the Duke of Ravenscar.
Determined not to become anyone’s mistress, Britannia keeps the duke at arms-length while she sets to uncovering the mystery of her parentage. With only a miniature painting and a monogrammed handkerchief, her inquiries lead to a series of escalating accidents and threats.
When Drake realizes Britannia is in danger, he will move heaven and hell to protect her…if the strong-headed ballerina will let him. As they traverse through the mire of skullduggery and hidden shame, events unravel to endanger them both. Will the truth prove worth uncovering, or will it sever the deep love that has come to bond their very souls?
Read the Devilish Dukes Series in Order
- Book 1: The Duke’s Fallen Angel
- Book 2: The Duke’s Untamed Desire
- Book 3: The Duke’s Privateer
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What a joy to get lost in a author that gives so much.
I really didn’t like the H, too full of himself as most books of this genre would expect him to be. Truly liked the h until she decided that passion was more important than her future. Yes, they had the HEH, but her turnaround just kind of ticked me off. I will still look into reading more of this author.
Enjoyed this book it had lots of twists and action and of course a happy ever after.
I Was Ready For The Ending When It Came
I liked the premise, and there were some interesting passages here and there. However, the plot didn’t transpire believably and seemed to drag on. It was frequently tedious – star-crossed lovers melodramatically contending with their growing affection for each other. Drake was not at all charismatic. I thought he was often too testy. Britannia was incredibly naive, choosing to trust a stranger despite strong reservations, instead of the man who was vying to be her protector. Also, for someone with strong opinions against having a protector, it didn’t take Britannia long to suddenly decide to move away from those convictions and toward Drake. She didn’t really know him at that point. It just didn’t make sense. I was rolling my eyes at a point where she asserted herself in a situation as if she were nobility and holding all the cards. I thought her behavior was more stupid than brave.
I just finished this last night and it was very enjoyable. Several twists and turns which made it interesting! I really liked it – I would have liked more!
I love the writing style and prose of Amy Jarecki and in The Duke’s Fallen Angel she excelled at it. She brought the story to life. I feel like I experienced everything that happened. The book is about a lovely romance between a Duke and a prima ballerina set during the Regency/Georgian era. Her descriptions were spot on for the period and the dancing. The plot is great, the characters were charming, there is some mystery involved, secrets held and revealed, and of course, some nefarious characters. Loved it all. What a great read. Highly recommend.
This story kept me turning the pages. I loved Bri’s grace and innocence, and her determination to find out about her past. Drake was a bit of a bully in the beginning, but he grew on me. Once he realized what was important, he showed his true colors. There are several wonderful secondary characters, as well as a couple not-so-nice ones. I felt the love of dance through both Bri and Drake’s eyes and feelings. I highly recommend this story.
This is my unsolicited review.
The romance just steams off the page. Enthralling, captivating, enchanting, intoxicating…words that this story evoked in me! I so wanted these two to defy convention and get their HEA!!! Amy captured my heart very quickly in this story despite knowing nothing about ballet or french! Dance is definitely Amy’s first love.
Drake, the Duke of Ravenscar is opening what he plans is the primer theatre in London and has booked the most renowned ballerina in the world to open it. He’s staked everything on this venture and it MUST succeed. When he meets the ship from Paris his star isn’t on it but an unknown foundling understudy instead! He’s ruined he’s sure. Britannia LeClair is an orphan raised by a loving couple outside of Paris where she learns everything she needs to be part of the Paris Opera Ballet. She has risen to the top despite her lack of pedigree by sheer determination and god given talent. She proved to Drake she can make the ballet season a success. Along the way he falls hard for this little ballerina who has no parents, no history and someone threatening her life. As a Duke society wouldn’t tolerate him marrying a common dancer with no noble blood and she will not be anyone’s mistress. Oh the chemistry and willpower these two exude. I loved the mystery of who’s threatening her, who’s her parents and if they ever find a way to be together! Thank you Amy for this story and the opportunity to review it for you. It’s your best yet.
This is a new road for Amy Jarecki as the first in Georgian time period. From the first you are drawn in with the hero, Drake Duke of Ravenscar who is betting his home in that he will make England fall in love with his owning a theatrical company, Then the heroine, is thrown in to cover the main ballerina that the Duke is expecting and the Duke is furious that he will be made a laughing stock, lose his home and having his mother upset with him.
Bria, is a beautiful young girl that fights her way up the ballerina field by having to prove that she was a dancer, and at the same time trying to find out who her parents were.
Enter a evil double dealing investigator, a old Duke trying to keep her away from her mother and mishaps of dangerous deeds that try to make Bria go back to France or to get rid of her. In this book I really could not put it down, the friction between Bria and Drake hits you at the first meeting between the two. You can see and feel their attraction and how they try to stay apart because of their status.
Amy has brought Bria’s and Drakes love to the forefront of the book and the road that they had to travel to be together is filled with tension, heat, and feelings of danger but when together they fall deeper into fate’s plan.
This is a wonderful book by Amy Jarecki and she has really pulled together a couple that will be hard to forget. Hope she will bring them back in future books for she also has some secondary characters that Amy could write some wonderful books for them. You will love not just this book but all Amy’s books. I do.
Drake Alexander Thomas Chadwick, Duke of Ravenscar has decided to open an opera house and he’s wants the London troupe performing the lead in La Sylphide and Marie Taglioni to be his star studded opening day extravaganza. Drake is flabbergasted to learn that Marie Taglioni did not accompany them and instead they sent her understudy. Britannia LeClair arrives in London excited to be performing the lead in La Sylphide. Britannia has been dreaming of being ballet dancer, but first she must impress the Duke with her talents to perform. Being in London is an opportunity for Britannia to find to some information of her heritage, after her supposed parents died she found out she’s a foundling and she found a box with Britannia, her name, on it was a miniature portrait of her a woman and a handkerchief with the Prince regency coat of arms on it. She hires a Bow Street runner to investigate for her to see if the woman is still alive.
Drake and Britannia are attracted to each other, but Drake he needs to keep their relationship master/servant and Britannia fells she will never ever be anyone’s mistress. As Drake and Britannia spent more time together they get to know each other better their attraction grows from a smoldering passions to a sizzling passion they can no longer deny. I love how protective Drake is of Britannia, she knows there is no possible relationship for them she’s not of the nobility and she’ll never be his mistress. Britannia receives warning about looking into the miniature portrait and her parents. Drake will do anything to keep Bria safe, but it won’t be easy because the villain is cunning. A captivating story of compassion, love everlasting and enduring as two people look to overcome society’s prejudices and find a love worth fighting for! This is my honest opinions after I voluntarily read a copy of this book that was provided to me with no requirements for a review.
Here are two people who immediately you take to heart their plights – Duke of Ravenscar and Britannia LeClair.
Duke of Ravenscar has put all on the line for a wager. (obviously dukes have way too much money and little brains – hey, just saying!) Drake has wagered it all. If his venture of opening a new theater, bearing his family name, The Chadwick Theatre, appointed with the most elegant of surroundings and cost him more than he could afford, fails, the man is doomed. But it was a done deal. He chose the most prestigious and sought after ballerina in France, one Mademoiselle Taglioni. He had it in his pocket!
But when the ballerina wasn’t among those who were shepherded to his theatre, and found her understudy sent in her stead, he was on the verge of an apoplexy.
Britannia, the understudy, had been sick for the last two days as the ship crossed the Channel. Weak and exhausted, she had to prove her worth, no less in her bedraggled clothing. Her future as a ballerina was at stake. If the duke sent them back to France, she would no longer be welcome on stage.
I was caught up with the emotion swirling around these two characters. They both had so much to lose. To make the story even more intriguing, Britannia didn’t know who her parents were, a fondling with a few clues to her identity. The author adds another layer of worry for Britannia. She had been very nearly injured in several ‘accidents’.
As all this unfolds, so does the duke’s heart. He justifies all his actions when it comes to Britannia. For all his blustering anger at the beginning of the story, he becomes a besotted doting man by the end.
I appreciated Jarecki’s research about ballerinas of that time. Although our heroine is fictitious, Mademoiselle Taglioni was very real. Toe dancing was just coming into vogue and shorter costumes kept inching up, which very nearly does in the English noblewoman and has the gentlemen wishing they could see more!
Unfortunately, a passionate dancer like Britannia, also gained a certain poor reputation whether deserved or not.
Jarecki always writes a richly entertaining tale, layered with intrigue, broken hearts and happy ever afters. This one is no different.
Drake Chadwick, the Duke of Ravenscar, must make his theatre – Chadwicks – a success, otherwise he will be in big trouble. When he learns that the star ballerina he hired is not coming to London, he is livid. However upon seeing the understudy dance, he is enchanted. Britannia – Bria – LeClair immediately dazzles everyone with her otherworldly talent, even if a tad scandalous. Drake is immediately smitten, but Bria will be no one’s mistress even though most dancers have no qualms about becoming rich men’s paramours. Bria also needs to take care of something of a personal nature, which would preclude any entanglement with a duke.
What a joy to have a historical romance set against a background of ballet, particularly from an author who knows her topic intimately. The ballet sequences are breathtaking, described with precision while conveying an ethereal feeling of lightness and grace. The ballet world comes off as entirely genuine, and in addition to the author’s experience, her meticulous research gives the story much authenticity. The supporting cast of characters are well-drawn and frame the principals beautifully, and some of them absolutely wonderful. I liked that, in spite of his lust, Drake does not push Bria into anything, however in a way I could sense that he was patient, and was merely biding his time until Bria came to him willingly. I must admit that I never really warmed up to Drake: he is very dukish, judgemental, arrogant, and dare I say a snob; every inch the aristocrat. In a way, my problem stems from a fact that I never thought I would say, but Drake was maybe too realistically portrayed, until he did an about-turn that felt completely out of character, combined with other turns of events. I believed he was enamoured with Bria, but he would never have made their relationship official given his overall attitude; it goes against everything he is; she would have been relegated to the role of mistress, and nothing more.
Amy Jarecki’s writing is positively amazing: flowing, smooth, refined; it is grandiose. The dialogues are also excellent, particularly between Drake and his mother, who is quite an extraordinary character as well. Towards the end, Ms. Jarecki also graces us with her trademark action sequences. THE DUKE’S FALLEN ANGEL is a breath of fresh air when it comes to historical romance because of its unusual and most welcome setting. I dare hope Pauline’s story is next!
I give 3 ½ stars
I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this book. The writing is so smooth, full and robust that it just magically flows like a fine wine from scene to scene. Be sure to start reading early in the day because once you start, you won’t want to put it down. The characters are fully relatable, the villain is vile and the action and chase scenes are heart-stopping. It is just the kind of book I like – filled with excitement, drama, and romance!
Drake Alexander Thomas Chadwick, Duke of Ravenscar is twenty-five years old, seventh in line to the throne of England, rich, powerful, and handsome. What are his greatest passions? Theater, opera, ballet and Shakespeare and he’s in the process of opening his own theater, Chadwick House, to showcase those arts. He’s so determined that he’s even put up his mother’s home as collateral for the building expenses. Now, he is almost ready to open and he has secured the most magnificent French ballerina, Marie Taglioni, to star in his opening program, La Sylphide. He saw her perform this program in France and was mesmerized by her and he just can’t wait to introduce her and the ballet to England. The success of his theater and his fortune are riding on her tiny, talented, pointed toes.
When the troop finally arrives from France, Drake is flabbergasted to learn that Marie Taglioni did not accompany them and instead sent her understudy. Anger doesn’t even begin to describe how Drake feels as he rushes over to the theater to demand explanations and vent his temper. What is he going to do now – he has an understudy – an understudy!!! Yet, when he demands that the troop perform for him right then – in their traveling clothes – no matter how tired they are – he is absolutely stunned. This tiny slip of a girl is the most amazing dancer he has ever seen – so maybe his theater is saved after all.
Five years ago, when she was just fourteen, Britannia (Bria) LeClair learned that she was a foundling. Oh! How that hurt. The people she thought were her mother and father had just died of smallpox and her ‘uncle’ inherited everything. He promptly showed her her baptismal record and then told her she had to leave – no money – nothing. She had a few coins in her pocket and a precious keepsake she’d found after the LeClair’s died. That keepsake – a miniature portrait and a handkerchief contained in a lovely wooden box with her name on its top – could it have belonged to a relative? Her mother?
When she left her home, she made her way to Paris and the Paris Opera Ballet School where she begged the director for a spot in the school. He didn’t even want to see her, but she was persistent and finally convinced him. Ballet has been her life for the five years since then. She’s worked harder and longer hours than anyone else in the school and has finally worked her way up the being the understudy to Marie Taglioni. Now, she is so excited to be going to England to star as the lead in La Sylphide. She absolutely MUST be successful in this role in order to secure her future and she can also search for the lady in the miniature portrait. She couldn’t find her in France, so maybe she is in England.
The opening performance was phenomenal – London had never seen anything like it and Bria was the toast of the town. Every performance was sold out. Her admirers were legion, but she would NEVER, EVER be anyone’s mistress. Yes, she knew that all performers were seen as promiscuous, but she wouldn’t be one of them. As she and Drake spent more time together and got to know each other better their attraction grew and grew. They both fought it because they knew that there was only one relationship that could be between a Duke and a ballerina and Bria wouldn’t be a part of that.
As they come to care for each other more and more, strange things begin to happen to Bria. Someone trashing her room and her dressing room, strange accidents that aren’t accidents. Drake will do anything to keep Bria safe, but it won’t be easy because the villain is cunning. You’ll probably figure out who the villain is and who her parents were early on, but it will still keep you guessing about what will happen next – right up to the exciting ending.
All-in-all, it was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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