The duke kept the secret, but the sin was his to bear. More than anything, he did not wish for word of it to reach Emily’s ears. When the truth surfaces, Alexander may lose the only woman he’s ever loved. Miss Emily Ingram is a lady. At least she has the appearance of one. Secretly, Emily would much rather return to the days of her childhood raising trouble with her wild brother and his best … wild brother and his best friend, the handsome Alexander. Emily’s mother, the Viscountess of Kentleworth has other ideas.
Emily is given the Christmas holiday to choose between her London suitors.
Alexander may be a duke, but he is not a proper gentleman. He fears he is too late to win the lady’s affection. He only has until the New Year to discover Emily’s feelings. As the holiday festivities begin, an event from his past may sever their childhood friendship and extinguish any chance at love between them.
Will the duke’s secret destroy the love he hoped to kindle in her very proper heart?
Will practical and determined Emily overcome what keeps them apart?
One can hope for a Christmas miracle. After all even the coldest heart can melt.
A sweet Christmas romance about growing up, overcoming the past and learning to love.
Get your copy today!
Though part of a series, all of Isabella Thorne’s novels are standalone stories, and can be read in any order.
Fans of Grace Burrowes, Georgette Heyer and Christi Caldwell will enjoy all of Isabella Thorne’s classic sweet regency romance books.
The Ladies of the North
The Duke’s Winter Promise (Prequel) – Isabella Thorne’s Christmas new release 2019
The Ladies of Bath
The Duke’s Daughter
The Baron in Bath
The Deceptive Earl
Winning Lady Jane (Prequel)
The Hawthorne Sisters
The Forbidden Valentine
The Baggington Sisters
The Countess and the Baron
Almost Promised
The Healing Heart
The Lady to Match a Rogue
Nettlefold Chronicles Novellas
Not Quite a Lady Not Quite a Knight
Stitched in Love
Other Novels by Isabella Thorne
The Mad Heiress and the Duke
The Duke’s Wicked Wager
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The well written storyline and the well created characters made this book a very enjoyable and entertaining read!
From friends to lovers.
I love Ms. Thorne’s books they always have likeable characters, with great plots and excellent writing and this work meets all of those points in spades. Alexander and Emily do not have an easy time of it but their love story was a wonderful read. Great twists and turns as these old friends find their personal happiness together. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
WOW… talk about tension and suspense, jumping to conclusions, insecurity, fear of rejection… dang this story takes the cake. I was on edge the whole time reading this. The H/h had a difficult time reconnecting after eight long years. Slowly but surely the feelings grew. But scandal was right around the corner and could not wait to muck everything up. Thank goodness the h’s brother had his head screwed in right and made the way for them to be together. A very good read.
A Lifetime Love
The Duke’s Winter Promise by Isabella Thorne is a very sweet and clean story of how a childhood friendship can turn into an adulthood love.
Alexander, Anne, Emily and Edmund have always been friends. Sadly, with time and distance their ties loosened, but upon coming together again they each realized how much they care for one another, especially Emily and Alexander.
The Duke’s Winter Promise is a sedate tale that takes place in the country during the days leading up to Christmastide. It details the lives of friends who have known each other all their lives. Now as adults, they face the emergence of long suppressed emotions and realities. Alexander is a tender and charming hero who has always loved Emily. Emily is now a very proper Lady who seems to lost her fun side. It’s lucky for Alexander, that his best friend Edmund is also Emily’s brother, and Edmund only wants what’s best for the two people he loves the most. Since the course of true love is often bumpy, so it seems to be with Alexander and Emily. They will face obstacles that threaten to pull them apart. In the end, their hard won happy ending will make them stronger.
Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the author. I am voluntarily submitting my honest review.
I had an ARC copy of this book, but this is my voluntary and honest opinion. I enjoyed reading this book. The plot was interesting with its twists and turns. The characters were varied and I enjoyed the growth in them throughout the book. This Regency book is set in the Christmas season, but could easily be read any time.
ONE ENCHANTING DELIGHT
Wonderful! Isabella delivers with this killer storyline and gripping plot, keeping you riveted and frozen to your seat, with this delectable delight, laying this baby bare, pulling those heartstrings and cranking up the thrill, propelling this gem together flawlessly. Entangled, entwined and tightly combined, baring the crazy quirks and defying bents, putting our characters through their paces, testing them in ways they could have never envisioned. Shenanigans run rampant and havoc is rife, dishing out the drama, turmoil, intrigue, humor, revelations, escalating suspense and intense situations, make for one highly combustible adventure. Boundaries are heightened and exploited, baring the fervent facts, daunting deals and electrifying escapades, blasting this baby into the eye of the storm, slamming it into a tailspin with a life altering realization. The instantaneous attraction and chemistry builds as each layer is peeled back exposing profound emotions and an thrilling connection, binding them to one another perfectly. The characters, interactions and charged atmosphere along with relatable qualities and individual traits add depth and diversity, transforming into outstanding personalities. The scenes are abundantly descriptive with colorful details that blend and flow, creating a majestic backdrop that’s so rich and lively it feels you were transported to ground zero with them. Remarkable job Isabella, thanks for sharing this little guy with us.
Old friends reunite over Christmas activities, but things have changed and the status quo is no longer the same. Emily has been groomed to be a proper lady and whilst she longs to return to the freedom of her childhood, she knows it is no longer possible. Alexander is now a Duke and he wishes he could undo the intervening years and the effect of his father’s influence over him. Secrets emerge and everyone is hurt. Their only saving grace is Emily’s brother who refuses to accept the sacrifice that Emily is making. I found the story generally well written, but very slow-moving. I also found the darker undercurrents that followed Alexander into adulthood to be rather sad. Nevertheless, the book ends on a happy note and everyone satisfied with the outcome. I received a copy of this book as a gift and this is my honest and voluntary review.
This is different, definitely unique. I like that they were childhood friends and get a chance to become more. I didn’t really like that the drama caused the plot to shift focus to that and become more about the secret than Emily & the Duke building a new level to an old friendship. Too much misery and just not enough happiness throughout to balance things out. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A very interesting and enjoyable read.
The Duke’s Winter Promise by Isabella Thorne
This book had some promise but fell short on execution.
This book comes in at 321 pages which would normally take me about six hours to read but ended up taking over nine due to grammatical problems. It is a stand-alone, regency romance with a HEA and no cheating (other than some of the secondary characters in the past) and no cliffhangers. The language is clean with no explicit sex except for some kissing. The grammatical issues were a problem and interrupted the flow of the story as I tried to figure out what the author meant to say, which made the story feel like it was plodding along. The errors ranged from typos, to using the wrong homonym, to incorrect prepositions with verbs, to the wrong verb tense or verb form, to the just plain wrong word and were sometimes several per page – more than fifty for the whole book.
The plot was a ‘friends falling in love’ trope. Basically, they hadn’t seen each other since childhood and now meet again as adults. There were a few twists and secrets in the plot but was honestly on the boring side and didn’t really leave a lasting impression. The sentence structures were more complex than most of what I have encountered lately and very enjoyable to read if not for the errors. The characterizations were fine but I didn’t connect with them very well. The heroine spent a lot of time remembering and worrying which made me impatient for the story to get on with it. Scenes could have been more descriptive and included more atmosphere. The story had a lot of angst and second-guessing oneself along with jealousy, reminiscing, scandalous secrets or not so scandalous, and a hero trying to live down his father’s reputation.
Overall, I felt that the story could have been good but needed more passion (not to be confused with sexual desire). Without the errors, I would give it a C+/B-; but with, it gets a D (2 stars).
I was given an ARC of this book in the hopes that I would voluntarily leave an honest review.
Lady Emily attends her aunt’s holiday party. She encounters her old friend Alexander, a philandering duke’s son. They fall in love and overcome their problems.t
The Duke’s Winter Promise was a regency romance set in the English countryside in the winter and there are lots of Christmas preparations. Siblings, Emily and Edmund, are visiting their aunt and uncle and they have fond memories of spending time there when they were younger. They reunite with childhood friends, Anne and Alexander, who Emily and Edmund spent a lot of time with. He’s now a duke and hopefully nothing like his father. Anne was her best friend and they picked up as if they had spent no time apart. There are lots of misunderstandings between Emily and Alexander who haven’t seen each other in many years. They were always confidantes but will they still be now that she must pick among several suitors back home in London to marry?
There are lots of activities and celebrations since it’s the holiday season and we get to know the characters a little at a time. Edmund really knows his sister and knows what she wants even if she’s not aware of it. I loved their interactions and how he tried to tell her that love is important in a marriage and not to give in to their parents. He’s also on the hot seat since their parents also think it’s time for him to settle down. The story has a nice flow to it but every now and again it would be choppy. There are many stories being told and they’re woven in and out but there are definitely loose ends that I hope are addressed in another book. There is a happily ever after or two that are nicely revealed especially with the epilogue. I liked the cover.
There was a sneak peek of the first book in the Baggington Sisters Collection, The Countess and the Baron – Prudence. It definitely whet my appetite for more!
Ms Thorne is a new to me author. I plan on reading more of her books.
Alexander and Emily grew up together along with her older brother being best friend to Alexander. When they grew up their friendship turns to romance with there are some twists in the story that keeps getting in the way. Will Alexander and Emily get their happy ever after?
3.5 stars
This was the story of two people. Emily and Alexander, who knew each other during their childhood and are now meeting again after an absence of eight years. During the book there were a number of childhood reminiscing, may be a little too much for my taste. Emily was always trying to be the perfect lady, without the spark she had when she was younger. She seemed to have allowed her mother too much influence. I did feel sorry for Alexander, being tarnished by his father’s reputation. Thank goodness for Emily’s brother, Edmund. He was like a breath of fresh air! He still had a sense of mischief about him and was definitely his own man as far as his parents’ influence was concerned. I would love to read his story. The first part was a bit too slow for me but the second half had more events that kept my interest. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I so enjoyed this story and the characters. The beginning was very slow in introducing all the characters. While the story was wonderful, it seemed to me that the author was under an obligation to write a novel of greater length. It would have been a much better book had she not been quite so wordy in the beginning and gotten on with the story. The second half of the book moved much more quickly!
It was good, but so slow to move on. Things were repeated over and over.
Well wru
Enjoyed it
Great book. I loved Edmund. Every girl should have a brother exactly like him.
Nice idea for a story. Needs editing.