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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase!
Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase
Series: The Dressmakers #4 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: December 29th 2015
Lady Clara, the fan-favorite character from Loretta Chase’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling Dressmakers series, finally gets her own happily ever after!
Convenient marriages are rarely so…exciting. Can society’s most adored heiress and London’s most difficult bachelor fall victim to their own unruly desires?
Biweekly marriage proposals from men who can’t see beyond her (admittedly breathtaking) looks are starting to get on Lady Clara Fairfax’s nerves. Desperate to be something more than ornamental, she escapes to her favorite charity. When a child goes missing, she turns to Oliver Radford—a handsome, brilliant, excessively conceited barrister.
Having unexpectedly found himself in line to inherit a dukedom, Radford needs a bride who can navigate the Society he’s never been part of. If he can find one without having to set foot in a ballroom, so much the better. Clara—blonde, blue-eyed, and he must admit, not entirely bereft of brains—will do. As long as he can woo her, wed her—and not, like every other sapskull in London, lose his head over her…
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Dukes Prefer Blondes is the first book I’ve read by Loretta Chase, and I adored it! The banter in this was an absolute delight to read – if her other books are anything like this one, I’m excited to read them all! As for the story in Dukes Prefer Blondes, I really enjoyed Clara and Raven’s romance. These two are highly intelligent people who couldn’t be more different, and yet feel so right together. There was a lot more depth to the both of them that surprised me, so if you love characters who are more than meets the eye, I highly recommend this book.
Her beauty surrounded her like a great stone wall. Men couldn’t see above, beyond, or through it. They certainly couldn’t think past it.
This was because men only looked at women. They didn’t listen to women, especially beautiful women.
Lady Clara Fairfax is tired of the rules of society that suffocate her because she’s a woman of status and beauty. No one sees past her outer looks, so when she gets biweekly proposals from men who don’t really want or know her real self, she rejects them all. She wants a husband who appreciates her brains more than her looks, one who will stimulate her mind and not make her go crazy with boredom. And the only person who seems to fit this bill is Oliver ‘Raven’ Radford, a barrister she asks for help to find a missing orphan.
Raven may be related closely to a duke, but he’s firmly a man of the working class. He’s dedicated to his work as a barrister and has always prized intelligence above all else. So he’s pleasantly surprised that the beautiful Lady Clara can keep up with his sarcasm and banter. The witty remarks between them are probably my favorite part of the book – the two of them had me giggling so much! You can also feel a certain chemistry between them through the banter, which sets up the romance for them perfectly.
Her Raven. Brusque and caustic. And funny. Unlike her, he said whatever he wanted to say. It didn’t matter where he was or with whom.
She, meanwhile, had to closely inspect in advance every gesture, act, and word for possible violations of ladyship rules. Except with him.
I loved how Raven was the only man to appreciate Clara for who she really was. She never had to pretend with him – she came alive around him, and vice versa. It’s a very slow, gradual romance that develops between these two characters, in between witty dialogue and sweet, more tender moments. There are also some great adventures as they try to find Clara’s missing orphan, and they come across some dangerous gang members. Overall, Dukes Prefer Blondes is a highly satisfying story, with fantastically well-written characters and even better banter. I can’t wait to read more from Loretta Chase!
Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.
Reading Order: The Dressmakers series
#1 ~ Silk is for Seduction: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Scandal Wears Satin: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Vixen in Velvet: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#4 ~ Dukes Prefer Blondes: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Loretta Chase has worked in academe, retail, and the visual arts, as well as on the streets-as a meter maid-and in video, as a scriptwriter. She might have developed an excitingly checkered career had her spouse not nagged her into writing fiction. Her bestselling historical romances, set in the Regency and Romantic eras of the early 19th century, have won a number of awards, including the Romance Writers of America’s Rita. For more about her past, her books, and what she does and doesn’t do on social media, please visit her website www.LorettaChase.com.
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Mia Sheridan is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. Her passion is weaving true love stories about people destined to be together. Mia lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband. They have four children here on earth and one in heaven.
Kristan Higgins is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than a dozen novels and a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages and received numerous starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, Kirkus and Romantic Times. She is a four-time nominee for The Kirkus Prize for best work of fiction.
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