Thank you for providing a copy of The Duke by Kerrigan Byrne. I initially took a break from it, intending to return later, as I couldn't get into it at the time. Unfortunately, I’ve since lost interest in revisiting it. I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to exploring future titles that align more with my current reading preferences.

Surprising plot twists and excellent character development... my only issue was the lack of character dialogue.

Absolutely loved this story between Cole and Imogen.

Imogen broke my heart with how gentle and sweet, yet strong she was in despite her misgivings in life. Her tenacity to kindness to others, especially Cole who goes out of his way to be an absolute bear, is my favorite,.

Cole is one of the more stubborn heroes of this series. I loved how he eventually despite his own arrogance and refusal to warm up to Imogen, he ends up falling helplessly in love with her. That's what makes their pairing so special. As well as the not so secret night he took her viriginity that she "fooled" him into not connecting the dots between her and Ginny.

Tons of steam, tons of romance, so so so good.

4.5 stars

For me, this book is missing A HUGE apology, so that’s why it’s 3 stars instead of 4. I felt like the hero had no positive character growth and that was really needed. Otherwise, this was another Kerrigan Byrne novel that I could not put down - finished on the same day I started it.

This was a decent story and I somewhat enjoyed both the hero and the heroine. However, nothing really stood out making it a great book.

I love everything by Kerrigan Byrne. Her characters are memorable and the romance is hot. I am looking forward to her next book. She does not disappoint!

I absolutely adore Kerrigan Byrne!!! She is one of the greatest historical romance writers around today, she has such a unique, witty and brilliantly engrossing writing style that can grab the reader and not let them go right up until you start a new book and this book is no different to the other's.

This book is gorgeous!! Sexy, exciting, romantic, thrilling, enchanting fully immersive, captivating character's intricately woven plot that takes your on a edge of your seat journey right to the end, I loved it!!

The writing is solid, the story as ever flawless, the historical detail just blows you off your feet and drag's you into the era so you are actually living it.

ARC received for review

Cole has been through hell and his thoughts of Ginny kept him sane. Ginny has "disappeared" and in her place is Countess Imogene. He is mean to her but doesn't understand why he likes her so much. The bad guy surprised me. Cole gets help from the heroes from the first two books.

The Duke by Kerrigan Byrne is a complex love story. At times it feels like two stories interwoven as the two lead characters get to know each other again. I love evolving characters and The Duke has those in spades.

Collin "Cole" Talmage, Duke of Trewyth, is the stuff that legends are made of. He's the English Empire's golden son--until fate has its way with him. Cole's family is killed and his closest comrade betrays him on the battlefield, leaving him gravely injured. But Cole is not one to dwell on misfortune. He is a man of duty, honor--and desire. And now he's ready for the fight of his lifetime. Imogen Pritchard is a beautiful lass who works in a hospital by day and as a serving maid at night. Years ago, when she was young and penniless, she ended up spending a scandalous night with Cole, whose tormented soul was matched only by his earth-shattering passion. Imogen entered a marriage of convenience but she never forgot Cole. Now that her long-lost lover has turned up in her hospital, injured and with no memory of her, Imogen is torn: Is it a blessing or a curse that their past remains a secret to Cole, even as his new passion for her leaves him wanting to protect and possess her.
As with other books written by this author, this book felt like an epic journey that both main characters go through. As will many of the characters in the author’s other books, Cole has been through a harrowing past, looking death right in its face. Imogen is a strong heroine who has survived life that gave her nothing to start with. Both characters ignite traits within each other that make you cheer for them as they go through their journey. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Not my favorite in the series, but still very good

Let me start off by saying that Kerrigan Byrne is an excellent writer, who knows how to write emotionally gripping and sexually scorching stories with unforgettable characters. All her books are beautifully written with the perfect blend of historical accuracy and searing hot romance. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this next installment in her Victorian Rebels series. As with all her books, I read the entire book in one sitting. It pains me to say, it wasn’t my favorite of hers, but still a good book.
This is the story of Collin (Cole) Talmage, the Duke of Trenwyth and Imogen Pritchard (working class barmaid) and both of them have very tragic stories to tell.
Without describing the entire book and giving away too much, I had some issues with the behavior of this particular hero and felt that as their story progressed, their actual chemistry dissipated. We’re introduced to the duke shortly after a tragic loss that has begun to fill his soul with darkness and despair. In the beginning, there is definitely that explosive chemistry between the two. However, when their paths cross again, despite the sizzling chemistry in the beginning, the romance between Cole and Imogen is really…really slow to burn. We see that he has become a surly, damaged and at times, cruel man. Undoubtedly, he goes through a terrible ordeal, but as the story continues it became difficult to overlook his insolent attitude, particularly towards Imogen. For a man with extremely strong views on the upper and lower classes, and who was obsessed with finding a poor working class woman who was beneath his station/class, Cole’s cruel words and deeds when their paths cross again just didn’t work for me.
Imogen on the other hand is a kind, resilient and selfless heroine, that is determined to make the lives of women and children better by using the unexpected gift she was handed. However, at times it felt her selflessness was almost saintly in nature.
What I liked about The Duke is the tension in the novel. It is well paced, never boring and with the reappearance of the beloved couples from Kerrigan’s previous books, it makes for a very good book. With the mentioned of the ‘Rook’, I’m already anticipating the next book in this captivating series.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

The fourth installment in the Victorian Rebels series introduces us to Cole and Imogen. Imogen is trying to keep her head above water. She works as a nurse by day and at a tavern at night working off her father's gambling debt. When she happens to meet the newly minted Duke of Trenwyth, she does not realize how her life is going to change. After spending the night in his company she finds herself searching for any news on him after he found to be missing while on one of his military missions. Imagine her surprise when she comes into work one more to find that he has been found and she is to be his nurse. As she takes care of him convincing one of the doctors to re-examine him she finds herself falling deeper in love. But when he comes to and does not recognize her and is nasty to her she quickly finds herself fired.

When going to the tavern that evening she is attacked and while fighting him off she gravely wounds him. With no where to go without endangering her family she sneaks back into the hospital in search of her stuff. She is devastated to find all her things have been removed, in a move of desperation she goes into one of her patients rooms to steal his money. When he wakes and finds her she spills everything to the kind old man who promptly saves her, by making her his countess.

Cole has been through hell and back. He has lived through unimaginable horrors and the only thing that has kept him sane was the thought of Ginny. The tavern maid that he meet on the night he shipped out. She was the only one to comfort him and help him with is pain. But no matter how hard he looks he cannot find her, it is like she disappeared into thin air. Three years have gone by since he returned from hell and he is no closer to finding her than he was 3 years ago. The only thing he wants to do is find her and live a quiet life, but that is not in the cards for him Lady Anstruther living beside him driving him mad.

Imogen is determined to give back to those less fortunate. She knows what is is like to be faced with the knowledge that you have no where to turn. As she prepares to open her home to ladies and children in need she finds that Cole wants to stop her. How can someone that was once so kind now be so cruel. But when a guest at her fundraiser turns up dead and they think that she was the target, suddenly Cole is at her side trying to protect her. But she can never let him find out that she is Ginny. It would ruin everything she has ever worked for.

Cole cannot explain why he feels that he has to protect Imogen. The only other person he has felt this for was Ginny. But as danger closes in he finds himself falling further and further for Imogen. When he finds out she has been keeping a secret from him, can he forgive her before it is to late and he loses her to the danger that finds her?

Great installment to this series. I cannot say enough about this particular series of books.

I loved Cole and Imogen's story!!

Imogen was definitely not one of the typical heroines that you normally read about (although Byrne's never are) in historical romances. She came from the lower class and ended up marrying into the peerage, something that Cole didn't let her forget. He didn't really treat her very well when they first started encountering each other. He thought that she had tricked her late husband into marrying her for his money. Being a duke and all, he thought he was much better than she. Too bad he couldn't stop thinking about her.

I really enjoyed watching this story unfold and reconnecting with past H/H from the series. I'll state again, that this is one of my favorite series of all time!!

I've always thought there is a skill to writing historical/regency romance, a way to build a story to a smart, satisfying conclusion. This book didn't have that. DNF.

As per the usual route, I liked this book, when will I ever not like historical romance and come on when I do dislike it then its pretty bad until you should steer clear from that book because let’s be honest I give a HUGE loophole with this specific genre that I am sure I am reading it with beer goggles.

Going into the review, I have to say I liked how Imogen had a past. It wasn’t a shady past but it was shady enough that should she be exposed her reputation would be ruined and she would lose everything she worked hard for.

I really liked the dynamic between the main leads. Their dynamic before he went off for some war mission and after he came back from being rescued. It was nice to see how before he went off to his mission he was the stereotypical male lead; charming, dashingly handsome, awesome in bed and a very considerate lover whereas when he came back he just wasn’t the same man and I loved how Imogen knows how he changed that he isn’t the same man he used to be and she was realistic about it. I mean, yeah she cared about him but she was also knew that if it didn’t happen then she will move on and live her life like what she has been doing all this time he wasn’t by her side.

I can’t really put into words why I liked that it was years before they actually met again and started a relationship but maybe one of the reasons is the one I just listed above where Imogen knew him before and after what happened to him and she chooses whether she wants to go down this path with a difficult man.

Now, I read on Goodreads that some readers didn’t like Cole because he was such a brute, inconsiderate, mean, petty, cruel etc but I liked him actually because the man was tortured. He was a prisoner of war and as far as I know prisoners of war don’t exactly get 5 star treatments in their cells especially if they also happen to be government spies. Cole was tortured for months and all he had to live for was the image/fantasy of Imogen and he was so desperate to go back home that when he was rescued; his rescuers couldn’t break the chain on one of his hands he decided to just fuck it and cut his own wrists. THE MAN CUT HIS OWN HAND OFF ALA 127 HOURS!!!!

If after going through all that the readers expect him to STILL BE CIVIL AND CHARMING all I can say is ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?????

Obviously the man will suffer from PTSD. Heck, I almost chopped off my own finger with a machete 11 years ago and I’M STILL TRAUMATIZED let alone being tortured. I wished the author described in more details Cole’s PTSD but I guess how she described it in the book was okay to get by.

It was also pretty cool how the author inserted Cole’s situation of having no left (was it left?) hand and him having trouble with his prosthetic hand and all so it shows some form of realism there.

One thing I did not like about the plot was the antagonist. The antagonist was like a jack-in-a-box, they just popped outta nowhere and yeah I guess their reasons for being the antagonist was kind off credible, it would have been better had there been a backstory for their pain so the readers can truly empathize and relate to them because I for one was very confused by the appearance of said antagonist.

Overall, the book was a great read but I still prefer The Scot Beds His Wife because in this book it had some comedic aspects and the heroine is just bad ass. I mean Imogen is bad ass in her own way but I prefer my heroines to be gun-sword-dagger-dragonstone-wielding women.

Also, the part where Imogen kind of got hurt that Cole didn’t remember her when he first woke up and threw a teacup at her I was a bit miffed I mean I don’t even remember my nap if I wake up from a too long nap so give him some slack, the man just woke up from a coma.

The Duke is the fourth book in the Victorian Rebel series. Although it is not necessary to read the others first, it is helpful since the characters from those books appear in this one. Ms Bryne's storylines has all the elements I enjoy in a good read, and these one has it all. We are taken on a trip with two very different people. Both are living dual lives. Imogen works as a nurse to keep food on table for her family, but as Ginny she works as a drink server at the Bare Kitten to pay off her father's gambling debts. Cole is a spy/assassin for the Crown, but after his family dies in an accident he is also the Duke of Trenwyth. Their one night at the Bare Kitten sets the tone for the rest of the story, which occurs more than a year later. I don't like to give a lot of details since it might ruin the book format others. Just be assured it contains intrigue, danger, a villain (but is it the right one?) and lots of action. Great storyteller. At the risk of sounding prudish, the only distraction for me was the liberal use of the f word. It is not necessary to the storyline, especially such an excellent storyline. The author is a superb storyteller.

Book: The Duke by Kerrigan Byrne

Series: Victorian Rebels #4

Reviewed by: Barb Massabrook (of)
1.Tartan Book Reviews
2.Purple Tulip Book Reviews
3.Celtic Barb’s Tartan Book Review Blog

Heat Rating: Hot

Overall Rating: 5 Stars/5 Kilts

London 1876

Collin “Cole” Talmage Is the Duke of Trewyth, had been the English Empire's favored son. That is until tragedy hits home and his family is killed! This is how Collin gains the title of Duke of Trewyth. On top of that someone he trusted and called friend betrays him! In battle this so called friend leaves him close to death on the battlefield! He is one move forward not dwell on the past. Now he'd prepared to fight for the battle of his life!

Imogen “Ginny” Pritchard is an attractive lass who works in the hospital by Day and in the evening works as a serving maid at a bordello/ bawdy house/ alehouse/tavern. She is determined to pay off her father gambling debts. So her mother and sister don’t have to go to debtor's prison.

Cole meets the poverty stricken lass, who is trying to keep her mother and sister out of the poor house. Paying off her deceased father's gambling debts.

The chemistry between Colin and Ginny is immediate. As Ginny sees sorrow in Collin’s face and Collin sees her beauty and wants to forget. Ginny pleads with the Bordello owner at the Bare Kitten Gin and Dance Club to refuse this offer! As she does not want to become any man's whore plus she's an innocent, a virgin!

Though it would pay off a huge part of her father's gambling debt. Collin and Ginny do spend the night together. Though it will be many years until they see each other again. As Collin was captured in battle and became a prisoner of war. He becomes a battle scarred warrior both inside and out.


Collin does try to locate Ginny after his release, yet he doesn't realize she was wearing a disguise and using a fake name. As she was the only bright light in his memory it all the years in prison.

Ginny is still now working as a nurse by day as a nurse and at the bordello/alehouse at night. Now Collin has been deeply injured in battle and is shocked to see Ginny again. Though this time as his nurse, The nurse who saved his life! Ginny has moved up in the world having married a titled man who is now deceased. She is now a countess and wants to help others, especially the less fortunate. Ginny has a lot of compassion coming from a background of poverty and abuse. Where Collin coming from a privileged background has a lot of prejudice.

I didn't always like this hero but he redeemed himself. Plus he is also suffering plus he struggling with PTSD and more. His behavior is very common for those born with a silver spoon in their mouth- the wealthy and titled. Will these two opposite meet on a common ground? Or will they go their separate ways with separate lives? Plus there are secrets and betrayals the make things rather interesting You will have to read this magnificent story and finds out.

Another spectacular Kerrigan Byrne read! She has that special spin that always touches my heart. I have been reading her since her debut as an independent author. Now a brilliant published author and I have loved every book! Kerrigan is one of my favorite authors as I always get caught up and lost in her lush riveting romantic adventures. I can never put her novels down! Always a delight to read from start to finish!

I am always excited to see what Kerrigan Byrne will be writing next! Book 5 is called “The Scot Beds His Wife” to be released October 3rd.I can't wait to read and blog about it. I absolutely love this series! Kerrigan is one of the most powerful authors in historical romance!


Victorian Rebels Series
by Kerrigan Byrne

1.The Highwayman
2. The Hunter
3. The Highlander
4. The Duke
5. The Scot Beds His Wife (To be released October 3rd)

I received an advance readers copy from the publisher. I voluntarily agreed to do a fair review and blog through netgalley. All thoughts, ideas and words are my own

The Duke By Kerrigan Byrne in the 4th book in the Victorian Rebels series but is a great stand alone. Cole was England’s greatest hero but now his family is dead and he has been betrayed by his best friend. He meets Imogen at a time when she is struggling to keep her family safe. There one night together was two hurt and lonely people needing comfort. Years later Imogen is no longer struggling and Cole is back and very determined to find the girl from that night. This book had lots of great twists.

Kerrigan Byrne’s Victorian Rebel series is beyond amazing. Each book is even better than the last and filled with everything you could want in historical romantic suspense. The era detail, society’s rules and rituals, passion, danger, characters learning and growing through adversity, overcoming perilous threats and obstacles to triumph in the end. The suspense keeps you turning pages as the stakes are extremely high. Not only do the characters risk losing love, they could very well lose their lives. The rich romance makes you want to stay immersed in the story as the emotional investment in these two characters is also high. They’ve both been through a long, arduous journey, and you so badly want them to have the happily ever after they deserve.
Imogen Pritchard has struggled to keep herself, her mother, and her younger sister afloat. Though a nurse at St. Margaret’s Royal Hospital, she is forced to work at the Bare Kitten Gin and Dance Hall to pay off her late father’s debts to the proprietor. Disguising herself as the dark haired Ginny, Imogen only works as a server and not one of the “kittens” who sell themselves to the drunken clientele. Until one night when Collin Talmage, Duke of Trenwyth offers 20 pounds for her services. Knowing that giving herself to this man will pay off a year of debt and save her family, Imogen agrees and spends the night in unimaginable pleasure at the hands of her gentle lover, losing her virginity and her heart.
Collin Talmage (Cole) has recently lost his entire family in an accident and arrives at the Bare Kitten seeking oblivion. When he sees the raven haired serving girl with big violet eyes, he wants to lose himself in her before boarding a ship for the West Indies. Little does he know that the night spent with Ginny would be the one memory that would live with him forever.
A year later at St. Margaret’s Hospital, Imogen is given the task of caregiver to a new critically ill patient. The Duke of Trenwyth. Suffering from septicemia due to the loss of his hand, Cole is not expected to live. But Imogen nurses him back to life and saves him. After a year imprisoned by Turks, Cole wakes up a different man. He survived hell to come home to no one. No one he could trust. Living with fits of wrath and terror, the only time he finds peace is in his memories of Ginny. He strikes out at everyone in his anger, even the fair haired nurse who saved his life.
Three years later, Imogen and Cole are thrown together again. Imogen is now Cole’s neighbor having wed her dying husband at St. Margaret’s. Though Cole has searched for Ginny for 3 years, he can’t get his fair haired neighbor off his mind. She annoys him to no end. She’s an idealist taking in harlots, unfortunates, and unwed mothers and offering them a haven in her home. She has never known cruelty and betrayal as Cole has. He had been a savage in captivity and well knows the horrors men can do to each other. This bleeding heart neighbor aggravated him to no end, yet every time he’s around her, she brings out his wild beast and he finds himself kissing her.
Imogen saw the change in Cole. He was no longer the strong, gentle man but a morose, primitive one. A hard, compassionless man, he was now a haughty duke and hungry wolf who distrusted her. She could never let him know she’s Ginny. He’d never forgive her. But each time she was alone with him resulted in a kiss and those kisses were becoming more and more dangerous. She’d protect her new found life with her secrets. In so doing though, she’d destroy any chance with the man she wanted. It seemed fate would have her choose between her two passions. But fate intervenes again in the form of unimaginable dangers and Imogen and Collin find themselves thrown together battling a menacing killer and their intense desire.

A delicious sense of menace pervades this story because of secrets and sinister characters. Imogen’s life is constantly in danger and I was thrilled that she was placed under the protection of friends, Morley’s assemblage of a regency era group of superheroes if you will, from previous books, who vow to protect her. All while trying to keep her identity secret from the only man she’s ever loved. As with previous books in this series, the characters are so emotionally moving. Both scarred from their pasts, but where Collin found only darkness, Imogen was his light who gave him hope for a second chance at life.
Though part of a series, this can be read as a stand alone. But the series is spectacular and I guarantee you can’t stop with just one story. A brilliant and moving series! A Book Obsessed Chicks Review Team Selection

Iloved it would read it again and will recommend to my friends. Kerrigan Byrne does it Again.