Most of Caldwell’s works have been feel good romances, where a beautiful English miss, reforms a handsome scoundrel with her love for him. The result is a happily ever after. Caldwell also has a following that love her happily ever afters, of privileged and sheltered English misses. Her romances do bring smiles to my face as I read, as she does write wonderful ‘love’ story. Her characters have always connected and as a reader, I feel the visceral pull between them.

With her stepping out into the darker climes of London, in In the Dark with the Duke, she has pushed herself as a writer, in this gritty tale. In her latest book, Caldwell has stepped upon the stage and shed her peliase of light and airy writer, and pulled in her cloak of gritty and darker writer and I am enthralled. She has written dark and gritty prior, but never to this degree. She has stepped up both her character complexity and her plot in this new release. Both hero or heroine have pasts that have forever altered them.

The hero Hugh, haunted by guilt and that guilt is played upon by his comrades. At the beginning of the book he truly has no self worth as he is being eaten alive by his prior deeds.

The heroine is Lila she is was a minor character in a Caldwell series entitled the Wallflowers. She has a very tragic past, and because of that past has become a recluse. Only venturing out when London’s hustle and bustle is at it’s lull.

When Lila and Hugh meet sparks fly, and passion follows. But, this isn’t a smooth romance for either of them as their pasts aren’t easy to over come.

I throughly enjoyed this tale and I received an unedited proof of the book via Netgalley.

This is my fair and honest review, voluntarily given and in my own words, for this ARC. When you see the name Christi Caldwell you know that there is going to be a good book here! This is no exception to that rule. Unusual characters with very defined personalities, traits and issues. Interesting story for certain.

Recently discovered this author and she is fast becoming one of my favourites, already looking forward to reading the third instalment in this series. Hugh and Lila had great on page chemistry and the story was exciting and heartfelt.

What a great read, so well written as expected from Christi Caldwell.

This story had it all, a slow burn romance with two wonderful characters in Hugh and Lila. Both of them with wounded pasts, they find out what love is all about together. Another gripping page turner that kept me up late into the night.

Lady Lila March clings to the darkness as a recluse. Nightmares from the past bring back the fear time and time again. Reaching out to Hugh Savage, a bare knuckle fighter, Lila wants him to teach her how to defend herself. Both live in darkness and need each other, but Hugh doesn't feel worthy. Only by revealing the past can it bring them together. Another exceptional book in the series that has one twist after another and totally unexpected. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

When I started this book, I was expecting a great love story. This is so much more. This story comes from a dark place - a place of violence and fear and loss. I will never write a spoiler, but I will share that Hugh has lived through hell. He is a mess. He is lost. Lila grew up happily, till a terrifying event turned her into a hermit. This story is about Hugh and Lila and the forces around them that have molded them into the people they are today. Though PTSD is never mentioned, they both suffer from traumatic events in their lives. But they discover a strength in themselves because of the other!

Please read this story. You won't want to put this book down (I read it all today), and you will cry, and gasp, and cringe, and cheer...and absolutely fall in love with these two very special characters.

I was furnished this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. My review is 100% honest. Absolutely love it.

Two people with pasts that they are able to persevere to have a future and they do it together. I enjoyed both characters in this story and how they went thru a change to have a future of love and happiness.

Raised in a brutal world the hero Hugh only knows to fight his way. Lila, the heroine, has become a recluse after being injured in a violent massacre. They each recognized a shared tortured soul. This book was a little too violent for my tastes. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Montlake Romance for my honest review.

In the Dark With the Duke is the second book in Christi Caldwell's Lost Lords of London series. This wonderfully woven tale pairs Lady Lila March, who suffered greatly during the tragedy at Peterloo, and street fighter/Lost Lord, Hugh Savage.

Both characters, deeply scarred, attempt to heal each other in unconventional ways. Both Hugh and Lila transform each other's lives in ways that only can be imagined by delving into this dark to light tale.

In the Dark With the Duke by Christi Caldwell, is yet another triumph to her credit. A fan of darker romance, this story sated my appetite for the dark along with the build up to an perfect HEA.

Another lively and entertaining romance, well written by Christi Caldwell. The author has a way of describing a range of scenes, including brutal ones in such a way as to make them believable and acceptable. A true romance between a lost lord and a brave young woman. An excellent read.

*Review to be posted on blog on 5/21/20*

Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

My Reactions:

My Attention: Engaged

World Building: early 1800’s London and I learned about Peterloo (wasn’t aware this happened!)

Writing Style: classic Christi Caldwell

Bringing the Heat: 🔥🔥🔥 – slow burn and there’s only one major scene but it did it’s job!

Crazy in Love: they get to know each other a lot before they declare their love for one another

Creativity: loved that I learned something new, plus I love this lost lords trope

Mood: I’m in the mood for romance😍 but this book was an emotional one. 😟

Triggers: fighting, violence

My Takeaway: Lady Lila fights the demons of her past so she can feel strong and move on with her present. 💪🏾

What I Liked:
*The history of Peterloo was an eye opener and it was horrific. I liked that this book had characters that experienced what happened on that day on both sides of the massacre.

*Lady Lila is a fighter! She comes off as afraid and fearful of life, because of her past with Peterloo. I thought her story was emotional and heartbreaking.

*This story is about violence, fighting back against fear, survival instincts, forgiveness and love.

*Both Lila and Hugh are broken people with so much to gain in knowing and loving each other. I liked how their attraction grew as their stories are linked unknowingly. They have challenges trusting one another and forgiving themselves about things they couldn’t control but seeing them come together was gratifying.

Things That Made Me Go Hmm:
*This book can be read as a standalone but it does mention characters from another series I love that Christi Caldwell wrote before the Lost Lords of London.

*Hugh’s “lost lord” story didn’t really come about until the end. One day he’s a brawler teaching Lady Lila survival skills and next he’s a rich duke but the story doesn’t delve into that part of it in depth. For the most part of the story it’s Hugh Savage the brawler or partner of an arena where fighting takes place, not Hugh Savage the duke.

*Annalee is a side character we barely see but she’s mentioned a few times and was with Lila at Peterloo. Is Annalee going to have her own story, because I want that story!

Final Thoughts:
This story is about strength, perseverance, and forgiveness. Both Lila and Hugh are trying to change things about their lives but first they have to deal with their pasts. I’m enjoying this Lost Lords of London series so far, it’s only getting better. I hope to read more of the lost lords and hope we get more emotional stories like this one.

Oh I do love the way Christi Caldwell brings characters to such vibrant life that they jump off the page right into your heart. Lila has suffered a devastating trauma and Hugh's life is no different. She needs to feel she can help to protect her loved ones from the savages she knows exist in the world. Hugh thinks of himself as one of those savages. We long for each of them to be healed and to learn to live free and love. Somehow Ms. Caldwell makes this magic happen and we once again have a beautifully wrought Regency Romance.

My only negative is that I thought making Hugh the Lost Lord was done quickly and not enough attention paid to his transition. This in no way made the book less readable.

In the dark with the Duke - Christi Caldwell

I received an ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I have never read this author before and sadly I won’t bother with any more as this was not my cup of tea. Sorry, but I got very bored and struggled to stay on track..

The author can clearly write well, but I found this story incredibly disappointing. It was long winded, meandering and failed to come to life for me. As an expose of the horrors of the underworld of society in 1810, it worked but it nailed the message in with a hammer rather than a deft touch which might have been more effective. The Other characters were so one dimensional that I was bored rigid. Congratulations to the writer for highlighting the infamous massacre of Peterloo.

The descriptions of all the vicious, cruel and unpleasant things in the book went on for far too long, and there seemed to me to be little to redeem the unrelieved gloom of the story. I kept waiting for the lighter touches to contrast the gloom. Lila and Hugh were a lovely couple and I was pleased they had a happy ending even though it was a bit too fairy tale like to fit in with the overall tone of the book. .

There were some seriously puzzling plot elements. If Hugh been kidnapped about age 14, it would make sense that he remembered much of what would have been a classical education. However, kidnapped as young, as he was, he would not yet have started that education, so where did all his knowledge come from? Certainly not in a cage!

Also, Hugh managed to retain his upper class speech patterns and accent despite being kidnapped so young and then living in amongst people who certainly did not speak as he did. It was a puzzle that asked for too much suspension of disbelief.

I’m disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this more as I am always on the lookout for authors Who are new to me. Sadly, I will not be dipping into Christi’s back catalogue.

This book doesn't suffer from the second book in the series slump - in fact - I think this book was even better than the first! I would give it a very solid 3.5 stars!

Hugh is a fighter - not by choice or passion - but because he was trained as a child to fight and basically let out of his cage only to fight. After escaping that life by being forced to make a choice between someone's life and his own freedom - he joined the army and fought some more. The last straw was a horrific experience on British soil. From there he walked away from the military and found his way back to the rookeries of London to his old life. He is now just surviving - and trying to pay his perceived debts.

Lila was a carefree, spoiled debutante until she was almost trampled to death during the Peterloo Massacre. Since that time she has become a recluse - and clearly struggled with agoraphobia. She is just managing and barely getting by. She decides to start taking back her life by learning to defend herself - and goes to the most notorious fighter in London to make that happen.

Lila and Hugh are very sweet together - and it is clear that he basks in her love and care - something he hasn't had even a glimmer of in his memory. Lila comes alive when Hugh challenges her and pushes her.

The only thing that kept this from being a four star read for me were some inconsistencies in terms of the timeline and lack of development of certain plot points. For example, Hugh was kidnapped as a child and sold into slavery as a fighter - but he still speaks with perfect upper-class diction, can read, write, do complex math, and has a pretty well developed knowledge of history. He also has no memories of his childhood before that time, so he had to have been pretty young when he was kidnapped - and he definitely didn't have a chance to learn any of while he was caged and fighting. So all of that is pretty messy. I was willing to believe it - but only just. This was a problem in the first book in this series too. Also <spoiler>, the plot line with Valerie was very confusing. I am guessing it is being saved for a different book, but it was a big motivator in this story but ultimately wasn't developed or resolved at all. That was frustrating. </spoiler>

Overall this was a great read and I recommend it!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are my own.

In the Dark with the Duke was an enjoyable read. I’m a sucker for any romance with a street fighter, and this was no different—though I found myself wishing for some more of the flavor of the fights and the city’s dark underbelly to come in. Lila and Hugh has a good dynamic, and I especially appreciated all the things Hugh noticed about her, ways he saw her for who she is rather than what the world would assume about her. I did feel, though, that Hugh’s revenge subplot had a lot going on that went nowhere, and that Lila got over Hugh’s revelation near the end rather quickly, with little discussion.

This was the first book I have ever read by Christy Caldwell and it was very different from any other romance I have ever came across. I was in pain through most of this book and the reason I gave it four stars is because that is exactly what the author intended. There is a deep Dickensian side to the story and it is not for the faint of heart - the past experiences of both the H and h are very vividly described and they are nothing short of a thriller bordering on horror. <spoiler>there is child abduction, child abuse, fighting to the death and even a woman split open with her rib cage open</spoiler>. There is a HEA but the story is about trauma and suffering more than it is about the butterflies of falling in love. The fact that the protagonists end up together is a therapeutic need for both of them more than anything else. While I am convinced that this author is not for me, she paints a very vivid picture and her characters are multi-dimensional. For those who are into shaking, cathartic experiences with a good dose of dwelling into the dark side of human nature (and I do mean DARK, not your regular rake seducing and abandoning unsuspecting debutantes) this is a good read.

4.5 Stars

IN THE DARK WITH THE DUKE by Christi Caldwell. What a tale! Ms. Caldwell brings two characters together, from different walks of like, and blends them effortlessly and delightfully. I truly enjoyed reading the story of Hugh and Lila. Hugh, despite being larger than life, figuratively, he does not value his own worth. That broke my heart. And Lila, despite being a Lady of the Ton, cannot see past her own hurts and limitations. However, Lila certainly had my respect and admiration for she is brave and kind and will do whatever needs to be done to help those she loves. Hugh, not believing he is worthy, fights his feelings and personal growth a bit throughout.
The character development, for me, was wonderful. Both grew and became enlightened by what they discovered about themselves. There is some dark in this tale. Both Hugh and Lila have lived through some very traumatic times that certainly made my heart hurt for both. This is a bit of a slow burn romance but worth it. If you enjoy historical romance, that has some danger and true love, I recommend IN THE DARK WITH THE DUKE. (received NetGalley ARC for honest review)

I really liked this novel. It's really fun reading about characters that aren't in the aristocracy (well, at least in the first half of the book, Hugh was a fighter - and that is it). I liked both protagonists: Lila and Hugh were compelling characters who inspired empathy in the reader. I really appreciated that Lila went after what she wanted and that Hugh was more of a beta hero and someone who felt things deeply. The story also flowed really well and had a good pacing. I strongly recommend this book.
(4.2 stars, that I will round up to 5 because I liked it very much.)

Not my usual read but enjoyable. Well written, well developed characters and plot. Would have enjoyed more romantic scenes and humor to balance the heaviness of the story. Would have also appreciated some information about Peterloo earlier in the story as I found myself googling the event to find out what had happened before it was fully revealed by the author. The strength of the main characters was admirable. It was nice to read about a woman not waiting on a man to save her and not afraid to take matters into her own hands. Would read again, would recommend to friends.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC. This review is given voluntarily and honestly.

Wow, what a story! Christi Caldwell never ceases to amaze me with her stories and this one will be known as one of my favourites. It's not a light, airy romance, this is more of a dark, nitty gritty kind of story but it's so well written and you'll be in love with both the hero and heroine before you can blink.

If you love a hero with a tortured soul, you've come to the right book! My heart ached for Hugh, for the childhood that was stolen from him, for the fighting that he hated and for the lack of any kind of love in his life. As for the heroine, Lila, she has been a recluse for almost 10 years, not being able to go out during the day when so many people are around due to a tragedy that changed her life.

When Lila decides she wants to try to overcome her demons, she sets her sights on a man who has never lost a bare-knuckle fight, Hugh, and demands that he teach her how to protect herself. Hugh has demons of his own to fight and wants nothing to do with Lila but he soon learns that she does not take "no" for an answer!!

Two broken souls who help each other heal turns into a beautiful love story.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.