Secrets, Shadows, and Romance

Ioan and Matilda must work together to solve a puzzle. However, danger is coming. Are they prepared? There will be quite a few surprises and plot twists. I enjoyed the story and would recommend it to those who like historical romance with mystery and intrigue.

This is the first book I have read by Jessica Clements. I look forward to reading more of her stories.
Some reviews mentioned the fast pace of the story. I really enjoyed the pace of the story as it did not drag.
Characters - both main and secondary were strong interestng characters. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep my attention, including spies, secrets, and the finding the one responsible for the murders of Ioan's family.
I encourage you to read this author.

Really loved what was here but I feel like it's missing the second half of the story. I need to know what happens! Cliffhanger....

This is the first of a new series, Of Valor and Honor, and it looks to be off to a very promising start. The story was well-written and kept my interest the whole time. The characters were interesting and well-developed and I enjoyed following their story. Ioan has only one mission, and that is to find the person who killed his father and brothers. He teams up with a spymaster, Lord Tarleton, in London, to find clues to who might have assassinated his family. Matilda is Lord Tarleton's niece and a very intelligent girl, and ends up helping Ioan in his quest. There are plenty of twists and turns in the story that kept me turning the pages, anxious to see what happens next. It was a story full of drama and excitement and was a very entertaining read and I look forward to continuing the series.
I received a complimentary copy from Dragonblade Publishing and Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

This Regency Romance is Everything you could ask for!! Hot steamy scenes, spy networks, Scottish Duke. Yes, yes and more!!!! This book was so good I quickly read it and wanted to read it again.
I just reviewed The Scottish Duke by Jessica A. Clements. #TheScottishDuke #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

First book to read by this author. Everything moves at warp speed before you can catch your breath. I read holes in the story that slowed down the pace. What? Everyone is connected as a friend or by blood and fall in love very quickly. Who is on whose side again? Don't forget Napoleon is a prisoner on Saint Helena. Are the Shadows anarchist? A cliffhanger if I've ever read one!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

This book had a good premise, but the delivery was off.
This review may contain spoilers.
I was really happy when I read the description of the book. A historical romance with some intrigue and suspense. It did not play out quite that easy.
The hero is a duke whose father and 2 brothers die under suspicious circumstances. He is a genious that cant forget what he sees. He is also a Scottish duke, but it isnt explained why this makes a difference in the grand scheme of things. The hero meets the heroine when he bumps into her on the street. He has been having a trying day because it is his first day in London and there have been multiple instances of young women throwing themselves into his path, or their mamas trying to get his attention. He thinks the heroine is the same, but she doesn't fawn over him like the rest. He meets her later at a ball when he realizes that she is the niece of the operative at Whitehall who is assigned to help him investigate his father and brothers deaths.
The heroine is the beloved niece of a man who was 14 when his sister died giving birth. He and his little brother were the ones who made sure she survived, her father and grandparents struck with grief. The uncle is also the one who knows where her father is since he was a spy all along. The heroine thinks that her father doesn't love her, not that he feels guilt over his wife's death. Her father had to go on a mission and left his pregnant wife with with her family. He was supposed to be back in time for the birth, but his wife went into labor early and died after a long labor.
The heroine was devastated after hearing about her traumatic birth and collapses with the hero holding her.
I really thought this was going to be a romance, but it doesn't even read like a romance. The hero and heroine meet in the beginning and then do not talk or speak again for many chapters. The author introduces so many people in disjointed story lines, I mean do we have to know about the maid's assistant who did the heroine's hair for one ball and then we never hear from her again? This book had too many story lines, with too many characters that never connected in a satisfactory manner.
I give this book 3 stars and a guarded recommendation.

The Scottish Duke by Jessica A Clements is the story of Ioan Drummond, the thirteenth Duke of Rathdrum, who has risen to the dukedom through the murders of his father and brothers. He didn’t have the skills. He would have to find himself a good man of business to take over this part of things. He was off to Whitehall to speak to his father’s friend, to see if he could discover what was going on. While there he had no choice but to take part in the season, although the last thing he needed was a wife. Lady Matilda Walsh was late; she generally was. As she ran, she tripped into a rather large man who obligingly caught her. He apparently lived next door, although she’d never seen him before. They met again several times, and then one day she burst into his study. Seems there was a secret passage and a secret door. Loath to let her return through those passages alone, he followed her to a room in her own home and got hit over the head. It turned out it was her father’s bed chamber. He immediately volunteered to marry her as they had been found in a bedroom together. Then started a fast-paced, disjointed story which had so much potential but missed the mark. It hopped from thing to thing with not explanation and no transitions.

The characters were quite good. The story was good, but full of holes. There were surprises, not good ones, that just popped up with no forewarning. It was a spy novel, full of inconsistencies. It was choppy and convoluted.. It had so much potential but it fell short. The only part that was decent was the romance between Ioan and Matilda. It needed a good editor.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Scottish Duke by Dragonblade, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Dragonblade #JessicaAClements #The ScottishDuke

I REALLY enjoyed this book. I did think it ended too abruptly. But I am sure that will be picked up in the next book. There was steam but it was between married people. The intrigue and romance were included in this novel was something to look forward to in the next one. How things were handled at the end was a bit disgruntling but I am sure it will be resolved in the next book!
I recieved a free copy so that I might tell you what I honestly think. Hope you enjoyed my review. Now go enjoy the book

A fast paced bundle of spies & intrigue.
The premise held so much potential, I was really looking forward to a spy led mystery packed with intrigue, secrets and suspense but I'm afraid this just didn't work for me.
The quick pace left very little time for depth and chemistry between the characters to really manifest and bloom. I just felt bewildered and confused for most of it as there was just too many threads in this story that the plot became diluted by the introducing of too many subcharacters creating a disjointed tangle you are constantly forced to jump between.
I thoroughly appreciate this was a series opener were Clements used it as a tool to set the scene for future stories to unravel and be hinted at, but unfortunately she didn't quite get the balance right here for me. As a result the whole convoluted array of strong personalities and entangling storylines ran into each other at such speed and force, I became so discombobulated I couldn't enjoy the romance or untangle the Gordian Knot the plotline created and as a result unfortunately the whole thing fell flat and emotionless. Which was such a shame as there was some intriguing twists and turns here that if given the time to breathe and resonant, would of made it feel less like a farce and more the intended gripping, adventure it was meant to be.

There is probably a nicer way to put this, but the thought that repeated in my head throughout this book was, "this is a mess". There was so much potential with the plot and the characters were interesting there was just way too much going on here. I also felt like this writer's editor really let them down by not helping to tighten up the story. This really felt like a rough draft. I understand this is the first book in the series and the author needed to establish the events that would carry throughout the books, but there was so much crammed in here that the main story got very little attention and ended up feeling really rushed. For instance, Ioan goes from not being at all interested in a wife to being okay with marrying Matilda after one very short encounter, to being completely in love with her like 2 days later. There was no time spent on developing their relationship. In addition, big reveals - family members long thought to be dead suddenly reappearing and changing loyalties among the "bad guy" were also blink-and-you-missed-it kind of moments. My biggest fault with this first book was the handling of the traitor responsible for killing Ioan's family. This guy is a spy and murderer and I'm supposed to believe he would have just been put on a boat for transport? No way - he would have been taken to the Home Office and interrogated. I gave this three stars because there is potential here and I didn't hate reading it. That is why I am willing to give this author a second chance and read the next book when it is released. Hopefully with so much backstory already established that book will have a better focus.

I have extremely mixed feelings about "The Scottish Duke," by Jessica A. Clements. The premise was decent. I liked FMC Matilda well enough. I was not tempted to not finish the book (though I have a deep-seated need to finish all books, no matter how bad). But there were multiple times while reading that I found myself asking, "huh?" I felt like large pieces of the backstory, or even the primary story, were missing. There were jumps in time and place that came out of nowhere and cried out for additional context or explanation. Matilda being a musical code-breaking prodigy for example suddenly just was, with no backstory or details. There were also way too many different POV presented, to the extent that this did not feel like primarily Matilda and Ioan's story. This also contributed to the book feeling like not a standalone. The HEA was really a HFN, and there was no resolution to large questions introduced throughout the book.

All that said, I did get pulled in a bit, and I would probably read the next book in the series, to get resolution on this book if nothing else. I also really need to know how things end (hence my inability to not finish all but the worst books). 2 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary ARC of this book. The opinions herein are my own.

2.5 stars

This isn't the author for me. I can put up with the Gotten & Sidewalk but found the contrived marriage really annoying. Mathilda is exploring the house and realising that there are secret passages ends up in one with the hero Ioan. Mathilda's father, Percy, who IMO, the author hasn't decided whether he's a baddie or just misunderstood, demands they get married and then zaps off to get a clergy member who owes him a favour. The wedding takes place but I thought you needed 2 witnesses plus a celebrant at least and we seem to only have the bishop and the father. This marriage just seems to be an excuse for sex and Ioan calling Mathilda his little pixie.

I can see that this is the start of a series and the groundwork has to be done but it left me cold. Calling the baddie Mr Black gave me visions of Captain Scarlet and the mysterons.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Expecting a romance with some action, I was rather disappointed and confused when it turned out to be a historical spy-murder-mystery with some romance and no steam.
Action-packed and moving like a train, it has a promising plot and a fine group of interesting characters. But I found it hard to follow the story jumping around from one character to another, first here, then there, and then all of a sudden some days forward. It moves along so fast the finer detail of the story gets lost or is left unexplained.
The romance was nice, but it all was a little too easy. And since the it wasn’t the main focus of the story, it ended with a to be continued happy for now.

This book wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Jessica A. Clements, Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Spies, secrets, and a hunt for the perpetrators of crimes, this Regency suspense has a rather busy plot with a number of characters and interwoven intrigues to keep one guessing. The meeting between the main characters is cute and I loved the way in which they connected. This is the first novel in the series, and as such I found that although Matilda and Ioan's story is a standalone, there are too many unanswered questions, which will probably be answered in the future. It will be interesting to see how the series unfolds. I received a copy of this novel from Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

A new series and a new author to me, an enjoyable fast paced story that I devoured in a sitting! The characters have depth and are well portrayed. This story is full of action and twists that kept me interested throughout, it’s also a little steamy and that put a nice sexual chemistry in play between the main characters. Couldn't wait to see what would happen next so now I'm looking forward to more in this series. Highly recommended!

This book has a really promising plot with good characters. I had a hard time following what was happening at points because it read like a train of thought that wasn't fully formed. Sometimes the story was disjointed, jumping from one place or scene to another, or days into the future without transition. I felt like so much needed further explanation that just never came. I also don't know that I would consider this a romance because it ended with a happy for now rather than an HEA. I'd categorize this as more mystery than romance.

Ioan Drummond, the Duke of Rathdrum, is on a mission to find the person who killed his father and brothers. The trail leads him to London where he meets the enigmatic spymaster known as Tarleton. With the spymaster’s help, Ioan searches for clues pertaining to the possible assassination of his family. Lady Matilda Welsh, the goddaughter and niece of Lord Tarleton, is a brilliant code breaker making up her own code in the music that she writes. Her intuition leads her to the door of the duke next door—by way of secret passageways in her home. After being found in a compromising position with the duke, ending with an impromptu wedding in her front hall. With the help of his friends and Matilda, Ioan starts an investigative branch of Tarleton’s spy network, handling cases within Great Britain. His first case? Searching for his family’s killer.
A new series & a new author to me, an enjoyable fast paced story & I devoured it in a sitting. The characters have depth & are well portrayed. I really liked both Ioan & Matilda, their attraction sizzled from her tripping in to him. The secondary characters are also interesting especially Anthony. There are secrets, revelations & of course romance. I look forward to the rest of the series
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋

Not read this author before but can tell you I very much enjoyed this book.
This is shaping up to be a really good series.

Full of action and twists, it kept me interested throughout, the characters are very good and we’re fully fleshed, it’s also a little steamy and that put a nice sexual chemistry in play between them.
Very enjoyable read .

I received an Arc copy of this book and chose to post this review

An enjoyable book full of action adventure and suspense as well as romance what more could you ask for. Couldn't wait to see what would happen next so now I'm looking forward to more in this series. Highley recommended. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.