When the Duke Was Wicked (Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James Book 1)

With no interest in marriage, Lovingdon has long lived only for pleasure. He sees little harm in helping Grace find a proper match. But as lessons lead to torrid passion and Grace becomes ensnared in another man's marriage plot, Lovingdon must wage a desperate gamble: Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company. Read more Read less. Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest. When the Duke Was Wicked: When a Duke Loves a Woman: A Sins for All Seasons Novel. In Bed with the Devil. Between the Devil and Desire: Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length: February 25, Whispersync for Voice: Share your thoughts with other customers.

Write a customer review. Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. The story started out quite heartbreaking He decides to become everything he wasn't before. He now drinks and smokes to excess and sleeps with every prostitute he comes across. Grace is his neighbors daughter She wants Langton to help her see through all the men who are after her for the one who loves her and not her huge dowry. It's interesting how quickly she gets under his skin and becomes important to him.

She's different because she has fire We get kidnapping, sexual activity and scars The problem that I have with this book is that it was very clear that the heroine had been infatuated with the hero since childhood and there was a 9 year age difference. That was rather disconcerting. Then you add to that the fact that the hero was still grieving over the loss of his wife and child and living a debauched lifestyle.

The heroine basically forces the hero into a semi-relationship with her on the pretext of helping her weed through suitors. As other reviewers have noted, there is no way her behavior fit the mores of that era. This is my second of her books, and I truly liked the H and the h, though the story wasn't as good as it seemed it should be.

The story involves a man widowed two years prior, now approached by a childhood friend to help her find a husband who will love her for herself and not her dowry. The H refused to acknowledge how he felt about the h, although he found fault with all other suitors. I understand his grief for his lost love and child, and his hesitance to love again, and the debauchery is not as unusual a reaction as some might think. I've known people to behave similarly the h has also had tragedy, though what it is we don't learn till far into the novel.

The story was good, though the H was frustrating, the h was delightful.

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Will continue the series. To ask other readers questions about When the Duke Was Wicked , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about When the Duke Was Wicked. Lists with This Book. Mar 02, Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it really liked it Shelves: I swear to god it's not THAT type of tear-jerker book, but one paragraph just hit me hard. Before I knew it, my nose was stinging, my eyes were watering, and to my absolute horror, I felt a single tear slipping down my cheeks. There was absolutely nothing vexing about this book.

It was thoroughly pleasant, thoroughly comforting, and completely enjoyable. It is the equivalent of a warm scarf on a rainy day. The main character is a sweet, rati Actual rating: The main character is a sweet, rational, absolutely likeable young woman. She has grown up in the warm embrace of a a loving family, and we can see that she has grown up all the better for it. The love interest is a dissolute rake, but not in the way you would expect. The side cast is absolutely delightful, and I look forward to seeing more of them in the next book.

Up until 2 years ago, Henry, the Duke of Lovingdon, was an exemplary man who led a blameless life. All my life I had sought to do the right and proper thing. I did not frequent gaming hells. I did not imbibe until I became a stumbling drunk. I fell in love at nineteen, married at twenty-one. I did the honorable thing: I did not bed my wife until I wed her. On our wedding night she was not the only virgin between our sheets. This flawless existence fell apart when his beloved wife and young daughter died.

With their deaths, Lovingdon fell apart in a blaze of misery. He hated the worldand who can blame him? I was brought up to believe that we were rewarded according to our behavior. Yet the Fates had conspired to punish me, to take away that which I treasured above all else, and I could find no cause for their unkind regard.

And so I said to hell with it all. I would sow the wild oats I had not in my youth. I would gamble, I would drink, I would know many women. Lovingdon, heartbroken with grief, said "Fuck it all" to the world, and set out to sleep and drink and gamble and do all the good stuff that rakes do. And he's content to while away his existence in this dissolute manner until one night, when he is interrupted in flagrante delicto by his childhood neighbor, Grace. She has had a privileged existence. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess, adore her. She is well-bred, she is well-educated, spirited and lively without bitchiness, she is kind, she is not a snob, she is exemplary.

And she wants a husband. Grace doesn't want Lovingdon as her husband Grace is a Duke's daughter. She comes with a huge dowry. All of England's fortune hunters are out for her hand. And they were charming. Every last one of them. Which was part of her dilemma. How to separate charm from con.

Grace wants to be able to tell who loves her, and who only wants her for the money she will bring to the marriage. But how will I know if he loves me? With so many men vying for my affections, how can I know if their hearts are true? I shall marry only once, and fortune hunters abound. I want to ensure that I choose well. Grace has a good head on her shoulders, but Lovingdon is too busy wallowing in his misery and grief to bother.

But he does care. Lovingdon has grown up with Grace. He has known Grace was a little child who refused to come down from a tree. He knows that she needs his guidance. As reluctant as he is to give it to her, Lovindgon knows that she needs his help. Slowly, Lovingdon emerges from his cave of misery. Try as he might, Lovingdon can find nobody good enough for Grace, and as he starts to instruct her on what to search for in the right man But images would be filling his mind.

He would be unable to tear his gaze away. It wouldn't be a story if there were no challenges to their love, and Lovingdon has got a whole lot of mental scars to overcome. Something inside him broke with the death of Juliette and Margaret.

When the Duke Was Wicked

They are so perfect together. Will Lovingdon ever overcome his grief to love again? Will Grace find the love she has been searching for? Grace is one of the most enjoyable HR characters I can remember reading. She is so rational, so sweet, so kind.

When the Duke Was Wicked (Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James, book 1) by Lorraine Heath

This is not one of those books without female friendships, there is no girl hate in this book at all. Grace is more than happy to help out a friend or an acquaintance in need.

She knows that she is the most desirable woman in town because of her dowry, but far from being a friendless, snobby chit, she is always happy to make friends with those who might be rivals. She thought she more closely resembled an angel. But we always want what someone else has.

Grace wants it, but she knows that life will continue as it always does, her life does not hinge around finding the right man. No one would go hungry, be without shelter, or die because of her choice. She supposed she could live very happily without a husband, but it was the absence of love that was troubling. Grace holds her infatuation in check. Rest assured, she has had an infatuation with Lovingdon since they were children.

I can't blame her, Lovingdon is, after all, the childhood rescuer of kittens. However, they are grown now, and she knows it is silly to place her heart and hopes with him, a rake in mourning, who will never accept love. He had proven to be a disappointment. She loved him as a friend, a brother. Grace hurts, she hurts deeply, but she has her pride, too. She is unwilling to compromise for love. Staring at him, she shook her head.

I deserve a man who cares if I die. She thought about trying to sketch. She had been working on a story told through pictures of a bunny who had lost an ear and feared no other rabbit would ever love him, because he was scarred and different. She hurt too much to care about anything. More than once in this book, I wanted to take a cold cup of ice water and toss it at Lovingdon's head because he is so incredibly stubborn. But then again, it's a rake.

Stubborn is their middle name.

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Lovingdon is prostate with grief and guilt over his wife and daughter's death, so much that he refuses to love again. He is truly sincere about helping Grace. He cares about her, as a friend, as a woman, as someone he respects. Grace deserves the best of men. She did deserve the love she so desperately sought. Lovingdon is so consumed by his guilt at all time. He could give her lust in abundance, but not love. He had closed his heart to the possibility. He would never again experience the devastating pain of loss. He would not love. Lovingdon knows Grace wants him, but he can't give her the love that she deserves.

Grace is better than what Lovingdon can give her. She deserves a man who loves her entirely, not one who is broken. He did care about her, dammit, just not as she wished, not with his entire heart and soul. Those belonged to, would always belong to, Juliette. If there is one character that is mildly vexing about this book, it is Lovingdon's stubbornness.

This book does secondary character so well that it makes me want to go back and read the other books in Lorraine Heath's repertoire so I could get more of them. Husbands, wives, brothers, friends; the other characters in this book feel like they belong. They are not merely scenery, they feel like old friends we haven't seen in a long time. The secondary characters in this book are so awesome. From Grace's loving parents, the best, most wondrously generous and kind of parents, to her friends, to her "adopted" brother, Drake whom I hope we'll be seeing again soon.

The love the characters in the book have for one another, the respect and protectiveness they have for Grace was a joy to read. I value your friendship, but I value hers more. I could destroy you within the blink of an eye. This book is not perfect, here is why: Lovingdon's relationship with Juliette: It didn't feel genuine. No question, and yet he felt obligated to answer.

Lovingdon expresses a lot of grief for Juliette, but it feels somewhat unbelievable when he describes his relationship to Juliette as A kiss on the back of her hand. Twice he leaned over for a kiss on the cheek. Only now did he realize how dull his courtship had been.

Juliette's memory is lifeless His relationship with Grace seems only to heighten how perfectly bland Lovingdon's relationship with his late life was. They are calm, she is demure. She is too perfect. So perfect that she is lifeless. It feels like Juliette's memory is manufactured to be bland in order to make Grace look better in contrast. View all 49 comments. What a lovely read. I love the heroine. So brave and strong. The hero - typical tortured man. Part of the subject matter was one I had not read in an Historical before and I loved it.

Very relevant and close to my heart. Stretched out on the green grass among the wildflowers. View all 13 comments. I didn't really connect with the main characters, so the the romance wasn't all that great. The writing was good but I'll likely forget about this book and characters by next week.

I'm glad I read books 3 and 4 before this book because I don't know if I would have continued with the series. View all 4 comments. Nov 30, Pepa rated it liked it Shelves: Me ha gustado, pero no me parece de los mejores de esta autora. Es una historia bonita y sencilla, muy previsible. Y en general resulta una trama muy lineal. Pese a todo, la au Me ha gustado, pero no me parece de los mejores de esta autora.

Mar 12, Mallory rated it liked it Shelves: I didn't really connect with the main characters, so the the romance wasn't all that spectacular.

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The hero was a bit of an ass. He had his reasons, and he truly cared for Grace, but I just wasn't all that convinced of his ultimate feelings. Plus, there were some parts in the first half of the book that kind of turned me off. Aug 11, Wollstonecrafthomegirl rated it liked it. A very interesting central premise around which the story pivots.

A somewhat insipid heroine who is entirely focused on marriage and a hero who is a rake. We get it, Heath. A great connection and relationship between the hero and heroine Worst: Some dialogue which makes me want to scream: Easy orgasm when losing virginity. The context feels wonderfully historically correct. Only after some last minute, moustache twirling villain, puts into action the Worst Plan Ever which the hero, of course, foils. I read it straight through. But there were times when it made me want to pitch my kindle at the wall.

May 27, Holly rated it it was ok Shelves: The author's choice to make the hero's lastname be Lovingdon was REALLY bad, considering the word 'love' is mentioned approximately a bajillion times in this book. Having love be in his name too puts it into solidly obnoxious territory. Lovingdon is a widower who spends the entire book thinking about Grace and how he cannot love her because of his deceased wife who he doesn't think about at all.

We don't even get one fleshed out memory of her out of him in this entire thing. Meanwhile Grace is s The author's choice to make the hero's lastname be Lovingdon was REALLY bad, considering the word 'love' is mentioned approximately a bajillion times in this book. Meanwhile Grace is supposedly busy trying to figure out which of her many suitors really does love her, but we barely spend any time with any of them either. Granted, her reason why she finds love to be so important is completely understandable, and was the only interesting thing in this book. But that's not enough to make this book worth your time.

Jun 04, Misfit rated it really liked it Shelves: You can't put him back together, sweetheart, not the way he was. Lady Grace Mabry is on the marriage market, but she's set on finding a man who truly loves her there's more to it than just the usual young miss stamping her feet and demanding twu wuv, but I can't give that away. She's got plenty of suitors eyeing her ample dowry, but how does she know which man will love he "He won't marry again, Grace. She's got plenty of suitors eyeing her ample dowry, but how does she know which man will love her and not just the money?

In this story, Grace seeks the aid of childhood friend the Duke of Lovingdon actually he was more a friend of her older brothers, but Grace always tagged along. Lovingdon has spent the last two years after the death of his wife and daughter drinking, whoring and gambling his life away. Grace and her suitors are the last things he needs in his life, or so he thinks.

The prologue is simply a two page heart-breaker of a note from Lovingdon's journal about the death of his wife and daughter, and sets up his current mindset to a 't'. I do like how Heath is able to use Lovingdon's grief and angst without going into a whining pity party. Grace is a very refreshing character, plenty of sass and spunk, but without going into the foot-stomping heroine territory that drives me bananas. She got a wee bit too much freedom to come and go from her family home, but that is a very minor quibble to a story well done.

I won't spoil, but the final resolution leading to the HEA was very well done. All in all a nice romance for a lighter read - but be warned - the sexual content is a bit steamy and might not suit all readers. This is the first book in a planned series, and from what I've picked up Heath wrote a series about the prior generation, now we're getting the children's stories as they've grown up. Ebook obtained via library loan.

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