More than a Duke

Heart of a Duke, Book 2

By: Christi Caldwell

Narrated by: Tim Campbell

Polite Society doesn't take Lady Anne Adamson seriously. However, Anne isn't just another pretty young miss. When she discovers her father betrayed her mother's love and her family descended into poverty, Anne comes up with a plan to marry a respectable, powerful, and honorable gentleman - a man nothing like her philandering father.

Armed with the Heart of a Duke pendant, fabled to land the wearer a duke's heart, she decides to enlist the aid of the notorious Harry, Sixth Earl of Stanhope. A scoundrel with a scandalous past, he is the last gentleman she'd ever wed... however, his reputation marks him the perfect man to school her in the art of seduction so she might ensnare the illustrious Duke of Crawford.

Harry, the Earl of Stanhope, is a jaded, cynical rogue who lives for his own pleasures. Having been thrown over by the only woman he ever loved so she could wed a duke, he's not at all surprised when Lady Anne approaches him with her scheme to capture another duke's affection. He's come to appreciate that all women are in fact greedy, title-grasping, self-indulgent creatures. And with Anne's history of grating on his every last nerve, she is the last woman he'd ever agree to school in the art of seduction. Only his friendship with the lady's sister compels him to help.

What begins as a pretend courtship, born of lessons on seduction, becomes something more, leaving Anne to decide if she can give her heart to a reckless rogue, and Harry must decide if he's willing to again trust in a lady's love.

©2015 Christi Caldwell (P)2015 Christi Caldwell

Wow is all that can be said

Well played by the main characters and turned out beautiful in the end . I like the creative ways this culture handled difficult situations in their time period.

Lovely romance

Christi Caldwell has written a deeply romantic story about two people who are not perfect but perfect for each other. Tim Campbell is a wonderful narrator who brings the story to life.

Christi Caldwell is my new favorite author!

I love this series. This book was most entertaining. Very well done. I look forward to more by Christi Caldwell.

A Good Story

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book & am a huge fan of Tim Campbell...he could read the phone book & I would listen! This was a really good book to listen to & I enjoyed the story....the ending dragged on a little more than I like, Harry is smarter than that! Basically a good book I would recommend

glad to reach the end

the story was ok, but destroyed by all the mithering, and the repetitions of the reasons decisions were made. amateur, needs a good clean up.

WOW that was tough to get through! Not Good!

Geez, I am so glad this book is over. We get a description of a heroine that is supposed to be strong willed and that is not what we get. She was not a strong heroine at all. More whiny and pitiful really. The hero, well he was hurt 8 years ago and can never love again.. Blah Blah Blah, so sad. Now he is a rogue and not good enough for our sweet Anne!. ugh! This was an annoying story

Okay so there is misunderstandings the entire way through the last half of the book, its insane! This book literally drove me crazy and couldn't wait to finish it. It was full of repetitive misunderstanding thoughts over and over and over.

The attraction between the two is not believable. They have a few encounters and think they know everything about the other and we still have all the misunderstanding garbage going on. The story was so contradicting it was aggravating.

There was no sex in this book until you get the last 5 minutes or pages then it is so mildly written and short it could almost be a rated G book. That is not a complaint I am just pointing that out to those who look for that, or not, in a book.

The dialogue was minimal, I guess because we get read the thoughts of what he or she believes the other's expression meant. Fact. That is really how this story went.

This book does not even compare to the first book in this series. I loved the first book it was very good.

As for the narrator, he is good, but NOT for this book. Since most of this book is from her perspective (not written in the first person) I believe a female should have narrated this story.

This was a waste of a narrator to me. The book was lacking in its story already and the narration did not help it at all.

Sometimes a narrator can make an okay book better. This did not occur.

I would listen to Tim Campbell again for sure but not a historical romance set in England 1800's A medieval historical yes for sure.

The long and short of it is, this story was extremely frustrating and repetitive, not enjoyable.

Would love to read more of Christi Caldwell

Have you listened to any of Tim Campbell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Tim Campbell's is a narrator that I will read again very pleased with his performance

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Stayed up till late in the am to finish this book. Enjoyable read can't wait for more of her books to become avalible

More than five stars

Christi Caldwell out does herself once again! This is an adorable love story and it was told with perfect narration!

It works!

Christi Caldwell has found a niche. The first book of hers I read seemed glaringly anachronistic. I was apprehensive to try any more until I hit a drought. I was pleasantly surprised. Her Heart of a Duke series glosses over any true intricacies related to the time period within which it is set. Book one did include references to the frost fair, an event I have never read referenced anywhere else, I must add, but it went on to include the same balls and parks detailed in every other novel from the period. Within this vague and contrived space, she was able to enchant me.

More than a Duke follows the charming rogue Harry, Earl of Stanton, whom we met in the first installment flirting with and befriending the Duchess of Bainbridge, accepts a request from Anne, the aforementioned Duchess’s twin sister, to tutor her in the art of seduction, so she can attract the attentions of a duke in case the mythical locket for which the entire series is based isn’t effective. What results is the standard pretend boyfriend trope. Under the guise of a legitimate courtship, Harry instructs Anne in highlighting her already innate gifts and talents. The lessons are immediately successful. The duke she wishes to court approaches her after one lesson. Unfortunately, there is no zing or fluttering as there is with Harry, so, early on, Anne starts to reconsider her scheme.

Nevertheless, the two continue to interact and get to know each other with only the occasional comment about her quarry. Anne finds out that Harry is much more honorable than she first assumed, and his philandering is much less transparently debased than his dalliances would have the entire ton believes. He lost his hope in love and faith in women when he was passed over by his first love, so she could marry an elderly duke. Anne, in turn, overturns Harry’s misapprehension that she, too, is title hungry when she explains how it felt to lose everything down to the ribbons for her hair when her father left them destitute. Her hopes for a good match is barely on security not luxuries.

The rest of the story follows as romances do. It moves briskly and without much filler. I don’t usually care for my regency romance to be narrated by men, they tend to lose a lot in genderless translation, but Campbell does a wonderful job. Not once am I pulled out of the story by his masculinity. It could be because the character, Anne, is so earnest that he does not need to feign any ridiculous emotions or it could be his talent in understanding the motivations of others. Either way, he does well not to detract anything from the story’s intent. I don’t usually read more than one of two books in a series because the quality tends to wane, but I am going to give book four a go. Auric, the Duke of Crawford piqued my interest, and I’m a sucker for the childhood crush trope. After reading books one and two and finding no similarities in plot or laziness in character development, I can only expect great things.

Can we kill off the mother?!

It's funny because I wasnt a big fan of Anne's but I fell in love with Harry during Katherine & Jasper's story. Once I got into the story, I couldn't help but love Anne's free spirit & clever mind. She truly was so much more than she was thought to be and she became my favorite. Of all the characters, I found myself gritting my teeth whenever the Countess of Wakefield was in the scene! I hated that loathsome woman! The Adamson sisters are deserving of pity having had to deal with that horrid woman. But the fact that she brings that kind of emotion out is a testament to Tim Campbell's phenomenal performance. His portrayal of the detestable mother and all of the characters is spot-on. He's amazing!