ARC Review: A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole

“If you are looking for a unique plot though, definitely give this one a try.”
~ Under the Covers

This is my first book by Alyssa Cole and after seeing a lot of hype for her books around social media I was beyond excited to dive in.  Plus the premise of this story sounded extremely cool and unique.  The heroine is a NYC socialite that is always put down by her family as the no-good member of the family and her twin sister is the successful one.  So she decides to take an internship with a sword maker in Scotland to improve their business, and yes, learn how to make swords.  How cool is that???

A few things were clear from the very beginning.  The age difference, while something that I really enjoy especially when the hero is a grumpy, sexy older man wasn’t my favorite thing here.  Why?  Because I found the heroine to be a tad on the too immature for my taste side.  She has a lot of growth ahead of her and I don’t think we quite got there by the end of this book.  So in my mind, I have to question how the hero will deal with that difference in maturity in the long run.  Especially being that he was very stuffy.

But the grumpy recluse part of that equation was total catnip for me.  I adored the hero and he is a total #swordbae.  I can picture clearly all the social media videos and posts that the heroine was trying to make viral and I would be the first one drooling over them.

In the end, while I found this story quick and fun, it also had me skimming a bit with things that I felt sometimes annoying or unnecessary in the story telling.  If you are looking for a unique plot though, definitely give this one a try.  However, I think maybe Ms. Cole’s writing style is not quite what works best for me.

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[about-author author=”Alyssa Cole”]

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