A Duke by Default

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Synopsis

New York City socialite Portia Hobbs has always struggled with her wealthy family's expectations for her, and as a result has become a hot mess. Tired of letting down her family, her friends and sometimes even herself, she's vowed to get her act together and the first step toward a new future is accepting an apprenticeship with a master sword maker in Scotland. She thinks it will give her the opportunity to use her education in art history and learn something new. However, she quickly discovers that Tavish, her grumpy new boss is unimpressed with her plans for updating his armory's website. He gradually comes around, though, when her efforts start to pay off. As they work closely together, the hot Scotsman proves to be a temptation to Portia who's sworn off all men, so she tries to fight the attraction. Then she runs into another snag when information she discovers while researching the history of the armory reveals that Tavish is the only son and heir of a deceased duke. When he decides to pursue the title, Portia offers her skills as a society girl to help him quickly get up to speed on his aristocratic duties, but when a jealous rival tries to use her past indiscretions to make her look bad to both Tavish and the tabloids, it could spell doom for their budding romance.

Tavish McKenzie's brother set up the apprenticeship program, something that Tavish hasn't been too thrilled about, especially when his new apprentice turns out to be a rich, spoiled American who's trying to tell him how to run his business. It also doesn't help that she's hot as sin, and after one failed marriage, Tavish isn't interested in a repeat. Not to mention Portia is nearly a decade his junior. However, as she begins to prove herself, he can't help but start to come around, which eventually leads to one steamy night together. They both think it will be a no-strings quickie, but they can't seem to keep their hands off each other. When Portia's research turns up the fact that Tav's biological father was the late Duke of Edinburgh whom everyone thought died without offspring, Tav isn't sure if he wants to pursue the title or not. But the people in his neighborhood are getting pushed out by gentrification and knowing that he might be able to use his newfound wealth and influence to help them spurs the once-commoner into action. With Portia's help, he goes through with all the pomp and circumstance, but when she appears to get black-out drunk at an important society function, leading to a tabloid scandal, Tav isn't certain if she can handle all the pressure and doesn't want to be the cause of any further humiliation for her.

Review

A Duke by Default is the second book in Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series. This one features Ledi's best friend, Portia, who has always struggled to live up to her family's expectations and has been drowning her sorrows in excessive drinking and meaningless hookups. After nearly losing Ledi's friendship in the previous book, she's making a concerted effort to turn over a new leaf and has sworn off both alcohol and men. She's also just accepted an apprenticeship with a Scottish sword maker in Edinburgh. Tavish, sword master extraordinaire, is a bit of a grump and a Luddite, who at first doesn't appreciate Portia's updating of his armory's website and social media accounts, but he slowly comes around as her efforts lead to results. He's also initially not too thrilled about having an apprentice, something that his brother set up, but again, as Portia proves her worth, he starts to appreciate her more. However, some of Tav's reluctance to be around Portia is rooted in his attraction to her. After a failed marriage, he isn't eager to give his heart to someone else. Not to mention, there's a significant age gap between them and she's also his employee. Since Portia has sworn off men, she, too, tries to fight the attraction, but eventually they can't stop it and decide that maybe one night with no strings is what they need to get out of each other's system. Meanwhile, as Portia does research for updating the website, she accidentally discovers that Tav's biological father was the Duke of Edinburgh and that he died without any other offspring, which means that Tav is technically now the duke if he chooses to take up the mantle. When he decides to go for it, he, of course, runs into opposition from the current duke who's a distant cousin. Portia, a society girl herself, helps Tav navigate this new part of his life, but when the lines between apprentice, royal secretary, and lover start to become blurred, it could jeopardize their relationship, and when someone tries to use Portia's past to make her look bad in the tabloids, Tav can't let her go through that kind of humiliation for him.

Portia comes from a well-to-do family who earned their fortune in the real estate business. Her twin sister, Reggie, is considered to be the smart one with a good head on her shoulders, while Portia feels like she can never measure up. At twenty-nine, she still hasn't settled on a single career path or found the right guy to settle down with, and she feels under constant pressure from her family to do both. All this led to her overindulging in alcohol and men, but now she's vowed to touch neither and get her life on a steadier track. Using her art history degree as a jumping off point, she applied for and was granted an apprenticeship working with a sword master, but she arrives in Scotland to find that she's seemingly been forgotten at the train station by her new boss, Tavish. Then they don't get off on the right foot, when she accidentally maces him. Once that's all straightened out, Portia gets to work on the armory's website and social media accounts, giving everything a more modern look that the grumpy Scotsman doesn't initially appreciate. Despite his seeming annoyance with her, Portia can't help being attracted to the silver fox, which presents an issue for a girl whose sworn off men, so she throws herself into her work to try to avoid thinking about him, something that's easier said than done. While doing research, she discovers evidence of Tav's true parentage, and after she brings it to his attention and he decides to move forward with pursing the dukedom, she uses her social skills to help him navigate this new world. But eventually she worries that she's losing herself in helping him, and when the jealous ex-duke stirs up trouble, it might spell the end of her budding relationship with the one man she might actually settle down for. As someone who has struggled with what I want to do with my life, I could relate to Portia. Her strained relationships with her family and her feelings of inadequacy were also familiar refrains. I like, though, that she was committed to breaking old habits and finding new ways to cope. I also like that she tried to institute healthy boundaries in her relationship with Tav.

Tavish was brought up in a multi-cultural household with a Chilean refugee mother and a Jamaican step-father. He never knew is biological father, nor wanted to, even though he inherited the historic building that houses the armory from him. He's poured his whole heart and soul into running his sword making business with the help of his brother and sister-in-law. He also does sword-fighting exhibitions and teaches European martial arts to both adults and children in the neighborhood. It was Tav's brother's idea to bring on an apprentice and he was the one to hire her, so when Tav meets Portia, he has mixed feelings. He's not necessarily averse to having an apprentice, but he doesn't particularly want one as beautiful and tempting as Portia. Tav's first wife wasn't very accepting or supportive of his work, and since they divorced, he hasn't really been interested in seriously dating anyone, much less his employee who is nearly a decade his junior. Between his thwarted libido and not really seeing the value in modern social media technology, Tav is in a near-perpetual grumpy state until he finally starts to see his business growing and gives in to his feelings for Portia. Tav is content with his life, but then Portia unwittingly throws a monkey wrench into it when she discovers that he's a long lost duke. He doesn't really want to be an aristocrat, but the realization that the power and money he'll inherit will make it possible to help the ordinary people in his neighborhood along with his strong disagreements with the current duke over political issues make him reconsider. He also doesn't know how to navigate high society, but with Portia by his side, he feels more confident. Then Portia seemingly falls off the wagon, leading to a very public tabloid scandal, and Tav doesn't want to put someone he loves in a humiliating position like that again.

I'm a sucker for Scottish heroes, so I did like Tav. However, I didn't fall for him quite the way I wanted to. I couldn't help being a little disappointed in how he reacted to the tabloid reports about Portia. Although he said it didn't matter, he didn't really believe her side of the story until she was able to prove it, and while I did understand that he was trying to spare her any further humiliation in the press, he didn't really ask what she felt about it. I appreciate that he apologized later, but it all kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I did like his persona as a sword master, which lent a touch of the historical to a modern setting, creating an intriguing juxtaposition. I think my favorite thing about him, though, was his commitment to the everyday people with whom he comes into contact on a regular basis and to making their lives better. Also having an ordinary guy being elevated to an aristocratic position was another interesting contrast. I could tell that Tav wouldn't let it go to his head and that he genuinely only wanted the job to help others.

There are several supporting characters who get their own books in the series who play important roles as well. Portia's best friend, Ledi, and her true love, Prince Thabiso (A Princess in Theory) make appearances, and I like that Ledi isn't too busy with her new princess duties to make time for her friend when Portia needs her. Although Portia hasn't been really close with her twin sister, Reggie, for a while, they are in contact with one another, and Reggie invites Portia to write posts about her Scottish adventure for Reggie's successful blog. Toward the end, they have a conversation about Reggie's new assistant, and I believe those two get their own story in the novella, Can't Escape Love. Portia has also become friends with Ledi's newfound cousin, Nya, and the three have group chats. Then Thabiso sends his best friend, Prince Johan, who turns out to be a pretty great guy, to provide more assistance to Tav on entering aristocratic society. Johan and Nya will be paired in the final book of the series, A Prince on Paper, which I'm looking forward to, since I really like both of them.

I finished A Duke by Default with slightly mixed feelings, which is why I dropped the star. Overall, I enjoyed it and liked both Tav and Portia. They had a lot of great qualities and I thought they were good together. I was left with the sense that they'd be a great team moving forward as long as they can keep healthy boundaries between the different parts of their lives. Even though the characters aren't really nerds, I also loved all the nerdy references. I told my husband, I never thought I'd read any book, much less a romance novel that mentioned a TARDIS, a tardigrade, and multiple types of Scottish weaponry all in one tome. It really made all my geeky senses tingle.:-D All that said, though, I struggled a bit to feel the connection between Tav and Portia. I've never been a fan of stories where both characters are fighting their feelings for one another, because IMHO, it dilutes the romance. It was abundantly clear that they were attracted to one another, but until they gave in and hopped into bed, I just wasn't really feeling it. The love scene was packed with steamy goodness, but even after that, I still felt some distance between them. Portia went into it saying it was a one-time thing and still maintained that stance afterward despite him obviously not being out of her system, and even though Tav was clearly feeling more, too, he was just trying to act cool about it and not put too much pressure on her. I just felt there were a long line of things that kept them from fully embracing their feelings for one another, including how Tav reacted to the tabloid scandal. So, all in all, I did enjoy the book, but I felt that the romance between our hero and heroine could have been stronger. However, this small misstep certainly won't stop me from eagerly continuing with the series.

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Alyssa Cole

Themes

Artists
Tortured Heroines