Review - - Five Days With a Duke

Five Days With a Duke
by Christi Caldwell
The Heart of a Scandal - Book 5
Publisher: Christi Caldwell
Release Date: January 7, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
 

Years earlier, Connell Wordsworth, the Duke of Renaud gave up the woman he wanted for the responsibilities thrust upon him. After loss upon loss, he heads to London, for a new home with no memories, no staff, and the only thing he wants in life…to be alone. He’s managing that feat quite nicely until…

Lady Constance Brandley, has a secret. She and her family don’t have two farthings to rub together. A spinster, long past the age of either love or marriage, she finds herself presented with a unique opportunity that could improve her circumstances. Except, that opportunity also brings the unlikeliest of gentlemen into her life—her best friend’s former betrothed, the Duke of Renaud.

Thrown together with the notorious scoundrel, it isn't long before Constance discovers there’s far more to Connell, the Duke of Renaud than the world sees. And soon she finds herself longing for, everything she shouldn’t—the heart of a duke.

PJ's Thoughts:

I adored these two! Connell is an emotionally wounded hero who, suffering painful loss too many times, has shut himself - and his heart - away from the world with only his two (outspoken and highly untrained) servants for company. Constance has also known painful loss but instead of giving up, she decides to save herself by taking a job - a job that leads her directly to the duke who, ten years earlier, dumped her best friend. It's safe to say he is not someone she holds in high esteem. What ensues is snappy banter, sizzling attraction, painful introspection, redemption, forgiveness, and love...accompanied by much laughter, a few tears, and heartfelt sighs of satisfaction. In other words, a typical Caldwell book. She never fails to make me think, make me feel, and leave me happy to have tagged along on another journey to love. 

I'm kind of particular about reading a book series in order, something I usually strongly recommend with Caldwell, but when an author is as prolific as she is, sometimes I have to toss my preferences out the window and just dive in. Five Days With a Duke is the fifth, and final, installment in Caldwell's Heart of a Scandal series. I have not read the first four books in this series yet but did that lessen my enjoyment of this book? No, it did not. As I read Constance and Connell's story, not once did I feel lost or as if I was missing something. Caldwell's storytelling gave me everything I needed to fully embrace these characters, understand the events that had brought them to this point of their lives, and experience the peaks and valleys of their emotions as they forge ahead. Of course, as is typically the case with Caldwell's books, I'm now so fully immersed in her Heart of a Scandal world that I'll be downloading and reading the rest of the books in the series at the first opportunity.

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Have you read any Christi Caldwell books?

Do you have a favorite Caldwell book or series?

One person who comments before 11:00 PM, January 23, 2020, will receive a signed, trade-size, print copy of FOR LOVE OF THE DUKE, the first book in Caldwell's Heart of a Duke series. 

*Must be 18 or older
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