Blog Tour Book Review: The Duke's Temptation by Raven McAllan

Author: Raven McAllan
Series: N/A
Audience: +18
Genre: Historical Romance, Erotic Romance
Publisher: Totally Bound
Release Date: October 31st 2017
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Neverland Blog Tours
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Tortured duke Gibb Alford has vowed never to love again...until a beautiful French knife thrower brings him to his knees.

When Gibb Alford, Duke of Menteith, saves a beautiful French knife thrower from the unwanted attentions of a fellow aristocrat he is ill-prepared for the immediate tug of attraction to the beautiful Evangeline. Widowed, he has sworn off love forever, so he can well do without this temptation.

Evangeline certainly doesn’t want the complication of being in the sights of one smoky-eyed Scottish duke. She’s a lady on a mission, with no time for love or dalliance.

However, fate and life have other plans and gradually Gibb and Evangeline become a couple.

As each struggle with the demons of their pasts, Evangeline finds life in the ton difficult. The spurned aristocrat Gibb saved her from is not prepared to give in and retire gracefully. And while Gibb fights the man, he also declares war on his own emotions. When Evangeline’s past is revealed to her, everything changes. She has a decision to make.

Fight for Gibb—or flee to a safe but unfulfilled future.

As for her duke… All is fair in love and war—right?

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Neverland Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review

It's been a while since I last read a historical romance that I loved as much as I did this one.

I had so much fun reading this book. Gibb is a tortured hero, who has vowed never to love again after his wife died. Fortunately for him, emotions have a funny way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it, and he is saved from his self-imposed solitude when he meets Evangeline. I quite liked Gibb. I loved how forward he was with his thinking, even though it is amazing how few people understood his quite reasonable ideas. I liked how he respected his staff, how he pushed them towards getting an education, and I liked how he defended Evangeline when she needed to be defended. I also liked how, towards the end of the book, he started fighting with his demons and tried to come to terms with how his late wife was like and with what she did.

Evangeline is an interesting heroine. She wasn't interested in anything other than what Gibb was willing to offer, but also nothing less than what she deserved. I liked how she stood up for herself, both when she needed to defend herself from Crowe, but also when she decided she deserved more from Gibb and had that conversation with him. I loved seeing her do that. I also loved how independent she was, how she wanted to earn her living. She's also a woman on a mission, trying to find out who her father is, and I liked that aspect of the story. In some ways, she reminded me of Elizabeth Bennet, which is one of my favorite heroines ever.

While reading this book I felt like reading a classic book. I was so immersed in the storytelling, that it took me a while to remember that this is a brand new book. Which is amazing, because it takes a special kind of author (or magician, however you want to put it) to manage to make the old English sound so new and not difficult to read or understand. I was truly amazed by McAllan's ability to write a story using words I've never heard before, without taking away from the story. It actually made the story more vibrant, more real, easier to get lost in, which I adored.

It's been a while since I last read a historical romance book, but this one reminded me why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. If you love the genre as much as I do, you must read this book. McAllan's writing took me on a wonderful journey and I cannot wait to read more of her stories.