A Duke Changes Everything

September 15, 2018
First in a new Victorian series about three self-made London men, focusing on a beastly casino owner-cum-duke, the castle he inherited, and the shrewd, stubborn steward who doesn't want him to abandon it.Nicholas Lyon is the ruthless and powerful owner of the most popular casino in London. Only some know he is also the second son of the late Duke of Tremayne, because he fled from violent abuse at the hands of his deranged father, spending his teen years on the streets. Everything Nicholas has, he earned, but a gnawing hunger for more persists. When his wastrel older brother dies, Nicholas inherits the title and returns reluctantly to Enderley Castle in Sussex. He plans to sell off the contents of the castle and lease the estate, never to return to the place that gave him his ghastly facial scar and still gives him night terrors. But the duke's plans are imperiled when he meets his unexpectedly female--and attractive--steward, Mina Thorne. Nick is shocked "[to find] beauty in this blighted place." For Mina, Enderley Castle is not only her livelihood, but her home and all she has ever known. She wants Nicholas to "see it differently, not as a burden but as an opportunity." Their mutual attraction grows as they come to know each other. Carlyle (How to Woo a Wallflower, 2017) is less reliant than many of her peers on repressed desire and sexual situations to move the plot forward, instead focusing on friendship and romance, to good effect. Nicholas' emotional confrontation with his buried past dominates the narrative, but Carlyle wisely makes room for Mina's own arc, one in which she comes to question whether her devotion to Enderley is rooted not just in virtue, but also in fear of change. While the book is enjoyable, the author relies on too many popular tropes (the self-made aristocrat is especially overdone) without introducing fresh elements to compensate.A solid Victorian romance with appealing characters that suffers somewhat from a lack of original beats.

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Starred review from October 1, 2018
Carlyle’s first Duke’s Den novel is a seductive mid-19th-century romance that crosses classes and other boundaries with aplomb. Mina Thorne has been acting as the steward at Enderley Castle since the death of her father, the former steward. When Nick Lyon, the disfigured owner of a London gambling club, unexpectedly becomes Duke of Tremayne after his older brother dies, Nick returns to Enderley, his inheritance and the childhood home where he was abused by his father. Nick’s arrival at Enderley is fraught with painful memories of physical and emotional trauma. These tragic recollections are tempered by his attraction to Mina; most people are put off by his facial scars and cool demeanor, but Mina sees the good in him. Though the attraction between Nick and Mina builds, he sticks to his plan to lease Enderley and return to London. Carlyle (the Romancing the Rules series) shows how Mina’s tender heart and Nick’s admiration for her talents lead them into a solid, real-feeling romance based on genuine affinity. Fans of historical romance will adore these characters and eagerly anticipate the next installment in the series. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary.

November 1, 2018
It isn't Thomasina Mina Thorne's fault that the Duke of Tremayne assumes simply because Mina signs all of her correspondence to him as T. Thorne, that it comes from her late father, Thomas. Nor can the duke claim that Mina is not fulfilling her duties as the steward of Enderley Castle and Barrowmere Village, because she is doing just as good a job?if not better?than her father. So, when Nicholas Thorne, who recently inherited the title after the death of his brother, Eustace, announces that he is coming to visit, Mina tries to tell herself that she isn't worried one bit. Of course, that is before Mina actually meets Nick and discovers just how different he is from all of the previous Dukes of Tremayne. With her print debut and the first in her splendidly sexy Victorian-set Duke's Den series, Carlyle gets all the details exactly right, from the smoldering sexual tension between her opinionated, outspoken heroine and dark, brooding, and deliciously tortured hero to the subtle fairy-tale-like flavor of the book's plot.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)