Tuesday 21 August 2018

The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne

THE DUKE WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Victorian Rebels (Volume 6)
Kerrigan Byrne
St. Martin's Press


Pub Date: 08/28/2018
ISBN: 9781250122568


Summary:

He is known only as The Rook. A man with no name, no past, no memories. He awakens in a mass grave, a magnificent dragon tattoo on his muscled forearm the sole clue to his mysterious origins. His only hope for survival—and salvation—lies in the deep, fiery eyes of the beautiful stranger who finds him. Who nurses him back to health. And who calms the restless demons in his soul…

A LEGENDARY LOVE

Lorelei will never forget the night she rescued the broken dark angel in the woods, a devilishly handsome man who haunts her dreams to this day. Crippled as a child, she devoted herself to healing the poor tortured man. And when he left, he took a piece of her heart with him. Now, after all these years, The Rook has returned. Like a phantom, he sweeps back into her life and avenges those who wronged her. But can she trust a man who’s been branded a rebel, a thief, and a killer? And can she trust herself to resist him when he takes her in his arms?



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kerrigan Byrne
Whether she’s writing about Celtic Druids, Victorian bad boys, or brash Irish FBI Agents, Kerrigan Byrne uses her borderline-obsessive passion for history, her extensive Celtic ancestry, and her love of Shakespeare in every book. She lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains with her handsome husband and three lovely teenage girls, but dreams of settling on the Pacific Coast. Her Victorian Rebels novels include The Highwayman and The Highlander.

Review:

I didn't know what I was getting into with this book. Naively, I expected Almack's with a dash of amnesia. What I got was so much better.

This book has PIRATES.

Most of the action (and believe me, there is a lot of it) happens at sea or on the coast. There are twists and turns, all neatly foreshadowed. There's a heroine who is swept along for the ride and who never gives up on believing in good. There's a hero who is certain he is no such thing thanks to his terrible past, both forgotten and remembered.

I was initially sceptical of the romance, after a sham of a wedding at sea, but it gets better. A LOT better. I especially enjoyed the sections in Ash's head, because he is so hard to read, at least at the outset. When he does soften, it's with a suitable grovel, which really sealed the deal for me. I'm a sucker for guys who walk in the darkness but can't help but be drawn to the light of a single person.

While certainly descriptive and action-packed, the book was let down a little by some purple prose, the most florid probably 'two tortured orbs of onyx'. It was a little distracting at times, but not enough to pull me out of the story completely.

I certainly didn't realise that this was book six in a series, but the references to other happy couples should've clued me in. It stands well on its own and has me interested in some of the other stories mentioned as well.

Four stars.

I received an ARC of this book from St Martin's Press. All opinions expressed are my own.

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