A Duke by Default (Reluctant Royals Series #2)

by Alyssa Cole

Overview

An NPR Best Book of the Year - A Bookish Favorite Book of the Year - A Bookpage Best Romance of the Year

Award-winning author Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series continues with a woman on a quest to be the heroine of her own story and the duke in shining armor she rescues along the way…

New York City socialite and perpetual hot mess Portia Hobbs is tired of disappointing her family, friends, and—most importantly—herself. An apprenticeship with a struggling swordmaker in Scotland is a chance to use her expertise and discover what she’s capable of. Turns out she excels at aggravating her gruff silver fox boss…when she’s not having inappropriate fantasies about his sexy Scottish burr.

Tavish McKenzie doesn’t need a rich, spoiled American telling him how to run his armory…even if she is infuriatingly good at it. Tav tries to rebuff his apprentice—and his attraction to her—but when Portia accidentally discovers that he’s the secret son of a duke, rough-around-the-edges Tav becomes her newest makeover project.  

Forging metal into weapons and armor is one thing, but when desire burns out of control and the media spotlight gets too hot to bear, can a commoner turned duke and his posh apprentice find lasting love?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062685568
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/31/2018
Series:	Reluctant Royals Series , #2
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	154,536
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.60(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Alyssa Cole is an award-winning author of historical, contemporary, and sci-fi romance. Her contemporary rom-com A Princess in Theory was one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2018, and her books have received critical acclaim from Library Journal, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, Booklist, Jezebel, Vulture, Book Riot, Entertainment Weekly, and various other outlets. When she’s not working, she can usually be found watching anime or wrangling her many pets.

Editorial Reviews

06/11/2018
In Cole’s rollicking second Reluctant Royals contemporary (after A Princess in Theory), Portia Hobbs leaves New York for Scotland and a sword-making apprenticeship, determined to recreate herself and her life. However, “Project New Portia” takes a hit when she finds herself wrong-footed with her new boss, Tavis McKenzie, on the first day. Tavis doesn’t want an apprentice, especially not one whose freckles and curves set his mind to wandering lustfully. But Portia’s talents soon prove to be exactly what Tavis’s business needs, and when Tavis admits there’s more to her than sexy good looks, the smoldering tension between them explodes with a fiery kiss. As Portia slowly begins to see herself as more than a flighty screw-up, she sets in motion events that change Tavis’s future—and that may just push her out of his life for good. Cole includes just the right amount of sass, sex, and heart to satisfy romance readers. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Witty, heartwarming, and super sexy! A charming royal romance.

Fresh Fiction

This book not only has one of my favorite meet-cutes ever written, it also features a heroine who is strong and vulnerable in equal measure, a perfect Scottish curmudgeon hero (aka #swordbae), and a supporting cast that celebrates the importance of female friendship. The romance is swoon-worthy, and I particularly loved the thoughtful exploration of the pressures of living up to family legacies (royal or not).

Bookish (Favorite Books of 2018)

Cole’s romances are always smart, sexy, captivating reads...

Entertainment Weekly

Alyssa Cole has rightfully garnered acclaim from all corners for the impeccable construction and emotional complexity of her romance novels. But her new novel, A Duke by Default, underscored something about her writing that I think deserves to be celebrated just as much—how joyfully and unrepentantly nerdy her work is.

BookPage

The sexual tension crackles as Portia and Tavish hide their attraction behind sarcasm, but the real emotional punch comes when they admit their feelings but need to decide if each really has a place in the other’s life. With a multicultural cast and delightfully geeky details (Cheryl Hu, Tavish’s sister-in-law, runs a food truck called Doctor Hu’s), Cole’s latest is pretty much perfect.

Booklist (starred review)

Alyssa Cole has presented another winner in her acclaimed Reluctant Royals series... A romantic Scottish armory and two unlikely characters with chemistry off the charts makes this book a rapid read.

BookTrib

2018-06-18
A rude sword maker clashes with the spunky socialite who has been sent to drag him into the 21st century.Portia Hobbs' hard-charging parents can't understand why she prefers acquiring graduate degrees and internships to joining the family business in New York. When she wins an internship to work with a master swordsmith in Scotland, Portia knows it's a perfect way to put her art history background to good use. Where her parents see flighty selfishness, Portia sees opportunity and excitement. Her new boss, Tavish McKenzie, is a taciturn silver fox with a healthy skepticism of modernity. He's gruff with Portia, who nevertheless manages to wield her social media and marketing savvy to raise Bodotria Armory's profile. Portia is a charming blend of bravado and insecurity, a woman whose summer in Scotland will reveal her innate worth even if her skills are not the kind her family can appreciate. A brusque British artisan falling for a spoiled, spunky American is a familiar trope, but Cole (A Princess in Theory, 2018, etc.) invests it with complexity by giving Portia not just vulnerability, but a journey of self-discovery that includes strong female friendships. Another well-known romance trope, secret royalty, gets the same treatment. Tav's mother was a Chilean refugee when she began an affair with his biological father, whom she left after he inherited a dukedom. Tav had always known the story, but he thought of his mother as a victim of a powerful man; learning now that she'd made her own choices, he has to make sense of a new origin story while grappling with an abrupt status shift from artisan to aristocrat. While Portia and Tav's characters are irresistible and their culture-clash repartee is genuinely witty, their romance seems abrupt. A continued friendship with benefits seems just as likely as a happy-ever-after for these two, and while their relationship might eventually develop into something lasting, readers might appreciate a cameo by "Maid Freckles" and "#swordbae" in the next installment of the series, just to be sure.An engaging cast of characters grapples with themes from family legacies to social media marketing while the romance between a gruff swordsmith and his unorthodox apprentice is more parry than attack.

Kirkus Reviews

08/01/2018
Tired of being the twin who doesn't have it together despite her intelligence and education, creative, computer-savvy Portia Hobbs gets serious, launches Project: New Portia, and accepts an apprenticeship with a swordsmith in Scotland, determined to prove her abilities to her family, her friends, and herself. But virile Tavish McKenzie, sword master in chief at the Bodotria Armory and her boss, is not at all the venerable craftsman she expects and macing him the first time she sees him in action doesn't get things off to a great start. Despite their initial wariness, neither can ignore the unwanted sexual tension that sizzles between them. As they work together, their friendship and mutual respect grow—and then Portia discovers something while researching the armory's history that could change Tav's life, as well as the town's, forever. VERDICT Multicultural characters, current social issues, a generous helping of Scottish weapons lore, a hero who learns to forgive the past, and a heroine who comes into her own make Cole's latest a lively, upbeat escapade rich with humor and heart. Thoroughly entertaining! Cole (A Princess in Theory) divides her time between the Caribbean and New York City.

Library Journal

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