A Most Unlikely Duke (Diamonds in the Rough Series #1)

by Sophie Barnes

Overview

He never thought he'd become a duke, or that the secrets of his past would cost him his greatest love...

 Raphe Matthews hasn’t stepped foot in polite circles since a tragedy left his once-noble family impoverished and in debt. The bare-knuckle boxer has spent the last fifteen years eking out an existence for himself and his two sisters. But when a stunning reversal of fortune lands Raphe the title of Duke of Huntley, he’s determined to make a go of becoming a proper lord, but he’ll need a little help, and his captivating neighbor might be just the woman for the job…

After her sister’s scandalous match, Lady Gabriella knows the ton’s eyes are on her. Agreeing to tutor the brutish new duke can only lead to ruin. Although she tries to control her irresistible attraction to Raphe, every day she spends with him only deepens her realization that this may be the one man she cannot do without. And as scandal threatens to envelop them both, she must decide if she can risk everything for love with a most unlikely duke.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062566812
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/27/2017
Series:	Diamonds in the Rough Series , #1
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	78,764
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Born in Denmark, USA TODAY bestselling author Sophie Barnes spent her youth traveling with her parents to wonderful places all around the world. She's lived in five different countries, on three different continents, and speaks Danish, English, French, Spanish, and Romanian. But, most impressive of all, she's been married to the same man three times—in three different countries and in three different dresses.

When she's not busy dreaming up her next romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, cooking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.

Editorial Reviews

04/10/2017
In Barnes’s first Diamonds in the Rough Regency, a newly minted duke tries to put his rough past behind him and falls for his beautiful new neighbor. Raphe Matthews is living in the poor neighborhood of St. Giles and barely making ends meet while trying to support his two younger sisters. Then he learns that he is the new Duke of Huntley. After moving to the ducal residence with his sisters, Raphe meets Lady Gabriella Radcliffe, an aristocrat who at first seems to snub him. But when Gabriella agrees to help his sisters assimilate into their new roles as sisters of a duke, he sees a different side of her, and learns she has not always been accepted as a member of her own class. The magnetism between Raphe and Gabriella is intense and believable as Raphe attempts to win over Gabriella’s family and Gabriella dodges proposals from the Earl of Fielding. The romantic angst propels the novel swiftly forward. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Barnes launches her new Diamonds in the Rough series on a high note by putting her own smart and sexy spin on Pygmalion with an entrancing story about a heroine with a kind heart and [...] a rough-around-the-edges but high-quality-where-it-counts hero.” — Booklist

From the Publisher

Barnes launches her new Diamonds in the Rough series on a high note by putting her own smart and sexy spin on Pygmalion with an entrancing story about a heroine with a kind heart and [...] a rough-around-the-edges but high-quality-where-it-counts hero.

Booklist

Barnes launches her new Diamonds in the Rough series on a high note by putting her own smart and sexy spin on Pygmalion with an entrancing story about a heroine with a kind heart and [...] a rough-around-the-edges but high-quality-where-it-counts hero.

Booklist

2017-04-04
A minor aristocrat is living in the slums of Regency London when he learns he has inherited the ducal title of a distant relative.Raphe Matthews has been taking care of his younger sisters since their mother ran off and their father died when he was only 8. He works as a dockyard laborer by day and a bare-knuckle boxer by night to pay off his father's debts and put a few meager turnips in the family pot. When he finds out he's the new Duke of Huntley he is none too thrilled, since the only aristocrat he's ever known was his faithless mother, who abandoned her family long ago. But for his sisters' sake, he moves into the ducal mansion in Mayfair. His new next-door neighbor, amateur entomologist Lady Gabriella Radcliffe, is trying hard to behave herself and marry the insufferable earl her parents have chosen for her. They want her to restore the family's reputation after her sister made a muddle of her own marriage prospects. But Gabriella finds the new duke even more fascinating than her beloved insects. She secretly helps Raphe to prepare his sisters for presentation at court. It's hard to understand how such a closely guarded young woman could manage to spend so many hours a day unchaperoned with her scandalous neighbor, but it's just one of the ways Barnes (His Scandalous Kiss, 2016, etc.) could have done with a more exacting editor in the first novel of her Diamonds in the Rough series. It's hard to write dialogue in an uneducated accent, and Barnes doesn't quite pull it off, but fortunately Raphe and his sisters master polished speech after the first hundred pages or so and the reader is spared further torment. A mildly entertaining tale.

Kirkus Reviews