Summary
Christian arrived home from war because his brother and father passed away and he is now the Duke of Randford. He plans to focus on helping the men who fought along side him and came back to England with nothing. He finds out his brother, Meri, was married, not once, but three times! Christian has to clean up the mess, but when he meets Kat, Constance and Blythe, Kat convinced him to help the widows his brother left behind. As they try to sort out the mess his brother, Lord Meriweather, left behind, Kat and Christian realize the depths of each others characters and slowly fall in love.

Tropes: Blustocking heroine, titled hero, ton society, virgin heroine, class difference, war hero, brothers wife, alpha hero, secret identity, orphan, widow

The Plot : I thought the plot was excellent and I kept thinking I knew where it was going, but then it took a different turn! Kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat! I wish Kat would have been honest with Christian about her and Meri’s relationship from the beginning, but I guess that would have sped but the steam and cut the swoon/wooing in half. It was an interesting read, a slow burn romance, and I’m looking forward to reading about the other wives outcomes.

The Heroine : Katherine Vareck is an independent woman who married Meri to gain respectability among the ton, but she still had hopes she would develop feelings for him and have a family she always wanted. She is a very determined, smart, and driven woman and I really enjoyed getting to know her and see her poise as she navigated the mess her late husband left for her! She has an amazing heart and we see that throughout the book as she selflessly helps those in need.

The Hero : Christian, the new Duke of Randford, is a beloved war hero, sho just returned home and is ready for the next stage of his life: marriage, family, and helping other soldiers returning from war. He, just like Kat, has a generous heart and really seeks out the love she wasn’t shown growing up. He is a hopeless romantic and it just pulled at my heart strings!

The Steam : Honestly, there were one or two steamy scenes but nothing to hot. This book was more about the SWOON, than the steam for me! Christian was such a romantic and the descriptions of their feelings for each other, gosh, Jenna MacGregor can describe one’s inner thoughts so well, that I found myself going, ‘oh, I feel that same way about my husband!’

Stand Out Moment : When he shows up in York, and she confesses everything to him; I just melted at his respect for her decisions and his response to her was definitely swoon worthy!

Who Would Like This : Anyone who wants a feel good, romantic love story!

Final Thoughts : This book is swoons more than steamy and I’m totally okay with that! ( )

I had already planned to read MacGregor's Cavensham Heiresses series, but hadn't gotten to it yet when NetGalley and St. Martin's Press offered me an advance copy of this book to review. So this is actually my first by this author, and I really enjoyed it. So many aspects that reeled me deeper into the story or made me chuckle or had me pausing to think 'aww, that's so absolutely precious!'.

The couple had a really nice connection, I felt like I was really able to revel in all their longing, and appreciation and affection. The hero, especially, *adores* the heroine and says the sweetest things! There's a nice amount of steam, and also an emphasis on consent, which I liked, (no dubious consent here!). And the two are both generally admirable characters, which is nice. There's a slight secondary relationship that is a pretty good balance between not distracting from the main couple, but also not all supposedly happening off page and then popping out of nowhere in the end.

The pacing after the engagement felt a little bit wonky at times, but was generally good on the whole. And an incident in the heroine's past felt kind of blown out of all proportion. Either the heroine just had sort of a personal complex over it, and it had ballooned in her mind, or the incident should have been made to be more of a serious issue than it was. But those are pretty small complaints.

I'm extra looking forward to reading the Cavensham series now! I hope they're written as well. ( )

A Duke in Time is the first book in The Widow Rules series, and I have to say, the first chapter really does open with quite an interesting scene. I thought the concept was intriguing, and I did like the characters for the most part, but remove the trappings of regency England, and you could just as well be reading a contemporary romance. There is historical leniency in a lot of these romance novels, but I did feel like this one pushed it a bit too far.

I definitely liked Katherine as a main character, even if I thought she was way too modern for this time period. She was kind-hearted, tough, determined, and loyal, but there were moments where I actually rolled my eyes. I couldn't help it. Empowering women is one thing, but convincing them they can do anything they want during this time period is modern thinking, not Regency thinking, and it bothered me when I saw this, not once, but over and over again. No, women could not do whatever they wanted, and telling children they can grow up to be whatever they wanted is definitely not something that would be common during this time period, especially for children who didn't know who their fathers were. And it completely contradicted the other story line running through this book; women who now desperately needed a husband, or whatever, so they wouldn't be ruined when the truth came out.

There always has to be this big 'secret' that comes between our lovers, and naturally, this book had one as well. I did feel like the author was really stretching it here though as I didn't buy it. And Katherine had a witness, so it just didn't work for me. When a secret works, it can create some rather interesting dialogues and story lines, and some interesting times for the reader, but when it doesn't, it just seems silly, and I'm sorry, but this one was silly. I was also frustrated by the whole Meri situation and would have loved to get an answer for what happened there; after reading this book, I just don't understand how Katherine would have married him.

I didn't mind the plot too much, but I will never be a fan of insta-love. I have read some of this author's work before and prefer the slower-burn of her other books. I also thought the duke's introduction didn't match the personality she developed for him later on. I get that he was confused over his brother's actions and that he didn't want anything to do with him, but he was also a duke and family responsibility is drummed into you from childbirth. He slowly grew on me though, but I'm not really sure I bought completely into their romance. And while they did have chemistry, it needed to be developed and grown. The steamy sections kind of covered up the lack of relationship growth, but I have to say, the author definitely did a great job discussing the types of linens that were available during this time period during these scenes without taking away from the 'steam'.

Verdct
A Duke in Time is a well-written romance: the so-called secrets and the issues with Meri made the book a bit tougher to get through than I would have liked, and I just didn't buy into some of the story line and some of the reasons for why the characters behaved the way they did. I'm not a fan of using miscommunication, or lack of communication, as a plot device, especially for grown adults who are so organized in other facets of their lives. I did however, lover the other two wives and am looking forward to reading their stories in future books. ( )

Before this book, Janna MacGregor was not one of my go-to authors, but that has certainly changed. Although it took me a few chapters to get into the story, once I did, I was hooked and ended up reading the rest of it in one sitting, staying up well past my bedtime. I can't say exactly what it was that held me so enthralled so I think that means it was a little bit of everything, which is the sign of a great book. From about a third of the way through, I kept thinking, "I can't wait for the rest of the trilogy.". I didn't just want book two, but book three as well.
I suppose part of my hesitation with the story at first was the initial premise of the three wives left behind by the trigamist. That they so quickly and easily formed a bond was simultaneously odd and understandable. Katherine, who to that point had been a bit brisk and efficient, began to thaw as the dust settled. The Duke, Christian, also took a bit of time to warm up to, as dukes often do. But, once he warmed up, he quickly became rather steamy until, together, they nearly exploded.

The chemistry between the two characters was undeniable. Waiting for them to get together was frustrating in a good way with the reader feeling all of their own irritation and impatience. What was best was that they came together fully accepting the other. There were still secrets to be exposed, but they were each ready to take the other as they were.

I thoroughly enjoyed the secondary characters as well. The other two wives will certainly have great stories of their own, but Christian's group of former soldiers he had gathered as servants in his household were interesting additions, especially his valet. And Katherine's companion Willa was a vital part of the story, supporting her friend at every turn.

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Duke in Time by Janna MacGregor is the first book in her new series, The Widow Rules. After her estranged husband dies, Katherine Varek, Lady Meriwether, attends the reading of the will at his solicitors' office only to discover that her husband left behind two other widows and all of their dowries are missing. Christian Varek, Duke of Randford, is dismayed to discover that even in death, his miscreant half-brother has left him with a tangled web of trouble, not the least being three wives and his intense attraction to wife number one. I enjoyed this book with its intriguing characters, including a heroine who runs her own successful business despite a troubled past and a war hero duke who too must reconcile his past to move forward. Steam Level: Medium. Publishing Date: June 29, 2021. #DukeInTime #JannaMacGregor #HistoricalRomance #HistoricalRomanceSeries #TheWidowRulesSeries #NetGalley #bookstagram #bookstagrammer ( )