A Duke in the Night

By: Kelly Bowen

Narrated by: Ashford McNab

2017 RITA award-winning author!

"Where have you been all my life, Kelly Bowen? If Julia Quinn, Sarah MacLean, and Lisa Kleypas were to extract their writing DNA, mix it in a blender, and have a love child, Kelly Bowen would be it." (HeroesandHeartbreakers.com)

The first novel in a new historical romance series from Kelly Bowen.

©2018 Kelly Bowen (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Wonderful! A charming, clever, and engaging storyteller not to be missed." (Sarah MacLean, New York Times best-selling author)

A great listen

The book is great but the person who reads it for this audio is amazing! She has a way of making you feel you are the one in the book not just listening to it. It must be said that it is helpful to have such an entertaining and well written book to start with also!

Almost didn't finish...

So Ashford McNab did a lovely job narrating. But the hero almost made me put down the book several times. I like Bowen, and I respect her for trying a more abrasive hero, but he really deserved a slap in the face. I dont care how tragic his backstory. He kept doing whatever the hell he wanted, disregarding the heroine's wishes, and was too possessive too early for my taste. But it's ok, bc he wasn't as big an asshole as the guy who tried to force his attentions on heroine, so I guess it's a great relationship. He does reform some, and is like walking sex, so there's that, but... He made me quite angry throughout. There are lots of lovely things, and the heroine is a BAMF (except when it comes to men) and does scold him constantly for being a patriarchal ass, they both have to give a but at the end which is nice, theres an A+ finale scene, but... I dunno, maybe I just fell in love with Alex Lavoie in Between the Devil and the Duke, and August lost out by comparison. I think I'll look at the whole series, bc I'm intrigued by Harland and Rose, but...

I’m a new fan!

Well developed story, well told. Excellent performance. I’m a new fan and will look for everything from this author. I don’t want to spoil the storyline, but second chances can be so meaningful and delicious. The performance had well defined characters. Some humor, some drama, and varying demonstrations of love. I hope these characters make appearances in future books. I know I will be swept away into the next story regardless.

Incredible writing!!!

Kelly Bowen is a jewel of a writer! This book was an absolute joy to listen to from beginning to end! Incredible heroine and hero!
Before this book, I listened to her” season for scandal” series and like this book, it was so incredible to listen to from beginning to end!
I really cannot recommend this author highly enough!

Powerful women, love, perfection

At first I thought wow this is a tad slow but continue to listen. This book gives me goose flesh. I love the book, and narrator. My favorite Kelly Bowen book by far.

My First Kelly Bowen but not the Last!

This was my first Kelly Bowen, and though I was already determined to binge the entire series, I was enamored of her writing style enough to resolve to add her to my Must Read Author list. Clara and August were such dynamic characters and I loved the second chance romance aspect of their story. I really liked how August is introduced to us as a loving and doting (if not a bit oblivious) brother and how fiercely independent and feminist Clara is. I also really loved how well developed their backstories are - it made them so much more relatable and likable. A Duke in the Night is a great first book in a series, as it introduces us to the other Hayward siblings as well as hints at some of the issues/plot points that will be explored in the following books. Clara and August's HEA is so well earned and well written and I immediately jumped in to book 2...

Well done!

Beautifully crafted story peopled with characters you want to invite to tea, coffee and ice cream sundaes!

Refreshing!

A heroine who knows her mind and is ahead of her time. So refreshing!!! Narrator was good but I didn’t care for some of the voices ie the two elderly widows are aristocrats but sound more like low class male tradesmen. Overall I really did love this book.

Confusing but interesting

Through most of the book there was a lot of conversations that were very lengthy and breathy. These conversations often made no sense because you didn't understand what was going on and tell 2/3 of the way through the book. At that point it started to pick up and a lot was revealed that pulled everything together. It was definitely not my favorite book and I am actually surprised I finished it but I am glad I did even if the ending was kind of disappointing. Also the performer was very bad at performing male voices and also made a lot of characters have screechy, annoying voices which made this book even harder to get through.

Only OK

Not a very good book, a lot of irrelevance that made for a slow drawn out story, and didn't care for the narrator.