A Duke by Default

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole, 376 pages

When picking out novels to read, I generally tend toward science fiction and fantasy, quirky characters, and often, a wicked sense of humor. Because of that, I don't often venture into the land of romance — I could probably count the number of romance novels I've read on one hand. But Alyssa Cole, you may be changing that with your Reluctant Royals books. The first book, A Princess in Theory, came out earlier this year, and it's made my list of favorites of 2018. Its followup, A Duke by Default, is just as good, with a great mix of three-dimensional characters, humor, female empowerment, romantic tension, and a surprising streak of nerdiness running throughout.

In this book, rich and flighty Portia has taken her "look, a squirrel" self to Edinburgh, Scotland, for an apprenticeship at a small armory that makes historically accurate swords. When she gets there, she finds out that the armory owner, gruff and sexy Highlander Tavish McKenzie, is also a Luddite who has no idea how much business he's missing out on by ignoring the internet. Determined to stay professional for once, Portia dives headlong into helping out the struggling business, taking on the marketing and website for Tavish, despite her boss's skepticism. Along the way, sparks fly (and not just in the forge) as Portia struggles to figure out herself and her role both at the armory and in Tavish's life.

Based on how great the first two books were, I'm going to go ahead and reserve the third book, which comes out next spring.