Shana Galen is on top of her game with WHEN YOU GIVE A DUKE A DIAMOND! As the first book of an all new series, titled Jewels of the Ton, we get our first taste of the kind of women that make men run! The only question is: are they going to be running to them or away from them? I am a fan of Galen's carefree and upbeat writing style. A book, especially a romance book that can make me laugh is somewhat of an oddity. Galen has done it every time! Her characters are fresh, her heroines seem to be up to the kind of antics that my friends and I would get into, and her hero just never seems to know whether he is coming or going -- ideal laughing material. What I really love is the fact that I feel like I know the characters by the end of the book.

Galen has a way of making me understand them, care for them, and she has virtually brought them to life from in-between the pages. Juliette, aka the Duchess of Dalliance, has always had men eating out of her hands. Young and old, rich and poor, men of all types and station have been at her beck and call whenever she wanted them to be. But when her name gets linked with a duke's all her suitors seem to have suddenly disappeared. Hoping to set things straight, Juliette sets out to right the wrong that has been made. When she discovers just how boring, orderly, and stuffy the young duke is Juliette knows that it is fate that has brought them together.

William is the Duke of Pelham and he is constantly aware of the fact that the public is watching and waiting for the one moment when he does something to merit a scandal. That is why everything is in its place, every appointment kept exactly on time, every person that he associates with checked and rechecked to ensure nothing scandalous ever happens in his life. That's the way he likes it and frankly that's the way he believes it should stay. Suddenly one tragedy gives way to another and William finds that he must change his life to band together with a woman who is questionable to say the least. When Juliette is around things are never as tidy as they should be. Looking for a murderer is dangerous work, but when you have a beautiful woman to protect that can never stay out of trouble the work is twice as hard. Just how much disarray can one woman cause? And more importantly why does it seem that he likes it?

The unlikely pairing of the playful courtesan and the stuffy duke is quite entertaining and hilarious to watch unfold. There is action, there is intrigue, and there is romance in the air. Galen's way with characters and words make her books a real treasure to read.

Book Summary

HE HAD A PERFECTLY ORDERLY LIFE...

William, the sixth Duke of Pelham, enjoys his punctual,securely structured life. Orderly and predictable-- that's the way he likes it. But he's in the public eye, and the scandal sheets will make up anything to sell papers. When the gossip papers link him to Juliette, one of the most beautiful and celebrated courtesans in London,chaos doesn't begin to describe what happens next...

UNTIL SHE CAME ALONG...

Juliette is nicknamed the Duchess of Dalliance and has the cream of the nobility at her beck and call. It's disruptive to have the duke who is the biggest catch on the Marriage Mart scaring her other suitors away. Then she discovers William's darkest secret and decides what he needs in his life is the kind of excitement only she can provide...

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