Luscious Lucius, the Duke of Ashmont, was getting married, to the astonishment of the haut ton. "His Grace with the Angel Face", and one-third of Their Dis-Graces, was to wed Lady Olympia Hightower, deemed "The Most Boring Girl of the Season" seven years in a row. Olympia is sensible and practical: she has six brothers, a father who couldn't manage money if his life depended on it, and pecuniary matters are rather distressing at the moment. Rather than marry her only other suitor, an ancient scholar with a magnificent library -- Olympia is enamored of books -- she accepted Ashmont's proposal, which did come as a shock to her as well. The dissolute reprobate has been acting the perfect gentleman, so perhaps all is not a complete loss. On the morning of her wedding day, however, Olympia has started guzzling brandy in an alarming way; those wedding jitters have become impossible to ignore, and she bolts out the window. Ashmont's friend, the Duke of Ripley, glimpses white fabric in the window. Should he go after Olympia and inflict Ashmont on her, or let her run away from what will surely be an epic disaster and a farce of a marriage? Well, friendship prevails, and Ripley vows to bring Olympia back to her groom. What ensues is surely the funniest historical romance I have ever read, and one of the most genuinely funny book I have ever read, regardless of the genre!

Stories about women taming the bad boy abound, well folks, this is one for the ages! A DUKE IN SHINING ARMOR is epic! Loretta Chase's sparkling sense of humour dazzles while her astonishing eloquence paints images of unparalleled clarity in what is one of this year's best books. The dialogues are extraordinarily witty, and the tone and the language are beyond compare; the writing is exquisite; the pace lively and the characters are stupendous literary creations. Those are a lot of adjectives, you say, and deservedly so.

The scene with the mechanical chair is so uproariously hilarious, that I believe that A DUKE IN SHINING ARMOR could be read only for that sequence, and it would be worth it. What is even more amazing is that this constitutes the turning point in the relationship between Olympia and Ripley. Aside from the hilarity though, the romance is marvelous; I believed in every gesture and every word emanating from every character. I could not say enough about the characters; how alive and believable they are; how complex and fascinating, and how truly formidable Olympia is, and how really rakish those Dukes are. There was only a very minor thing that puzzled me, and it has nothing to do with the book at hand was that A DUKE IN SHINING ARMOR felt like the second book in a series, which had me searching frantically for the book I had missed. The Duke of Blackwood's "taming" seems to have occurred previously, although the wedding bliss appears to be fading, so I gather this is for the future. For the time being, I wish that Ashmont's story will be gracing our shelves sooner rather than later, because a very special lady has her work cut out with this rake! A DUKE IN SHINING ARMOR is a stellar debut to a new series that promises to be phenomenal! Bring on those dissolute Dukes, Ms. Chase!

Book Summary

Not all dukes are created equal. Most are upstanding members of Society. And then there’s the trio known as Their Dis-Graces.

Hugh Philemon Ancaster, seventh Duke of Ripley, will never win prizes for virtue. But even he draws the line at running off with his best friend’s bride. All he’s trying to do is recapture the slightly inebriated Lady Olympia Hightower and return her to her intended bridegroom.

For reasons that elude her, bookish, bespectacled Olympia is supposed to marry a gorgeous rake of a duke. The ton is flabbergasted. Her family’s ecstatic. And Olympia? She’s climbing out of a window, bent on a getaway. But tall, dark, and exasperating Ripley is hot on her trail, determined to bring her back to his friend. For once, the world-famous hellion is trying to do the honorable thing.

So why does Olympia have to make it so deliciously difficult for him . . . ?

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