Feel the passion rising with the turning of each page in Taming a Duke’s Reckless Heart by Tammy Andersen. Barrett Maddox, the sixth duke of Manchester, is known as quite a ladies’ man; however, the ladies, he has met so far, are intimidated by his rough manners and rugged personality. He has been moving on from one woman to another without giving any of them any real importance in his heart or his life. Barrett had been promised to be married to Penelope by his father ages ago, and he must keep this promise irrespective of the fact that Penelope’s whole body fills with terror with every glance of Barrett, which he has noticed quite vividly. On the other side, Piper Baker is supposed to find love as soon as possible. Her mother’s health is deteriorating every day and with no wealth on their names, she is desperate to get Piper married — but only for love. On the contrary to her mother’s wish, Piper wishes to get married to a man who would take care of her mother. With Piper’s magnificent looks, she should not have a problem finding a suitor; however, finding a suitable man is a different story altogether. Barrett finds Piper in an unfortunate incident and since then he begins feeling attracted to her like a moth to a flame. The only problem is that he might be interested in making Piper his mistress on account of the promise that his family made to Penelope. Would she agree to his request to help her mother get better or turn him down?
To get a reader to care for a character is a difficult, yet desirable, task for an author. Tammy Andersen, in my opinion, has succeeded in achieving the same. I loved Piper wholeheartedly and wished for an improvement in her life at the earliest. Every time Barrett said or did something that made Piper cry, I almost cursed him under my breath. The manner in which her brain worked really resonated with mine and that connected me with Piper almost instantly. The way she worried about her future, her uncertainty towards Barrett, her longing to be his wife are some of these attributes. One more character that I admired a lot is Ethan, Barrett’s friend. He has acted as a voice of reason of Barrett and said things that I, as a reader, was thinking in my head. Therefore, in a way, Ethan helped me get those things off my chest. The characters are written to the perfection. Each character is well placed and beautifully utilized throughout the read.
The plot is executed flawlessly. There are enough twists to keep a reader continue reading, and yet the plot never gets too confusing for a reader to understand. The story moves at a steady pace till the end. The longing that Piper and Barrett have for each other has been written so splendidly that I found myself wishing for them to get together. Apart from romance, there is a pinch of drama and a little bit of action to keep the mood of the book varied.
Although the author has not tried to do a lot of preaching in the book — directly or indirectly, it is not hard to see how many complications appear between lovebirds due to social boundaries. No matter how real the love connection felt between Piper and Barrett, they could not just ignore the promise that his family made to Penelope’s family or the monetary difference between the two. Isn’t this what happens in our society every single day. Something to think about — yes?
Anyway, coming back to the book, I would recommend this book to the readers who enjoy reading about how love may or may not conquer it all. If you enjoy reading the stories set in the time of dukes and duchess then this one is for you.
P.S. I have received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
