The gossips whisper that the new Duke of Murdoch is a brute, a murderer, and even worse–a Scot. They say he should never be trusted alone with a woman. But Megan Windham sees in Hamish something different, someone different.

No one was fiercer at war than Hamish MacHugh, though now the soldier faces a whole new battlefield: a London Season. To make his sisters happy, he’ll take on any challenge–even letting their friend Miss Windham teach him to waltz. Megan isn’t the least bit intimidated by his dark reputation, but Hamish senses that she’s fighting battles of her own. For her, he’ll become the warrior once more, and for her, he might just lose his heart.

My rating:  3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. Also make sure to check out my Blog Tour post for this book, you can find it here! This book tells the story of Megan Windham, niece to the Duke of Moreland. Her cousins featured in books in a related series by this author (Windham series) but I hadn’t read any of them. So although this book can be read as a stand alone, there are other books connected to this novel and many of the characters from those other books are mentioned in this one. So Megan is being courted by the despicable Sir Fletcher, who is basically blackmailing her into marrying him because he needs more money. Megan has come to accept this awful fate, that is until she meets Hamish MacHugh, the newly titled Duke of Murdoch. A Scottish soldier who recently served in the war, he has been nicknamed the “Duke of Murder” for his sheer size and alleged brutality on the battlefield. Despite the rumors though, Megan gets to know Hamish better and all she can see is the kind and generous heart that lies underneath his intimidating size. But is there really any way that Megan and Hamish can fix their situation and overcome all the obstacles in their way so that they can be together forever?
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was an emotionally romantic read with poetic language and some nice sentiments about the healing powers of love. I loved how well the hero and heroine communicated with each other and how comfortable they were with one another while also being obviously attracted to each other. Megan’s family was also a great cast of characters and I’d be very interested to read some of their stories, especially the next book in this series about Anwen (Megan’s sister) and Colin (Hamish’s brother). This was a sweet and touching read and I would recommend reading it for those who enjoy historical romance.

The bottom line: This was a sweet read. Lots of poetic/flowery language so if you’re looking for swoon-worthy romance I would definitely recommend this one.

Link to author website

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