My Rating
Dame Barbara Cartland has about 700+ books to her name… Imagine the sheer talent in creating plots after plots with romance and suspense in equal measures in such a spectacular fashion.
A Duel of Hearts was downloaded to the kindle a long time ago and remained there in my ever-increasing TBR pile for ages. When I found myself at odds with back-to-back emotional and gut-wrenching reads, I picked this up for comfort and just for the absolute entertainment that this book provided, I will give it 5 stars.
A Duel Of Hearts has a fantastic heroine as its protagonist so much that the hero pales in comparison. From the very first time they meet, it is the extremely practical and sensible Lady Caroline Faye who guides Lord Vane to circumvent the potential pitfalls that he is unwilling to fight against. Lord Vane is kind of like the damsel in distress, uncaring about his fate and accepting things as they are instead of fighting for what he wants. It was interesting to see the turn of the story as one secret after another comes tumbling out of the closet in Brecon Hall and believe me, there is quite a lot of them to be revealed.
Barbara Cartland doesn’t disappoint, the chemistry between the leads not sizzling hot but good enough for the romance to develop but it was the gothic element of the story that was outstanding in its effect. I doubt if BC stories would be loved by today’s crowd, but for me, they have always been the books that I love to return to for instant nirvana.
Just seventeen, Lady Caroline Faye is already the toast of the Season and accustomed to the ways of genteel Society. So when notorious cad Sir Montagu Reversby offers to drive her in his phaeton from London to Sevenoaks, she innocently accepts – little knowing that he is planning to fake a broken axle so that she will be forced to spend the night alone with him at a remote country inn.
But Lady Caroline of made of sterner stuff than the predatory Sir Montagu imagined. Escaping his lecherous clutches, she finds refuge in the imperious Brecon Castle only to discover that her new-found haven and its master, Lord Brecon, harbour dark and terrible secrets. A murderous plot is afoot and Caroline’s innocent mistake will come back to haunt her as heartbreak and humiliation in the dark, foreboding castle turn to hope and then ardent, all-consuming passion.
This post contains affiliate links for products and services I recommend. If you make a purchase through those links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
This review is published in my blog Rain’n’Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.
This sounds fun! Great review!
Yes Georgia, it was fun, more like a milder gothic than what we are used to now…😊