Suzanne Enoch – The Black Duke’s Prize

Four Stars
Suzanne Enoch - The Black Duke's Prize

“Nicky, you’re a disgrace.”

Julia Varon

This debut novel is an excellent start to Suzanne Enoch’s career. She starts strong with her signature leads going toe to toe in a playful battle of wills. If the dynamic between the two hadn’t fallen apart in the latter half of the novel, it would have been a five-star read for me.

I loved both leads right off the bat. Kate bows to fate when she can’t fight it head-on, but that doesn’t mean that she won’t fight back as soon as she has an opening. She also is not afraid to speak her mind, which brings her to Nick’s attention.

Nick has a devil-may-care attitude but cares deeply for those he loves. Kate catches his attention when she doesn’t act like the other young ladies, as shown hilariously in his interaction with Althaea. The early part of their romance is a fun, easy romp in Regency London.

Unfortunately, an argument that didn’t make much sense to me threw their romance entirely off the rails. It made the later parts of the book less enjoyable and dropped my star rating.

I was impressed with this debut novel, and overall it has held up well over time. Hallmarks of Suzanne Enoch’s works are already present, and I look forward to reading more of her entertaining novels.

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