The Duke Buys a Bride
3 Stars

After the lackluster first installment in the series, I had decided to DNF the rest. However, this book fit into a particularly difficult category in the Seasonal Reading Challenge, so I decided to give it a chance.

Although Marcus and Alyse have good chemistry and their romance has its satisfying moments, the story plods along with no actual plot to speak of. Marcus and Alyse get to know each other as they travel north to the Black Isle and it is never clear why they fall in love other than being in close proximity. They have virtually nothing in common, and it is difficult to accept that Marcus, who behaves like an arrogant arse for much of the journey, actually comes to care for a peasant girl he bought at auction.

There is also a disappointing lack of closure to Marcus's conflicts with either of the couples from the previous books. It would seem that Sophie Jordan has missed a great opportunity here for resolution.

On a final note, the audiobook is read by Carmen Rose who also narrates the Lady Darby series under the name Heather Wilds. As a fan of the latter, the narrator's voice sounded very familiar and a quick Google search revealed the information.

The next book focuses on Marcus's sister, Clara, and his Scottish neighbor, Hunt, but the premise does not sound all that appealing. I might listen to the audio if it fits into another challenge.

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All Marcus, the Duke of Autenberry, wanted to do was to sleep of his latest drunken night. While traveling and seeking a night's rest, he sees a woman being auctioned in a village. He sees the travesty and just cannot let things be. Before he knows it, he buys her. Not as a bride, but to protect he. Perhaps she can serve as a maid in one of his estates. Before he can get her established, however, they must travel a long distance together.

Alyse Bell has just ended a name-only marriage. This was due to a contract made by her father before his passing. The circumstances were unique and her current husband can get rid of her by selling her. She made plans for her friend to do the purchase, as she at least feels safe with him. However, he simply disappears, leaving her in the clutches of whoever decides to follow through. When a scruffy stranger buys her, she is truly dismayed. Where will her life go from here?

While traveling, Alyse realizes the man that bought her is a fine man indeed - he was just in need of a bath and a shave. She eventually discovers that Marcus is a Duke. All the while, they become drawn to one another and it seems like they might indeed be a love match. However, complications arise and what they've built is challenged. As it is, Alyse is entranced, but Marcus strives to maintain distance. However will the two find a future together?

Readers of The Rogue Files series will no doubt remember Marcus from the previous two books. His story was definitely looked forward to. Alyse was captivating and definitely a fighter. Marcus remained difficult throughout, but at least readers got to see him find his soulmate.

The Duke Buys a Bride is the third book in The Rogue Files series, preceded by While the Duke Was Sleeping (2016) andThe Scandal of it All (2017). This Scot of Mine will be released in March, 2019. ( )

I'm super excited to get into another Sophie Jordan historical romance, it feels like it has been so long since I have read one, and even though The Duke Buys a Bride is book 3 in The Rogue Files, but it didn’t really matter, as this book could totally be read as I have done!

The Duke Buys a Bride is unlike any historical romance who have ever read, we begin with the book where our hero the Marcus the Duke of Autenberry, awakes in a face full of manure, on his way out of town he manages to buys a "wife" and heads North to live in on an Island in Scotland, but nothing about this tale go smoothly, and in true Sophie Jordan style this book keeps you captivated from the very first page.

The Duke Buys a Bride is a very well written book, that has you sides hurting from laughter, but also fills you with concern and gives you that big heart dose of romance we all crave!

I give The Duke Buys a Bride 4 stars. ( )

Loved this one!

The premise was definitely unique--heroine, who was handfasted (I guess? I don't think they actually used that term, but she definitely wasn't a traditional wife for the seven years she raised his children and ran his house) to a much older man is sold at an auction when the old guy decides it's time to move on with a widow his own age instead (now that Alyse has done all the heavy lifting, of course). The childhood friend who's supposed to come for her instead books it out of town at dawn, and a duke who's passing through (after waking up face-first in horse dung!) manages to swoop in just in time to prevent the lecherous tanner from buying her for 16 pounds.

Essentially this is a road trip romance, as Alyse and Marcus spend most of the book traveling through Scotland to get to his Scottish property, where he's never been and where he tells Alyse she can be his housekeeper. He wants to brood in silence, she feels conversation will make the time pass faster. (Anything's better than the tanner, she reasons, but at the same time she's constantly planning ahead for some way to gain future freedom.) Naturally there's all kinds of forced proximity issues, an illness, an abduction, family drama, and a recalcitrant mule to add drama. His stodgy stuffiness is nicely counterbalanced by her feistiness, and their back-and-forth is what really makes the book.

This is the third in the series, but worked just fine as a standalone. The couple from book one make an appearance and Marcus complains at one point to Alyse about the couple in book two, but you don't have to have already read their stories to understand the underlying issues--Alyse doesn't know them either, so Marcus gives her the pertinent deets. (Word bookstore's Kiss Club had the audio of book two, The Scandal of It All , on sale this month, so I snapped it up ASAP. And book 1 was on my TBR the second I realized it was a historical romance version of While You Were Sleeping...)

Rating: 4 stars / A-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. ( )

My book ... not a review copy. Third book in The Rogue Files series. Yes ...read the series. The Duke of Autenberry gets more than he bargained for when he buys a bride at auction to save her from a creepy lecher after her childhood sweetheart abandons her. Watching Alyse Bell and Marcus Weatherton fall in love during their journey to his northern property is seriously hot. Great series can’t wait for the next one. ( )