High 3 ( )

I am a little surprised by how good this was especially after reading ‘The Virgin and the Rogue’. Nora was a strong heroine that was outspoken, cared little for what others thought of her, and was true to herself while Constantine was always supportive in all of Nora’s endeavors, even the idea of her furthering her education in medicine and becoming a physician despite the views of women and medicine during that era. I thought her and Constantine (brooding hero in all its many shapes and forms) made a great duo, and what I enjoyed the most was how unrushed their romance was. The slow-burn of these enemies turned lovers' historical romance was everything, making a small piece of me wishing their story never ended.

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Beware the experimental herbalist!

It's that Nora ... again! The Nora Langleywho's happiest concocting various healing substances, setting bones, and generally physicking those around her. The same Nora who in 'While the Duke was Sleeping' had inadvertently given her sister something to alleviate her menses pain that ended up having an aphrodisiac effect. That was an interesting factor in the mix!
Well Nora's still using her healing abilities. This time however she ends up using ducal heir Constantine Sinclair with as a test subject using just a touch of her ahem! pain medicine, and once again the path of mischief opens up in unexpected new ways.
Con, formerly an army colonel had been communicating with Nora's father so imagine his horror when he realizes he's been bearing his worries to a woman! Not the feted Doctor--but his charlatan (in Con's eyes) daughter.
He does give her the chance to assist with the problemsof chronic pain debilitating the woman he looks upon as a mother, the Duchess of Birchwood. That experience, taking Nora from her laboratory to polite society does leave some in doubt. And testing the mixture on Con, well that's not something that was planned, but then even the best of plans can go astray, and after all this is Nora!
Nora's story is highly amusing, as one would expect.
An enjoyable read!

A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley ( )

I received an ARC of this book to read through Edelweiss+. All opinions are my own. The Duke Effect by Sophie Jordan is the seventh book in her delightful Rogue Files series. All of the books in this series are fun to read, balancing the perfect amounts of steam, humour and angst.
I would recommend reading books five and six before reading this one as they involve heroines from the same family, and while Sophie Jordan does an excellent job of filling in the background, I feel that you will find more delight in this book if you have read the previous stories. Nora Langley, the youngest of the Langley sisters, is a healer and had women been allowed to attend medical school, she would have become a physician in her own right instead of merely assisting her father with his patients. Lonely and not really understood by her family, she has been continuing the correspondence begun by her father before his death. When ducal heir Constantine Sinclair arrives at her door looking for her father, who specialized in alleviating pain, her deception is revealed, and Constantine threatens to expose her. Nora follows him back to London, convinced that she can help the Duchess of Birchwood. The path to HEA for these two seeming opposites is not a smooth one, especially when it turns out the aphrodisiac qualities of the pain medication Nora created for her sister also work on men. I enjoyed this book immensely. Steam Level: Medium. Publishing Date: October 26, 2020. #TheDukeEffect #SophieJordan #HistoricalRomance #RogueFiles #KissingBooks #AvonRomance #HarperCollinsCanada #BooksOfHCC #bookstagram #bookstagrammer ( )