He doesn’t need something fit for entertaining and has adapted one room for his needs quite satisfactorily. The decrepit conditions of Gostley Castle suits him perfectly. Instead Ransom suffered an injury and has retreated from society. Ransom, the Duke of Rothbury hasn’t been seen in society for months – the rumours are wild, including that he might even be dead. She assumes that the whim of her benefactor is finally being able to give little Izzy Goodnight a castle of her own after hearing so many stories of fair maidens and gallant knights in castles but for Izzy, it’s going to be much more than that….it’s going to be a home. Despite this she has little in the way of actual friends and finds herself quite alone after her father passes which is perhaps why she latches onto the idea of being able to possess a castle. Her father is well known as an author of a famous series of stories (of which Izzy is the little girl in the story being told the fantastical tales) and when people meet her they tend to act like they know her. Izzy is such a fun protagonist – she’s pragmatic and very sensible but she also has quite a fanciful side as well. This is the sort of book that makes me *happy sigh* and when I go on binges snapping up deals and freebies on iBooks and Amazon, it’s because I hope to find books like this one. Izzy is willing to work with him – she’d be happy to be his landlord but then he tries to make her flee and all of a sudden Izzy decides that maybe it’s time she made a proper home for herself. He insists he still owns the home and that he isn’t leaving. There’s just one problem – the castle is the current home of the Duke of Rothbury and he didn’t sell it to Izzy’s benefactor. Rather than a small sum, which was all she was hoping for, Izzy has been left a castle. The death of Izzy’s father has left her in quite a dire situation so when she is left a bequest in a will she doesn’t hesitate to turn up at the meeting point. This was my sort of romance from pretty much the first page. What fairy tales are left over for an impoverished twenty-six year-old woman who’s never even been kissed? Now Izzy’s given up yearning for romance. Rescued from drudgery by charming prince? The storybooks offered endless possibilities.Īnd as she grew older, Izzy crossed them off.

She never doubted romance would be in her future, too. Īs the daughter of a famed author, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight grew up on tales of brave knights and fair maidens. In the first in Tessa Dare’s captivating Castles Ever After series, a mysterious fortress is the setting for an unlikely love. Romancing The Duke (Castles Ever After #1)īlurb :

Romancing the duke by tessa dare