Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
After Dark with the Duke
After Dark with the Duke: Palace of Rogues | Julie Anne Long
5 posts | 4 read | 2 to read
Sparks fly when a daring diva clashes with an ice-cold war hero in the newest thrilling romance in USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Longs Palace of Rogues series. She arrives in the dead of night, a mob out for blood at her heels: Mariana Wylde, the Harlot of Haywood Street, an opera diva brought low by a duel fought for her favors. But the ladies of the Grand Palace on the Thames think they can make a silk purse from scandal: Theyll restore her reputation and share in her triumph...provided they can keep her apart from that other guest. Coldly brilliant, fiercely honorable, General James Duncan Blackmore, the Duke of Valkirk, is revered, feared, desired...but nobody truly knows him. Until a clash with a fiery, vulnerable beauty who stands for everything he scorns lays him bare. Its too clear the only cure for consuming desire is conquest, but their only chance at happiness could lead to their destruction. The legendary duke never dreamed love would be his last battleground. Valkirk would lay down his life for Mariana, but his choice is stark: risk losing her forever, or do the one thing he vowed he never would...surrender.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
khooliha
post image
Pickpick

This book sort of snuck up on me? Like, it was fine at first and then it didn't really change in any way but it got me. Not unlike the romance in it, I suppose!

review
ScientistSam
post image
Pickpick

This was fun! I'd say it's a dependable Julie Anne Long read, and there's nothing wrong with that. Enjoyable characters (both new and old) and a love story between two people of widely differing social class, with a lovely HEA. 4❤️

#romanstsy

34 likes1 stack add
review
robinb
post image
Pickpick

This is a 4th in series, and while I did enjoy it, it wasn‘t my favorite, maybe because I‘ve never been crazy about the older man/younger woman trope. James is a larger-than-life war hero who is idolized by society and was gifted a dukedom for his heroism and leadership. He is writing his memoirs (incognito) at the Grand Palace on the Thames. Mariana is an opera singer who has been vilified by society for allegedly inciting a duel. James, with 🔻

robinb his military background, is dignified, wary and closed-off. Mariana is vivacious and straightforward in her actions and her words. They start off as combatants, but as they are thrown together (James offers to teach her Italian after he publicly embarrasses her after one of their altercations), they begin to see the person beneath the public persona. 🔻 2y
robinb I enjoyed Long‘s trademark wit and beautiful (almost lyrical) writing. However, I didn‘t quite feel the level of engagement with her mains that I normally do in her books. But still, a very good addition to the series. 4.25/5⭐️ 2y
ScientistSam Your review was much better than mine, but I also felt that this was more of a "dependable" read than one I really loved. Of course, Julie Anne Long has a high bar since her baseline is so good! 2y
robinb @ScientistSam Thank you! Yes, I can tell you get what I meant. I felt that maybe I missed something because some of the reviews I‘ve read had it at the top of the series. 🤷🏻‍♀️ It‘s still wonderful, and as you say, it would be hard for JAL to top herself…if that even makes sense. 😂😂😂 2y
45 likes4 comments
blurb
nitalibrarian
post image

October somehow passed in a blink of an eye. I finished 12 books and got one bingo for #BookSpinBingo. 📚🍁

review
nitalibrarian
post image
Pickpick

I finished this lovely book last night. Absolutely one of my favorite books by this author. The hero is a bit judgmental of the heroine in the beginning. They have great banter. I love how their relationship develops. And I teared up (happy tears) at the end. 5⭐️ Out 11/30

Finishing this book also gave me a bingo for October's #BookSpinBingo. 😆

Johanna414 Just put a hold on this on my library's overdrive! 2y
21 likes1 comment