Book Sirens 2025 read
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61283803-friends-of-the-duke
I picked this book up after reading the Captain's wife and I didn't realize that was the 2nd of these prequels my blog about that can be found here : https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/2025/07/nina-jarrett-captains-wife.html
Interview with the Duke is a novella and is a short and sweet romance with minimal conflict. Our Story starts with John Pettigrew the second son of a Marquess he is suddenly cut off from his family by his father after he tells him he wants to forge his own path as a writer he doesn't want to go into the army that life isn't for him... instead of having his family to support him he is now on his own.
John is living with his found family his friend who is more like an uncle/or father figure to him is a wealthy merchant and has welcome him into his home and supported his writing career our MMC has been writing columns for The Gentleman's Magazine it's not what he wants to do as he would love to do more of his own works but it provides a fairly stable income.
While living with his friend for the past 4 years he has been falling for his friends daughter the fierce and feisty Dinah Honeyfield... she in turn has been falling in love with her father's houseguest and has been wondering if he is ever going to make his move to ask for her hand in marriage... she's not getting any younger and it appears that time has run out since her father has informed her they will be leaving soon for Bath where they will look for an eligible husband for her... she doesn't want a Bath gentleman she wants John he's so romantic he's a poet after all.
John runs into an old school friend the Duke while out and they catch up the Duke is sure to not want anything to do with him once he finds out that his father has cut him off... but surprises do happen instead of turning him away he builds him up and tells him how brave he was to stand on his own and make his own path when the easier way would be to just give in to his father's demands.
Dinah knows she is running out of time and makes her intentions known to John that she only has eyes for him and that if he is going to make his move it needs to be now before her father takes her on a country wide husband search... only when he makes his intentions known to her father his friend is not happy for them, in fact he wants a better more illustrious match for his daughter and with him having severed contact with his father he is not in the running for his daughters hand in marriage.
These two are already in love could running away and eloping be an option? John could crawl back to his father make amends and join the military like he wanted for him it would shatter his dreams of writing but he would be a better match for Dinah in her father's eyes and it would shatter his heart if she ended up with another man.
Maybe his old friend the Duke could help with this situation he is in a powerful position and Dinah's dad does want a boost in status and being friends with a Duke is really high up in the Tons eyes.
This was a cute quick read, even though they had known each other for years the series of events did feel more rushed and I think that I would have enjoyed the story and the characters more if the story was longer and I got more of a glimpse into their world and their romance, since it was under 100 pages I think a lot was left out in order to keep the story short. I do plan to read the next in the series.
*Historical Romance *some spice *book sirens *friends --> more *mutual pining
*2nd son of a Marquess *fierce FMC *author MMC *found family
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