The Way to a Duke’s Heart is the final book in the The Truth About the Duke trilogy and a fun, charming story. Scandal, mystery, romance and blackmail make up this tale, and I enjoyed every minute of it!

Charles de Lacey, Lord Gresham, is running out of time, running from his responsibilities, and running from love.

Destined to be a duke, Charles de Lacey has led a life of decadent pleasure, free of any care for propriety or responsibility. It comes as a terrible shock to learn that he might be st

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I think somewhere down the line I may owe Caroline Linden an apology. I was convinced when starting The Way to a Duke’s Heart that I wouldn’t like Charles de Lacey at all. From his previous appearances he seemed too selfish, too indolent, and so removed from his family’s struggle to solve the Durham Dilemma that the author would have to do a lot of work to make him even remotely sympathetic. In the end, I was completely wrong about so much and came to see Charlie as the best of the brothers and More...

Duke of Durham’s father was secretly married before he met his son’s mother. Before he passed away, somebody started blackmailing the family, implying that his three sons might be bastards. The oldest son, Charlie, never could live up to his father’s standards. When he was twenty-two, he tried to marry the woman he believed to be the love of his life, but his father stopped the marriage. And Charlie stopped speaking to his father. His next youngest brother has been running the family estates and More...

The Way to a Duke's Heart is the third and final book in the Truth About the Duke series by author Caroline Linden. The main characters are Charles de Lacey and Tessa Neville.

Charles is the oldest brother and the last one to fall in love. He is also the brother who is known for being a scoundrel and bedding women without a care. He could really care less about the family business and has now been handed over the job of finding out the truth and the blackmailer. If he wants to secure the title of More...

The one thing that stands out the most for me with this book is the fact it was dull. So dull that the characters themselves point out they are bored to tears.

Charles is a typical rake you see over and over and over in this genre. Born to prestige, he and his father don't see eye to eye so he goes to London to drink, gamble, and whore for 10 years. He doesn't do anything! He freely states that he has no mind for business and knows nothing about his estates. I really am tired of rakes who do noth More...

HE WAY TO A DUKE'S HEART by Caroline Linden is an exciting Regency historical romance. Book #4 of "The Truth About The Duke",but can be read as a stand alone. See, "I Love the Earl","Blame It on Bath", and "One Night In London". Another great story by this author. The eldest Durham brother, Charles de Lacey, Lord Gresham, is about to meet his match,in Tessa Neville. While, looking for the blackmailer who holds the secret to his scandalous father's past, he finds intrigue,secrets,passion,acceptan More...

This was an excellent regency romance, with enough blackmail, mystery and history mixed in, and a sweet, sexy read. The late Duke of Durham had been blackmailed about an earlier marriage, which could have made his sons bastards, and a lost of the dukedom for his eldest son, Charles de Lacey, also known as the Earl of Gresham. Charles de Lacey, felt overshadowed by his younger brothers, Edward, with his fine business acumen, and Gerard, the intrepid soldier. The heroine, Tess Neville, although ve More...

Final book in the trilogy, though could read as stand alone as author does a nice job of recapping the key points to date in the trilogy's underlying mystery as events occur so as not to overwhelm or bore the reader but rather as a nice timely reminders that keep things moving. While in the prior books you know that the hero & his father were enstranged, you now learn of the reason for it & why the hero acted as he did. One the things I enjoyed most about the story was watching the hero More...

This was burning a hole in my NOOK whilst I read The Ugly Duchess (hey, Eloisa tweeted me, so she got to be first - I'm easy that way). Being a romance novel I had no doubt as to the outcome of the Durham Dilemma (duh) but I just wanted to know how it would all unwind as well as who Charlie would be paired with.

First off, I have to say I quite loved Tessa's companion/cousin, Eugenia Bates. Yes, Bates. Who has much the sweet, chatty, dithering demeanor of the Miss Bates of Austen's Emma - but not More...

The Way to a Duke’s Heart is the final story in Caroline Linden’s newest series, The Truth About the Duke. Briefly, the three stories weave a tale of the family saga of three brothers whose ducal father, the Duke of Durham, tells them in a post mortem letter that they may not be legitimate and oh, by the way, he was being blackmailed before his death. This confession, if true, will ruin not only the three brothers standing in society but also their fortunes. The first story (personally my favor More...

Hated the Heroine

This is a very slow moving tale that lingered on the side of a bit dry, but after around 100 pages, the story picked up. The author delivered intrigue and reconciliation to her series the Truth about the Duke.

The story revolves a rake and a scoundrel who has been wasting away in London society, because of his broken love that his father helped break. Once his family is thrown into scandal he is forced to go after the blackmailer and resolve the troubles his family has been plu More...

First off: I won an early copy of the book from Caroline Linden's July website contest, and I'm glad I did. This was the first of Ms. Linden's books that I've read, but it will not be the last. I plan on first tracking down the rest of the "The Truth About the Duke" series.
Secondly: The cover is absolutely gorgeous!
Third: I love this book! The characters of Charlie, the questioned Duke of Durham, and Tessa, the prickly sister of a viscount, are very realistic. I could sense the development of th More...

A delectable new romance from author Caroline Linden! Taken from my review at RomanceJunkies.com:

At his birth, Charles ‘Charlie’ Cedric Spencer Fitzhenry de Lacey, the eldest son of the Duke of Durham, was given his father’s second highest title, the Earl of Gresham. So he was held to a higher standard than his siblings. Charlie’s mother had always been able to lighten the atmosphere, but with her death, his father became even more critical. Then Charlie met Maria and fell in love. But his disap More...

Review from Queen of Swords Book Reviews.

LIKED:
* Tessa has a dark past but not super-dark. Her actions and interactions are proportionate to the level of her trauma. I find this a refreshing change from heroines who make really dumb outlandish decisions or put up insurmountable barriers based on something that should not haunt them that long. "OMG I can't ever love anyone because I peed my pants in front of my third grade class and I was so embarassed!!! Alas, although you are perfect for me, I More...

Originally posted at http://www.fictionvixen.com/review-th...

Although I’ve never had the pleasure of reading a Caroline Linden historical before, I’ve heard good things about her and decided to try out this new to me romance author. Not realizing The Way to a Duke’s Heart was the last book in a trilogy when I picked it to review, I was a little concerned that I might be behind as far as understanding the story arc and characters. While reading I was conscious that there were characters mentioned More...

Caroline Linden's `One Night in London: The Truth About the Duke' started the journey which is known to all of us as the Durham Dilemma. This series has a very unique premise that Ms. Linden came up with. All three stories are designed to reveal one big secret and tell us the truth about the old Duke of Durham's secret marriage that was never annulled, before he married his Duchess and the mother of his three sons, his heir Charles, Lord Gresham, Edward de Lacey, the spare and Captain Gerard de More...

Caroline Linden has never let me down. She has great love stories that never make me angry. I never hate her heroes. I'm never tempted to toss the nook against the wall. Somehow she manages to create couples whose obstacles are not self-imposed. The characters are all generally likable and the romance, easy to root for. And this third book in the Truth About the Duke series may be my favorite of the bunch.

When we first met the hero, Charlie, back in One Night in London, he was difficult to like. More...

I just finished reading the most excellent and marvelous book by Caroline Linden. The characters in this story seemed real with human emotions that I really like to spend time with. The writing was witty and easy to read. You can see the pain and anguish that clearly shows how people react to things happening beyond their control. Which happens to Charles de Lacey, Lord Gresham when his title to the Duke of Durham is threaten by a blackmailer. Charlie decides to investigate where his brothers le More...

Charles de Lacey had a massive falling out with his father, the Duke of Durham, because when he was 22, Charlie wanted to marry a penniless girl of unsuitable family, and his father made sure the marriage never happened. Now Charlie's father is dead, and he discovers that the late duke also had a youthful indiscretion, but that said impulsive marriage may cost Charles his title as duke, and make him and his younger brothers illegitimate. While his two brothers initially started trying to sort ou More...

I read and enjoyed the prequel and Gerald's story and expected to enjoy this one just as much. However, I had problems with the hero Charles in this piece. I remember not thinking much of him in Blame It On Bath and hoping he wouldn't get his story. I was eventually able to tolerate his character, but I didn't feel that connection to the main characters that I prefer to fully enjoy a story. I could see the growth of his character in this book, but it still wasn't enough for me to see Charles as More...

I had not read a Caroline Linden book before reading this one. I enjoy historical romance for the story, the usually strong female characters, a peak into history, and the fun of a happy ending. This book fits all those criteria. This is the third in a trilogy, but can be read as a stand alone without any problem. There is a bit of a mystery to the story, only a slight reflection of the old gothic romances of yesterday. 'The Way to a Duke's Heart' fits nicely in the current popular Regency roman More...

Rated 3.5 Blue Ribbons

Review courtesy of Romance Junkies:

Tessa Neville really dislikes the Earl of Gresham. She has traveled all day and is inquiring about a hotel room when his carriage pulls into the drive. Tessa is quickly forgotten as the hotel employees rush to service someone of higher rank, him. Tessa becomes even more unsettled when the Earl suddenly shows an interest in her elderly cousin. Fortunately, she does not have long to worry since they will be back on the road again soon. She More...

Third and final book about the eldest of three brothers. Charles De Lacey is heir to a dukedom, which may or may not come to him, as his father had been married previously and hadn't bothered with divorce or knowing whether he was a widower before he married Charles' mother. Somebody knows the secret and is blackmailing the brothers, threatening their standing in society and Charles' succession as Duke. The first books two follow Edward and then Gerald as they go on a hunt to find the blackmaile More...

What a great historical romance! If you love feisty women and rogues, you'll totally fall for Tessa and Charlie's story. This book mixes a romance between two people from different classes (Charlie is on his way to become a duke) and a mystery (his family is being blackmailed).

I won The Way to a Duke's Heart thanks to a contest on Caroline's website. I haven't read the other books from this series, but it wasn't a problem at all. But now that I met the other characters (Margaret, Edward and Gera More...

The third in The Truth About The Duke series by Caroline Linden. Charles de Lacey has always known someday he would be the Duke of Durham. But doubt has been cast and he may be stripped of everything. So it's up to him to discover the truth and set matters right. Along the way he encounters Tessa Neville. Tessa is looking into investment opportunities for her brother and it leads her to Bath where her first impression of Charles was less than ideal.

The book had a great start and then lagged slig More...

This book started off really slow, and I'll admit I skimmed thru the first bit of it. I wasn't liking the characters and would have put it down other than I was reading it at work (slow week nothing else to do) and I didn't have anything else to read.

Around the time when they go out and have dinner with the other gentlmen about the canals it picks up and I really enjoyed the last part of the book and Charlie become more interesting, I liked his character more than Tessa. Tessa started off stron More...

Originally posted on TBQ's Book Palace

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This was my first time reading Caroline Linden's work, and The Way to the Duke's Heart was actually a good book. I was intrigued by the blackmail and family secrets, and I flipped the pages to find out how everything turned out.






I liked the hero and heroine—they may not be in my top 10 list, but I still enjoyed reading their story. Tessa was very strong, very intelligent, and I respected her for that. I also came to respect Charlie for underst More...

I received this as an ARC from Ms. Linden after winning a contest. I quite enjoyed reading this book! It's the end of our trilogy with the DeLacey brothers and we finally get the story of the eldest Charles. He's trying to find out the truth about his birthright and meets his match in Tessa Neville. She's very smart and basically handles the business activities for her brother. It was really lovely to read about those two coming together. Charles thinks he's not smart enough and Tessa doesn't be More...

The Way to a Duke's Heart by Caroline Linden was fabulous read. While it is a bit of a slow progressing book in terms of the plot, the characters are so charming and delightful that they lure you into their story from the start.

I love Tessa. She is so not the typical heroine - she is very out there and not afraid of what others think of her for it. Eugenie was a fabulous character as well. She cracked me up and was just so endearing. Charlie was another character who was just delightful as well More...