Being the most sought-after bachelor in London can be trying. Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne, should know. But when he winds up an unwilling escort ...
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reviews
May 31, 2011
Juliana
rated it: 
Found a new favorite author! I would be giving this book 5+ stars if not for two things (4.5 stars)
I don't even remember how I stumbled upon Kate Noble, but it was quite by accident. From the four books she has published, this one and Compromised seemed like they would appeal to me most, based on the summaries. I started with this one and oh how right I was! There were so many utterly fabulous things about this romance: historically rich in detail; features a compelling, unique heroi More...
I don't even remember how I stumbled upon Kate Noble, but it was quite by accident. From the four books she has published, this one and Compromised seemed like they would appeal to me most, based on the summaries. I started with this one and oh how right I was! There were so many utterly fabulous things about this romance: historically rich in detail; features a compelling, unique heroi More...
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May 19, 2011
Catherine
rated it: 
*4.5 Stars*
"What on earth did you say to him? And what did he say back? I've spent the last twenty minutes trying to get a straight answer out of him."More...
"Miss Crane, do you even speak German?" Jason asked, surprised.
"Of course I speak German," she said, affronted.
"Really?" Jason asked coolly. "Which dialect?"
She opened her mouth and closed it, like a fish. "At least I can read German very well."
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Apr 24, 2011
Katie(babs)
rated it:
There’s a famous song from the 1934 Cole Porter Broadway show, Anything Goes called “It’s De-Lovely.” The chorus goes as follows- “It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely”. I can’t help but hum this song when I read a Kate Noble book. Her books are all of these things- delightful, delicious and lovely.
Follow My Lead is a light hearted, on the road romance between the hero and heroine who match wits while falling in love with one another. The hero, Jason Cumming, Duke of Rayn More...
Follow My Lead is a light hearted, on the road romance between the hero and heroine who match wits while falling in love with one another. The hero, Jason Cumming, Duke of Rayn More...
Jul 22, 2011
Adi (Reading in the Windowseat)
rated it:
A great read of adventure travelling for a travel (I'd know, I read this while I was travelling around the country).
I adore Kate Noble's style, and though my all-time favorite remains Compromised, I'd had great fun reading both Revealed and Follow My Lead. I was so impressed by the latter's back-cover description that I bought it instead of The Summer of You, which actually comes first (and which I'm buying next).
The novel was so not what I expected. The characters were r More...
I adore Kate Noble's style, and though my all-time favorite remains Compromised, I'd had great fun reading both Revealed and Follow My Lead. I was so impressed by the latter's back-cover description that I bought it instead of The Summer of You, which actually comes first (and which I'm buying next).
The novel was so not what I expected. The characters were r More...
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Jul 05, 2011
Karen
rated it:
Loved, loved, loved this book. Smart, funny, occasionally breathtaking and poignant (the scene with the doll made me a bit verklempt), with a bit of a "but-- but--!" twist at the ending. (Without giving anything away, let's just say I was very glad of the teaser for the next book, to assure me that all concerned WOULD get their deserved happy endings.)
Jason, a marriage-minded duke who dabbles in history and has a (somewhat earned) reputation for delegating his commitments, More...
Jason, a marriage-minded duke who dabbles in history and has a (somewhat earned) reputation for delegating his commitments, More...
Jun 04, 2011
Teresa
rated it:
I simply love Kate Noble! Her latest “Follow My Lead” is like Gatorade on a scorching hot day—it’s just that refreshing.
A few weeks back while playing an unusually unlucky round of poker on Facebook, I kept noticing a small advertisement popping up on the right hand side of the page for this book. After clicking on the link and watching a very amusing animated trailer, I knew this was going to be my kind of story…unfortunately it wasn’t available just yet.
A few days lat More...
A few weeks back while playing an unusually unlucky round of poker on Facebook, I kept noticing a small advertisement popping up on the right hand side of the page for this book. After clicking on the link and watching a very amusing animated trailer, I knew this was going to be my kind of story…unfortunately it wasn’t available just yet.
A few days lat More...
May 11, 2011
Bookaholics
rated it:
Follow My Lead by Kate Noble
Historical Romance – May 3rd, 2011
4 stars
Jason Cummings just wanted to be left alone. After a disastrous attempt to find a wife, Jason had no choice but to rely on his sister’s expertise. Still, being the most sought after nobleman and having to attend ball after ball, all Jason wanted was solace. As a member of the prestigious and scholarly Historical Society, he enjoys his solitude. And being hunted by females is draining to say the least! More...
Historical Romance – May 3rd, 2011
4 stars
Jason Cummings just wanted to be left alone. After a disastrous attempt to find a wife, Jason had no choice but to rely on his sister’s expertise. Still, being the most sought after nobleman and having to attend ball after ball, all Jason wanted was solace. As a member of the prestigious and scholarly Historical Society, he enjoys his solitude. And being hunted by females is draining to say the least! More...
May 19, 2011
Louise
rated it: 
(3.5 stars)
Not bad for regency romance! And definitely better than the cover leads you to believe.
I liked that Winn, our heroine, is an independently minded woman set on making a name for herself in an all-male historical society. I liked that our hero, Jason, was kind of an anti-hero: bumbling, out of shape, not conventionally good looking because of his fiery red hair, cowardly, lazy, and has a voracious appetite (for food, you perverts!). I also liked that Winn didn't i More...
Not bad for regency romance! And definitely better than the cover leads you to believe.
I liked that Winn, our heroine, is an independently minded woman set on making a name for herself in an all-male historical society. I liked that our hero, Jason, was kind of an anti-hero: bumbling, out of shape, not conventionally good looking because of his fiery red hair, cowardly, lazy, and has a voracious appetite (for food, you perverts!). I also liked that Winn didn't i More...
Jun 14, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
**Check out the full review at www.raunchdilletante.com**
I picked up this book because several bloggers I follow read and raved about it. I’ve read one other work by Noble (Revealed), and it didn’t really do it for me. I don’t recall exactly why except to say that it seemed to drag for me and wasn’t terribly engaging. I’m not one to put off an author, however, because of one subjective dud. So I put this on hold at my library, and I gleefully picked it up a few weeks later.
Foll More...
I picked up this book because several bloggers I follow read and raved about it. I’ve read one other work by Noble (Revealed), and it didn’t really do it for me. I don’t recall exactly why except to say that it seemed to drag for me and wasn’t terribly engaging. I’m not one to put off an author, however, because of one subjective dud. So I put this on hold at my library, and I gleefully picked it up a few weeks later.
Foll More...
Nov 01, 2011
Mti Librarian
rated it:
Not as light as I usually like my fluff, but I still enjoyed it. This is the third book in a month that I've read about forgeries, paintings, and provenance and I didn't plan it at all.
Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne, is on the hunt for a wife. He's just not quite prepared for the money hungry mamas and the title hungry debutantes trying to sink their claws into him. Jason is easily distracted from his marital woes by a woman demanding entrance into the masculine bastion of the Hist More...
Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne, is on the hunt for a wife. He's just not quite prepared for the money hungry mamas and the title hungry debutantes trying to sink their claws into him. Jason is easily distracted from his marital woes by a woman demanding entrance into the masculine bastion of the Hist More...
Jul 18, 2011
Ellie
rated it: 
Follow My Lead by Kate Noble
D+
“Perhaps it was because she was the first woman in two Seasons who did not look at him with some kind of expectation.Perhaps it was because, when her hand made contact with his nose, it was if she’d knocked the weight of the day clean off him- the dreary, boring day that had sat on his shoulders for so long.”
Jason Cummings, the Duke of Rayne, has decided that thirty is a great age to get married and has started to hunt for a bride. Imag More...
D+
“Perhaps it was because she was the first woman in two Seasons who did not look at him with some kind of expectation.Perhaps it was because, when her hand made contact with his nose, it was if she’d knocked the weight of the day clean off him- the dreary, boring day that had sat on his shoulders for so long.”
Jason Cummings, the Duke of Rayne, has decided that thirty is a great age to get married and has started to hunt for a bride. Imag More...
Aug 22, 2011
Carien
rated it:
I must say I was surprised by this Historical Romance.
I'm used to there being a whirlwind romance after the instant attraction when the hero and heroine first meet. In this story however the attraction that grows between the lead characters is a slow, but steady thing. It is build step by step while Jason and Winnifred travel Europe and find themselves falling from one adventure into the next.
It was different and rather sweet I must say.
The villain of this story however is More...
I'm used to there being a whirlwind romance after the instant attraction when the hero and heroine first meet. In this story however the attraction that grows between the lead characters is a slow, but steady thing. It is build step by step while Jason and Winnifred travel Europe and find themselves falling from one adventure into the next.
It was different and rather sweet I must say.
The villain of this story however is More...
Jun 26, 2011
Gaby
rated it:
When I discovered this book, I loved the summary. The cover did help me to get more interested and I was sold when I watched the book trailer. It sounded so different from other romance novels that I have to read it.
I wasn't disappointed. The characters were amazing. Winn, the protagonist, is 30 years old. She has spent all her life at Oxford, with her father. Now, her father is dead and she has practically nothing. But, she wrote some papers with the name C.W. Marks, and she's deter More...
I wasn't disappointed. The characters were amazing. Winn, the protagonist, is 30 years old. She has spent all her life at Oxford, with her father. Now, her father is dead and she has practically nothing. But, she wrote some papers with the name C.W. Marks, and she's deter More...
Sep 12, 2011
Lynn
rated it:
Smart heroine. I love smart women. Not like "oh, she's very clever" but actual intelligent women. Women who do something, who have passion for something besides a man. Winn is brilliant, a researchers and a historian, especially about paintings, and while I don't know anything ABOUT paintings, I learned some, did a bit of research on my own, and was delighted by the fact that Winn often ignored her hero in her throws of ecstasy about this or that interesting piece of lore, scrap of
More...
Jul 18, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
Winn Crane is on a quest to gain admittance to a male historical society and find independence from her overbearing cousin George in the process. What she doesn't count on is getting tangled up with Jason Cummings, the Duke of Rayne. Although, to his credit, he didn't plan on being pick-pocketed and then following Winn onto the wrong ship. The two travel the German countryside, finding interesting ways to make money to fund their journey and ward off the growing attraction between them.
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Jul 17, 2011
Andrea
rated it:
I loved how this book started with letters that went back and forth between a brother and a sister. They made me laugh out loud and so I was excited to start reading this book. Somewhere after that, however, it lost some of its lightheartedness and was not quite as captivating. Perhaps it was because the hero and heroine were alone traveling through most of the boom and did not have the benefit of constant side characters. Although it had a happy ending for our pair, it didn't not have one for M
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May 09, 2011
Erica
rated it:
A quick, clever and pleasant read for historicalfic/romance fans. Noble's prose is much better than most of the rest in this genre (notably, I first heard of her novels via a tweet from LOST's Damon Lindelof, of all people), and this newest work doesn't dissappoint.
A great change here is how this story ends up as a roadtrip adventure across "the continent", rather than another silk-dressed, rose-colored twirl in London society. Quite refreshing. As always the women of Noble's More...
A great change here is how this story ends up as a roadtrip adventure across "the continent", rather than another silk-dressed, rose-colored twirl in London society. Quite refreshing. As always the women of Noble's More...
May 05, 2011
Mandi
rated it:
Favorite Quote: So. This is hell, Jason thought. A garden party, being backed into a corner by three of the most baldly opportunistic furies to have been formed in the British system of wealth and aristocracy. Who knew?
Jason Cummings (who has red hair, swoon), Duke of Rayne is 30 and ready to get married, because well, that is what one does when one turns 30. Being a very wealthy Duke however means the marriage mart is more of a war (one that he is losing badly) than an actual task. More...
Jason Cummings (who has red hair, swoon), Duke of Rayne is 30 and ready to get married, because well, that is what one does when one turns 30. Being a very wealthy Duke however means the marriage mart is more of a war (one that he is losing badly) than an actual task. More...
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Aug 20, 2011
Maya
rated it:
3.5 stars, bumped up to 4 on GR system
Pro: road trip story,
feisty academic heroine,
very refreshing to have most of story take place somewhere other than England or France, some nice dialogue/thinking going on between hero and heroine about gender inequality of the times, double standards, class expectations and to what degree one need be bound by them
Con: was very disconcerting to have such carefully researched detail about art and historical Bavaria on the More...
Pro: road trip story,
feisty academic heroine,
very refreshing to have most of story take place somewhere other than England or France, some nice dialogue/thinking going on between hero and heroine about gender inequality of the times, double standards, class expectations and to what degree one need be bound by them
Con: was very disconcerting to have such carefully researched detail about art and historical Bavaria on the More...
May 18, 2011
Ebony
rated it:
Follow My Lead was so delicious and satisfying, I never wanted this book to end.
There are times, as a reader, where I can't help having the writer hat on. There were times during this book where I creased my brows and wondered how Jason and Winn were going to work things out. But then I couldn't help thinking, 'ah, but this is Kate Noble, she knows exactly what she's doing'
And you know what? She does.
I love the sweetness in the tone, the wordplay, the spark between More...
There are times, as a reader, where I can't help having the writer hat on. There were times during this book where I creased my brows and wondered how Jason and Winn were going to work things out. But then I couldn't help thinking, 'ah, but this is Kate Noble, she knows exactly what she's doing'
And you know what? She does.
I love the sweetness in the tone, the wordplay, the spark between More...
Aug 05, 2011
Megan
rated it:
A 19th century road trip, an art history mystery, and an offbeat but believable romance.
Kate Noble's writing keeps getting better, and Follow My Lead is a particularly strong offering: flawed but determined characters, challenging and complicated trysts, and some pretty rich emotions. Her lead characters are always three-dimensional, and while I've enjoyed all her leads, I think I might like Winn and Jason the most. They each have a moment where they make room for the other person to More...
Kate Noble's writing keeps getting better, and Follow My Lead is a particularly strong offering: flawed but determined characters, challenging and complicated trysts, and some pretty rich emotions. Her lead characters are always three-dimensional, and while I've enjoyed all her leads, I think I might like Winn and Jason the most. They each have a moment where they make room for the other person to More...
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Jun 10, 2011
Blodeuedd
rated it:
I actually missed that this was a series, so it's a perfect stand alone novel. The other two books are about Jason's sister and her sister in law. I sure want to read those books too.
In this book Jason (our dashing hero) thinks it's time to get married. I did like that it was he who wanted it because he thought it was time. Of course he was not ready for the horrible horde: débutantes. He does meet one normal woman named Sarah, poor Sarah. We all know she will not get a HEA in this o More...
In this book Jason (our dashing hero) thinks it's time to get married. I did like that it was he who wanted it because he thought it was time. Of course he was not ready for the horrible horde: débutantes. He does meet one normal woman named Sarah, poor Sarah. We all know she will not get a HEA in this o More...
Jun 27, 2011
Linda
rated it:
Reviewed for TwoLips Reviews. 3 1/2 kisses, 1 pepper (m/f)
Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne, is so eligible he's harassed incessantly. He has decided that marriage is what comes next on the list of his life. He even realizes it might help fix his vague sense of loneliness. But the process of sorting through all the grasping misses is more daunting and unpleasant than he realized. In need of some respite, he decides to visit the male-dominated Historical Society. There he literally bumps More...
Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne, is so eligible he's harassed incessantly. He has decided that marriage is what comes next on the list of his life. He even realizes it might help fix his vague sense of loneliness. But the process of sorting through all the grasping misses is more daunting and unpleasant than he realized. In need of some respite, he decides to visit the male-dominated Historical Society. There he literally bumps More...
May 15, 2011
Linda
rated it: 
Started off quite well & I actually quite liked the 2 lead characters at 1st & I loved the ending speech by the hero but the rest of the book was so totally implausible. Travelling across Europe absolutely penniless? With nothing but the clothes on 1s back? If nothing else how on earth do the relieve themselves? Amazingly there's absolute no mention of that. & who on earth would pay to watch a Duke doing a stable hands work?
Totally regret buying this book. Hope the Summer of You which I bo More...
Totally regret buying this book. Hope the Summer of You which I bo More...
Nov 28, 2011
Abby
rated it:
A delightful close to the Blue Raven series! Jason, younger brother of the heroine from the previous novel, is intrigued by Winnifred Crane when he meets her on the steps of the Historical Society. Determined to gain entrance to the venerable club and respect for her work under a pen-name, Winn sets out to prove her smarts ... and through a quirk of fate, Jason is to be her escort.
Both characters are wonderfully written, taking the typical stereotypes and inverting them just enough. More...
Both characters are wonderfully written, taking the typical stereotypes and inverting them just enough. More...
Aug 16, 2011
Joelle
rated it:
Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne is feeling the weight of his responsibilities - one of which is to get married. Being the most sought after bachelor in London can be trying, so who can blame him if he seeks refuge from the voracious hordes of young debutantes at the decidedly female-free Historical Society? Female-free, that is, until Winnifred Crane marches up to the door, demanding entrance.
Despite her prowess as a historian, Winn is denied membership the Society. So she daringly offers an More...
Despite her prowess as a historian, Winn is denied membership the Society. So she daringly offers an More...
Oct 11, 2011
Katyana
rated it:
***4.5***
This was a fun, fast read! The characters were sweet and funny, and it was great to get to know them. At times, I wanted to smack their heads together, because I was frustrated at how stupid they were being in regards to each other. But that said, it was still sweet to watch them slowly become comfortable with each other, and have fun on their adventure.
And the plot was fun too - the adventure story was great! My only criticism would be that George was a litt More...
This was a fun, fast read! The characters were sweet and funny, and it was great to get to know them. At times, I wanted to smack their heads together, because I was frustrated at how stupid they were being in regards to each other. But that said, it was still sweet to watch them slowly become comfortable with each other, and have fun on their adventure.
And the plot was fun too - the adventure story was great! My only criticism would be that George was a litt More...
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May 05, 2011
Meghan
rated it:
This was such a lovely book. I loved Winn. I loved Jason (and let me tell you, after The Summer of You, I had some doubts about a book with Jason as the hero). I loved seeing all of the characters from her other books. It was a very light, fun book overall, but with a few moments that really tugged at the heartstrings.
What I like best about Kate Noble's books is that you get to see the hero and heroine very slowly get to know and love everything about each other, inside and out, and More...
What I like best about Kate Noble's books is that you get to see the hero and heroine very slowly get to know and love everything about each other, inside and out, and More...
Feb 12, 2012
Highland-dreamer
rated it:
I loved how this story was mostly told from the male point of view. So many romances concentrate on the female side, with a smattering of the male side thrown in every once in awhile. This one was not that way, and I enjoyed the change very much! I also enjoyed the writing- this is my first novel by Kate Noble, and the humor, intelligence, and sarcastic wit in her writing was refreshing. The end of the story kind of dropped off abruptly, so that was the main disappointment. No epilogue.
Jul 01, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
I liked it but the fact that Kate Noble used 'lead' every. single. time. she should've used 'led' just about drove me batty by the time I got to the end of the book. I could've ignored all of the other mistakes that somehow slipped through editing but not using 'led' once when she should've used it at least half a dozen times and NO ONE caught it just irritates me.
