Proposing to a Duke

Regency Black Hearts, Book 1

By: Claudia Stone

Narrated by: Stevie Zimmerman

Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

At the age of 25, confirmed spinster Isabella Peregrine is given an unexpected ultimatum by her new step-mother: find a husband or I'll find one for you.

Thoroughly in a tizz, Isabella proposes a marriage of convenience to the nearest male to her - who just so happens to be the brooding, intimidating Duke of Blackmore. When he rebuffs her clumsy advances, Isabella leaves for London, determined to find the man of her dreams and soothe her bruised ego.

Michael Linfield, Duke of Blackmore is a legendary, fearsome war hero; famous for reducing debutantes and their mothers to floods of tears with just one glance. The brooding giant of a man is hiding a secret however - a debilitating stammer that has haunted him since childhood. When the delightful Miss Peregrine proposes a marriage of convenience to him - with no benefits - Michael is so startled that his stammer reappears and all he can manage to reply is "N-n-no".

When news of Isabella's success in London soon reaches his ears, Michael is determined to go to town and win her as his own, if only she'll give him a second chance at love.

This sweet and clean regency romance is a standalone novel with a guaranteed HEA.

©2017 Claudia Stone (P)2017 Claudia Stone

Loved It!

I have found my new favourite Romance author and her name is Claudia Stone! I really enjoyed this book. The narration was lovely and the story was great. The author's sense of humour really shines through. I thought that the hero and heroine were both very endearing and that their Romance was very sweet. I'm looking forward to more audiobooks by this author!

Good story.

First, Stevie Zimmerman is an excellent narrator. She really brings the characters to life. Second, I cheered for the Duke of Blackmore. Tough beginning in life, but a HEA. I've read this book more than once and I'll definitely read it again. Enjoy!

Sweet, lightheaded, great narration, and warm fuzzy feeling

This was another good clean fun from Ms. Stone. I do love light hearted reads from time to time. However, you scared me at one point but I won’t give that a way.
This is truly a little gem it’s so sweet and gives you all the feel good feeling.
#MyBookObsessionApproved

Charming light read

It was a cute quick listen. Good if you want to start something in the afternoon that will be over before you have to go to bed. In some ways it can be a relief to read a regency romance where it doesn’t take 10 hours of push pull between the H and H but only 4. It was same old tropes with a stutter added in. All extremely predictable, which can be relaxing. I don’t like to spend credits on short books, but it was an audible escape so made sense. I would recommend for a quick light read. No steam so all those easily embarrassed people who are looking for “good clean reads” will be happy so they can feel they are above all that “seediness”. I prefer a bit of steam (although get tired of the ones that think all one wants is steam). Here you only get a few kisses (not even any good description around those) but it is a charming, quick, light read.

good story

great story and good performance but i wish the reader had pronounced marquess with the ESS stressed. in my book a marquee is a large tent, so my imagination runs wild envisioning this large tent rubbing shoulders with the human characters.

cute historical

Cute historical romance for a sweet time out. Nothing at all explicit involved.
Zimmerman does a good job with narration. Her voice suits the story.

Heartwarming and cute clean romance

This book was SO cute. I loved the relationship between Isabella and Michael. I feel like this book has taken the big-intimidating guy + smart sweet girl trope and made it even better. The performance was great, too, but I had to take one extra star because the editing of the book wasn’t polished. There was one time when the narrator even started talking about getting food with someone else in the room they were recording! However, it speaks a lot for the book and her narration that I feel like these instances are easily forgiven. I would still recommend people to listen to this story and fall in love with both protagonists as they find each other.

Entertaining and funny

The previous books by Claudia Stone I listened to were all entertaining light romances and so was this one, too.

You won't find revolutionary plot ideas in this book, it will not change your world - but it will definitely give you over three hours of fun and will leave you with this happy certainty that love conquers all:) Isn't that what we're looking for in a romance book?:)

Well, although maybe not revolutionary, there are some ideas, though, that go a little beyond the 'romance typical', and these I liked a lot (can't explain better - I don't want any spoilers here:)). And although probably one letter would be enough to clarify some things, it would also mean that we'd lose half the story and half the fun, so I'm glad no letter was written:)
As for the book itself, the plot is fast, with some unexpected twists, with a lot of witty humour and with a lot of characters that are likeable, lively and colourful. And the main couple are a definite match and we keep fingers crossed for them from the very first page... well, chapter:) Definitely a good reading choice for an otherwise boring afternoon/evening:)

Narration by Ms Zimmerman is very good. She reads quite fast, but does the voices well and really brings the characters to life. I liked it a lot.

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A funny, charming historical romance

Proposing to a Duke is a funny and charming historical romance that is mostly sweet with just a little spice. The story is hard to put down (or stop listening to), and the characters are easy to fall in love with.

Recommended for mature readers due to sexual content.

The narrator of the audiobook does a terrific job bringing the story to life and is well suited for this type of book.

"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review."

A Great Regency Read with a Twist!

Twenty five year old Isabella is given an ultimatum by her step-mother, find a husband by the end of the London season or marry her step-mother's odious nephew. If she doesn't, Isabella's father will cut her off. After she receives the news, Isabella meets the intimidating Duke of Blackmore, capable of bringing debutantes to tears with a look. Isabella sees through his gruff exterior and offers him a marriage of convenience, surprising him into refusing. When Isabella's London season goes even better than she had hoped, the Duke follows her to London to make her an offer of his own.

This was a sweet clean novella with a perfectly matched hero and heroine! The Duke was big and brooding, with a flaw that made him lovable. Isabella was sweet and brave, not intimidated by his glowers. I liked the bit of background given on the Duke, it explained his behavior perfectly. It didn't feel like a novella at all, both of the characters were fleshed out and interesting. I really enjoyed this one, and it's going on my reread list!

I loved the narration, Stevie Zimmerman was wonderful as always. She performed distinct voices for each character, and her male characters were as convincing as her female characters. It completely immersed me in the story. I requested a copy of the audiobook, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.