Saturday, August 31, 2013

Review: Geek Girls Don't Date Dukes by Gina Lamm

Geek Girls Don’t Date Dukes by Gina Lamm
Series: Geek Girls, Book 2
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Time-Travel Romance Geek Girls Dont Date Dukes Cover
Release Date: September 3, 2013
ISBN: 9781402277627
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N

Like any woman with a Darcy-loving soul, Leah Ramsey jumps at the chance to travel through time and find her true love. Only her trip to Regency England is nothing like she envisioned. Rather than taking tea with the ladies of the ton, Leah finds herself cleaning fireplaces in her position as maid in the Duke of Granville’s household. Not one to be defeated so easily, Leah is determined to catch the eye of the duke and win him over like any good historical romance heroine would. The problem is, it’s not the duke who makes Leah want to strip down to her shift, but the duke’s oh-so-unsuitable valet.

Former boxer turned valet Avery Russell isn’t quite sure what to do when a beautiful woman comes tumbling through a mirror and claims to be from the future. Leah’s like no other woman he’s ever met and Avery can’t resist helping her; even if that means he has to go out of his way to assist her in capturing his employer’s heart. Yet the longer he’s around Leah, the more Avery wants her for himself. He knows he’s not the right man for her – if he gets too close to her, the all-too-dangerous ghosts of his past might decide to use her as leverage against him.

Can a modern woman convince a pugilist from the past that their love is worth fighting for?

Geek Girls Don’t Date Dukes is a delightful story with energy and charm to spare. Author Gina Lamm made me fall in love with her hero and heroine from the first, and because of that I couldn’t put Geek Girls Don’t Date Dukes down.

I loved Leah’s spunky attitude and willingness to work hard to make her dreams come true…even if that work is less than pleasant. Like Leah, I’m a geek girl and a historical romance novel enthusiast, so I understood her daydreams about travelling to the past. Even though you know life wouldn’t be anything like it is for the heroines of our favorite novels, you can’t help but dream that it’d be easy to go back in time and win the heart of a handsome duke. Because I identified with Leah’s fantasies, I had to grin over some of the trials and tribulations a historical romance lover such as Leah faces when she takes a trip to the “real” Regency England (though admittedly Leah’s trials did eventually being to wear, and thus slow the book down).

The only person who’s anything like the hero of Leah’s dreams is a beaten down valet who yearns to be free of his past. Avery broke my heart and made me swoon at the same time. He’s a sexy-as-hell hero who deserves the love and acceptance Leah can give him. Life hasn’t been kind to Avery and though both he and Leah try to resist each other, Ms. Lamm had me rooting for them to beat the considerable odds stacked against them and find their happily ever after together. While I liked that Avery and Leah did eventually get their happy ending, the one thing that kept me from absolutely loving Geek Girls Don’t Date Dukes is said ending. Though I won’t spoil what happened, the ending of the book felt incredibly rushed and left me with quite a few questions. A few more chapters – even one more chapter – would have brought the book to a more satisfying close.

Geek Girls Don’t Date Dukes is the second book in Ms. Lamm’s Geek Girls series, but since I haven’t read the first book, The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl, I can safely say that Leah and Avery’s story can be read as a standalone. Leah’s best friend Jamie, heroine of The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl, is the inspiration for Leah’s adventure and I will definitely be picking up Jamie’s book. I hope Ms. Lamm has more Geek Girls books planned, because I love a good nerdy heroine and Ms. Lamm’s zippy writing style ensures that there are plenty more adventures to be found for geeky women in fish-out-of-water tales.

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