A Most Unusual Duke

October 15, 2021
When the prince regent tells a widow to marry a bear shifter, how can she refuse? Beatrice, dowager Marchioness of Castleton, never wants to marry again. She was forced into her first marriage and then discovered her cruel husband was a versipellis, or shape-shifter, revealing to her an entire paranormal wing of the beau monde--including the prince regent. Arthur, Duke of Osborn, another versipellis and cousin to the prince, also doesn't want to marry, as it would betray his childhood vow to never step into his role as an Alpha. But Prince George has other plans for the two of them, and those plans require a quick and quiet wedding in the back of a chapel. After the ceremony, Beatrice and Arthur quickly agree that theirs will be a "white marriage," meaning it won't be consummated, and she gets to work meeting his staff and repairing his estate, still in shambles, destroyed by the man who killed his father when he was a child. They settle into their unexpected new lives, separate though in the same house, but when his sister and her family come to visit, Beatrice discovers that the versipellian world is far more diverse and kind than she experienced in her first marriage. Having guests also brings the newlyweds closer, and as proximity begins to build a powerful attraction between them, they shift from a white marriage to a more passionate "cordial affiliation." But the marriage can't truly be consummated until Arthur is finally willing to overcome his childhood trauma and face down his enemies--which may be too much to ask. The second book in Allen's Regency shape-shifter series is, like the first, A Wolf in Duke's Clothing (2021), an enjoyable combination of subgenres, fully devoted to the tropes of both. The book moves effortlessly between paranormal lingo and Regency touches, and though the plot is fairly basic, the dialogue is clever and funny. Readers equally interested in Prince George's historic fashion sense and shape-shifter pack dynamics will be thrilled. A paranormal fit for Regency readers, and a Regency fit for paranormal readers.

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October 18, 2021
The second paranormal Regency in Allen’s Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series (after A Wolf in Duke’s Clothing) is just as filled with heat and humor as the first. Arthur Humphries, Duke of Osborn, is a bear shifter without a sleuth. Having witnessed the painful dissolution of his father’s sleuth after his parents’ deaths, Osborn’s made the decision to never again put himself through sleuth politics—or even search for a wife. But the prince regent, Osborn’s cousin and fellow shifter, has other ideas. When the prince learns that Beatrice, the frosty human widow of a marquess, knows of the existence of shifters, he deals with her forbidden knowledge by decreeing that she and Osborn must marry. Beatrice is decidedly displeased with the match and has no problem demonstrating her disapproval. But as the pair retire to Osborn’s long-empty estate, she takes charge—and slowly captures the attention of both the man and the bear sides of Osborn. Beatrice’s icy demeanor hides a fiery temperament, and the strong but vulnerable spitfire of a heroine and broody hero are sure to capture readers’ hearts. Allen continues to make this unusual genre mash-up sing. Agent: Julie Gwinn, the Seymour Agency.