The Duke's Covert Mission (Harlequin Intrigue Series, No. 666)

Rating:
Summary: The Duke's Covert Mission -- 3 1/2 Stars
Review: American Romance's royal miniseries about the Carradigne family comes to Intrigue in Julie Miller's "The Duke's Covert Mission." Royal secretary Ellie Standish is looking forward to one magical night standing in for a princess at a New York ball. Instead she is kidnapped and held for ransom. She knows better than to trust Cade St. John, the most mysterious of her kidnappers. Can she resist this dangerous man she can't help being drawn to?

"The Duke's Covert Mission" had some good points and weak points. The best part of the story is the wonderful beginning. Dramatic and suspenseful, Miller immediately made me feel for her heroine, then plunges the reader straight into a terrifying situation. Ellie is a great, unusual heroine. I liked how she was a shy, regular woman who still fought back when her life was in danger. She comes across as stronger than many trained cop or secret agent heroines I've read recently. Many authors tell us their heroine are strong women but show them as victims the hero has to save over and over again. That's not the case with Ellie. She may have had a sheltered childhood and no training, but she rises to the occasion when her life is in danger the way a true heroine does. This book also features a gritty, suspenseful tone and tense scenes Miller's last book, "In the Blink of an Eye" lacked.

Despite the great opening and unique characters, I slowly lost interest as the story went along. While this book features some crisp, taut writing and exciting action scenes, it is also very repetitive and doesn't seem to go anywhere. She tries to get away. He catches her. She tries to get away. He catches her. That's all that really happens. I'm not sure if the author or her editor was afraid of writing too complicated a story that would turn off American Romance readers used to more simple tales, but "The Duke's Covert Mission" is a very simple story with no twists or surprises. The hero and heroine really aren't even involved in investigating who's behind the kidnapping, and the mastermind's identity is easy to figure out. Miller's strong storytelling carried me through the first half of this book, but the second half was harder to get through. There really wasn't enough to the story to hold my interest.

Miller's fans and anyone who wants to find out how the Carridigne series ends won't want to miss "The Duke's Covert Mission." Readers who like meaty stories with twists and surprises may want to pass.

Rating:
Summary: The Duke's Covert Mission -- 3 1/2 Stars
Review: American Romance's royal miniseries about the Carradigne family comes to Intrigue in Julie Miller's "The Duke's Covert Mission." Royal secretary Ellie Standish is looking forward to one magical night standing in for a princess at a New York ball. Instead she is kidnapped and held for ransom. She knows better than to trust Cade St. John, the most mysterious of her kidnappers. Can she resist this dangerous man she can't help being drawn to?

"The Duke's Covert Mission" had some good points and weak points. The best part of the story is the wonderful beginning. Dramatic and suspenseful, Miller immediately made me feel for her heroine, then plunges the reader straight into a terrifying situation. Ellie is a great, unusual heroine. I liked how she was a shy, regular woman who still fought back when her life was in danger. She comes across as stronger than many trained cop or secret agent heroines I've read recently. Many authors tell us their heroine are strong women but show them as victims the hero has to save over and over again. That's not the case with Ellie. She may have had a sheltered childhood and no training, but she rises to the occasion when her life is in danger the way a true heroine does. This book also features a gritty, suspenseful tone and tense scenes Miller's last book, "In the Blink of an Eye" lacked.

Despite the great opening and unique characters, I slowly lost interest as the story went along. While this book features some crisp, taut writing and exciting action scenes, it is also very repetitive and doesn't seem to go anywhere. She tries to get away. He catches her. She tries to get away. He catches her. That's all that really happens. I'm not sure if the author or her editor was afraid of writing too complicated a story that would turn off American Romance readers used to more simple tales, but "The Duke's Covert Mission" is a very simple story with no twists or surprises. The hero and heroine really aren't even involved in investigating who's behind the kidnapping, and the mastermind's identity is easy to figure out. Miller's strong storytelling carried me through the first half of this book, but the second half was harder to get through. There really wasn't enough to the story to hold my interest.

Miller's fans and anyone who wants to find out how the Carridigne series ends won't want to miss "The Duke's Covert Mission." Readers who like meaty stories with twists and surprises may want to pass.

Rating:
Summary: Nice continuation of the series
Review: Ellie Standish, personal secretary to a king visiting New England, has this one opportunity to realize her Cinderella dream of dancing at the royal ball. When she is mistaken for one of the princesses and kidnapped, Ellie develops an attraction to one of her kidnappers, Cade St. John, who mysteriously tries to protect her from her assailants.

Storyline from back of book:
Dispossessed Duke Cadence St. John might be a maverick mercenary. He might have sold his soul to the highest bidder, but he wouldn't hurt shy, bespectacled royal secretary Ellie Standish - had he recognized her that is! She had transformed herself into a stunning beauty for the Inferno Ball, a metamorphosis so complete that, instead of the real princess, his cohorts had kidnapped the wrong woman! Held in the dark confines of a remote cabin, Ellie would be killed if her identity were discovered. Cade vowed to stay near and protect her with his life. But when the heated sensuality of their forced proximity became too much, would Cade be able to complete his mission with not only his life, but also his heart, intact?