ARC Review: The Guardian Duke by Jamie Carie

The Guardian Duke: A Forgotten Castles Novel by Jamie Carie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb:  

The Guardian Duke is award-winning novelist Jamie Carie’s most exciting story yet, a uniquely arranged Regency-era romantic adventure where hero and heroine know each other through written letters but have yet to meet.

Gabriel, the Duke of St. Easton, is ordered by the King to take guardianship over Lady Alexandria Featherstone whose parents are presumed dead after failing to return from a high profile treasure hunt. But Alexandria ignores this royal reassignment, believing her parents are still alive and duly following clues that may lead to their whereabouts. Gabriel, pressured by what are actually the King’s ulterior motives, pursues her across windswept England and the rolling green hills of Ireland but is always one step behind. 

When they do meet, the search for earthly treasure will pale in comparison to what God has planned for both of them.

An e-ARC of this book has been provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Guardian Duke was a looooooooooong read. With strong characters, engrossing storyline and a likeable writing style, it managed to keep me interested in the story throughout.

I felt like I was witnessing a game of hide n seek while reading this book because whenever Gabriel was about to meet Alex, she again skipped away. It was exciting and irritating at the same time. I also felt that Alex could be a more admirable character if only she showed at least a little trust in the Duke. I think this feeling was more enhanced because we get to read Gabriel's POV too in the book. I almost felt sorry for the guy several times and believe me, Ms. Carie has given a lot of instances and situations where you can't help but pity him. Poor, deaf guy.

Anyway, as for Alex, she was a strong protagonist, no doubt. But somehow she still managed to annoy me from time to time. So many times I just simply wanted to strangle her because of her tendency to blindly jump into suicidal situations without thought. Not to mention her distrust towards the Duke. Nonetheless, her friendly and charming personality which attracted so many people towards her was interesting to read. I feel Ms. Carie could do a better job on Alex.

The love story in this book was pretty complicated. I mean, the guy and the girl fall in love through love letters, of course it'll be messed up. I found myself actually looking forward to reading the letters, not that they had any swoon-worthy element but, still. Many times I wished that Gabriel and Alex FINALLY met up. But unfortunately that didn't happen. Oh, well.

Jamie Carie obviously did a lot of research for this book. The vivid, beautiful description of Ireland made ME want to visit Ireland ASAP. No, seriously.

Overall, I would say that if you like traveling and hard-to-get type romances with loads of historical elements stuffed and mixed with mystery and adventure, The Guardian Duke is definitely for you! :)