Sing, Royaline. Betting on a Duke’s Heart. Fort Collins, CO: Entangled Publishing, 2021.
978-1649371393 | $3.99 USD | 424 pages | Victorian Romance
Blurb
Aetius White, the Duke of Saxton, couldn’t save his father, but he’ll be damned if he won’t save the man’s dream. He’ll acquire a Triple Crown–winning horse at any cost, even marriage. Luckily, the lovely lady in mind loves challenges as much as he. Certainly he can win her heart without losing his own…
Hell will freeze over before Miss Dina Campbell agrees to marry a horse-mad man who wants her dowry of a prize stallion, no matter what her father wants. The duke may be handsome, but he’ll have to prove he is a suitable match for her before she’ll even consider the offer. And there’s no way this love-averse man will ever succeed with the wager that she has planned…
Review
3 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Betting on a Duke’s Heart intrigued me, as I was excited to see yet another book with an Indian heroine, although that excitement was also tempered with a healthy dose of apprehension, due to the uproar over a similar (delayed) title, also featuring an Indian woman and a duke. And while I can’t speak to the rep in this case, just as I couldn’t in the other, I found this book interesting and refreshing…with caveats.
I loved the prominent placement of Indian culture and mythology. As the romance proceeds, each chapter is headed with an epigraph relating a tale from the Mahabharata, “The Love Saga of Nala and Damayanti,” and over time, you can see how it parallels the romance between Dina and Aetius. And generally, I could feel like Royaline Sing was coming from a really authentic place and embedding her own cultural experience in the story, in addition to acknowledging the largely ignored (in historical romance novels, anyway) South Asian population in England by this time.
I really liked how Sing addressed the power dynamic, in terms of gender. As she noted in her author’s note, a marriage act amendment meant women were no longer the property of their husbands, allowing Dina more agency when she married Aetius. While him being a Duke still presents some unmentioned, but implied problems, given her background, I found that their romance was more balanced as a result, and fairly sweet and fairly easy to root for. Dina is strong willed, and Aetius respects that.
But at the same time, a few things bogged the story down. One was the large role horses played. Horse racing, breeding, the feeling of being on horseback. Some of that is understandable…Aetius is called “the Bareback Duke,” after all. I love when heroes actually have particular hobbies that aren’t drinking and whoring, especially if it serves as a bonding point for him with the heroine. But it got really repetitive, and even though it did help them bond, it also ended up distracting me more than anything else.
I also struggled with the character motivations at times, especially towards the end, when the Black Moment happened. Aside from echoing the myth, I had no idea what happened with them, and why.
This is a sweet romance, and even with these major caveats, I did enjoy it enough to keep an eye on what Royaline Sing writes next.
Author Bio
As my first fiction work, I’ve a notebook length movie script, featuring my favorite stars. I was probably ten. It hasn’t seen the light of the day (And it won’t).
But story telling lingered. Though I have a software engineering job, the creative world teased from afar. So one day, I finally put the pen to the paper (or my fingers to the keyboard?) and started writing.
Now, I write through the noise of my lovely two kids, a very supportive (but sweetly clueless) husband and a bank job where numbers rule.
Born and brought up in India, I’m a huge fan of Bollywood romantic movies and the music. I also like all things Marvel! I love to travel and so many destinations are on my bucket list. (hint: some pictures here give the clues!)
I am currently writing Historical Romances, with heroines setting their own norms and coming to toes with heroes worth loving.
I am represented by the wonderful Sara Megibow at KT literary Agency.
Buy links
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