Birdie and the Beastly Duke

A Sweet Regency Romance (The Wishing Well Series, Book 3)

By: Sofi Laporte

Narrated by: Ella Lynch

A battle-scarred duke. A substitute bride. A dangerous secret that brings them together.

The Honorable Roberta Talbot is tired of being the practical one in her family. As the impoverished daughter of a reckless baron, she has spent years supporting her mother and siblings. When a chance meeting brings an opportunity for adventure her way, Birdie grabs hold and takes it… all the way to a haunted castle in Scotland and into the domain of its beastly lord.

A tormented past…

Captain Gabriel Eversleigh never expected to become the Duke of Dunross. Racked by survivor’s guilt after the Battle of Waterloo, Gabriel wishes for nothing more than to be left alone in his tower. Bound by honour to fulfil his promise to wed a girl he has never met, Gabriel plans to be a husband in name only.

But the bold young woman who arrives as his bride is irksomely determined to upend both his life and his castle. Worst of all, she pulls on the strings of a heart he thought was long since dead.

A committed wife…

Determined to turn her sham marriage into the real thing, Birdie not only confronts the ghosts of Gabriel’s past but stirs up a dangerous secret hidden deep within the castle walls.

When Gabriel discovers he’s married the wrong bride, will their love be able to flourish, or will his softening heart harden once more?

♥♥♥

This Beauty and the Beast variation is a sweet Regency romance and a standalone that is part of the Wishing Well series, which can be listened to in any order.

©2021 Sofi Laporte (P)2024 Lapuerta Publishing

Entertaining

The beginning is much better than the ending, but this is an entertaining book. It’s a regency Beauty and The Beast retelling (of sorts). The first half is a great read, light and funny and thoroughly enjoyable. The FMC is energetic, optimistic, and completely charming... But then it starts to go downhill. I’ve found this to be fairly common with Sofi Laporte’s books, where the ending suddenly sees the introduction of numerous new plot lines and story points. They are sudden and poorly connected with the rest of the story, making the ending disjointed and more than a little cheesy.

It’s a shame because the first 75% of the book is quite excellent.

Content:
There is no foul language or sex, and the violence is minimal. The romance is limited to chaste kisses. There is no real mention of faith or God.

Trigger warnings - the MMC suffers from PTSD from his time in the war. Mention of suicide (prior to storyline).

Great!

What a delightful story! I loved the humor and unexpected moments. The narrator was very talented and she kept my attention.

Excellent voice acting and engaging story

The voice actor for this novel did an amazing job bringing it to life. The story has a wonderfully broken hero, and a hilariously, stubborn heroine. I enjoyed watching their dynamics unfold into romance.

Really enjoyed this

Fun story that kept me awake while driving late at night. It was really fun!

Cute in Places

This book has some cute spots that made me chuckle. There were also some places that legitimately made me cringe. Birdie’s reaction to Gabriel the 2nd time she sees him is so horrifying and unkind that I almost stopped reading the book altogether. And again, later on, something she says to him about looking beastly (this is no spoiler based on the title of the book)…..who would say something like that to a person they care about?! It’s kind of juvenile. This is not a book — or series, for that matter — with deep, mature characters but it is cute and they’re pretty quick reads. The narrator does a great job, especially if you increase the speed a bit. I put it on 1.15 and was very pleased with her performance.