Forced Vows with a Brooding Duke

A Historical Regency Romance Novel

By: Felicia Sinclair

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Lady Clara Ashbourne has grown up under the watchful control of her calculating aunt, taught early that affection is conditional and favors must be earned. With a distant father lost to grief and a cousin forever placed above her, Clara learns to rely on her own quiet resolve. When she incidentally meets a charming young officer she tastes a kind of happiness she never believed possible… until the truth shatters everything she thought she knew.

Lord Adrian Whitcombe, Duke of Ravensford, never intended to inherit the title. Content in uniform and far from the suffocating politics of society, he is forced home to Ravensford, where duty replaces freedom and every step is watched. Pressured to secure his family’s future, he agrees to an old marriage arrangement, only to discover his intended bride is the very woman who once captured his heart when he was someone else entirely.

Bound by duty but divided by unspoken wounds, Clara and Adrian must learn to trust one another in a world shaped by envy and manipulation. As dark intentions close in and Clara’s safety is threatened, Adrian is forced to choose between restraint and devotion. Can love survive when both hearts are trained to hide, or will silence cost them everything they were meant to become?

Tropes: Arranged Marriage, Enemies-to-Lovers, Hidden Identity, Forced Proximity.

"Forced Vows with a Brooding Duke" is a historical romance novel of approximately 70,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

The Hero is a controlling bully and the heroine is weak!

I can’t stand it when the author develops male and female relationships that are focused on appearance with little character development. The heroine/Clara should have been stronger. The hero /Adrian is a jerk. How could they live in newlywed bliss when they barely knew each other? Clara should have demanded a longer courtship and should not have agreed to marry so quickly.

Lovely story

My only regret was in the lack of emotion in the reading. Although the AI reading is less expensive for the production, I believe the story would benefit from a more emotional rendering. The writer’s story is so beautiful it is almost a shame that it was not better read.