Cheers to the Duke

A widow weighs her desires for freedom and love in MacKenzie’s fast-paced third Widow’s Brew Regency romance (after The Merry Viscount). Lady Jo Havenridge enjoys her work at the Benevolent Home for the Maintenance and Support of Spinsters, Widows, and Abandoned Women and their Unfortunate Children, which she founded with her friends Caro and Pen. But Caro and Pen have both married, leaving workaholic Jo to run the home alone. Against Jo’s protestations, Livy, a resident of the home who enjoys playing matchmaker, arranges for Jo to attend a house part held by Pen and her husband, hoping that Jo will fall under the spell of fellow attendee Edward Russell, the Duke of Grainger and the home’s benefactor, with whom Jo has been enjoying a correspondence for some time. The attraction between Jo and Edward is quick and intense, and only enhanced by Jo’s kindness toward Edward’s son, Thomas. But when Edward expresses his desire to marry Jo, she remains uncertain if she’s willing to risk losing her independence to marriage yet again. Though the emotional attachment that forms between Jo and Edward feels a bit rushed, their romance is sensuous and enhanced by witty dialogue. Readers will appreciate the strong heroine and affable hero. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary. (Oct.)