SPORTOCHICK’S MUSINGS: What a beautiful love story!

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Starlight and the Duke
Book 5 of The Silver Dukes
by Meara Platt

Pub Date Aug 10 2025
Dragonblade Publishing

DESCRIPTION

All he ever wanted was to love her.

Robert Durham, the Duke of Durham, has loved Lady Fiona Shoreham ever since he was a little boy. But he is six years her junior and had to watch helplessly as eighteen-year-old Fiona married the Earl of Shoreham. She is a widow now and lovelier than ever. He is a man fully grown, considered one of the elite Silver Dukes, known to all as rakehells who will never marry. But Society could not be more wrong about him, for this duke fully intends to claim Fiona as his own.

Lady Fiona Shoreham has never considered remarrying, especially not to a younger man. She has known the impossibly handsome Duke of Durham ever since they were children, but what was once a true and sincere youthful friendship has blossomed into so much more. However, she dares not give in to her heart and admit she loves him, for he is the last in the Durham line and must sire heirs. In almost twenty years of marriage, she and her late husband never had children, a failing everyone has blamed on her. How can she agree to marry the Duke of Durham when she will never be able to give him the one thing he needs?

A compromise is the answer, or so Fiona believes. She is offering this handsome duke one week in her bed. One week only, and then they must move on. But Robert will have none of it. He knows what he needs, and it is Fiona for a lifetime.

What will it take to convince her?

The Silver Dukes is a charming Regency historical romance series where you’ll find heroes with a dash of silver in their hair and heroines who believe they are spinsters and firmly on the shelf.

REVIEW

What a beautiful love story! I fell in love with Robert Durham, the Duke of Durham, his steadfast love and devotion to Fiona really made this story a heart twisting read. He only wants Fiona, and she refuses to give him the love he wants so desperately.

Lady Fiona Shoreham fights her love for Robert because she feels she is damaged and she wants him to have a family that she can’t have. I love how she decides to get over him. Not sure how she thought her solution of one week in bed wouldn’t cause more pain but sometimes one has to jump of the cliff like she did.

What I liked about the book is how author Meara Platt incorporates how much they love each other, how they struggle with finding resolution to this love, how they honor each other’s wishes all while trying to move forward. This storyline is not a sappy one but really emotional. There were times I wanted to stamp my feet with frustration, I cried, laughed and at the end I cheered.

I received this book for free from Netgalley and Dragonblade Publishingin exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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