Sunday, August 14, 2016

The Duke of Olympia Meets His Match by Juliana Gray

Juliana Gray’s The Duke of Olympia Meets His Match is a delightful and charming novella! The fast- paced story takes place during an eight- day voyage from the United States to England on the White Star oceanliner Majestic. The Duke of Olympia is one of my favorite characters from the authors A Princess in Hiding series and I was excited to read a novella devoted entirely to him! 


The novella contains the expected shipboard romance between two couples with a bit of intrigue added to make the transatlantic voyage exciting! Olympia needs to locate a portfolio of papers and a female French undercover agent before the ship docks in London. He has eight days to figure out which of the guests is the spy and he encounters several roadblocks while on his quest. Mrs. Laura Morrison is one of the obstructions as she has decided that the Duke of Olympia is going to marry her daughter Rose. During the course of the voyage , she plots and schemes to get the couple together. Unbeknown to Mrs. Morrison, Robert Langley, Rose’s suitor from New York, booked a last minute berth on the ship and the couple is meeting in secret. And to complicate matters, Olympia is attracted to Rose’s companion Penelope Schuyler, a widow and poor relation to the Morrison family.

Olympia knows that Penelope has papers hidden in her trunk and suspects that she may be the foreign agent he has been asked to locate and capture! The author does a fabulous job balancing the couple’s growing attraction towards one and another and the Duke’s mission. The dialogue between the Duke and Penelope is very witty and affectionate as their relationship progresses. The author tucks in a bit of history and social commentary throughout the novella as well. The secondary characters are well developed and each plays an important role in the storyline. The conclusion to the novella was fabulous and the author kept me guessing as to the identity of the spy until the very end! The novella reads like a full length novel—great story, well developed characters and great descriptive writing infuses with humor!

Will the Duke of Olympia determine the identity of the spy before the ship docks?
Is Penelope working for the French government?
Read Duke of Olympia Meets His Match and find out! 

 
Reviewed by: Susan Gorman
Book purchased on Amazon

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