Avon Books (Paperback), ISBN 0-380-80290-2
If you seek a lighthearted, fun romance, please, don't let the cover of Never Kiss A Duke deter you. I can't imagine what the publisher intended with this cover art because it completely misrepresents Putnam's story. Who are these people on the cover? They look nothing like the characters in the story and the man's grossly huge hand in no way hides the fact that the artist lacks any knowledge of how to draw a leg. Just close your eyes and open the book -- then open them again to read.

Emmaline Stanhope, a marriage broker and tarot reader, finds herself entangled in a treasonous web with Adrian St. Ledger. Adrian seeks her out under false pretenses and she, naturally, hides the truth of her past. In proper romantic fashion, both feel immediate attraction to one another and various titillating circumstances ensue. Putman rounds out the story with Emmaline's Aunt Heloise and Adrian's man of affairs, Gibbons. These two provide a lot of laughs and ground the lovebirds in reality, while egging on the romance.

Putman puts together a tight and entertaining cast of characters. This novel provides perfect reading material for the beach, a long trip or just to read, because it embodies what I consider the essential quality of a good book -- escapism.

Thankfully, Putman chooses not to overflow her world with long discourses on frilly dresses, furnishings and place settings. Rather she concentrates on the people in her story without relying on physical trappings to fool the reader into believing she knows everything about the Regency period. Yes, this novel takes place during the Regency period in England, but that fact plays such a minor role it becomes unimportant, and frankly, I didn't miss it.

I definitely recommend this novel. It stands without melodrama and roller coaster excitement, without insidious plot twists and dozens of unnecessary characters. Just a nice romance in a really cheesy cover.

Heather Firth

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