With my new reading glasses, I have finished a book. Started and finished reading it this week. YEAH!! What did I read? Along Came a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle. I picked it up last summer, but had never read more than a few pages. I think my aversion to reading a print book had a lot to do with my vision. My eyes would tire quickly and thus I wouldn’t read but a few paragraphs if that much. Plus I think I was deceiving myself into thinking I just wasn’t getting into the book and that if I had time to read then I should be writing (because I could make the print as large as I needed to on my computer screen). But enough about my confession. You want to hear about the book I read.
Along Came a Duke is the first in the Rhymes with Love series. It is a great read and one I had trouble putting down once I started reading. I quickly fell in love with the characters Tabitha Timmons and Lord Christopher Seldon otherwise known as the Duke of Preston. Tabby and Preston were made for each other. The similarities between the two were soon discovered from the food they ate to the way they preferred to take their tea.
As I read, I paid attention to the writing as well as the story line. Having attended a workshop by Ms. Boyle at RWA National on HOOKS I was attentive to trying to find these within the story line. And I have to admit this did not take away from the story for me. The humor and the wit enthralled me from a readers point of view. And from a writers point of view I learned that when writing a scene it can span over more than one chapter, sometimes three. When Tabby and Preston share their first meal together it is amazing how much the reader learns about these two through their actions, their conversation, and the way they eat. I found this a unique way of revealing characterization.
If you haven’t read an Elizabeth Boyle book I urge you give her a try. And Along Came a Duke would be a fine one to start with. The sequel And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake is available now with the third book in the series If Wishes were Earls coming in January 2014.
Leanne Tyler 