I love this series but this is probably my least favorite of them. Lucas is a spy and Diana's father was a spy doctor (for lack of a better term.) When Lucas is unable to heal from an injury, he is brought to Diana, who has learned a lot from her father. This is a typical Hero with family issues is healed both mentally and physically but Heroine who has issues and is healed by the love of Hero. ( )

Jess Michaels is a smooth operator. She tempts with romance and delivers so much more. The Undercover Duke begins with a mystery. Lucas has many secrets that just might get him killed. When his double life leaves him at his most vulnerable, he finds an angel in Diana. Diana is a fearless woman with a healing hand and her own baggage to bear. Diana and Lucas walk a fine line between love and lust as they try to stay a step ahead of the danger that stalks them. Ms. Michaels stories are alluring tales of courage that never get old. ( )

When Lucas, Duke of Willowby, is shot, he is taken to Diana Oakford finally for healing. Diana's father died in the incident where Lucas was shot. Lucas is a spy and Diana's father was the physician who took care of them. Both Diana and Lucas want to find the traitor responsible.
I've enjoyed every book in this series, and this one is no exception. Lucas and Diana have a lot of chemistry though I would have preferred they didn't act on it quite so soon. After all, the point of him staying with her was his injuries, and immediate sex didn't seem realistic.
Still, it was a quick and okay read with a few surprises. ( )

After having lost her father a few months ago, Diane Oakford had been living a quiet life. In The Undercover Duke, however, things are about to change dramatically. Receiving a visit from the Earl of Stalwood, spymaster to the War Department, she is recruited to aid in the healing of a man injured in the same mission that killed her father.

Lucas Vincent, the Duke of Willowby, was a spy for the crown. Severely injured on a mission, he is in pain and not used to inactivity. His short temper and irritability are quickly apparent when he first meets Diane and realizes it is she who will be caring for him.

Trained by her father, Diane is a gifted healer. Lucas needs a healer of a class better than the ones who have been treating him thus far.

He is very different from the man she imagined when she had been told about the Undercover Duke by her father. For one thing, he’s a very handsome man.

Lucas feels responsible for her father’s death. Diane feels that his death on the same mission which injured Lucas is more reason to help. She does not want her father’s death to be in vain.

Romance With A Touch Of Mystery

This story, another of The 1797 Club series, is a good standalone read. The author has done in an exceptional job of bringing the two characters together from very different backgrounds.

They also work together to solve the mystery of who it was who betrayed the mission. I do like a sense of mystery in the book in this one provides a surprising answer.

Author, Jess Michaels, is definitely one that I will keep an eye on while I am looking out for more 1797 Club books.

Reviewed for LnkToMi iRead in response to a complimentary copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review. ( )

Betrayal and healing

Death and sadness pursue Diana Oakford. A young woman with deep hurts and secrets, she is the daughter of a physician who worked with the War Department until his death when assisting in a mission to uncover a traitor amongst the Departments spies.
Lucas Vincent, the Duke of Willowby, has never taken up the reins of his titled position. Harboring deep secrets himself, he had thrown himself into a career as a spy for the government. He was badly injured when his doctor friend Oakford was killed. Alarmed at Lucas' slow healing, the head of the department, the Earl of Stalwood, prevails upon Diana to take over Lucas' care and to keep him hidden.
Of course the two have clashes. Both are strong willed and passionate. As they come to know each other those clashes turn into a physical and emotional tryst. Hidden from the world these two explore each other physically, forming a bond of trust that each is surprised at. A tryst Diana knows will end with Lucas' full recovery. What future is there for a Duke and a healer? As events unfold, the two set out to find the treasonous spy, setting in motion a trap that would lull the culprit into exposing himself. But before that moment comes, startling and heartbreaking discoveries are made and Diana's world devolves even more painfully than anything thus far. Lucas is wracked with guilt and anguish and it seems these two will not have the happy ending we would wish.
Members of the 1797 club make an important appearance, the Duchesses are still in fine form, but they are not as front and center as they have been in previous works.
A good read if somewhat predictable, even with the surprise twists that appear.

A NetGalley ARC ( )