Spotlight & Giveaway: A Duke Never Tells by Suzanne Enoch

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Suzanne Enoch to HJ!

Hi Suzanne and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Duke Never Tells!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

In A DUKE NEVER TELLS, Lady Meg Pinwell, betrothed to the newly-promoted Duke of Earnhurst, decides she isn’t going to marry a man she’s never met–especially given his poor reputation. She disguises herself as a lady’s companion, ropes her aunt in to play her employer, and goes to visit Earnhurst Castle and interrogate the staff about their master while he’s elsewhere. The new duke is not elsewhere, and he’s annoyed at the idea of having to take on the responsibility his late father had been trying to shove on him for years. When a lady and her maid come calling, then, he pretends to be the butler, and names his man of business, also inherited against his wishes, to be the duke. These makeshift disguises become a big problem when the lady’s companion (Meg) twists her ankle and the four become housemates for the next fortnight. Comedy and romance ensue as everyone thinks both that they’re falling for the wrong person and that the disguises they’ve donned allow them to be who they really are.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

My favorite couple of lines are actually right at the beginning of the book, because they kind of set the tone for the rest of the story, and fairly well describe what happens. Meg is showing her Aunt Clara her presentation gown, and the two long ostrich feathers she’s chosen to wear.

“I think it’s very regal.”
“You look like a ship with luffing sails,” Clara commented, not looking up, and only the slightest of smiles hinting at her amusement. “Lean to port or starboard too far, and you’ll capsize.”
Meg squinted at her reflection as she adjusted her gloves. “Well, this is disappointing. I want to look like a great lady, not a sinking ship.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• My working title for the book was THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNHURST, a riff on Oscar Wilde’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. I used the basic premise of that story–people pretending to be other people–and kind of went from there. I was at my annual writers’ retreat with five of my closest writer friends, and I was up next for a brainstorming session but had absolutely no idea what I wanted to write. Literally five minutes before we started I wrote down, “What happens when a duke pretends to be a butler and then gets stuck in that position?” The rest of the plot opened up from there.
• I like to listen to music while I write, but it can’t be songs. Songs distract me with their pesky lyrics. Most frequently I listen to film scores, and for this book I chose mainly selections from “Bridgerton”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and “Emma” (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow).

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

For our hero, James, I think it’s after she sprains her ankle that he falls for Meg/Mabel. Despite being in pain, she retains both her wit and her sense of humor. Afterward, she’s someone who isn’t trying to lure him in because of his title, and instead she’s honest and good-natured. The cynic in him is very attracted to that.

As for Meg, while she’s being very critical of everything “the duke” is doing, James is pretending to be the butler. At first, he’s everything “the duke” isn’t–he’s funny, agrees with her that the duke is insufferable, and enjoys the same things she does. He appreciates her “troublesome” tendency to blurt out funny things.

With each of them pretending to be someone else, they’re able to be who they really are–which wouldn’t have happened if they’d met under normal circumstances.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

This scene makes me smile every time I look at it–

The right front wheel of the chair hit a rock and came to a sudden stop. Meg lurched forward. The chair toppled, landing half on top of her. With a curse James stumbled, falling over the chair and tumbling into a patch of daisies.
“Damnation,” he grunted, rolling upright. A daisy with a broken stem tangled into his disheveled brown hair, drooping beside one ear. “Are you injured?”
Meg burst out laughing at the sight of him, even with the chair pinning her one her back. “You look so lovely!”
“What?” Scowling, he looked down at himself. The daisy fell into his lap. “Good God. I’m a bouquet.”
Laughing harder now, Meg shoved at the wheeled chair. Goodness, it was heavy. “And I’m a bump on someone’s path again. Please rescue me.”

Readers should read this book….

A DUKE NEVER TELLS is lighthearted, funny, witty, and full of the joyful nonsense that accompanies falling in love. It’s always a good time for laughter and love, but now, especially, I think.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

My next book will be out early in ‘26. It’s called BETTER THAN A DUKE, and features a widow and widower who move next door to each other and whose respective young son and daughter decide their parents should marry–no matter what the two individuals in question have planned.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A finished copy of A DUKE NEVER TELLS by Suzanne Enoch

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Book Info:

Before entering into a supremely-advantageous arranged marriage with James Clay, the new Duke of Earnhurst, clever, independent Lady Meg Pinwell has to see if he’s really the rake he’s rumored to be. But how is a well-bred young lady going to make sure he’s the man she wants?

With the help of her Aunt Clara, they plan some discreet reconnaissance at the Duke’s country estate. Meg will pretend to be her aunt’s maid/companion to see the true state of affairs at Earnhurst Manor.

But Meg isn’t the only one pretending to be someone she isn’t: In order to escape Clara (who is surely a marriage hunter!), James has traded places with the excellent Riniken, the former Duke’s butler. Soon everyone is falling in love with the absolute wrong person! They say the course of true love never does run smooth… at Earnhurst, it’s running amuck!
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N |
 
 

Meet the Author:

A native and current resident of Southern California, Suzanne Enoch loves movies almost as much as she loves books, with a particular soft spot for anything Star Wars. She has written more than 50 books, including Regency romances, historical romances, and contemporary romantic suspense. She shares a home with various humans, tropical fish, a dog (Tiki), a tortoise (Lucky Jo), five lizards, six finches, and a parakeet named Fozzie.
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