The Duke of Huntington has no interest in an eccentric redhead who frowns at him over her spectacles…until he realizes that she is the only possible duchess for him. A new enemies-to-lovers romance by New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James.
Bespeckled and freckled, Lady Stella Corsham at least has a dowry that has attracted a crowd of fortune-hunting suitors—which definitely doesn’t include the sinfully handsome Silvester Parnell, Duke of Huntington, who laughingly calls her “Specs” as he chases after elegant rivals.
And then—
The worst happens. Marriage.
To the duke. To a man marrying her for all the wrong reasons.
How can Silvester possibly convince Stella that he’s fallen in love with the quirky woman he married? Especially after she laughingly announces that she’s in love—but not with that duke.
Not with her husband.
Review:
Once again, Eloisa James did not disappoint!
Stella is a lovely heroine–I love her spectacles (where are they on the cover, though?), her freckles, her body type (not sure that’s represented on the cover either…), and, of course, her kitten. I liked that she stood up for what she thought she deserved–as much as she could, at least–and found the fact that she’d bought herself and made use of…a special toy, shall we call it? as a wanna be wallflower just fantastic.
(Yes, it’s probably what you’re thinking. No, I did not have that on my Eloisa James book bingo card either.)
Silvester was a bit more challenging as a hero, mostly because of his infatuation with someone else for a good chunk of the book. Of course Stella was the true heroine for him, and I didn’t doubt that it really was Stella who challenged and interested him, but why on earth did he stay in the Yasmin fan club so long? He gives us a reason eventually, but I’m not 100% sure I’m buying it. I was a bit torn about whether or not Stella forgave him a little too easily in the end…not gonna lie, I really wanted him to do a bit more in the grovel department.
Still, though, this was a really entertaining read, even if the hero wasn’t always my favorite person. Stella and Specs did their best to make up for his shortcomings, with a nice assist from Silvester’s mom, the Dowager Duchess.
Somehow I am super behind on this series (I have no excuse–I own all the audiobooks–I swear I’m going to read them! Soon!) but hey! I have already read My American Duchess , and it was lovely seeing Merry (and Trent, to a lesser degree) here again. I did OK starting with this one, though a huge chunk of it happens concurrently with the second book ( The Reluctant Countess ) and therefore I’m pretty tempted to read that one next.
Reading series backwards! Maybe I could start a trend? 😉
Rating: 4 stars / A-