"The Duchess of Love"
By: Sally MacKenzie
Synopsis from Goodreads:The day was as hot as the pond was inviting. It’s not as if anyone in Little Huffington was going to happen upon a secluded vale on the Duke of Greycliffe’s lands. And Venus Collingswood didn’t want to get her shift all wet. It was the perfect setting in which to plan her lovely bookworm of a sister’s betrothal to the mysterious new duke arriving seven days hence. If only she had a suitable accomplice...
Andrew Valentine, Duke of Greycliffe, never thought arriving at his own household a week early would cause so much trouble. The housekeeper thinks he’s his own cousin. Actually, the chance to not be the duke for a while is a pleasant opportunity indeed. It might even help him interrogate the delectable little nymph he’s discovered swimming in his pond—if he can manage to get a word in edgewise...
My Thoughts:
When there is a free e-book advertised on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books you get it. It’s a fact people! They know what to read and I’m a hopeless sheep in the romance world, which is a good thing sometimes. “The Duchess of Love” is currently (as of this post) a free e-book and is a prequel to Sally MacKenzie’s new series “The Duchess of Love” series.
This title is a novella so its hopelessly short. As other reviewers have said, this book is almost too short, so there is little in the way of character development. They just do the things they do and we just accept it with little character motivation. I do feel this book would have been a much better story if it had been fleshed out a bit more, but hey, who hasn’t said that about a novella??
Venus is kind of the wild child in her family. Everyone else reads Latin, is interested in science, and wants to study all the time. Yet, Venus is interested in gossip, dresses, fashion, who’s seeing who, and all that jazz. She’s almost the opposite of most romance heroines these days, but you don’t dislike her. Quite the opposite really, it kind of endears you to her.
One day, in the heat of the sun, Venus decides to go for a swim. Imagine her surprise when she trips on a rock and splashes into the pond, only to be saved by the Duke of Greycliffe. Andrew, our Duke, came into his title as a very young teen and is frankly tired of people bowing down to him all the time. When he arrived at his home, he passes his cousin off as the Duke and he himself acts as a simple lord.
Can you see where this one is going? A case of mistaken identity paired with a young duke and a sensitive young lady equals a dramatic romance with a happy ending. Short and sweet, you enjoy the characters, but beyond that its fairly normal and unremarkable. A fun beginning to a series and if you are going to continue to with the second “Bedding Lord Ned,” that features Venus’ son Ned, I think this one is required. Fun, flirty and fast folks :)
Venus is kind of the wild child in her family. Everyone else reads Latin, is interested in science, and wants to study all the time. Yet, Venus is interested in gossip, dresses, fashion, who’s seeing who, and all that jazz. She’s almost the opposite of most romance heroines these days, but you don’t dislike her. Quite the opposite really, it kind of endears you to her.
One day, in the heat of the sun, Venus decides to go for a swim. Imagine her surprise when she trips on a rock and splashes into the pond, only to be saved by the Duke of Greycliffe. Andrew, our Duke, came into his title as a very young teen and is frankly tired of people bowing down to him all the time. When he arrived at his home, he passes his cousin off as the Duke and he himself acts as a simple lord.
Can you see where this one is going? A case of mistaken identity paired with a young duke and a sensitive young lady equals a dramatic romance with a happy ending. Short and sweet, you enjoy the characters, but beyond that its fairly normal and unremarkable. A fun beginning to a series and if you are going to continue to with the second “Bedding Lord Ned,” that features Venus’ son Ned, I think this one is required. Fun, flirty and fast folks :)
Book Details
Publisher: Zebra
Date of Publication: April 24, 2012
# of Pages: 106
ISBN: B006MLL01E
Gotta love fun, fast, and flirty novels! I love the dog peeping out from under her skirts.
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