The Duke (Knight Miscellany Series #1) Book

I should probably warn my friends (most of whom enjoyed this book) that they probably don't want to read my review. And if they do, to just keep in mind that I'm not criticizing you for liking it. I usually don't make this statement, but somehow all but four of my friends gave this book over four stars. And a lot of them have read it. So, you're warned. Moving on...

I'd heard that this book was angsty. What I didn't hear is that it's a hot mess. Honestly, I would never term this book angsty. It's over done and drama filled, but it's not angsty. Angst--to me--takes a depth and darkness that this book just didn't have. This was like the Disney version of the courtesan/prostitute Romances.

Robert irritated me at times, but my biggest gripe about this story was Bel. What irritates me the most is that she had the opportunity to be a really interesting character, but wasn't. Bel seemed incredibly young whenever she played the courtesan. I never felt that the role sat well on her so it was a little hard to believe that everyone was so enamored of her. She was like a little girl dressing up in mommy's clothes and playing a role, thinking that she knew what she was talking about. It was incredibly irritating. She kept regurgitating these courtesan rules that she had been taught, but they just made her seem even more naive. The fact that she thought getting a protector would keep her from ever being abused made her dumb as rocks to me. She kept glamorizing her role, thinking that she had rights, and it drove me nuts that no one ever proved her wrong.

But honestly a lot of her personality and thought process didn't make sense to me. She was supposedly terrified of having sex with a man and was worried about being able to perform her courtesan role, so Robert's ruse seemed perfect for her. Now I can totally accept this. What I can't accept is the fact that a woman terrified of sex would be the aggressor in a lot of close contact situations unnecessary to their agreement. She cuddled up with him and rubbed his head and even gave him head but still was terrified of sex when the plot called for it. Her back and forth attitude made her seem bipolar and like a tease. I have a very hard time accepting that a rape victim terrified of intimacy would only be frightened of actual penetration by a penis but was gung ho for everything else. That makes no sense.

In addition to that, Bel seemed to have no inner awareness of her role in life. She walked into Robert's life and took charge of his household and just generally grated on my nerves. It's not just the fact that she was a prostitute doing this that bugged me. I have a problem with the way Romance novels frequently have servants of any type step above their station with no awareness that what they're doing is really ballsy. I mean, she was in a duke's household. The lack of awareness of this fact really bugged me.

That leads me to my next gripe... the actual duke, Robert. I generally like the aloof, stuffy aristocrats, but Robert was something else. He was judgmental and apt to fly off the handle whenever things didn't go the way he thought they should. He was also an emotional mess and very weak willed. He's participating in this plot (an incredibly dumb plot) because of his love for the married saint, Lucy. But then he realizes that he's only in love with the idea of her. But he doesn't stop the stupid plot. I just had a problem with the whole setup because it seemed like a really dumb plan in the first place.

In addition to this he is also presented as a paragon. He supposedly hasn't even consorted with courtesans before. So I have a hard time believing he would have installed his mistress in his home or have taken her to spend time with his family members in the country! He'd have flashes where he'd seem more lifelike--admitting that even though he lusted after her, he still looked down on her for her profession or being appalled at the thought that someone who thought it was okay to become a courtesan had taught his little sister--but then would lose it again.

I found Robert's attitude toward marrying Bel to be the most realistic part of the book. The last hundred pages is where I finally became hooked and is what bumped the grade of the book up. I still found Robert hard to swallow as a duke, but he and Bel finally dealt with a realistic issue that made sense over the fact that they couldn't marry each other. That's the part when I felt the book really started to shine. Bel's inner struggle with accepting it and Robert's fear that she would leave him when he married was well done. The actual end was rather silly, but I was pleased enough by that point to only roll my eyes a little when I read it.

Edited to add: I forgot to say how irritating I found it that the back of the book referred to Bel as "London's most provocative courtesan" when she hadn't even slept with anyone else. Like I said, it's the Disney version here.