Reviews for The Inconvenient Duchess

The average rating for The Inconvenient Duchess based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-11-01 00:00:00 Randye Fletcher When you marry a person, you marry their family, bad and good. Both Miranda and Marcus take their share of family baggage into their marriage. Miranda's family is not good ton at all, with some quite shocking scandal in their background, and Marcus' family is full of ugly secrets and betrayal. Honestly, this book has some dark aspects to it. Marcus' brother was a real piece of work. He starts trying to destroy Marcus and Miranda's marriage from the beginning, and Miranda is naive to his schemes, and just lonely enough and unacquainted with her husband to fall into his trap. I didn't particularly like that Marcus and Miranda spend a chunk of time apart for the 1st part of this book, but I understand why this was done, in light of the plot device of St. John's machinations against the newly wedded couple. I hadn't made up my mind about my feelings about Miranda being attracted to and somewhat susceptible to St. John's charms. When the reveal comes at the end, that makes sense as well. And in a way, it made me love Marcus and respect Miranda more. She was just a normal woman, with all the feelings that women feel, and a neglected bride. And Marcus for fighting to overcome his understandable fears and insecurities due to his disastrous first marriage, and St. John's role in destroying it. In light of those aspects of realistically flawed humanity evident and a very tangled web woven around her, and how she does try to be honorable about it, I couldn't really hold what happens against her. Admittedly, I was glad that things didn't go too far, although there were some uncomfortable moments where I yelled at the page, my stomach clenched into a knot. Overall, I think the elements that challenged me about this book made it a stronger read for me. This book falls into the darker regency category just because of the emotional tangles that exist between Marcus and St. John, and how Miranda gets caught in that trap, but untangles both herself and Marcus from it with the power of her love and loyalty for him, her strong nature tested by a rocky life prior to becoming Marcus' duchess, and her determination to stand by her husband and honor her vows, even if that was harder than she thought it would be. I'd have to give this book four stars because it packed a punch, and I really did enjoy the journey of strangers coerced into marriage to a couple deeply in love with each other.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-15 00:00:00 Minbo Wen I frigging LOVED this book. I'm sorry, I can't think of any other way to put it. I was trolling my kindle for something to read the other night when I happened upon the title. As I remembered exactly nothing about the book (other than that I really liked it) I figured what the heck and re-read it. Now I'm gonna gush. I love Christine Merrill's writing. An author of some wit, her books are infused with a sense of it, both in the prose and in her characterizations. Not all authors have this, and when I find one who does, I glom their backlist like RIGHT. NOW. It doesn't hurt, of course, that The Inconvenient Duchess has one of my favourite plots ever - a marriage contrived by a scheming relative bringing together the stuffed-shirt Hero and an upstart heroine. This Hero stomps about yelling at the staff and slamming doors, just the way I like 'em. He isn't so much of a boor that he doesn't recognize what a jackass he is, and this is his saving grace. The heroine is another favourite type of mine, the ruined/poor/spinster with a temper. I laughed out loud at some parts, grinned to myself at others, and thoroughly enjoyed every second of reading it. One of my favourite quotes from the book is here: "I know that you must have certain...needs," she almost whispered the word. "If you might wish to visit your mistress...I would not blame you for it." He choked on his tea. "There are a few things we need to make clear, lady wife. Firstly, I do not wish you to discuss such things at all, but, if you must, you will not do so over the breakfast table. Secondly, if and when I seek to visit my "mistress" I will not ask, or for that matter, need your permission to do so. Thirdly, you should not even know of such things, and if you do, I'll thank you to keep the information to yourself. The last thing I want to do is discuss "my needs" with my wife." The last seemed to him so ridiculous a statement that he was momentarily struck dumb. No wonder, with an attitude like that, he'd sought to avoid the married state for so long. A couple of things kept this from being a 5 star - perhaps it was a little rushed, but that might be due more to the fact that this is a Harlequin Historical than any other. In any event, it's going on my "favourites" shelf, and is a perfect feel-good regency keeper. And I'm off to glom Christine Merrill's backlist. :)