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balletbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
Good central premise - if you're proxy married as children and haven't seen one another since, how does a couple go about getting to know one another, if they even want to at all - and nice ending. However, Isidore and Simeon's story felt more like a stop-gap measure to allow Jemma and Elijah's relationship more time to repair itself.
winterreader40's review
3.0
Isidore and Simeon have been married for 11 years but have never met as they were married by proxy when she was 12(I think). She has been patiently waiting for him to return from his wanderings until she decides that enough is enough and lures him home by going to a scandalous house party and making sure his mother knows about it.
Simeon returns to get his bride only to find she isn't the timid/demure woman his mother has been telling him about all these years while he's been practicing the middle way and avoiding extreme emotions of any kind. He has also been practicing abstinence during his travels and returns to his bride a virgin.
This couples story was ok, I didn't love Simeon and I hate how the Beaumont's take up too many chapters in everyone else's stories until their own book. I do like that Eloisa James is the only author I've ever seen write an awkward not so good for anyone involved sex scene, it's such a refreshing change.
Simeon returns to get his bride only to find she isn't the timid/demure woman his mother has been telling him about all these years while he's been practicing the middle way and avoiding extreme emotions of any kind. He has also been practicing abstinence during his travels and returns to his bride a virgin.
This couples story was ok, I didn't love Simeon and I hate how the Beaumont's take up too many chapters in everyone else's stories until their own book. I do like that Eloisa James is the only author I've ever seen write an awkward not so good for anyone involved sex scene, it's such a refreshing change.
tellingetienne's review
4.0
I don't have a lot to say about this one. I really enjoyed it, it was silly and light. I loved the main characters. Jemma's story seemed to be randomly injected, and it threw off the mood at times, but other wise it was great.
ezlyangel's review
2.0
This is the fourth in this series, but this is the 11th book of Eloisa's that I've read. They are good quick reads, and I will continue to read these serious. But these weren't my favorite characters that she has created.
willa's review
5.0
What I love about this series is the characters experience a much broader range of human emotion and sexuality than most romances.
anastasiaadamov's review
5.0
As the Dukes go Simeon is quite exotic!
Looking forward to the next Desperate Duchess
Looking forward to the next Desperate Duchess
queennia's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
cute but i didn’t care about jemma and the duke of villiers so i just skipped their chapters icl
geo_ix's review against another edition
5.0
So far I think this is my favourite in the series. I really loved it. There was passion and adventure and while I didn't like Isidore in the last book I actually really loved her in this, and I really enjoyed Simeon and seeing him try to hide his passion. He spent so much time pushing her away because she was impulsive and showed her emotions while he liked to think it all through and not become angry or lustful.
I also started realising I'm feeling bad for Elijah even though he was a twat once. Seeing his condition worsen and him hiding it is really getting to me. I got teary eyed in his scene with Villers. Very excited to continue
I also started realising I'm feeling bad for Elijah even though he was a twat once. Seeing his condition worsen and him hiding it is really getting to me. I got teary eyed in his scene with Villers. Very excited to continue
halleymalley1's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
irishtraveller's review
5.0
I read another review from a reader stating that James's "Desperate Duchesses" series improves with each book. I think she finally hit her peak with this one. It really was the perfect historical romance with a hot blooded Italian and an eccentric, reluctant duke who runs about the countryside in short trousers (oh, the scandal!).
I loved that our heroine, Lady Isidore, was completely unwilling to compromise her beliefs, opinions, and ideas because a man and--more specifically--her husband told her to do so. At every turn, she frustrated and irritated our hero, Simeon. My suspicion was that he was frustrated because what he loved most about her turned his life upside down. Feisty, beautiful, and incredibly bright, Isidore was a woman before her time. And she's a little bit of what every woman strives to be.
Simeon, on the other hand, is intelligent, thoughtful, and stubborn to a fault. He has his own ideas about this proxy marriage of his and feels that Isidore should bend to that will even if she doesn't agree with it. He spent years traveling abroad and gathering up unique experiences like a bouquet of flowers and yet knows little of the ways of the world.
What I loved most about this particular novel is that it was unusual in that very early in the book, we discover that not only is Isidore a virgin (of course) but that Simeon is also a virgin. I've read tons of romance novels over the years, and this is the first one that identified the hero as a virgin...and he's proud of it! What a refreshing change! Isidore is shocked and actually assumes that something must be wrong with Simeon. But it's revealed later on that he had several very good reasons for maintaining his own innocence.
I truly loved this story and loved it even more as it progressed. Definitely one of James's best!
I loved that our heroine, Lady Isidore, was completely unwilling to compromise her beliefs, opinions, and ideas because a man and--more specifically--her husband told her to do so. At every turn, she frustrated and irritated our hero, Simeon. My suspicion was that he was frustrated because what he loved most about her turned his life upside down. Feisty, beautiful, and incredibly bright, Isidore was a woman before her time. And she's a little bit of what every woman strives to be.
Simeon, on the other hand, is intelligent, thoughtful, and stubborn to a fault. He has his own ideas about this proxy marriage of his and feels that Isidore should bend to that will even if she doesn't agree with it. He spent years traveling abroad and gathering up unique experiences like a bouquet of flowers and yet knows little of the ways of the world.
What I loved most about this particular novel is that it was unusual in that very early in the book, we discover that not only is Isidore a virgin (of course) but that Simeon is also a virgin. I've read tons of romance novels over the years, and this is the first one that identified the hero as a virgin...and he's proud of it! What a refreshing change! Isidore is shocked and actually assumes that something must be wrong with Simeon. But it's revealed later on that he had several very good reasons for maintaining his own innocence.
I truly loved this story and loved it even more as it progressed. Definitely one of James's best!