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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
My Darling Duke by Stacy Reid is quite the unusual historical romance. And you're probably thinking, "What's unusual about another beauty and the beast story with a scarred hero?" Plenty, actually.
Miss Kitty Danvers decides to make up a lie to save her family from penury. The newspapers and gossip pages are constantly publishing unfounded stories about the reclusive Duke of Thornton. The Duke has never bothered to write back to prove or disprove any of these claims. Kitty decides to take advantage of the latest gossip about the Duke snatching up a fiancee — she pens a letter to the media confirming that she is the betrothed of the elusive Duke. Right away, Kitty and her sister become belles of the ball and her sister finally has a chance of finding a husband. Kitty doesn't expect the Duke to respond to this lie, but imagine her shock when he actually returns to society and meets her for the first time in public.
It's been 10 years since Alexander survived a tragic event, which scarred a good portion of his body and has left him bound to a wheelchair. But with years of determination and effort, he is able to walk for 2-3 hours a day. When he finds out about Kitty's scheme, he is intrigued by her impudence and decides to meet her in person. He agrees to the fake betrothal for reasons of his own and ends up spending time with Kitty out of curiosity. He even summons her to his estate in Scotland, where they spend a lot of time together. Alexander is bound to discover all he can about the woman who has revived his interest in things that have laid dormant for 10 years.
My Darling Duke is a friends to lovers relationship and it's a little slow paced because the author takes her time to set up the story and its characters. It's also very angsty, emotional and a slow burn. The hero is very unusual in his characterization. He's unpredictable to say the least. I know we've all read multiple historical romances with scarred heroes who hide themselves away in their castles. But this one is different. It takes place after the beast has learned to accept his fate — for the most part. And this scarred hero is medically declared impotent due to his injuries. I've never actually read a romance novel with an impotent hero before, so this was a first for me. It was very interesting to read about how the hero deals with his impotency when he's finally falling in love with a woman he admires and desires. He's harsh at times, but in all honesty, I couldn't blame him because his harshness comes from a place of grief and hurt. I'm no medical expert, so I can't confirm the veracity of the depiction of impotency in this book. But I think the author did a great job showing us the complex emotions involved as the characters try to start a relationship, especially a physical one.
So yea, this one was different for me. If you have any more recommendations of books with impotent heroes, please let me know!
My Darling Duke by Stacy Reid is quite the unusual historical romance. And you're probably thinking, "What's unusual about another beauty and the beast story with a scarred hero?" Plenty, actually.
Miss Kitty Danvers decides to make up a lie to save her family from penury. The newspapers and gossip pages are constantly publishing unfounded stories about the reclusive Duke of Thornton. The Duke has never bothered to write back to prove or disprove any of these claims. Kitty decides to take advantage of the latest gossip about the Duke snatching up a fiancee — she pens a letter to the media confirming that she is the betrothed of the elusive Duke. Right away, Kitty and her sister become belles of the ball and her sister finally has a chance of finding a husband. Kitty doesn't expect the Duke to respond to this lie, but imagine her shock when he actually returns to society and meets her for the first time in public.
It's been 10 years since Alexander survived a tragic event, which scarred a good portion of his body and has left him bound to a wheelchair. But with years of determination and effort, he is able to walk for 2-3 hours a day. When he finds out about Kitty's scheme, he is intrigued by her impudence and decides to meet her in person. He agrees to the fake betrothal for reasons of his own and ends up spending time with Kitty out of curiosity. He even summons her to his estate in Scotland, where they spend a lot of time together. Alexander is bound to discover all he can about the woman who has revived his interest in things that have laid dormant for 10 years.
My Darling Duke is a friends to lovers relationship and it's a little slow paced because the author takes her time to set up the story and its characters. It's also very angsty, emotional and a slow burn. The hero is very unusual in his characterization. He's unpredictable to say the least. I know we've all read multiple historical romances with scarred heroes who hide themselves away in their castles. But this one is different. It takes place after the beast has learned to accept his fate — for the most part. And this scarred hero is medically declared impotent due to his injuries. I've never actually read a romance novel with an impotent hero before, so this was a first for me. It was very interesting to read about how the hero deals with his impotency when he's finally falling in love with a woman he admires and desires. He's harsh at times, but in all honesty, I couldn't blame him because his harshness comes from a place of grief and hurt. I'm no medical expert, so I can't confirm the veracity of the depiction of impotency in this book. But I think the author did a great job showing us the complex emotions involved as the characters try to start a relationship, especially a physical one.
So yea, this one was different for me. If you have any more recommendations of books with impotent heroes, please let me know!
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I kinda wish he was really impotent. It would be more interesting to me if both characters still made the decision to be together knowing they probably won’t have sex or children. But I know that won’t happened from the start. Romance authors are a bunch of cowards after all
Anyway, great romance, amazing writing. I like how the author writes the male lead’s disability. The chemistry between ML and FL are so good, I was hooked from their first meeting. This is such a rare gem in the historical romance genre.
Anyway, great romance, amazing writing. I like how the author writes the male lead’s disability. The chemistry between ML and FL are so good, I was hooked from their first meeting. This is such a rare gem in the historical romance genre.
Was the main conflict in the story the main male character's erectile dysfunction? Yes. Did I still enjoy it? Yes.
This was just a lovely, fluffy book. Sometimes you just need a romance that will be nothing but sweet, and this definitely fits.
Kitty's father passed away, and her remaining family members were moved out of their house because there was no son to take over the title. Now that they are poor, no one is interested in marrying Kitty or her sisters, so she comes up with a plan. She writes into a gossip paper and says that she in engaged to a duke who hasn't come out into society for seven years.
Eventually, the duke reads about the engagement, and he becomes interested in the woman that would perpetuate such a farce. When they meet, he is smitten, but because of the injuries that have kept him holed up in Scotland, he doesn't want to take a bride.
I really liked both the MCs in this one. Kitty is lovely and clever, and Alexander is tragic but sweet. They're a lovely couple, and there's lots of good relationship building going on. The use of the "we're soaking wet from falling in water so let's take off our clothes" troupe made me roll my eyes a bit, but otherwise, I thought this was cute and good fun. Nothing super dramatic or exciting, but a nice, sweet romance.
Kitty's father passed away, and her remaining family members were moved out of their house because there was no son to take over the title. Now that they are poor, no one is interested in marrying Kitty or her sisters, so she comes up with a plan. She writes into a gossip paper and says that she in engaged to a duke who hasn't come out into society for seven years.
Eventually, the duke reads about the engagement, and he becomes interested in the woman that would perpetuate such a farce. When they meet, he is smitten, but because of the injuries that have kept him holed up in Scotland, he doesn't want to take a bride.
I really liked both the MCs in this one. Kitty is lovely and clever, and Alexander is tragic but sweet. They're a lovely couple, and there's lots of good relationship building going on. The use of the "we're soaking wet from falling in water so let's take off our clothes" troupe made me roll my eyes a bit, but otherwise, I thought this was cute and good fun. Nothing super dramatic or exciting, but a nice, sweet romance.
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Wow! I have some thoughts on this one. Okay, let me start out by saying that my rating was highly influenced by the audiobook and the narration. Unfortunately this was one of those times that I just can’t get past that and be objective about the book itself. I might try a reread of this on kindle or something later.
First off, the narration was so slow. Like the book felt very slow paced because of how slow the narrator was talking. Typically at 3.3x it can be pushing it for me as fast as I can go and I switch between that and 3x speed. With this one though, the voice felt like a turtle. I was moving so slow with how slow the narrator took to say the words. I honestly couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like at 1x speed with how slow it was at 3x speed.
Then we had the narrators voice. It was a little higher pitched than what I usually like; however, it was still fine to listen to. It was just when she was doing the male voices that I just couldn’t stand it.
The book itself was fine. I thought the beginning was super interesting with how she created a fake engagement and then he just showed up. I liked that they became friends first before lovers. I didn’t love the ending, but that was more of a my preference thing than anything. As I said, I think if I would have read the book and not listened to it, I would have enjoyed it more since it wouldn’t have felt like such a slow paced book.
First off, the narration was so slow. Like the book felt very slow paced because of how slow the narrator was talking. Typically at 3.3x it can be pushing it for me as fast as I can go and I switch between that and 3x speed. With this one though, the voice felt like a turtle. I was moving so slow with how slow the narrator took to say the words. I honestly couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like at 1x speed with how slow it was at 3x speed.
Then we had the narrators voice. It was a little higher pitched than what I usually like; however, it was still fine to listen to. It was just when she was doing the male voices that I just couldn’t stand it.
The book itself was fine. I thought the beginning was super interesting with how she created a fake engagement and then he just showed up. I liked that they became friends first before lovers. I didn’t love the ending, but that was more of a my preference thing than anything. As I said, I think if I would have read the book and not listened to it, I would have enjoyed it more since it wouldn’t have felt like such a slow paced book.
emotional
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
medium-paced
I actually really enjoyed the way the author wrote and also cried a bit too
