Reviews

What the Duke Wants by Amy Quinton

honeysidehomestead's review

emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

3.25

bookishmya's review

5.0

Flying prawns!! This story boasts moments of rue levity and humour, from flying prawns (you’ve got to read it to believe it) to a rascally dragon with an umbrella. Grace Radclyffe was not raised for society, ridiculed by the only family she had left and unmistakably clumsy. When she falls in a puddle of mud thinking no one is around, she is surprised by the handsome man who comes to her rescue. Only to find out he is the Duke of Sundridge and is intended for her horrible cousin. Despite that fact, attraction still flares between the two, resulting in a story of attraction and denial that can only end one way. Add in the intrigue of the Duke’s fathers murder and his quest for answers and you have one madcap ride of longing and the search for truth. Quinton has a humour that underlies all her writing, and can often be seen hidden in even the most serious situations. A pleasantly enjoyable book!

alejandra_guerrero's review

2.0

DNF at 50%. Grammar mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and a bunch of words and expressions that were used for the first time at least 50 years after this story supposedly takes place (I researched them). Everyone keeps adressing the Duke as "DUKE" WTF! There are random first person sentences all over the place, and the characters' toughts ramble on for pages about inconsecuential things. All these little details kept janking me out of the story.
I just couldn't understand why Grace was so infatuated with the Duke, when she spends way more time with his more charming friend the Marquiss. Specially when said Duke has been nothing but rude, when he deigned to speak two words to her. And in the same vein, why was he attracted to her? He has spent all of two minutes interacting with her! Really, if the love interest was the Marquiss, it would make so much more sense! Dansbury actually falls in love with Grace, afer spending days in her company (chaperoned, mind you).
The murder-mystery/secret society sub-plot makes no sense, and I just stopped caring what happened to these people.

peachani's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Sexual content

morvvenna's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

writer595's review

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

joonlily's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Overall I liked this story a lot. My only real problem was the behavior of the Duke, who was a perfectly decent human around everyone but Grace (most of the time). His way of fighting his feelingss is to act like an absolute asshat, and though we do get enough of his character to know he's a better guy than that, he's also....really an asshat sometimes. 
I'm enjoying the mystery element, and

looking forward to what seems to be a redeemed villain story with Beatryce (who was a raging monster in this book) and the cinnamon roll that is Dansbury. An enemy to lovers romance with a redeemed female villain? Sign me up.