Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - My Darling Duke

This was actually… so different from other books of the sort! I’m positively surprised. I needed something light and without much thinking needed after all the finals stress.
Also what a breath of fresh air to see a heroine be unapologetically herself and not a shy, annoying damsel in distress. Loved that part! Also a little less “I love you so much XY” towards the end would have been wonderful in my opinion. I know it’s a romance book but one and done would suffice.

Content Warnings

maeverose's review against another edition

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Despite the interesting plot, this could not keep my attention. It was very slow and repetitive. Every time Kitty and Alexander interact they have the same thoughts about each other over and over: Kitty is horny for him but convinces herself she isn’t, Alexander is bewildered by how unique and unlike other girls Kitty is.

I feel unsure about the disability rep. As far as I read (39%) there was nothing outright offensive, but some things gave me pause. I am disabled but not in the way that Alexander is so I’m no authority on this, but it annoyed me somewhat that (even though I know plenty of wheelchair users can walk) he seemed to be able to do pretty much anything an able bodied person could (walk almost whenever he wanted, dance,

swim in rushing water to rescue two people plus horses

), even if it was always clearly accompanied by pain. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I don’t want to discredit his pain, but it feels like his disability was at least partially written away when convenient. He was described as having muscular legs despite supposedly needing a wheelchair for the past seven years (though considering he seems to rarely use it, maybe that does make sense). It feels like he was written to be ‘palatably disabled’. He’s very stubborn about not using the wheelchair despite how it would help him and I assume that is addressed later in the book, but I never got that far.

There was one scene in particular that bothered me as well. (Mild spoilers) In chapter seven after the dance when Kitty goes to find him on the bench, instead of strictly being concerned for him, Kitty’s mostly thinking about how sweet he was to endure the pain to dance with her, how attractive he is, how her reputation could be affected if anyone found them alone, and how ‘admirable’ he is for being able to hide his pain so well (why is that admirable? Hiding his pain to ‘appear normal’? He shouldn’t have to grin and bear it). I felt like that scene would’ve been great if she had just wanted to make sure he was okay, then helped him, then they had the romantic moment. Rather than her clearly seeing him in pain and distress but being horny for him in that moment. It felt so off.

Also, in the book it says the left side of his face/body is scarred, but on the front cover it isn’t at all…. 🤨

I don’t know if any of these things are corrected later in the book, they could be, but it’s not holding my attention enough to read the rest of it to find out.

Content Warnings

cepbreed's review

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emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

The first half of this book give or take had me in a chokehold. I loved Kitty's brash actions, her devotion to her family, but I also had many complaints. There was a lot of unnecessary exposition, like, I get it's the first book in a series but all the descriptions of her friends felt out of place. It was weird to mention so many names when readers would have absolutely no recall when they were mentioned again. I was like "who tf is Ophelia?" Also the duke's personality in the beginning felt so far removed from who he was at the end, not even, at the 3/4 mark. I understand he is hurt and too prideful to allow others to perceive his hurt or even help him, but how did that manifest so differently so quickly? Character development is a thing, but the key word here is development, which Alexander was evidently lacking. His indecisiveness was so frustrating, I did really end up liking Kitty though. She embarrassed me a bit, but she felt like a friend almost. At the end of the day this is a histrom so I can't expect something revolutionary, but somethings really ruined the reading experience, the immersion, for me.

...(I get it was supposed to be an unexpected moment but him literally collapsing mid stroke???? I was so cringed out I had to detox on TikTok for a couple minutes).

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