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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lucy stumbles upon Anthony in an alley mistaking him for a corpse.
The story weaves together his world as a Duke and her life in Shoreditch. Together in the glass house and her aunt’s dress shop they create a world where they can reveal their true selves to one another.
The story weaves together his world as a Duke and her life in Shoreditch. Together in the glass house and her aunt’s dress shop they create a world where they can reveal their true selves to one another.
I really enjoyed The Duke Undone and can't wait to read more by Joanna Lowell! This book had me interested as soon as I opened the first page. From the moment Lucy first crosses paths with Anthony (and that was definitely a great way to introduce both characters) I couldn't wait to see what happened for her and get to know her better!
I loved Anthony...even though he trusted the wrong people. He knew not to but he still did and it created a lot of problems for him but in the end, with Lucy (or the thought of Lucy) pushing him he was able to see what was going on and what he needed to do to truly step into his role as Duke and take ownership of his decisions / actions.
I loved the secondary characters, Kate, Lucy's aunt, etc. and thought they all added to the story. There is a pretty obvious villain and despite that, I thought the story was well done. The characters are well developed, there are plenty of parts with the romancy bits included, and there's even a bit of a mystery around what happened to Anthony's sister.
Overall, I liked this one and will be definitely checking out more by Lowell in the future! Give this one a read if you are looking for a new historical romance to pick up. It's a standalone too...although I could definitely see the possibility of more stories with this cast of characters if the publisher chose to do so. I'm curious to learn more about Gwen's story for sure!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy!
I loved Anthony...even though he trusted the wrong people. He knew not to but he still did and it created a lot of problems for him but in the end, with Lucy (or the thought of Lucy) pushing him he was able to see what was going on and what he needed to do to truly step into his role as Duke and take ownership of his decisions / actions.
I loved the secondary characters, Kate, Lucy's aunt, etc. and thought they all added to the story. There is a pretty obvious villain and despite that, I thought the story was well done. The characters are well developed, there are plenty of parts with the romancy bits included, and there's even a bit of a mystery around what happened to Anthony's sister.
Overall, I liked this one and will be definitely checking out more by Lowell in the future! Give this one a read if you are looking for a new historical romance to pick up. It's a standalone too...although I could definitely see the possibility of more stories with this cast of characters if the publisher chose to do so. I'm curious to learn more about Gwen's story for sure!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy!
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
This novel set in the Victorian era with an art student female protagonist was all over the place. It tried to cram many issues into one plot and still remained boring. There was never anything to hook me into the story. But, its main offense was historical inaccuracies, especially in speech. These felt like completely modern characters, just wearing more layers.
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-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
Two people from different walks of life meet in an unexpected way. What ensues is a story that made me move through a spectrum of emotions. There was beauty and pain and there were moments I wanted to scold a few characters that were selfish and diabolical.
Lucy, our heroine, is a practical and vibrant artist and student at the Royal Academy. Lucy’s sole focus is her work and focusing on her career. One evening she happens upon a very unconscious and nude man who inspires her to produce a scandalous painting that will bring two people from different walks of life together.
Anthony, a second son who inherited upon the death of his father and brother, is stifled by the tragic history of his family and the conditions put upon him in order to gain full control over his finances and affairs as the Duke of Weston.
This story unfolds in a wonderful manner. There was a lot of work that went into the research regarding historical details. There was just so much packed into this book that there were times that I felt as if I lost a thread or two. But I enjoyed the journey and I highlighted so many quotes. Most of them pertaining to Anthony and Lucy. I just loved their character development. I’ll leave one of my favorite quotes here:
“They’d write their own story. it wouldn’t be a perfect fairy tale, pure happiness and light. It would be hard, complicated, real.”
Lowell succeeded in conveying that no journey to happiness is without obstacles and love can be painful, but it can also build resilience within each of us.
Lucy, our heroine, is a practical and vibrant artist and student at the Royal Academy. Lucy’s sole focus is her work and focusing on her career. One evening she happens upon a very unconscious and nude man who inspires her to produce a scandalous painting that will bring two people from different walks of life together.
Anthony, a second son who inherited upon the death of his father and brother, is stifled by the tragic history of his family and the conditions put upon him in order to gain full control over his finances and affairs as the Duke of Weston.
This story unfolds in a wonderful manner. There was a lot of work that went into the research regarding historical details. There was just so much packed into this book that there were times that I felt as if I lost a thread or two. But I enjoyed the journey and I highlighted so many quotes. Most of them pertaining to Anthony and Lucy. I just loved their character development. I’ll leave one of my favorite quotes here:
“They’d write their own story. it wouldn’t be a perfect fairy tale, pure happiness and light. It would be hard, complicated, real.”
Lowell succeeded in conveying that no journey to happiness is without obstacles and love can be painful, but it can also build resilience within each of us.
Loved this! Ever since I saw the cover, I knew I had to pick it up.
This story centers around Lucy and Anthony. Lucy is an art student at the Academy, who just so happens to come discover our Duke, Anthony, in the buff. Without getting too detailed, Lucy decides to use nude Anthony as inspiration for her latest painting. Unfortunately once and how Anthony discovers this, leads to all sorts of trouble for Lucy.
What I really enjoyed about this story in particular, is that with most historical romances I read, usually the hero or heroine is flawed, but almost not really? Sure, everyone has their issues, but Anthony truly harbors some dark family issues and this greatly affects his character. I loved that he was so flawed. There were moments I was rooting for him to get his shit together and then there were moments where it felt like he personally hurt me by his lack of care for himself.
Same with Lucy. I loved how outspoken and brave she was without it making her a hardened heroine. I understood her actions, even if I didn’t always agree with her methods.
The depth between Anthony and Lucy and their own development lead to some really heatwrenching and steamy moments. I really felt that build up that makes me root for a couple and I love that these too complimented each other. Especially with their differences in class and life experience.
I really really hope this is the start of a new series because I would love to see Lucy and Anthony again (no epilogue :( ) but also because i do want to know what happens to Kate, Effie, and Gwen.
I did only give this 4 stars as there were a few moments where I kind of lost focus in the story but truly I loved the balance of romance and historical aspects and how they came together.
This story centers around Lucy and Anthony. Lucy is an art student at the Academy, who just so happens to come discover our Duke, Anthony, in the buff. Without getting too detailed, Lucy decides to use nude Anthony as inspiration for her latest painting. Unfortunately once and how Anthony discovers this, leads to all sorts of trouble for Lucy.
What I really enjoyed about this story in particular, is that with most historical romances I read, usually the hero or heroine is flawed, but almost not really? Sure, everyone has their issues, but Anthony truly harbors some dark family issues and this greatly affects his character. I loved that he was so flawed. There were moments I was rooting for him to get his shit together and then there were moments where it felt like he personally hurt me by his lack of care for himself.
Same with Lucy. I loved how outspoken and brave she was without it making her a hardened heroine. I understood her actions, even if I didn’t always agree with her methods.
The depth between Anthony and Lucy and their own development lead to some really heatwrenching and steamy moments. I really felt that build up that makes me root for a couple and I love that these too complimented each other. Especially with their differences in class and life experience.
I really really hope this is the start of a new series because I would love to see Lucy and Anthony again (no epilogue :( ) but also because i do want to know what happens to Kate, Effie, and Gwen.
I did only give this 4 stars as there were a few moments where I kind of lost focus in the story but truly I loved the balance of romance and historical aspects and how they came together.
This got a lot better for me after the 60% mark. Before that I talked my self out of DNFing a few times. One of the biggest things was how sad a lot of this story was. I was expecting more of a rom-com. Also the romance was really lacking. I felt like I had to strain to find something between these characters. A lot more happened toward the end, but overall pretty dissatisfying.