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A review by sophilozophy
The Duchess Effect by Tracey Livesay
5.0
The return of DUCHJAY! Yes, I like them so much that I have combined her artist name with his nickname. Don’t judge me, I’m already doing that for myself. It just popped into my head and I can’t get it out.
The continuation of the American Royalty series picks up with the two on their way to an event together after Jay has been in the States for three weeks and secluded in an oceanfront home in California with Dani.
It’s their first public outing since they made headlines as a couple. Dani is nervous. The future of the skin-care line she created called Mela-Skin is still in limbo. Jay is on edge because of the contentious relationship he has with the press, especially when it comes to his loved ones. The event ends with them agreeing to keep business separate from their relationship. That’s easier said than done when there are ruthless people willing to use them for their own agenda. They want to keep what they have sacred, but that’s hard when the growth of detractors feels like it’s outpacing the supporters. The perception of their previously positively held standings in their communities is being shifted for no other reason than the existence of their relationship.
Jay’s hope to return to his previously simpler life of academia after hosting a royal event to honour his grandfather is crushed. Now he’s put in the position where he feels the need to protect his family as well as Dani. While Jay hates public life, he will do anything to protect the people he loves. Even if it makes him unhappy. From the outside, his actions come across as his duty to the “Company”. His admirable nature is being used against him to further an agenda that doesn’t take his needs and wants into account. He’s a pawn to the “Company”, but even a pawn can capture the queen.
Mela-Skin is more than just a company to Dani. It’s a symbol of security – a feeling that she hasn’t had for most of her life. She met Jay while on a mission in hopes of signing a contract after negative publicity. After everything she did for the good press to secure the deal – her future – the condition changed unexpectedly. What started out as lust has become a real love, yet that understandable need for security might just put it in jeopardy.
The Duchess Effect was another page-turner for me. I was on edge most of the time, wondering how things were going to turn out. The stakes felt so real and left the future uncertain. There were times I wanted to shake both Dani and Jay for their actions while understanding their feeling and the choices they made behind their actions. The characters on the page were humanized. Those are the best characters because I care and the stakes become higher.
Despite their difference, Dani and Jay have a genuine connection. Their backgrounds are very different, but there are still commonalities that go beyond geography and class. They have both been let down in ways that influence the way they move through the world and each other. Those traumas explain the reasons for their actions that pull and push them together.
Just because there is a Prince in the story doesn’t mean it’s a fairy tale. The novel really went there. It broaches the subject of race. In particular tokenism and colonialism. Themes that I equate with the British monarchy. Colonialism for the reasons that the British monarchy was central to the establishment, expansion, and maintenance of the British empire and the transatlantic slave trade. The way I see the experience of Meghan Markle, but also the Monarchy’s inaction with ethnic groups – for example with people of the Commonwealth – illustrates their continued practice of tokenism. These are themes that are not usually discussed in a romance novel, but add authenticity to the story since it would be in conversations surrounding a couple like Dani and Jay with their particular background as was and still is the case when it comes to Harry and Meghan.
This is the second book I’ve read by Tracey Livesay. As with American Royalty, there is a realness to the plot that kept me constantly engaged because those lines between reality and fiction blurred in a way that comes of effortlessly, but I know is not easy to achieve.
I personally want more of Dani and Jay because I always want more of a good thing, but am happy with the way it ended as well.
I look forward to reading more books from this author in the future.
The continuation of the American Royalty series picks up with the two on their way to an event together after Jay has been in the States for three weeks and secluded in an oceanfront home in California with Dani.
It’s their first public outing since they made headlines as a couple. Dani is nervous. The future of the skin-care line she created called Mela-Skin is still in limbo. Jay is on edge because of the contentious relationship he has with the press, especially when it comes to his loved ones. The event ends with them agreeing to keep business separate from their relationship. That’s easier said than done when there are ruthless people willing to use them for their own agenda. They want to keep what they have sacred, but that’s hard when the growth of detractors feels like it’s outpacing the supporters. The perception of their previously positively held standings in their communities is being shifted for no other reason than the existence of their relationship.
Jay’s hope to return to his previously simpler life of academia after hosting a royal event to honour his grandfather is crushed. Now he’s put in the position where he feels the need to protect his family as well as Dani. While Jay hates public life, he will do anything to protect the people he loves. Even if it makes him unhappy. From the outside, his actions come across as his duty to the “Company”. His admirable nature is being used against him to further an agenda that doesn’t take his needs and wants into account. He’s a pawn to the “Company”, but even a pawn can capture the queen.
Mela-Skin is more than just a company to Dani. It’s a symbol of security – a feeling that she hasn’t had for most of her life. She met Jay while on a mission in hopes of signing a contract after negative publicity. After everything she did for the good press to secure the deal – her future – the condition changed unexpectedly. What started out as lust has become a real love, yet that understandable need for security might just put it in jeopardy.
The Duchess Effect was another page-turner for me. I was on edge most of the time, wondering how things were going to turn out. The stakes felt so real and left the future uncertain. There were times I wanted to shake both Dani and Jay for their actions while understanding their feeling and the choices they made behind their actions. The characters on the page were humanized. Those are the best characters because I care and the stakes become higher.
Despite their difference, Dani and Jay have a genuine connection. Their backgrounds are very different, but there are still commonalities that go beyond geography and class. They have both been let down in ways that influence the way they move through the world and each other. Those traumas explain the reasons for their actions that pull and push them together.
Just because there is a Prince in the story doesn’t mean it’s a fairy tale. The novel really went there. It broaches the subject of race. In particular tokenism and colonialism. Themes that I equate with the British monarchy. Colonialism for the reasons that the British monarchy was central to the establishment, expansion, and maintenance of the British empire and the transatlantic slave trade. The way I see the experience of Meghan Markle, but also the Monarchy’s inaction with ethnic groups – for example with people of the Commonwealth – illustrates their continued practice of tokenism. These are themes that are not usually discussed in a romance novel, but add authenticity to the story since it would be in conversations surrounding a couple like Dani and Jay with their particular background as was and still is the case when it comes to Harry and Meghan.
This is the second book I’ve read by Tracey Livesay. As with American Royalty, there is a realness to the plot that kept me constantly engaged because those lines between reality and fiction blurred in a way that comes of effortlessly, but I know is not easy to achieve.
I personally want more of Dani and Jay because I always want more of a good thing, but am happy with the way it ended as well.
I look forward to reading more books from this author in the future.