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A review by cassandra67b07
Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James
3.0
This is a perfectly nice romance. Nothing much happens except for perfectly nice people doing nice things and finding other nice people to do them with. I've bounced off the Wilde series before with the first 2 books and found them to be a theme-park version of the 18th century which was not exactly full of "nice" aristocrats. But Avon and Netgalley kindly offered me an eARC and I thought I would try again.
Viola again is very nice. She's also shy and not sure of her place as a stepdaughter, not a blood relation, of the current duke so she's struggling with social anxiety as well as worries about her place in society. She compensates by adopting a lot of pets including for some reason 2 cows. After she eavesdrops and overhears another duke (really quite a lot of dukes in England) dismiss her as a potential bride, she loses her shyness and lets him have it. But in a very nice way. Of course, he falls for her.
There's a subplot about a crush on a vicar and the fact that he's unfortunately engaged to a prig and lots of balls and teas etc.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this book. It's competently executed, there are cute pets, loving families etc, but it lacks spice. Perhaps I've gotten used to more complex characters and grittier settings with books like The Rakess, Bringing Down the Duke, and even Julia Quinn's First Comes Scandal which also had perfectly decent characters but somehow came across as more engaging.
Thanks again to Avon for the eARC and letting me give this a try.
Viola again is very nice. She's also shy and not sure of her place as a stepdaughter, not a blood relation, of the current duke so she's struggling with social anxiety as well as worries about her place in society. She compensates by adopting a lot of pets including for some reason 2 cows. After she eavesdrops and overhears another duke (really quite a lot of dukes in England) dismiss her as a potential bride, she loses her shyness and lets him have it. But in a very nice way. Of course, he falls for her.
There's a subplot about a crush on a vicar and the fact that he's unfortunately engaged to a prig and lots of balls and teas etc.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this book. It's competently executed, there are cute pets, loving families etc, but it lacks spice. Perhaps I've gotten used to more complex characters and grittier settings with books like The Rakess, Bringing Down the Duke, and even Julia Quinn's First Comes Scandal which also had perfectly decent characters but somehow came across as more engaging.
Thanks again to Avon for the eARC and letting me give this a try.