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fringebookreviews 's review for:
Not That Duke
by Eloisa James
✨If you listened to Foolish One by Taylor Swift and were like ah yes I want to read a book where the heroine is constantly led on by the hero…then you’re so in luck. It does have an HEA…but it’s basically as close to that song as you can get.✨
*This review contains spoilers.*
If you didn’t like book two, I don’t think this will be much of an improvement. Yes, I did like it better, but it also reminded me constantly of how much was wrong with book two. The story relied heavily on book two, even though there was literally a note at the beginning saying it wasn’t necessary to have read it. I greatly disagree. The pacing was so funky that if I didn’t know what happened in book two, I’d have been like WUT is going on.
The book is split into two parts, the first part taking place during the events of book two. This means we see more of Lydia being a wench, Giles being a prig, and Yasmin being too nice about all of it. Lydia (and Giles) ruined book two for me, so I must admit I really didn’t care for the entire first half of this book, as it felt like I was rereading book two with even MORE of Lydia’s machinations. I don’t even think she was properly dealt with in this book, so I’m doubly vexed why we needed to revisit that train wreck.
The hero, Silvester, fancied himself in love with Yasmin so the entire first half he was courting her and being incredibly thick skulled regarding Stella (the heroine). He was like I loooooove her but I’ll admit I would like to bang Stella. Which really just reduced their entire relationship to lust, and I never saw him fall in love love. Eloisa was aware of this, as the lust came up in several conversations…but it was never properly handled.
Part one ends with Silvester absconding to the country with Yasmin, with no explanation. We barely got any of his POV throughout the book (the majority given to Stella) so when he had his whole big shift of feelings towards her…it happened off page and in the country with Yasmin where we WEREN’T. He came back and was like nice that was fun and fresh Stella let’s get married, and she was rightfully confused. Since I didn’t see the shift of his emotions on the page, I was like why the hell is he suddenly so over Yasmin?? He then strongarmed her into marriage—something I don’t always dislike, but here it just felt unnecessary. It could’ve been a moment for their relationship to develop. Lots of telling not showing.
By 60% I genuinely thought the book was over. They were married and seemed happy? I was questioning what the hell was going to be the third act, until I realized it was all of the unresolved insecurity Stella had since she also believed Silvester to be pining for Yasmin. And then he had a random thing where he was adamant that he didn’t love Stella…for reasons unknown. He was so quick to love Yasmin! He was like why do you still think I love Yasmin??? And I’m like SIR you’ve given NONE of us an explanation and we’re 95% in!
Yeah half of the book he was in love with someone else, Stella was kinda of being courted by Giles, and it was just unnecessarily convoluted. He was like yeah Stella I was courting her, but I was playing chess with YOU and thinking about your body…like what am I supposed to do with that info?? Doesn’t seem like a great guy lmao. It really seemed like he loved her body from the start, but we never found out why he fell in love with her. Superficial I guess?
I think this need another round of developmental editing because the pace felt choppy and incredibly random at times. We also needed way more of Silvester’s POV, as he had a lot of ground to cover in order to convince everyone he was over Yasmin. Since the book was two parts, half of the plot just dropped off at 50% and it seemed very abrupt. There were a lot of time jumps and not a lot of depth to the plot or relationship. Splitting this book in two felt like it was used as a bandaid to try to connect two very different stories. Why rehash the entirety of book two and spend half of the book doing it??
This book just felt like an underdeveloped afterthought. I liked the second part way better than the first, as it actually seemed a. relevant to the relationship and b. like a NEW book not book two in a different font. While book two angered me, this one at least didn’t do that. I don’t hate it, and it shaped up to be a cute ending…but it was just so chaotically plotted and developed. The fact that that man had a whole ass come to Jesus moment off page, got over a years long crush, and decided to marry the heroine…and we saw him think through NONE OF IT??? Idk seems pretty wild to me.
I know I listed a lot of grievances, but I did still enjoy the main characters once we got halfway through. I always liked Stella, and the newly introduced side characters were fun, especially the dowager. The bones of a really compelling story were there, but we only got about half of it. The book could’ve opened with Silvester upset about Yasmin’s marriage to Giles with about a half a page recap, and it would’ve been GREAT. No need to overlap them like that! Let these two cuties shine.
✨
I hate to say it, but I hope this is the last book in the series. I just really need a break from the characters, especially since Lydia didn’t seem properly quelled. I swear if Blanche somehow gets a book and Lydia is there!!! I really liked Blanche by the end, but even her turnabout seemed half baked. I’d have liked to see more of her friendship with Stella develop. I greatly enjoy Eloisa’s writing, and I really hoped I would love this one, but it was closer to book two than book one for me.
⭐️⭐️.5/5 🌶️🌶️.5*/5
*I just wasn’t feeling the chemistry for most of this book, and there wasn’t a lot of spice. While I have major complaints about book two, that book was at least BANGIN.
Thanks to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.
*This review contains spoilers.*
If you didn’t like book two, I don’t think this will be much of an improvement. Yes, I did like it better, but it also reminded me constantly of how much was wrong with book two. The story relied heavily on book two, even though there was literally a note at the beginning saying it wasn’t necessary to have read it. I greatly disagree. The pacing was so funky that if I didn’t know what happened in book two, I’d have been like WUT is going on.
The book is split into two parts, the first part taking place during the events of book two. This means we see more of Lydia being a wench, Giles being a prig, and Yasmin being too nice about all of it. Lydia (and Giles) ruined book two for me, so I must admit I really didn’t care for the entire first half of this book, as it felt like I was rereading book two with even MORE of Lydia’s machinations. I don’t even think she was properly dealt with in this book, so I’m doubly vexed why we needed to revisit that train wreck.
The hero, Silvester, fancied himself in love with Yasmin so the entire first half he was courting her and being incredibly thick skulled regarding Stella (the heroine). He was like I loooooove her but I’ll admit I would like to bang Stella. Which really just reduced their entire relationship to lust, and I never saw him fall in love love. Eloisa was aware of this, as the lust came up in several conversations…but it was never properly handled.
Part one ends with Silvester absconding to the country with Yasmin, with no explanation. We barely got any of his POV throughout the book (the majority given to Stella) so when he had his whole big shift of feelings towards her…it happened off page and in the country with Yasmin where we WEREN’T. He came back and was like nice that was fun and fresh Stella let’s get married, and she was rightfully confused. Since I didn’t see the shift of his emotions on the page, I was like why the hell is he suddenly so over Yasmin?? He then strongarmed her into marriage—something I don’t always dislike, but here it just felt unnecessary. It could’ve been a moment for their relationship to develop. Lots of telling not showing.
By 60% I genuinely thought the book was over. They were married and seemed happy? I was questioning what the hell was going to be the third act, until I realized it was all of the unresolved insecurity Stella had since she also believed Silvester to be pining for Yasmin. And then he had a random thing where he was adamant that he didn’t love Stella…for reasons unknown. He was so quick to love Yasmin! He was like why do you still think I love Yasmin??? And I’m like SIR you’ve given NONE of us an explanation and we’re 95% in!
Yeah half of the book he was in love with someone else, Stella was kinda of being courted by Giles, and it was just unnecessarily convoluted. He was like yeah Stella I was courting her, but I was playing chess with YOU and thinking about your body…like what am I supposed to do with that info?? Doesn’t seem like a great guy lmao. It really seemed like he loved her body from the start, but we never found out why he fell in love with her. Superficial I guess?
I think this need another round of developmental editing because the pace felt choppy and incredibly random at times. We also needed way more of Silvester’s POV, as he had a lot of ground to cover in order to convince everyone he was over Yasmin. Since the book was two parts, half of the plot just dropped off at 50% and it seemed very abrupt. There were a lot of time jumps and not a lot of depth to the plot or relationship. Splitting this book in two felt like it was used as a bandaid to try to connect two very different stories. Why rehash the entirety of book two and spend half of the book doing it??
This book just felt like an underdeveloped afterthought. I liked the second part way better than the first, as it actually seemed a. relevant to the relationship and b. like a NEW book not book two in a different font. While book two angered me, this one at least didn’t do that. I don’t hate it, and it shaped up to be a cute ending…but it was just so chaotically plotted and developed. The fact that that man had a whole ass come to Jesus moment off page, got over a years long crush, and decided to marry the heroine…and we saw him think through NONE OF IT??? Idk seems pretty wild to me.
I know I listed a lot of grievances, but I did still enjoy the main characters once we got halfway through. I always liked Stella, and the newly introduced side characters were fun, especially the dowager. The bones of a really compelling story were there, but we only got about half of it. The book could’ve opened with Silvester upset about Yasmin’s marriage to Giles with about a half a page recap, and it would’ve been GREAT. No need to overlap them like that! Let these two cuties shine.
✨
I hate to say it, but I hope this is the last book in the series. I just really need a break from the characters, especially since Lydia didn’t seem properly quelled. I swear if Blanche somehow gets a book and Lydia is there!!! I really liked Blanche by the end, but even her turnabout seemed half baked. I’d have liked to see more of her friendship with Stella develop. I greatly enjoy Eloisa’s writing, and I really hoped I would love this one, but it was closer to book two than book one for me.
⭐️⭐️.5/5 🌶️🌶️.5*/5
*I just wasn’t feeling the chemistry for most of this book, and there wasn’t a lot of spice. While I have major complaints about book two, that book was at least BANGIN.
Thanks to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.