A review by tessisreading2
Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase

4.0

Historical romance with the emphasis on "historical." Chase has done her research and it shows. The book itself was fun and felt educational/accurate in a way that a lot of historical romance novels - which place the emphasis on the romance rather than the historical - do not. I learned a lot about typhus but did not feel the usual sense of "oh, come ON" that one gets when the regency-era hero somehow mysteriously knows about modern hygienic practices and maybe utilizes some moldy bread for its healing properties. There was a real sense of period which there often isn't in a regency - the clothing and hair descriptions made me realize that it was 1830s almost immediately, and ditto the nice mentions of e.g. "the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria." The chemistry between the hero and heroine was great, the way the hero wins over the heroine's parents was super cute and well-done, and Chase really addressed the whole issue of class and money in regency-era marriage, which was nice to see.

However, the book felt too long; there was a lot of attention devoted to a not-very-suspenseful suspense plot involving the criminal underworld and, like, pre-Victorian street urchins. The romance resolved and I was very confused to see there was a considerable amount of the book left. The book is kind of a hybrid of historical fiction and historical romance; I liked it, but I tend to prefer my books to be one or the other.

Spoiler

Additionally, I get that it's a regency romance so in the end the dude has to become the duke, but really? Couldn't he NOT have become the duke? It just felt tacked-on and unnecessary.

I enjoyed the book a great deal, but it's probably not a re-read for me.