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A review by gonturans
Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean
1.0
editing this rating down to one star because i realized i actually disliked this book a LOT and don't understand how no one sat maclean down and went, "move your ~*~big reveal~*~ of why he ~*~betrayed~*~ them all to the second chapter, show that year break, take out the one hundred and two flashbacks to the stupid fucking meadow, and write an actual romance based on two people relating as ADULTS instead of relying on their TRAUMA". she's a popular author and many other romance authors probably don't want to piss her off or something??? if you like the idea of grace's character, try edie cay's A LADY'S REVENGE.
one of the most difficult things in romance is pulling off the trick where you have a couple separated by years, by trauma, and who spend most of the book in opposition to each other, and then sell that they are a Romance. maclean doesn't manage to do this. i hit the halfway mark and power-read the rest of the way because i was already frustrated with how... nowhere they were getting in knowing each other. the first two chapters were incredibly compelling and the romance never got back up to that level. what does ewan like reading? does he have friends? does he have, like, hobbies that aren't trying to destroy his brothers? what does grace like reading? what plays does she like? who are these people outside of their trauma?
the entire series has had the thread of grace and ewan, and if you've forgotten, you've missed the bricks constantly lobbed by maclean at the reader's head about "ewan and grace... are A Tragic Romance" throughout the prior two books. it became obnoxious and repetitive, but i generally like maclean's later writing and give it a chance. she writes women who aren't typical tropes in the genre and subverts some of the usual expectations, on top of genuinely funny dialogue, but can lean back on telling the reader that a character is brilliant or a badass and never actually... SHOWING it in the PLOT (see georgiana from "never judge a lady by her cover").
ewan and grace are together because they were in a situation where they were systemically abused, and ewan supposedly betrays her and his brothers to "win" the game (this part is entirely ahistorical to the nth degree). as adults, he believes she's dead until she isn't, and the rest of their relationship is a dance of "i want to be with you" "you can't be with me!" until... they are together? it's a fine grovel, but them wanting to be together/their love feels very prince derek in the swan princess asking "beauty? what else is there?" except it's "we loved each other as children, what else is there?"
you cannot have your hero
like, come on man. i want to know who these people are in the present timeline of the book, not multiple references to the grove at the estate every time they see each other. maybe i'll feel differently if i ever attempt a second read through [8/11 edit: i will not], but for now, ewan stays off my coveted Wretched Man shelf.
i'm almost tempted to say i took a half star off for this cover, which i hate. i've disliked it since the reveal last year. i do not understand it as it relates to grace as the character we see in the book, who dresses (in my mind) kinda like lady maria from bloodborne. did "the never judge a lady by her cover" art mean maclean couldn't have two women in trousers covers??? the previous two books have gowns that at least feel period-appropriate, while grace gets... a strapless david's bridal number? what's going on over at the avon cover art department? they have had some disastrous covers lately.
one of the most difficult things in romance is pulling off the trick where you have a couple separated by years, by trauma, and who spend most of the book in opposition to each other, and then sell that they are a Romance. maclean doesn't manage to do this. i hit the halfway mark and power-read the rest of the way because i was already frustrated with how... nowhere they were getting in knowing each other. the first two chapters were incredibly compelling and the romance never got back up to that level. what does ewan like reading? does he have friends? does he have, like, hobbies that aren't trying to destroy his brothers? what does grace like reading? what plays does she like? who are these people outside of their trauma?
the entire series has had the thread of grace and ewan, and if you've forgotten, you've missed the bricks constantly lobbed by maclean at the reader's head about "ewan and grace... are A Tragic Romance" throughout the prior two books. it became obnoxious and repetitive, but i generally like maclean's later writing and give it a chance. she writes women who aren't typical tropes in the genre and subverts some of the usual expectations, on top of genuinely funny dialogue, but can lean back on telling the reader that a character is brilliant or a badass and never actually... SHOWING it in the PLOT (see georgiana from "never judge a lady by her cover").
ewan and grace are together because they were in a situation where they were systemically abused, and ewan supposedly betrays her and his brothers to "win" the game (this part is entirely ahistorical to the nth degree). as adults, he believes she's dead until she isn't, and the rest of their relationship is a dance of "i want to be with you" "you can't be with me!" until... they are together? it's a fine grovel, but them wanting to be together/their love feels very prince derek in the swan princess asking "beauty? what else is there?" except it's "we loved each other as children, what else is there?"
you cannot have your hero
Spoiler
go off page for an entire year and do all of his big boy growth. i don't trust like that. i want him to do part of the work on the pagelike, come on man. i want to know who these people are in the present timeline of the book, not multiple references to the grove at the estate every time they see each other. maybe i'll feel differently if i ever attempt a second read through [8/11 edit: i will not], but for now, ewan stays off my coveted Wretched Man shelf.
i'm almost tempted to say i took a half star off for this cover, which i hate. i've disliked it since the reveal last year. i do not understand it as it relates to grace as the character we see in the book, who dresses (in my mind) kinda like lady maria from bloodborne. did "the never judge a lady by her cover" art mean maclean couldn't have two women in trousers covers??? the previous two books have gowns that at least feel period-appropriate, while grace gets... a strapless david's bridal number? what's going on over at the avon cover art department? they have had some disastrous covers lately.