A review by danielap
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

In a few words: 

the premise makes it cute and lovely to read, but the book shows serious disregard for certain elements, which ruined any adorably romantic part of the plot for me.

In a few more words:

> Pro: Cute premise with a fake courtship between our main characters that delivered. 
The "going from strangers to allies to friends to lovers" was very cute to read.

> Cons:
  1. The female clothing is painfully inaccurate for the era it's supposed to be set in, and it really removed me from the narrative, because it's just a blatant disregard of proper fashion etiquette
    for the sake of easy sex
    .
  2. The lack of consequences.
    In no way did Simon consent to having sex with his wife and ejaculating inside of her when sleepy and drunk. Daphne suffered absolutely no consequence for raping her husband, and the whole problem was completely turned onto him for not trusting her WHEN THEY WERE BOTH WRONG and she never apologized for doing something horrible to him. I know the book was published in 2000 --and it shows-- but I'm honestly over the sugar-coating of sexual assault of a male character by a female character under the excuse of "men always want sex what are you even talking about lol"
    . Consent can be given and withdrawn at any point and the other person should only comply.
  3. The plot is predictable and kind of boring. The TV series changed and added a lot of details and plot points, but it is less boring than the book. Just watch the TV series, honestly.

> Final thoughts: I was enjoying this book throughout most of it, but I waited until the end for the resolution of the main conflict between them and found it lacking. I feel like the author should have made them talk more about it and analyze what each of them had done wrong, and then given us the adorable ending we were all hoping to read.
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