Book Review

The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean

For those following Sarah MacLean’s Scandal and Scoundrel series, The Day of the Duchess is finally Seraphina and Malcolm, Duke of Haven’s, story. Malcolm was the one who got knocked ass-over-teakettle into a fish pond in The Rogue Not Taken  and launched the whole series with his soggy duke-pants.

Now, you don’t need to read the other books to read this one, but I do think the series works really well in order. That said, this is also the weakest book.

I was really excited for this story which promised to be a super angsty reconciliation story–which it is–but I found that I could never forgive the hero. Even though The Day of the Duchess is really just a prolonged grovel by Malcolm (and he needs to grovel, ya’ll) I still  didn’t like him at the end.

Weirdly, despite not liking the hero, I still liked the book. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that Seraphina is amazing and badass, and so are her sisters. They spend a lot of time together in this novel, and they have no fucks to give. They love each other and support each other and will shove Malcolm in as many fish ponds as needed to make Seraphina feel better.

Also there was this line:

“Perhaps not. But perhaps you will. And when you are, I shall be here.” [Malcolm] said it as though he had nothing to do but languish here, in his underwater lair, waiting for her to wander in and ask him to make love to her.

I NEED THAT AQUAMAN FANFIC RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.

Beads of water fly of Jason Momoa's windswept hair.

Anyway, the book opens with the return of Seraphina, the-up-till-now missing Duchess of Haven. Seraphina is the oldest of the Talbot sisters aka The Dangerous Daughters aka The Soiled S’s. Her father, a wealthy industrialist, won his earldom at cards with Prinny (like you do) and so when Sera and her sisters had their debut, it gave everyone in the ton something to turn their noses up at.

Sera and Malcolm met at a ball and it was basically lust at first sight. Malcolm courted her–kind of. Like they could meet in secret but he wasn’t going to visit her family or act like he would with a “respectable” lady. Afraid that if Malcolm didn’t marry her, her reputation and her sisters’ (and their marriage prospects) would be in tatters, Seraphina traps him into marrying her by sleeping with him (which was his idea) and then getting caught (which was her mom’s).

For the record, he was going to marry her anyways, but he was being a tool about it.

So after they’re married, Malcolm is all asshurt because he thinks she trapped him for his title (despite the fact that he was totes willing to ruin her before proposing). They kind of live apart, but then he finds out she’s pregnant and he’s mad that she didn’t tell him she got pregnant (WHY SHOULD SHE? YOU’RE ACTING LIKE A TOTAL DOUCHENOZZLE) so he does the logical thing and…

Click for spoilers!
has sex with another woman. But just the once. Like that makes it better.

Then their child dies during childbirth, Seraphina almost does, too, and the doctor declares her barren.

So she figures, fuck this noise, takes her money and runs away.

It’s a lot of prologue, I know.

The book opens three years later. Seraphina is back, and she wants a goddamn divorce. Malcolm, having three years to get over his hurt feelings, realizes he loves her and wants her back. He agrees to divorce her if she comes to his estate to help him pick out his next duchess (cuz that’s not fucked up) which is really a ploy to woo her. Seraphina shows up with all her sisters and one pissed off cat as backup.

I never forgave Malcolm. I never really liked him because it was really hard to come back from all the shitty things he did. MacLean tries hard to redeem him, making it clear that he wasn’t sure of Seraphina’s intentions and that he felt betrayed by her actions. The problem is, his actions were super shitty, and having hurt feelings isn’t an excuse to behave horribly. Welcome to adulthood dude. You gotta own your shit.

That said, I found myself compulsively reading this book. I loved Seraphina. LOVED HER.

This is from one of her first meetings with Haven, before everything went to shit:

“You called me ‘my lord,’ It’s ‘Your Grace.'”

She smirked. “How did you know how thoroughly women adore being corrected by men? And over forms of address, especially. It’s a great wonder that none of us have ever fallen in love with you.” She dropped a little curtsey, the movement making him feel like a horse’s ass. “Farewell gentlemen.”

Cheers to you, madam.

And after everything goes to shit:

“You stood in the house where we might have built a home, our wedding breakfast barely over, and you told me to leave you.”

When he opened his mouth to reply, she found she was not through.

“And do you know the great irony of it? The whole world thinks you ruined me before you married me, when the truth is I was not ruined until after the fact. You ruined my hopes. My dreams. My future. You ruined my life. And I’ve had enough of that. I am here for one reason only, Your Grace. I want my life back. The one you stole.”

Tyra Banks says "Fierce!"

I want to drink with Seraphina. I want her to hang out and come to book club and be my new friend.

Malcolm acknowledges that he’s been a douchebag, but like a true romance hero, rather than offer her a sincere apology making it clear he understands what he did wrong, he manufactures a scenario in which he can win her back. It includes the underwater apology cave he built.

I mean, underwater apology caves are the shit, and this one has stained glass and everything, but I’d take a Hallmark card and some honest conversation over that.

Unless Jason Momoa is in the cave. Then the cave wins.

“Go away. I’m having Jason time.”

Jason Momoa is scratching his tattoo and his tongue is doing a thing and I cant even

Grand gestures aside, I couldn’t forgive Malcolm. I couldn’t forgive him for

Click for spoilers!
his infidelity, for not being there when Seraphina was almost DYING IN CHILDBIRTH, for courting her in such a shitbag way.

It was too much to come back from.

Which makes grading this book hard.

As a romance, it doesn’t really work if I didn’t feel like the hero deserved the heroine.

As a book about a woman who has come to burn the fields and salt the earth, and her sisters are there to back her up, it totally worked. I mean, I loved this part. The sisters are all crammed in a carriage, heading to Haven’s estate to wreak havoc, one of them gets carriage-sick, and there’s a pissed off cat who doesn’t appreciate being stuffed in a basket:

“Does Haven like cats?”

[Seraphina] looked to Sesily, already coming to the edge of her seat, Brummell in arms, as though she was prepared to do battle. Sesily was often first into the fray, even when she was green at the gills. “I don’t know. But I doubt it.”

“Excellent,” she said.

Haven opened the door, and Sesily flew from the carriage, thrusting the panicked cat into his arms. “Hold this!”

Surprisingly, he did, somehow controlling his own shock as failed to control the animal, which immediately went wild, hissing and clawing and flailing to be free.

All while Sesily cast up her accounts upon the duke’s perfectly polished boots.

Sera’s hand flew to her mouth, as though she could capture her astonished gasp. As though she could hide the pleasure that edged though it. She couldn’t.

His head snapped up at the sound, and he met her eyes, at once furious and shocked beyond words. Sera lowered her hand, revealed her grin, wide with the realization that everything had, in fact, gone pear-shaped.

For him.

Ah sisterhood. Sometimes it means throwing up on somebody who desperately needs to be barfed on.

If you really like a good grovel, this book might be your catnip. As much as I loved Sera and her sisters, I just couldn’t buy the reconciliation.

I am, however, super excited for Sesily to get her own story…and I’m off to read some Aquaman fanfic.

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The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean

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  1. Nataka says:

    I was waiting for that one, so this article is kind of a cold shower (not ice-cold, just a little cold, or tepid at least) and the problem with this series is that I honnestly can’t remember the previous novels. I know Seraphina’s youngest sister is in the first one, but I can’t even remember her name, just that it seemed super long to get to the end of the book. The second novel was better in my recollection, but still it didn’t burn my memory either. So far, I’m not entirely convinced by this Scandals and Scoundrels series.

  2. Suzanne says:

    I didn’t love A Scot in the Dark, and thought this one was much better. While I agree that Malcolm doesn’t deserve her, I think Sarah did a good job making it clear that both characters had messed up. I mean… he chased after her for three years. I was really satisfied with the ending.

    And the burn-it-down sisterhood was everything.

  3. Rachel says:

    Thanks so much for the excellent review. I can definitely see being turned off by the things mentioned in this review, but at the same time, Sarah Maclean has an uncanny ability to make me to go all in for characters/storylines/etc. that I wouldn’t otherwise be there for. Her writing just works for me, even when I don’t actually love the central pairing in the cold light of day. Sounds like this might be one of those for me. I’m still looking forward– the Sisters S have been the absolute highlight of this series for me, and it sounds like they get the spotlight here.

  4. I have 3 Big No-Gos for books.

    1. No 1st person.
    2. No 1 couple/1 character multi-book series.
    3. No 2nd chance romances.

    Those three things don’t tickle my brain, so I was gonna bow out of this book EVEN THOUGH I HEART MACLEAN SO DAMN HARD!!! Buuuut I still wanted to know what shiznit went down, so this review satisfied all my needs.

  5. Nuha says:

    This book really frustrated me because I just really wanted Seraphina and Haven to talk to each other instead of making dramatic pronouncements and sniping at each other. Funnily enough, I did forgive Haven because he was so torn up about what he did, even though I never bought that he had grounds to be pissed off to begin with. I suppose he was being secretive while courting Serafina because he was fixated on privacy and what people might think of him? And he proves that he’s over it by that grand gesture at the end?

    I did like that Serafina’s sisters were there for her in her time of need, though I’m pretty sure Maclean could have collapsed Selene and Seleste into Sesily and not lost any thing. I felt like the reckoning between Serafina and her sisters was long in coming, and it was very satisfying when it happened.

    Honestly, if I ever want an angsty epic romance with a husband and wife reuniting, I think I’ll skip this one and read Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas instead.

  6. Kara Skinner says:

    Damn it’s hard to like a book where the love interest is such a douchebag.

  7. marjorie says:

    Yeah, I’ll take your Aquaman fanfic recs. That is all.

  8. Krista says:

    Oooh I do love a good grovel (and I also like series with one book per couple/character), so I purposely didn’t read the spoilers. Thanks for this review!

  9. Amanda says:

    I am on this fence. I know I will be pissed of at the hero but after reading this review I kinda want to read that book

  10. Lauren says:

    I’m very cautious about reconciliation books, because they often end up making me feel shitty. Post marriage I find it the extent of the power the hero has over the heroine really terrifying. In most books that’s masked by the romance, but when the marriage is unhappy I feel a real sense of danger. I blame that romance novel where the “hero” plans to have his wife gamg raped to get revenge on her brothers – can’t remember the name.

  11. HollyS says:

    I’m not going to indulge. I waited to read reviews from sources I trust before making that decision. I was waiting for a MacLean book that isn’t distasteful, doesn’t push some idea that I hate down my throat in the name of appealing to a new generation of romance readers. I’ve been waiting since No Good Duke. I get that writers have to go with the times but does everything really have to always be the opposite of just a happy romance? I hope that makes sense. It’s like shit on top of shit for no good reason. And I can do angsty, dark romance. Have you read Kerrigan Byrne?

    Sadly she was an autobuy for me for a few years after I read Nine Rules to Break…now she is an absolutely not.

  12. Kate says:

    The Rules of Scoundrels series is what brought me back to reading romance and I usually heart Sarah MacLean’s writing so much, but I just can’t with this series. Aquaman fanfic, however? Yes, please.

  13. Mara says:

    @Lauren, so well said! I feel the exact same way… It just feels like (especially in a historical reconciliation trope) the cards are just too stacked for the hero. The power dynamic is out of whack. It stresses me out.

    The stakes in second chance romances in general don’t pay off for me. I end up feeling shitty that they spent so much time apart, or the grovel doesn’t work for me, or it seems like they really should just go their separate ways. I think some of this is the fact that I want my romances to feel, well… romantic. I’m never one to seek out angst on the way to a happy ending– isn’t there enough of that IRL?

  14. BellaInAus says:

    Four sisters with names that start with ‘Se’? Including two which are spelt unconventionally?

    Sorry, can’t cope. I need the names in a book to be different, or else I can’t keep track of who is who.

  15. Crysta says:

    “…she found she was not through” is a really lovely expression and I hope to remember it and use it plenty.

    I really loved A Scot in the Dark, (although the S whole thing and the weird name spelling was all a little much for me), but I’m not really interested in a guy who’s a major big fat douche (which I’m getting from the spoilers so I won’t mention specifics here) getting to live happily ever after with someone who’s strong and intelligent and has a great support system and has had some tough times. That’s a nopers for me.

    I really appreciate this review.

  16. Susan/DC says:

    I like second chance love stories, but I think the S names, with several unconventional spellings, would remind me too much of the Kardashians and I’d be pulled right out of the story.

  17. Cat C says:

    @Susan/DC the Kardashian reference is deliberate. And Malcolm getting pushed into the koi pond in the first book is supposed to be like Solange and Jay-Z in the elevator. And the second book is supposed to be like a nude photos scandal. There’s all kinds of celebrity gossip references thrown in to this series. It hasn’t been over the top (we read one in book club last year and most people had no clue it wasn’t just a historical) but FYI.

    I want to love Sarah MacLean’s books but I haven’t for a while. Didn’t like all the fighting in No Good Duke, HATED the identity drama in Never Judge a Lady, and have been meh on the books in this series. I’m particularly wary of a “hero” and an entire book of groveling. Thankfully this book is at my library so I can just skim for the sisterhood. Thank you all for a great review and comments!!

  18. Rach says:

    I just finished and absolutely loved this book. I think Haven had tremendous character growth. While that grand gesture was swoony, it was his words that slayed me. Haven was an ass and admittedly so and made no excuses for his failings. In the end he forsake all pride and wants to put Sera above all.

  19. Nuha says:

    The Kardashian thing bothers me, too. It pulls you right out of the story when you start wondering, well, obviously Sesily is Kim so does that make that American dude Kanye? Are references to his ~painful past~ references to Amber Rose? Does Sesily have a Kris Humphreys in her past? It’s never-ending!

  20. HollyS says:

    @nuha exactly. Blech.

  21. Michelle says:

    I keep thinking about reading this book despite absolutely hating second chances with an irredeemable hero. Even thinking about books like that makes me cry.

    I say to myself “would I recommend reconciliation to a friend in this situation?” If the answer is no, I’m done.

  22. Kristen says:

    I wasn’t sure after this review (and not having my socks knocked off by the Scot in the Dark), but I ended up loving this. The emotions were believable to me, and the sisters kept things from getting too angsty.

  23. Ellie says:

    I was disappointed by the epilogue, I get that she was going for “and then they got the happiness they deserved,” but I think it diminishes the emotional wallop of what a serious issue this is for both of them. That they are still willing to be together in spite of it. Honestly as I was reading through all of the emotional upheaval and groveling I was thinking “don’t ruin this with an epilogue, particularly one that says this.”

  24. ellen says:

    Honestly, I don’t think he really *deserved* to be forgiven (wasn’t it also implied and/or stated in earlier books that he also tried to ruin her sisters’ reputations and destroy her father’s finances?? or am I imagining this), but that didn’t actually wreck the book for me. I guess I feel like since people in real life definitely end up staying with/reconciling with a spouse who does something really awful and then they are still be able to make a successful/happy go at it, I don’t really have a problem with that as a plot line. Especially because Sera was a heroine with a lot of agency so it didn’t seem icky or coercive to me.

    @Ellie–completely agree about the epilogue. I rolled my eyes.

    @Jacqueline–FYI, book’s in 3rd person. I’m trying to imagine 1st person Sarah Maclean and it’s hurting my brain

  25. nicole pinto says:

    I just finished and I thought it was fantastic. As always, Maclean’s eloquency in the way she writes was phenomenal. I really shipped these two. Although frankly, I thought the divorce was unnecessary.

  26. Mochabean says:

    SPOILER COMMENT I’m all in on this series and her books in general so I am biased…I actually really loved the grovel grotto and I LOVED his grand gesture being the result of finally listening to her, and hers being to listen to herself.

  27. Zaiba says:

    Hmmmm …. totally adored Sera. She is a strong heroine and adored those lines where Malcolm realises that Sera never needed saving as she had done that for herself. Did not like Malcolm as I felt he could have done a better grovel. Sera and her sisters were great. All in all a good book.

  28. Ellie says:

    I just reread “The Rogue Not Taken” and I’m back to agreeing with Sophie that she should have pushed Haven into a pool full of sharks. Or there should have been a horrible accident while he was building his grovel grotto and Sera met someone who deserved her. I just can’t reconcile the villain of book 1 with the “on my poor hurt feelings” guy in book 3. I may reread “Day of the Duchess,” but only for the sister interaction. I’ll skip the rest.

  29. Jessie says:

    I recently watched an interview with Maclean. It was a panel in a book store, anyway she said that after the election she had to change to story of the book because after the election results she couldn’t deal with the hero.

    So I think that the Malcolm from “The Rogue Not Taken” is different from the one on the pages of the Day of Duchess. While taking this artistic licence may anger some, I think that want Malcolm became is more important than what he was.

  30. LibrarianJessi says:

    @Ellie – I am so with you on the epilogue!

    2nd chances are one of my catnip tropes, I was in the right mood for the full on angst, and I felt in the end that they had both redeemed themselves enough. Plus yay for sisterhood! So I was prepared to absolutely love this book. Until the epilogue. I’m so ANGRY that MacLean didn’t allow them an HEA without children. I’m still spitting mad about it.

  31. devra says:

    i had exactly the same response as @kristen – i read this review and it fit really well with my previous experiences with sarah maclean, but then i picked it up anyway and was completely hooked. i really responded to the emotional honesty of the characters, even if it would have been made easier (and easier to forgive) if they had just had one honest freaking conversation.

    sarah maclean did a piece in the washington post about how much this hero changed for her in the last stages of writing the book (and how she essentially rewrote the entire thing), and i think one of the things that makes it work for me is that you can see the ghost of what the book almost was (an unforgivable bastard punishing his wife because he can) in what it became. i also responded to the fact that a huge plot of the book is the extent to which haven does, in fact, own sera – acknowledging the power imbalance from day one. sera’s awesomeness comes in part from her ability and willingness to fight that imbalance in every way she can, leveraging any opportunity to stack the odds in her favor.

    i also agree with @ellie about the epilogue – the entire book, i was like DONT DO THIS, but of course it was coming. i guess i am happy for them.

  32. NanH says:

    I thought Sarah Maclean wrote the hell out of Day of the Duchess, and I am sad to see it have such a low grade, even though I agree with the review that the hero was pretty much irredeemable (and the epilogue was a disappointment).

    I’m interested to learn that she put so much effort into the rewriting– my first thought after finishing was that a lot of care had gone into the book (e.g., the many layers of Malcolm realizing yet another way he had wronged Sera). It was a particularly happy surprise since I DNF’d A Scot in the Dark.

    I would love to send the message to authors/publishers etc. that romance readers appreciate good/nuanced writing and will make it worth the industry’s while to spend the extra time to produce excellent work. (I am happy to read the less layered books — and do so all the time– but it is a great treat to find one with more going on, even if it isn’t perfect.)

  33. Lisa says:

    Having read the earlier books as well as this one, the fact that he terrorized her ENTIRE FAMILY is overlooked. They were only saved from complete ruin by the marriage of another sister in a earlier book. The hero isn’t confronted that no only did he terrorize the heroine, but EVERYONE she loved.

    Yeah, I never really forgave him either.

  34. Amanda says:

    I had never come across your site before- but you are amazing! Love your review as I’m just reading this book now. Lowered my expectations so I can get through it 🙂
    Thanks for having such a cool
    Site!!!!!

  35. Kestrel says:

    I had a really hard time liking Haven as well. I felt like his reasoning behind his actions was not very well explained and when it was explained it didn’t excuse his shitty behavior. I also felt like the author could have done a better job of showing us why Sera and Haven even like each other – beyond the burning lust I mean.
    I couldn’t remember the pond scene so I went back and listened to the beginning of A Rogue Not Taken, and started to dislike Haven even more. He shows absolutely no shame at being caught cheating on his wife in public – also doesn’t seem to care whether he ruins the reputation of the woman he was shagging in the greenery either.
    My whole evaluation of the series: it seems like SM lost interest in this series halfway through writing it. The books don’t feel very connected to each other even through they’re part of a series. A Scot in the Dark had very little to do with books 1 or 3, and it was disappointing to have 2 of the Talbot sisters’ romances happen “off scene.”

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