DNF, Rant
Genre: Historical: European, Romance
I really wanted to like this book. The description made it sound like a battle of wits would occur, which I love due to the intellectual tension and often coded dialogue present in such stories.
Alas, the first chapter was infuriating and the hero even more so, and I stopped reading a few pages into chapter two. I think DNF reviews are very illuminating as they can highlight what makes a reader stop, or keep going – and maybe this duo are all of your catnip. That’s always possible. But either way, strap in because I have a lot of examples and it’s about to get ranty.
This is the cover copy that caused me Such Great Temptation:
Sloane Knox, the Duke of Hawksthorn is guardian for his sweet, younger sister. Due to his misguided past as one of the infamous Rakes of St James, Hawk is hoping to avoid the Season by securing a match for her before it begins. He has the perfect gentleman in mind, but for one infuriating—and unexpectedly intoxicating—obstacle: the intended groom’s own sister, Miss Loretta Quick.
Having narrowly avoided her own arranged marriage to an unacceptable nobleman, Loretta is determined that her dear brother—a gentle, good-natured soul—should marry for love. Matching wits with Hawk may be her greatest challenge yet. . .until she realizes it may also be her greatest pleasure. For the young duke’s irresistible charm has not only begun to crumble her stubborn resolve, it has claimed her heart in true love as well in To the Duke, With Love.
After reading that, I was so on board. She doesn’t want him to arrange a marriage between her brother and his sister; he wants to arrange said marriage – and they were likely going to argue about it a lot. Plus, there were pages from a fake gossip sheet in the beginning, and pieces of advice from some book called A Proper Gentleman’s Guide to Wooing the Perfect Lady at the start of each chapter. So much potential sardonic dialogue, so much possibility for intelligent humor. Sign me up, please!
The first chapter opens with a cold, wet duke walking his horse to some distant property and he’s pretty miserable. He decided to go alone on horseback, the horse he hired has gone lame, and it’s raining. To quote the duke meditating on his misery:
That his current situation was his own impulsive fault didn’t help his grumbling spirit.
Wet duke is wet. And cold. But doing all that walking gives Wet Duke Hawk (of course his name in the story is Hawk) a substantial amount of time to ruminate why he is in this wet position.
Wet Duke Hawk is looking for a suitable husband for his sister and has settled on Loretta Quick’s brother for very specific reasons. Gossip pages, such as the one quoted at the beginning of the chapter, were already talking about his sister Adele’s debut, and Duke Hawk has decided that he needs to set up Adele’s engagement prior to the start of the season. Why?
…there would be no opportunities for mischief from anyone who might be seeking to exact revenge on Hawk by pursuing his sister with less-than-honorable intentions.
Duke Hawk is worried that his terrible reputation and very sordid recent past will cause someone to seek revenge on him by ruining his sister.
My first question: Duke Hawk, what the hell did you do?
So Duke Hawk walks up to the country manor of the Quicks, known as Mammoth House (yup, it’s big) and is greeted at the door by a servant whose reaction contains a portion of “Wtf are you doing here, Wet Duke Hawk?”
He’s led to a drafty, sparsely furnished room with a fire that’s mostly embers, so he adds wood to the fire. This caught my attention because despite noticing that the house is shabby and run down, he tosses wood in and stokes the fire. He’s a cold Wet Duke Hawk so of course he’s going to toss the wood in the fire without thinking about whether they’re in somewhat dire straits with regard to firewood.
I’m ok with the idea that this guy is due for a hell of a wake up call regarding his presumption. It’s very possible that this change of character would make for some of the internal tension. There are also a few hints that Duke Hawk’s habit of making decisions for his sister will go sideways as a way for his character’s journey to move from condescending Wet Duke Hawk to something else.
For example, Mr. Quick is assessed during Wet Duke Hawk’s Wet Walk as follows:
Quick was the nephew of an earl, more than average height, and even though Hawk considered him on the lean side, he assumed most young ladies would consider the man handsome enough. And the fellow seemed to always have a smile on his face and a bounce to his step.
What more could his sister want in a husband?
What more indeed? He’s bouncy and lean! If this were modern times, surely Lady Adele would swipe right. (Lady Adele Swipes Right would be a very fun title for a book, now that I think about it.)
The problem here, and one of the main reasons I DNF’d this book, was that while I was tempted by the possibility of this guy learning to change his heavy-handed ways, he was already firmly stuck in a very repellant portrayal of toxic masculinity with regards to Loretta, and I had no interest in being in his point of view again (the chapters seem to switch POV between the two of them). Nor did I wish to spend more time listening to any of his repulsive thoughts about Loretta. He has to protect his sister from people seeking revenge on him based on his behavior, but that behavior continues.
Let me explain what I mean. Loretta walks into the room, and things go straight to awful.
At the sound of the soft feminine voice, Hawk rose to his full height and turned. A tall, slender young lady was standing near the entrance to the room. She curtsied when their eyes met. She looked pure, sweet, and completely untouched by masculine hands. A sudden deep rush of desire flamed through him, and the rhythm of his heartbeat changed.
My comment: “Ew.”
“Untouched by masculine hands?” That’s his first thought about her? That she’s pure, sweet, and completely untouched?
How exactly does Duke Hawk or any person recognize such a trait? HOLD UP. Does desire give people some kind of heat mapping ability with their vision to detect such things? Or is it a scent?
And the idea that “pure, sweet, and untouched by masculine hands” is followed by “a sudden deep rush of desire” is not an endorsement for me in the slightest.
Let’s move on.
She wore a modest dress of pale-blue wool, void of bows, lace, or any of the embellishments usually sewn on to enhance the common fabric. No jewelry hung around her neck or dangled from her ears. Her light-blond hair was pulled up on each side, but he couldn’t see…if there were satin ribbons or fancy combs to hold it in place. What struck him instantly about her was that he’d never seen such a beautiful young lady so unadorned by frivolous accessories meant to enhance her beauty.
What strikes me instantly is that combined with the absence of wood in the fire before he tossed it in, the drafty shabbiness of the room, and the absence of fabric embellishments and jewelry combines to tell me that she and her household are in somewhat difficult financial straits.
But at this point, I was still on board. Maybe he was going to wake the hell up and realize that his needs are not first and foremost, that maybe he’d become more aware of how other families fare financially, but then, we’re talking about Duke Hawk, emphasis on Duke, and he’s not very savvy, it seems.
Miss Quick presumes that because Duke Hawk is there to see her brother without an appointment, her brother must be in some kind of trouble. Duke Hawk is Most Put Out that his letter announcing his intention to visit them was not received, but it seems that Mammoth House only has four horses, they are all in use, and the post is only picked up once a week. Her brother has received letters, but he isn’t home and hasn’t been for several days, so of course his sister doesn’t open his mail.
Loretta seems to know things about boundaries and whatnot, whereas Duke Hawk is increasingly pouty that his plans are increasingly gone awry. Duke Hawk also does not like that Miss Quick is not intimidated by him. She demands to know why he’s there, and says that the fact that they were not expecting him and therefore unprepared for his arrival is his problem. It totally is his problem.
But of course his problems are really her problems, and also her burden to manage.
Duke Hawk reminds himself why he’s there:
As the nephew of the Earl of Switchingham, Quick was a socially acceptable husband for Adele. Quick always wore a friendly smile and kept a cheerful attitude, which might become obnoxious to Hawk if he had to spend a good deal of time with the man, but he thought Adele would love it.
While Hawk had no idea what kind of allowance the earl had bestowed on Quick, it really didn’t matter. Adele had a generous dowry…. She wouldn’t have to reside in Mammoth House if she preferred not to, which he was fairly certain would be the case.
At least his sister doesn’t need to worry about shabby, drafty rooms and estates with four total horses! Thank goodness.
Then Miss Quick moves fully into the room, and the whole story went straight to hell for me.
He could see clearly the tempting shape of her inviting lips and her smooth, delicate-looking complexion, which enticed him to want to reach up and caress her cheek with the tips of his fingers.
You just met her, Duke Hawk. Calm the hell down.
“Tempting? “Inviting?” “Enticed?” Again, my comment: “Ew.”
They argue a bit more, identifying the source of Duke Hawk’s problem with the timing of his visit, and Miss Quick offers to help:
“Maybe I can help with whatever it is you wanted with Paxton.”
“That would be quite unlikely, Miss Quick.”
She dropped her arms by her side and assumed an air of authority. “I am quite capable of handling many things, Your Grace, and take care of most things here at Mammoth House.”
He wasn’t indifferent to her assertion. He believed her. She was strong and seductive, and he hadn’t seen an ounce of fear in her.
She’s “strong and seductive?” She hasn’t given any indication that she’s interested in him, or even remotely thinking of seducing him. She’s still at the “WTF is Wet Duke doing in the house?” stage, trying to figure out why there’s a duke in her home, and what he wants with her brother. And Wet Duke Hawk is over here thinking she’s strong and seductive?
Wet Duke Hawk asks where Paxton (aka Mr. Quick) is, and Miss Quick replies that she won’t tell him if she doesn’t know why Wet Duke wants to see him in the first place.
So Wet Duke Hawk reminds himself of his purpose:
If she thought to discourage him, she was mistaken. If Hawk could arrange a betrothal for Adele before the Season began, her future would be settled. He wouldn’t have to worry about her falling victim to a prankster or any bachelor hoping to get even with him for his past misdeeds.
Again, Duke Hawk, what exactly did you do in said past misdeeds?! Are you sure you’re the hero here? Absolutely positively sure? Like, your role said, “Romance hero?” Are you certain? Maybe check again?
Duke Hawk continues to evade her questions, and acknowledges that her defiance takes a fair amount of courage, as she’s clearly trying to protect or at least run interference for her brother. Much as he is for his sister Adele, but when the genders are switched and the interfering party is a Wet Duke, the power differential stays on his side.
So finally Wet Duke Hawk tells Miss Quick why he’s actually there, and Miss Quick is like, “Well, then. How about no?”
Duke Hawk makes his case:
“I’ve put a good deal of thought into this Miss Quick, and your brother is the husband I want for Adele. I’ve never seen him too deep in his cups, and he never gambles more than a handful of dollars at the tables. I’ve never heard a harsh rumor about him at White’s; nor have I heard Mr. Quick complain about anyone else. By all accounts he’s a fine gentleman who prefers books over swords, poetry over carousing, and tea over brandy.”
A soft, sweet smile came easily to her lips and she politely said, “In other words, he’s nothing like the man you are.”
SHOTS FIRED ACROSS THE WET DUKE’S BOW.
I’m so far 100% on Team Miss Quick. She’s completely unimpressed by this tool. He tells her she has unquestionable courage to speak so, and she tells him he has undoubtable arrogance to think he can order her brother to take Lady Adele as his bride.
TEAM MISS QUICK will have tshirts and keychains and a secret handshake and maybe even some custom letterpress stationery for our secret missives…. It’s going to be great.
Then Team Wet Duke Hawk ruined the book for me. He makes a passive aggressive request for port, wine, or brandy (He looked around the sparsely furnished room. “If you have it.”) (All the sideye. NOW you notice, Wet Duke? Now?) (Seriously, TEAM DFTG.)
She turned away, and the tug of arousal tightened Hawk’s lower body again. Waves of rich, shimmering blond hair that looked as if it could have been spun from moonlight cascaded down her back. For a moment, he envisioned her sitting astride him with all those glorious tresses falling delicately around her bare shoulders, and tickling his chest as she bent to kiss him.
OH MY GOD.
He’s a Duke Bro.
A Wet Duke Bro.
HIS interpretation of their meeting is so different from MY interpretation, I am more than a little nauseated.
She’s protecting her brother and herself from the vast impropriety of her speaking to him alone in a room, not to mention her vulnerability after disclosing how many servants and horses they keep.
Meanwhile he’s all, “Her hair is pretty. I’ll imagine her naked on top of me.”
Because of Duke Hawk’s repellant starting point, specifically because of that line, I was pretty much ready to drop this and move on. I didn’t much care if he was subject to a battle of wits that changed him. His thoughts about Loretta were so repulsive for me that I didn’t think he’d ever be worthy of her, or redeemed sufficiently, because I couldn’t believe that he’d be able to recognize his own behavior as the problem. There isn’t any respect in his interest in her. He goes from “She’s really annoying to challenge my questions and not tell me what I want to know” to “Hair pretty let’s imagine sex now.”
Miss Quick glances back at him:
Hawk had little doubt Miss Quick suspected in her innocent way what he’d been thinking, but more important, at that moment he saw that she was attracted to him, too.
BASED ON WHAT, EXACTLY?
She was still trying to get rid of him.
Well, yes. Her reputation will suffer impossible damage if you’re alone in the house with her, save for a handful of servants and zero horses.
It was admirable. And it was probably best if he did go soon, but…the rogue in him couldn’t bend to her wishes.
He’s a Duke Bro with a Toxic Masculinity Werewolf. Can’t control himself.
Again, EW. Also, Loretta, GTFO. NOW.
They verbally dance around the fact that he needs a place to stay and it’s very improper for him to stay in the house.
He should offer to bed down in the stable. A true gentleman would not leave the virtuous Miss Quick open to any hint of scandal. But the cold, damp stable was as appealing as a sickbed, and the last place Hawk wanted to stay this night.
So should he do the right thing, be a gentleman and stay in the stable, or – as he had so often done in the past – do the wrong thing and continue to be a rake?
Guess which one he chooses.
Yup. He takes advantage of the power and rank differential and stays in the house.
And that brings us to the end of chapter one. I don’t have any interest in reading any more about him, nor any hero who sizes up the heroine with “does she look like a virgin y/n?” and “what would she look like naked on me?” Reducing Miss Quick to a sexual object in the first moment of meeting her and presuming her own interest in him was enough of a turn off that I was happy for Duke Bro to remain wet and outside, alone with his horse so he could think about why he was in the position he was in. I’m not interested in watching him figure himself out and learn…anything. I want to set him on fire so Miss Quick’s house can be warmer.
In a roundabout way, I owe some gratitude to Hawk the Wet Duke Bro. I can identify much more clearly a major character turn off, and I can avoid it in the future. I’m not interested in heroes who are mentally predatory, who objectify the heroine into narrow categories such as “virgin” and “naked.” I’ve never enjoyed overbearing, “I know your body better than you do” or “I want to bang you now especially because you’re a virgin” types of heroes in any genre. With all the predatory men toppling one after the other, this type of character is particularly repulsive to me right now.
I still love battle of wits stories. Alas, you can’t have a battle of wits with an unarmed Duke Bro. In order for there to be a battle of wits, both parties must be equally astute. Duke Bro brought toxic masculinity and an overly confident estimation of his own imagination boner to this fight, and he is woefully outclassed. While I might find the comeuppance of an overconfident character fun to read, this character’s overconfidence tipped far too much into toxicity and objectification. I wanted Miss Quick to get the hell away from him.
Nothing was going to redeem Wet Duke Bro, and so I stopped reading.
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[…] and he never gambles more than a handful of dollars at the tables.
Does it really say that in the book? Dollars? In England? o.O If that is the case, add extremely sloppy editing to the novel’s many faults.
Also, I completely agree with Sarah based on the examples provided: Ew, just ew! I also detect a hefty dose of “not like other women” in how the “hero” (he deserves scare quotes!) views the heroine.
Love your use of Wet Duke Hawk and Duke Bro, by the way, Sarah!
Ew on all counts. Wet Duke Bro also seems pretty certain no one could possibly have an interest in his sister that isn’t all about him. He’s chosen a husband for her based solely on the unlikelihood that he’ll seek to give Wet Duke Bro a comeuppance. He obviously hasn’t done enough research into the guy to know he’s borderline impoverished (“research” = merely mention the Chase family name to literally anyone and immediately hear “oh, they’re broke af” because lack of money is NEVER a secret), but “not a threat to me” is the only trait that really matters when sticking your sister with a stranger for the rest of her life.
I’ve read a few “heroes” lately that seem to have crawled straight from the bowels of MRA Reddit. I DNF’d a billionaire boss “romance” not too long ago because the “hero” was forced to have an erection during a meeting because his assistant was in his line of sight (that temptress!); he was so enraged, he stormed out of the meeting (as professional business people so often do); and he proceeded to rage-fuck her in his office (the laws in several states specify that if she doesn’t try to claw his eyes out, that’s consent). Ticked every box on the habitual rapist checklist. *swoon*
The scary thing is, the person who wrote this thought it was not-the-villain behavior, that Triggerdick McRaperson deserves to live happily ever after with his latest victim. Guess whose books I’m avoiding like an oozing rash in the future because there’s a mindset behind them that is NOT OKAY with me. I am all in favor of a good redemption arc, but a good one requires the character on it to NOT be a complete festering colon polyp when the journey begins. The line between “needs a little work to see the error of his ways” and “abuser” is NOT fine. At all.
I would not have ever started this book because of the name SLOANE. Sorry—that is so not a Regency-era English nobleman’s name (I have grave doubts about Adele and Loretta too, but I digress…). If a writer can’t even be bothered to pick up a book or two and discover some common 18th/19th-century names, how can I feel confident the writer has control of other aspects of the story? (The “dollars” reference is really unforgivable: Hello, Editor!) One of the many reasons that my reading has moved away from mostly historicals to almost exclusively contemporaries is because I know that in contemporaries having a heroine named Eden or Skylar or a hero named Dylan or Slade (all names I’ve encountered in historicals) is at least plausible!
I cringed a little at “he hadn’t seen an ounce of fear in her.” Why WOULD he expect her to be afraid? Again, Wet Duke Hawk, what did you do?
It’s like when a man unnecessarily reminds you to “be careful” when covering a very short distance through familiar ground right near your house. It’s just a reminder that some part of him sees you as prey, looks at you and thinks, “Yup, totally rapeable.”
EW.
I also can’t get past Sloane Knox, which has to be the most ridiculous name I’ve ever seen in an historical. Why does the Regency alpha male have a preppy 80’s girl name? There’s just no excuse for it. We have the Internet now. Go to Behindthename.com and spend 45 seconds checking the history of your name before you saddle a character with it.
This review is a perfect example of why I’ve moved away from reading historicals almost exclusively to fantasy and PNR. I cut my teeth on historicals but I’m so over the shoddy research, silly modern book titles and character names (Sloane, sheesh!) and predatory heroes. I’ve only read a handful of historicals this year out of over a hundred books. This makes me sad.
Okay. Aside from the execrable writing and editing, we have a Wet Duke. I am sick of dukes, but YMMV. Wet Duke of Hawksthorn – animal + natural item name generator. Wet Duke called Sloane – sounds like a name for the main character of a 90s chick-lit. Stupid, cutesy title. From what I read in the Amazon reviews, there is also an orphaned plot moppet introduced later. So far, this is a compendium of everything I loathe in so many historicals published today. I had already given this one a hard no when I read the blurb for it a week or two ago.
I don’t mind a guy thinking a girl is attractive, but there’s a huge difference between “Gosh! She’s a pretty girl” and “I want to see her naked and on top of me” thirty seconds after meeting. Books like this make me sad. Romance has progressed so far from the bodice rippers of the 80s, but dreck like this still get published by mainstream houses. BTW, the first book in this series also features a disreputable duke trying to marry off his sisters.
If recent news had taught us anything, it is that wealthy and powerful men are seldom held accountable for their actions, thereby rendering the central conceit of both stories unlikely. I would, however, be interested in a story where the man realizes how badly he has behaved in the past and is trying to make amends (no tragic backstory please – just an asshole who doesn’t want to be one any longer while recognizing that his position and privilege will always give him a free pass).
@Francesca – that’s a majority of the plot of Unlocked by Courtney Milan. In my review I called it a “grovel-vella.”
I also wanted to add something Amanda said to me while we were discussing this review:
What squicked me out most is him interpreting her behavior as seductive even when she was just EXISTING IN A ROOM. That to me is a slippery slope to “she says no but her body says yes” situation.
This is so true. She’s in a room breathing and her body, gestures, the shape of her face is “seductive” and “tempting?” No, thank you. I want to read stories wherein the protagonists aren’t isolated such that no other character compares or competes, and where one’s interest in the other party isn’t based on predatory sexual presumption.
@Katty: Yes, I agree regarding the unsavory hint of “not like other girls.” I removed a few hundred words ranting about that because I was already saying so much (possibly too much).
“…he never gambles more than a handful of dollars…”
Wait. Dollars?
I’m also pretty annoyed by the fact that she is apparently wearing her hair down, which was not the norm for women in any social situation in early 19th century England. This looks like a “mistorical” for sure.
This is simultaneously one of the best explanations of why a book didn’t work for someone and one of the best angry feminist rants I’ve ever read. A+, five stars.
The only redemption/enlightenment arc I’m interested in reading that involves a hero whose immediate first reaction to the heroine is ‘she seems virginal af’ is one where she is in fact not remotely virginal af and he is completely delighted to discover she is not remotely virginal af.
I don’t believe that there’s anything inherently wrong with the broad category of fantasies I’ve come to label “unlocking” fantasies. A lot of people have them in some form or another, including me, and they don’t really have to be problematic. How you engage with the fantasy and with the person about whom you’re having the fantasy is the crucial factor. Being the first person to introduce someone to an intense sensory experience is great fun, plain and simple, and this is true whether we’re talking about something sexual or whether we’re talking about new genres of music or new foods. Nothing wrong with that. But feeling like you want to be the first person to do X to someone because you’re claiming territory and marking ownership, viewing that person as a trophy or a target rather than a person to engage with, making it all about You Getting There First rather than about them and their experience… that’s something very different and a hell of a lot more problematic, and the older I get the more it offends me.
I agree with a lot of things in this rant, the writing is sub-par and the names are atrocious – mammoth house?!?! But i do love a good asshole hero. I mean the bigger the asshole the better it is when he falls right? He can’t walk in all sweet and respectful. Of course he has to be arrogant, of course he has to objectify her, then it is so much more fun watching her break him! (cue evil laughter). I do love wicked dialogue though and I’m not really sure this book delivers that. I would have probably finished it just to see him get his comeuppance.
I want to do a rec league on hero’s that fall hard. The redeemed rake in this genre is a dime a dozen I know, but I want real rakes with real redemption. I’ve read a couple that fit the bill. Right now I can only remember one, it’s in the maiden lane series… the 10th one I think. i usually only read historicals because I don’t think this works in contemporaries. Too Harvey Weinstein-ish.
@Jen — The problem I always have with this is that if he is THAT big an asshole, then why should she fall for him? And what lesson does he learn — that she is a woman of Worth and Value, unlike All the Other Girls? I guess for it to work for me, a) he would have to be well on the way to reforming himself before she decides she’s more than sexually interested; and b) his change of heart would have to extend broadly to his treatment and regard for women, full stop, not just for her.
I loved reading your rant and thought you made your points most excellently. As with most articles I enjoy reading – I find the comments as good (and sometimes better) for humor and other viewpoints. Comments never disappoint on SBTB, thanks to all who take the time!
It’s 2017 and I can’t believe authors are still writing terrible alpha males like it’s the 1980s/90s. I tend to steer clear of alpha males in romance novels. Happy I read this review because this definitely falls into the “do not even attempt to read” category. I seriously can’t stand heroes like this and I really don’t care to read far enough to see their miraculous “turn around” in the end. I’ve always said, “There are bad boys and then there are just assholes.”
I love this review. “I want to set him on fire so Miss Quick’s house can be warmer.” YES.
This kind of shit is also why I cannot get behind “Devil in Winter” (I know, I know, everyone loves it, but I don’t and can’t). Coooool St. Vincent warmed Evie’s feet up in the carriage and helped her get away from her also-terrible family, so I guess I’m supposed to not care that he kidnapped and groped and threatened to rape her best friend? Or pulled her away from her dying father? Or whined at and bullied her about not wanting to have sex every night?
Coooooooool
When I saw this book come up in a recent Sale post, it sounded very jammy. Thank you for taking the hit on this one because this book is NOT my jam and I am really glad I won’t be throwing my kindle against the wall in rage.
There is enough crap like this IRL that I don’t need it screwing up my me-time.
I remember reading this description somewhere–maybe Netgalley, and there was something about it that just didn’t click with me. I am ridiculously glad I gave this a pass. I think that a lot of books that I would have read a few years ago aren’t anything I’d read now because of the current situation in Hollywood and Washington. There is no book in which a Trump-like character can be the hero or even the villain because he is so cartoonishly evil that he wouldn’t be a believable villain.
The thing that bothers me the most about Duke Bro is exactly the point Amanda made about the hero finding the heroine “seductive” even though she isn’t doing anything that anyone would consider tempting. I’m sure she’s all annoyed that this wet duke has showed up at her house while she is mostly alone (especially since he carelessly used her firewood) and he’s interpreting her annoyance as attraction. It makes me wonder how many other women has fallen prey to his confusion.
The other thing that sticks out to me is that the heroine’s brother still gambles despite being nearly destitute. The fact that he spends money in such a manner when his sister is obviously trying to keep the household afloat makes me think that he isn’t as good as Duke Bro thinks he is. Why would someone in such dire straits risk losing more money on unnecessary wagers? Seems to me that he might need the Regency version of Gambler’s Anonymous.
I am so tired of Dukes in Regencies. There were around 11 non Royal titles in that era. And it seems like EVERY romance features a Duke.
During that era great fortunes were rising in many areas of trade and industry, leading to a whole lot of social movement and very, very rich families without titles. See Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. See Mr. Knightley. See Col. Brandon.
Yet nowadays everyone is a Duke. This is both lazy and ridiculous.
“I want to set him on fire so Miss Quick’s house can be warmer.”
LMAO
“Alas, you can’t have a battle of wits with an unarmed Duke Bro.”
ROFL
Love this review. 🙂
@Morgan Grantwood, I wish I could find the blog talking about it, but apparently if the book has “Duke” or “Billionaire” in the title it sells more copies. I, too, avoid books with dukes in it (and authors who write nothing but dukes), especially since all the dukes in romance novels are in their late 20s or early 30s. Real life dukes lived to be very old.
@Morgan: Lazy and Ridiculous. Well said.
@Liz: This epidemic of dukes betrays such a fundamental ignorance of the period’s mores as to be intolerable. Someone described a book with 4 or 5 young dukes who are best friends.
I’m not buying any of those ‘Duke’ books.
@Hazel just ONE book? “Four or five dukes are [somehow] best friends” seems like the meta plot of 70% of Regency series these days.
Reading some of these comments makes me happy I’m not the only one who is sick of all the dukes in historical romances.
Sloan Knox, dollars and Loretta Quick! Are you kidding me, that alone would have been the end for me. I just started and put down a book after one chapter this morning. The book had the same lusty first meet except it was in a bookstore. I am so sick of this “nasty objectification” in historicals…..the book I started by Meghan Frampton is so awful, but at least the heroine had an era appropriate name.
For those of you even remotely curious as to the rest of the book, Caz Owens, over at All About Romance, reviewed it recently. She gave it a ‘D’, and included several more gems to go along with those provided by SB Sarah.
@Anonymous
Yes yes! That is exactly how I feel. Kind of like the way you can get a measure of people based on how they treat people who can’t do anything for them.
For the names, at least Adele existed as far back as 1847 since it was the name of Rochester’s ward in Jane Eyre, so I’d consider it plausible that it was in use 50-25 years earlier. A quick search of Ancestry.com has Lorettas in the U.S. in the early 19th century. But I’m not seeing any Sloanes before the late Victorian era, so I’m highly skeptical of that.
And the animal nickname thing I’m not even touching.
@Barb in Maryland, LOL thanks for sharing that. After getting a summary how the rest of the book goes, so happy I passed on it.
Seems the book bloggers and commenters aren’t impressed with this book, but on Goodreads it doing pretty well.
I love everything about this rant. It filled me with a warm glow of joy that would have only been enhanced by a Wet Duke set afire.
The comments have already covered all my feels–rage and annoyance, mostly–but also I would like to pipe up about how romances like this made me spend most of my dating life pursuing and attempting to change bad boys. The worse they are, the more amazing and powerful I must be for changing them, right?
Not right and definitely not a path I would suggest any woman emulate. Enough with the redemption narratives of objectively foul and callous men by angelic women–showing a misguided but inherently kind man the error of his ways is one thing, but Lovely Loretta would have been better off finding a partner who had the basic decency to know “no” =/= “take me, I’m yours.”
Sloane? Loretta? A grown woman wearing her hair loose? Dollars? “Enticed to want”?? Random comma usage? What’s next, a 19th century hot tub?
No, thanks.
Okay, now I need non-Duke book recs!
YESSS!!! THANK YOU SARAH!!!! 😀
Just like you, I was drawn in by the battle of wits synopsis but haven’t gotten beyond Chapter 1 of this book either, all for the exact same reasons!
The ironic part is I’ve noticed that these types of superficial Duke Bros often masquerade as deep and insightful based on them seeing the virginal hot lady as “frivolously unadorned”, somehow validating the Duke Bros as being un-attracted to artifice while simultaneously berating those who do.. *groan* So so sick of reading the bashing of women who do adorn themselves or *gasp!* like clothes and the elevation of the “natural look” like it’s somehow makes the unadorned heroine more likeable. And this is coming from someone who almost never wears make up (I like it, just lazy :P).
More so than the heroes, why do the writers insist on putting female characters within repetitively narrow spheres/definitions/characterizations, mostly surrounding their physicality?? You can be a nerd, and like makeup and pretty clothes. You can be pretty but choose to dress down all the time. Come on writers!
why do the writers insist on putting female characters within repetitively narrow spheres/definitions/characterizations, mostly surrounding their physicality??
~types 5,000-word screed~
~deletes 5,000-word screed, stuffs both fists into mouth to dam the screams, and backs away before launching another “Santa and his FLYING REINDEER are just a story” initiative that destroys dearly held illusions about the rosy good vibes, progressive inclusionist ideals, and artistic freedom that power romance publishing~
Read The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton for a good look at what it was really like to marry a Duke. Great miniseries too with Mina Sorvino, Greg Wise, and Carla Gugino. Consuela Vanderbilt had a rough time too.
Finally had a chance to read all the comments and, once again, The Bitchery comes through! The description of the book caught my eye and I had added To the Duke, With Love to my Wish List because I can’t resist a book that promises banter. (Gone now.) I had some reservations because The Duke and Miss Christmas fell flat with me several years ago and it seemed like it would be a rom-com.
Personally, I like “Duke Books,” as long as the author doesn’t turn the hero into a 21st century-talking guy tucked into buckskin breeches, and those are becoming more common than uncommon. I try to not think too hard about what diseases a notorious rake/rogue of a Duke may have and the odds of him siring baby Dukes with said diseases.
I have a feeling that romances with a hero who has a whiff of the predator about him will not be as well-received in our current climate.
Are you sure you’re the hero here?
Ooh, ooh, I know this one! It’s Protagonist-Centered Morality.
This reminds me of Vanessa Kelly’s Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard, which I DNFed in a rage last week. The book starts when the hero rescues the heroine from smugglers who want to rape her, they walk through a cold forest while she’s apparently not even wearing shoes and then he gets her up on his horse, and basically half the time he’s thinking about how attractive she is. Like, she’s just barely not been raped, but then she passes out in his arms and her boobies are touching his arm, so, honestly, how could he help but have a stiffie? I mean, boys will be boys after all.
Still amused (as I’ve been for at least ten years) by everyone claiming they’re sick of Duke/regency romance, because those books still sell, and for better or worse, still get reviewed (see: this review by Sarah) more than any other kind of historical.
I’m assuming this author is writing rapey alpha heroes because rapey alpha heroes are still extremely popular and sell well. It’s easy to pick up even recently written historicals and find the “hero”leering at the heroine in the first few pages. Part of the reason is that editors push writers to tell the story that way. If you don’t have immediate signs of lust in a novel, it doesn’t sell as well and points are subtracted by a lot of reviewers.
I think for writers, you’re basically damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I personally have never liked aggressive alpha heroes (even realizing they’re meant to change over the course of a story) and simply don’t read them. I am, however, used to the fact that reviewers review those books almost exclusively.
The discrepancy between what readers claim they want and what they actually buy leaves me very confused.
I think there’s a bit of built-in circularity here? in that, if you read a lot and need a lot of books to support your habit, and the market is glutted with duke books, and there aren’t a lot of other choices out there that have been quality-vetted and/or are by authors you trust, well, guess what you’re buying. It might not be your preference, but you might not have that much else to choose from. This is definitely the problem I’m having: my reading preferences are very imperfectly reflected by my buying choices simply because it’s so hard to find things that hit my actual catnip buttons.
The irony for me in the current Duke Glut is that I quite like duke books, or rather I used to like the ones that actually took the title seriously and tried to depict the reality of the situation of being a duke and the likely consequences for choices made. The title inflation trend which has left us with forty-nine thousand series all about clubs of ten ducal besties doesn’t produce books like that, which is incredibly disappointing. It’s like having one of your favourite artists put out a new album only to find that they sped up the recordings so that they’d sound like the Chipmunks on every single track.