The Truth About Cads and Dukes
I’m still using my TBR game board and landed on Historical. I prefer my books on the spicier side, so I took to Reddit for recs and found this book in the comments. Lucky for me, it was in the “available now” section on my library app.
The short of it: the heroine Jane is “ruined” by a man she assumes is a friend. The reality was that her humiliation was the result of a wager he needed to win because he’s in debt. The friend’s stuffy, icy brother, Harrison, who happens to be a rich duke, offers to marry her to protect her from ruination.
Jane is bookish, shy, plus-sized, and on her third season. She and Harrison have never gotten along because well…he’s kind of a joyless, judgmental dick.
The setup to their marriage of convenience is slow. The book opens with the heroine’s humiliation and then backtracks a little to show how we got there. A bit unnecessary, if you ask me. There are also several side characters who are just the worst. Conniving women. Older ladies who can’t mind their goddamn business. People who just love to dunk on the heroine for being fat.
But the central romance was really sweet and I loved the main characters, and the friends and loved ones they kept close to them.
If you want a hero who is obsessed with his wife, I’d recommend this one. He has so much yearning and pining that he’s afraid to show out of fear of overwhelming her. He’s worried his sexual proclivities will scare her away and by proclivities, I mean he wants to have passionate sex with her with the lights on and get a blowjob from time to time. Meanwhile, Jane loves to push her husband’s buttons and there are several scenes where she sets up elaborate traps to get him to ravish her. I just really enjoyed their dynamic and their interactions often left me grinning like an idiot.
Jane is also painfully shy around strangers and a good part of married life is watching her find ways to become more comfortable as a hostess. Like practicing icebreaker questions for guests ahead of time. I liked seeing Jane find methods that work for her to make herself an equal member of the household.
This was an easy, breezy read with spice and a touch of darker elements in passing. It’s book two in a series and I was fine jumping in here, but I will definitely go back and read the first book. Judging from the descriptions of the other books in the series, the heroes all seem to have a bit of moral grayness to them or traumatic baggage, which is very much my jam.
– Amanda
His plain Jane is about to discover appearances can be deceiving…
When a wager goes wrong…
Painfully shy Jane Huxley is the furthest thing from a diamond of the first water. Bookish, bespectacled, and, well, plain, she never expected to befriend a dissolute charmer like Colin Lacey, much less agree to help him retrieve a lost family heirloom. Fortunately, he is nothing like his cold, rigid older brother. Unfortunately, he is not above deception if it means winning a wager. And that puts Jane in a most precarious position.
A formidable duke will marry a plain Jane…
For Harrison Lacey, the Duke of Blackmore, protecting his family honor is not a choice, it is a necessity. So, when his cad of a brother humiliates the unwitting Lady Jane, Harrison must make it right, even if it means marrying the chit himself.
And a marriage of convenience will become so much more…
Her reputation hanging by a thread, Jane agrees to wed the arrogant Duke of Blackmore, although she’s convinced it will result in frostbite. Only after lingering glances lead to devastating kisses does she begin to suspect the truth: Perhaps—just perhaps—her duke is not as cold as he appears.
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I devoured this series 8 years ago (I started with the novella, TWELVE NIGHTS AS HIS MISTRESS) and I hope this lightning review brings it fresh fans. As historical romance, it’s just so retro that it’s fresh. I think Braden does a brilliant job weaving the lives of the characters together in a believable universe. (Yes, you smell the sequel/prequel bait in every book, but the friendships make sense, not everybody loves everybody else, and they mostly all serve a function in the story.) I adore the Huxleys as a family. So loving and silly and fecund.
I did, however, skip DESPERATELY SEEKING A SCOUNDREL because I am uninterested in seeing the selfish, petty villain from Cads and Dukes get an HEA. In my world, he exists in an eternal limbo, alone and unloved. He’s no Sebastian, Lord St Vincent.
Also, I preferred the original covers for the series, but at least they weren’t changed to cartoons.
Elisa Braden is one of my favorite historical authors! Glad to see her get some exposure!
I am intrigued!
@Deborah: “He exists in an eternal limbo.” lol
I’m very curious how he’ll be redeemed in his book! Before moving on, though, I think I’ll read book one.
I have to admit, new and shiny tends to draw my attention and so I stopped reading this series halfway through, but it was me, not any fault in the series. This review reminds me that I really should go back to it.
I think my favorite was #4, The Devil Is A Marquess. The MMC is an alcoholic and truly not a nice guy, not someone you would root for initially at all, but the author did a great job of redeeming him. If you like that trope, this is a good example of it. The FMC is 6 ft tall, on the shelf, and practical. She’s got her own goals, so she chooses to make the best of a bad situation to get what she wants.
I have to admit, new and shiny tends to draw my attention and so I stopped reading this series halfway through, but it was me, not any fault in the series. This review reminds me that I really should go back to it.
I think my favorite was #4, The Devil Is A Marquess. The MMC is an alcoholic and truly not a nice guy, not someone you would root for initially at all, but the author did a great job of redeeming him. If you like that trope, this is a good example of it. The FMC is 6 ft tall, on the shelf, and practical. She’s got her own goals, so she chooses to make the best of a bad situation to get what she wants.
This whole series was cracktastic for me, but THE TRUTH ABOUT CADS AND DUKES was possibly my favorite. Rest assured @Deborah and @Amanda, the anti-hero in DESPERATELY SEEKING A SCOUNDREL has to suffer mightily before he is redeemed, so give it a try.
However CW for the revenge plot in the first book, THE MADNESS OF VISCOUNT ATHERBOURNE. He’s trying to ruin the heroine because her brother is his enemy, which I know some will find unforgiveable. It’s one of the few in the series I haven’t reread.