Title: Madame's Double Life
Publisher: Bookista Publishing
Publish Date: August 31, 2013
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: The author in exchange for an honest review
Book Blurb:Lady Victoria was born into high society and high standards in the the English country side. The dictates of Victorian society do not provide a good fit for a 17 year old free spirit. Lady Victoria is as wild as the lavender growing on the white cliffs of Dover. She is a dreamer when her life is thrown into turmoil with the arranged marriage to the much older Lord Hawthorne. He is the Duke of Wellington, a womanizer looking for his next conquest. Lady Victoria is just the type of woman the Duke can love and leave. Will Lady Victoria give in to the dashing Duke of Wellington and risk causing a scandal to her husband’s name? Or will the Duke of Wellington discover love for the first time.
Review:Madame's Double Life is a sweetly written Victorian romance.The cover really pulled me in as did the blurb. I found the romance between Jonathan and Victoria to be quite similar at times to that of Valmont and Madame de Tourvel.
It is a case of good and evil coming together and finding love.
Madame's Double Life is a novella of just around 120 pages and the length is what keeps this book from stepping across the line from good into greatness.
Keegan does a wonderful job describing Victoria's world, but not enough time letting her readers get to know her. Its the age old telling instead of showing thing.
There were so many things happening and happening quickly that it felt like there were holes left in the story. I would have liked to have known more about Victoria and why her family chose to marry her off to a much older man, and I would have loved to have known why Jonathan was such a womanizer. Not to mention getting to know his sister Elizabeth better too, especially because of the secret she's kept hidden.
The Duke Of Wellington was one of the major issues I had with this story. There is a Duke of Wellington, and there was one at the time that this story was written. Not to mention the confusion that could be caused by people thinking of Arthur Welleseley the first Duke of Wellington.
My other major issue was how each time a character referenced someone that had passed away, they said "may he/she rest in peace."
Lord Hawthrone felt like a villain at times, because he was the husband keeping Victoria from his love, but I felt sorry for him, and was almost cheering him on in punishing her once she confesses her infidelity.
Because this is a romance there had to be a happy ending for the two lovers but I have to admit, just as Victoria was showing some spunk, she went back into her lovers arms.
Madame's Double Life is a good read to pass the time and one I'd recommend to lovers of clean historical romances.
Rating: 3 flowers
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