Book Review: Say No To The Duke

Title: SAY NO TO THE DUKE

Author: Eloisa James

ISBN: 9780062877826

Price: $7.99

On-Sale Date: 6/25/19

Cover Copy:

Could she possibly refuse a duke’s hand—in favor of a sardonic, sinful rake?

Lady Betsy Wilde’s first season was triumphant by any measure, and a duke has proposed—but before marriage, she longs for one last adventure.

No gentleman would agree to her scandalous plan—but Lord Jeremy Roden is no gentleman. He offers a wager. If she wins a billiards game, he’ll provide the breeches.

If he wins…she is his, for one wild night.

But what happens when Jeremy realizes that one night will never be enough? In the most important battle of his life, he’ll have to convince Betsy to say no to the duke.

Author Bio:

 Eloisa James is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author and professor of English literature, who lives with her family in New York, but can sometimes be found in Paris or Italy. She is the mother of two and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight. Visit her at www.eloisajames.com.

Excerpt:

They moved toward each other as if they were following the steps of a very slow, very grand country dance. One that was danced by kings and queens and countryfolk alike.

When they were  beside each other, she  squared her shoulders and met his eyes. “I decided to come to you. I hope that is all right.” 

“I do believe that you are the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” he replied.

He couldn’t have said anything better; Betsy felt herself begin to glow. “I haven’t been brave to this point, but I have made up my mind to change. I outlawed being nervous, but now I need to outlaw being afraid.” She hesitated. “I have chosen courage, and now I choose happiness.”

“I love you as you are,” he whispered, and then his mouth came down on hers.

Her breath caught in her throat because their tongues met as if they kissed every day, every night. He tasted right, which sent a shiver through her whole  body, and pushed her against him gently, the way a pebble might roll up a beach when the tide comes in.

One doesn’t fight the tide.

Review: The first thing I have to say about this book is about the cover. OMG the girl looks like a cross between Kimberley Paisley and Mila Kunis. It drove me batty reading it because I watch According To Jim and That 70s Show a lot.

The story is a cute one, with our heroine having a mother that fled her marriage and children to be with another man. Betsy wants to be the exact opposite of the passionate woman who was her mother and be acceptable to the Ton. She's done that too gaining proposals left and right.

I enjoyed this book, but I also had to put that part of me that loves a good accurately told story aside while reading it.

It was witty and cute, but the time frame of the novel was at the time following the revolutionary war, so the 1780s. Betsy used a reference to The Frog Prince when talking to Jeremy. I'm not sure that tale would have been well known in the UK then.

Betsy was a lot more complex than she seems to be, suffering from mommy issues as she seems to be. She struggles to be what she is not, even though who she is, is a pretty nice person.

Jeremy is really lovable. He's a little on the snarky side and likes go to goat Betsy for her suitors and proposals but you can tell its the picking on someone because you like them kind of thing.

Both characters have things in their past the shape them. With Betsy its her mother's actions and with Jeremy its something that happened on the battlefield.

I wish the resolution between Jeremy and his cousin wouldn't have been so easily done, especially since it didn't really seem necessary to the story. I felt that the book really should have ended when Betsy "Said No To The Duke."

Speaking of the Duke, I did like Thaddeus, and I wish he didn't have such a stick up his bum, because I'd like to see him end up with someone to suit him. He wasn't nasty or vicious, he was just very particular. Oh and his mum was the best as was Betsy's aunt.

This wasn't the best Eloisa James book, but it was good fun!

Rating: 4 flowers

Tasty Book Tours Book Review: Three Weeks With Lady X

Three Weeks with Lady X

Desperate Duchesses #7

By: Eloisa James

Releasing March 25^th, 2014

Blurb

The next fabulous romance by New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James. Having made a fortune, Thorn Dautry, the powerful bastard son of a duke, decides that he needs a wife. But to marry a lady, Thorn must acquire a gleaming, civilized façade, the specialty of Lady Xenobia India. Exquisite, headstrong, and independent, India vows to make Thorn marriageable in just three weeks. But neither Thorn nor India anticipate the forbidden passion that explodes between them. Thorn will stop at nothing to make India his. Failure is not an option. But there is only one thing that will make India his . . . the one thing Thorn can't afford to lose . . . his fierce and lawless heart.

Link to Desperate Duchesses Series at Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/series/43059-desperate-duchesses

Buy Link

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DB365KW/ref=cm_sw_su_dp?tag=avonromancehc-20

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/three-weeks-with-lady-x-eloisa-james/1116328667?cm_mmc=affiliates-_-linkshare-_-mdxm68jzjz8-_-10%3a1&ean=9780062223906&isbn=9780062223906&r=1

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/three-weeks-with-lady-x/id660508099?mt=11

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/three-weeks-with-lady-x/Ks5yBDPdm02hSfFr_6uD6Q?MixID=Ks5yBDPdm02hSfFr_6uD6Q&PageNumber=1&utm_source=linkshare_us&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=linkshare_us&siteID=MdXm68JZJz8-JpXzx5b7v..6drb_BB1l.Q

Link to Follow Tour: http://tastybooktours.blogspot.com/2014/01/now-booking-tasty-virtual-tour-for_5308.html

Excerpt: “I am not afraid of you,” India said, keeping her voice even. “But I believe that Laetitia could do much better than marry a man who considers her a noodle and wants to treat her well merely because he paid for her!”

At that, he threw back his head and roared with laughter. “You’re a romantic! Under all that brass and bluster, you’re a romantic!”

India balled up her fist and struck him on the shoulder as hard as she could. He did not flinch at the blow, but he fell backward a step, still laughing. She turned to go, muttering under her breath.

He caught her arm. “What did you say, India?”

She turned her head and glared at him. “Let go of me!”

“Not until you tell me what you said.” That dimple again.

“I said that you were a bastard,” she told him, straight out.

“You’re correct.” The man was damnably attractive when he laughed. His gray eyes turned warm. And warm was dangerous because it made India feel warm too.

Review: If you like historical romance, you have to read Eloisa James. Her books never fail to make me smile and this one was fabulous!

Lady X is Lady Xenobia, I know, I felt like she should be some sort of spy, but what she was, was actually an interior decorator of sorts. Thorn is the bastard son of a duke who is searching for a wife. He has one in mind, so enter Lady X.

It is easy to see, his first choice isn't going to work because the chemistry between Xenobia and Thorn is instantaneous. I loved the letters that they exchanged while she was working at making his estate inhabitable for a gently bred lady.

Xenobia (India) and Thorn are both character with baggage from their past. Neither had what would be called "good" childhoods and that has really shaped who they are and what they want (or think they want out of life)

India seems to have a better head on her shoulders when it comes to love. Thorn on the other hand needs to be shaken a few times throughout the story.

I love the secondary characters too. When you read an Eloisa James book, you feel like the characters are old friends and family, even if you've never read one of her books.

This book is part of a series. It is actually the 7th book in that series, but it is definitely a stand alone novel, and a must read for lovers of historical romance!

Rating: 5 flowers

Author Info

New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James writes historical romances for HarperCollins Publishers. Her novels have been published to great acclaim. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa's very first book that she "found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar;" later People Magazine raved that "romance writing does not get much better than this." Her novels have repeatedly received starred reviews from Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal and regularly appear on the best-seller lists.

After graduating from Harvard University, Eloisa got an M.Phil. from Oxford University, a Ph.D. from Yale and eventually became a Shakespeare professor, publishing an academic book with Oxford University Press. Currently she is a distinguished professor and head of the Creative Writing program at Fordham University in New York City. Her "double life" is a source of fascination to the media and her readers. In her professorial guise, she's written a New York Times op-ed defending romance, as well as articles published everywhere from women's magazines such as Good Housekeeping and More to writers' journals such as the Romance Writers' Report.

Author Links

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/86778.Eloisa_James

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eloisajames

Website: http://www.eloisajames.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EloisaJames

Rafflecopter Giveaway (A Print Copy of Desperate Duchesses #6, A DUKE OF HER OWN)

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TLC Book Tours Review: The Ugly Duchess

Author: Eloisa James
Title: The Ugly Duchess
Publisher: Avon
Publish Date: August 28, 2012
Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours & the publisher
Buy: Amazon

Book Blurb: How can she dare to imagine he loves her . . . when all London calls her The Ugly Duchess? Theodora Saxby is the last woman anyone expects the gorgeous James Ryburn, heir to the Duchy of Ashbrook, to marry. But after a romantic proposal before the prince himself, even practical Theo finds herself convinced of her soon-to-be duke's passion. Still, the tabloids give the marriage six months. Theo would have given it a lifetime . . . until she discovers that James desired not her heart, and certainly not her countenance, but her dowry. Society was shocked by their wedding . . . and is scandalized by their separation. Now James faces the battle of his life, convincing Theo that he loves the duckling who blossomed into the swan. And Theo will quickly find that, for a man with the soul of a pirate, All's Fair in Love—and War.

Review: Eloisa James is one of those authors that I've always wanted to read but for some reason put off doing so. I'm glad I finally read one of her books. The Ugly Duchess was superb.

The story is set in Regency England, which is one of my favorite periods in history and it is a re-imagining of The Ugly Duckling fairy tale.

There are many reasons why you should race to the store to grab this book.

1. Theo is such a lovable heroine.

2. I love that Theo and James are close in age. That's something that you don't see that often in historical romance.

3. I loved how James turned into a pirate when things went wrong with his marriage.

4. I love that James didn't totally turn womanizer when he was on the high seas.

5. James wanted her for her. He loved Theo/Daisy even before she transformed herself.

It was great to read a book that didn't have a character that was gorgeous. I liked that she had self esteem issues and that she did things to make herself stronger.

The only gripe I had with the story was that it was too long. Sure it was only about 330 ish pages but the story was really wrapped up around page 300. The epilogue especially felt like filler. Other than that, I really loved the story and it earned Eloisa a place on my must by author list.

Rating: 5 flowers

About Eloisa James New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James writes historical romances for HarperCollins Publishers. Her novels have been published to great acclaim. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa’s very first book that she ‘found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar’; later People Magazine raved that ‘romance writing does not get much better than this.’ Her novels have repeatedly received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal and regularly appear on the best-seller lists. After graduating from Harvard University, Eloisa got an M.Phil. from Oxford University, a Ph.D. from Yale and eventually became a Shakespeare professor, publishing an academic book with Oxford University Press. Currently she is an associate professor and head of the Creative Writing program at Fordham University in new York City. Her most recent book, Paris In Love, received critical acclaim. Her ‘double life’ is a source of fascination to the media and her readers. In her professional guise, she’s written a New York Times op-ed defending romance, as well as articles published everywhere from women’s magazines such as More to writers’ journals such as the Romance Writers’ Report.