Monday, July 8, 2019

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




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