Society
Author Reviews
To Marry The Duke
Julianne MacLean
ISBN# 0-06-052704-08
Avon, 2003, 369 pages
Historical Romance, circa 1881
England
$5.99 (US) $7.99(CDN)
Reviewed by Laurel
May 2004
Have you ever read a book where you finished and said well that was good but. This would appear to be the case with me, or maybe I'm just getting cynical as I get older. Or I’m just feeling let down because most novels have some nefarious plot underfoot, or a big misunderstanding or some other reason why they have to struggle for their HEA.
To Marry the Duke I will say surprised me in the sense that it didn't have the aforementioned up above. Sure there was a little blackmail but it was not dangerous, was rather out of place to the rest of the story.
Sophia Wilson is a young debutant from the United States. She has come with her mother to England to land a husband, Earl or Duke preferably. She has a considerable dowry attached to her name upon marriage, and is rumoured to be around the 500 000 pound mark, according to the latest gossip about her. She is beautiful and witty looking at life through a different set of views than the British.
James, The Duke of Wentworth is broke, his family estate is in ruins, roof is leaking and money has run out. His father and grandfather before had run the estate into the ground and he has no funds to do what is needed. He sees Sophia and is taken by her beauty and charm. He goes about courting her and soon they are married. The final settlement of her dowry was staggering and large for those times. She was thinking that she was marrying for love how wrong she was.
This is early on in the book; Sophia being from a different background faces challenges of adapting into the new role of Duchess and Wife. Terms of the word wife have a different vocabulary meaning to James than Sophia and she is taken aback by his version. But I give her credit she accepted his final word and set about changing that. Love was something that James was not familiar with, being beaten and abused by his father and neglected from his mother, because his father forbade the maternal relationship. So she set to making him care. She changed the way life was lived at the castle.
It was refreshing in a way to see the everyday challenges I guess of forging a relationship with the mother in law, who dislikes you. Or keeping a confidence from your husband even though it directly involves him. Learning the role of Duchess and all it entails. Including proper protocol and seating arrangements, how to do this and why to do that. Adjusting to your wifely duties and using those same duties to your advantage to make the man that you’re crazy in love with, love you back.
I can't say that I have come across many novels of this type of story, it was a good story and even though I feel torn in my review of did I like or not, I mainly enjoyed it and I will continue to read her. Julianne's style reminds me of an early Lynn Kurland. She is unique in her own way, and didn't rely on the standard plots that have become known in the romance industry.