When the Duke Returns

Since I read Duchess by night I knew I would want to read Isidore's story. I liked her so much in the last book, and I like Cosway a lot... he was hot. I just hope the book will be as good as I anticipated.

I'm reading this book now; there are some parts that were hilarious. I will edit my review when I'm done.

Too many things going on, with no connection at all.

Eesh, the first half was weak for me, but then large portions of the last half actually became tedious to get through! The heroine was quite daft, more than just being inexperienced or naive. Lots of stuff just seemed off, I think it lacked a sense of believability. Not really one huge absurd thing, but just tons of small things that made me want to raise an eyebrow, like '...really?...'. Also, it didn't have significantly more sex or particularly graphic sex, but the story seemed to revolve around it in a weird way anyway. Like someone kept telling the author 'yeah, yeah, yeah, get to the good part!'. Another story could have twice the sex but if it were interwoven seamlessly with some substance it wouldn't feel nearly as tawdry! This felt very much like fan fiction actually. I did like the scene of their first kisses though.

There were parts of this book which I liked quite a bit, and parts which I disliked immensely. Overall, it balances out to average, and worked well as a palate cleanser after The Book Thief's emotional train wreck. My favorite parts were those about the protagonist's friend's marriage, which is apparently explored more in a sequel -- I'll keep an eye out for that one.

Isidore was married by proxy at the age of 12, but hasn't seen her husband since she was a child. Tired of waiting she tries to entice him back home by attending a scandalous house party at Lord Strange's, it works and now suddenly Isidore has to make a life with a strange, unconventional, Duke who has the mother from hell. Another fun read in the series.

Isidore has waited for her husband to return from his travels and to claim her for himself. They were married by proxy when she was 12 and now she wants a husband, and if she has to divorce him to get one she's willing to do just that

The Duke of Cosway is different, his life abroad has taught him a lot, however it's taught him nothing about women, by his choice. Now he doesn't fit in the world of English nobility. He also finds that while his father was rich, he's left a lot of debts and a lot of ruffled feathers, along with a house whose water closets aren't working properly.

I really enjoyed this read, the characters are great fun, though Cosway is almost a time traveller, he's almost modern in his attitude but in other ways he's quite behind the times. The characters sparkle and the stories of other people, involved in the series, are quite entertaining.

I'm looking forward to more in this series.

When is a duchess not a duchess? When she was married by proxy at 12, and her world-travelling husband has yet to return 11 years later. He finally shows up, and then the feathers fly. Fun, and funny, one of James's better books (and they're all good).

Book promised more than delivered. Heroine was irritating, supposedly a clever independent lady, by the end she whiney and pathetic. Way too much talk about her clothes and jewellery. ( she literally nearly sinks under it all ) Oh and enough about the toilets already.

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Dec08

Just how long is ‘too’ long to wait for your man? In times of yore (it’s a historical!) there existed a practice of marriage by proxy. Meaning one member (usually the man) wasn’t actually present at the ceremony but the couple was considered legally wed. Then once the absent member showed up and consummated the marriage, all was normal. Eloisa James uses the concept of a proxy marriage in her latest book, “When the Duke Returns”. Her heroine has waited twelve years for her husband the Duke to return and validate their marriage. Twelve years?!

Isidore is a Duchess…well, kind of…and she’s fed up with waiting for her errant husband to come home to England. Her plan is fairly simple. She will feign misbehavior to bring him home and then seduce him. It doesn’t really matter what he looks like, after all he is a Duke. She won’t have any problems seducing him, after all she’s been lauded as a beauty since she first put her hair up. She’ll have her children, do Duchessy things, and then, as far as Isidore is concerned, her husband the Duke can go right back to Africa or wherever. She’ll continue her London life fully invested as a Duchess. See, simple plan. What man doesn’t want to ‘do it’?

Simeon has returned to England to take over his duties as the Duke. His first duty is to take charge of his wife, er…future wife. See, Simeon wants to get to know and develop feelings for his ‘wife’ and then remarry before consummating their union. He has held on to his chastity to stay healthy but he has always dreamed of what his wife would be like. She’ll be quiet, demure, and docile and he’ll have no problems keeping to the philosophy of ‘the Middle Way’…no strong feelings like anger, lust, or fear. When he first catches sight of his ‘wife’, he’s pretty sure he just lost the ‘lust’ part of his ‘Middle Way’. And after only a few meetings, he’s pretty sure that with Isidore, anger and fear won’t be far behind.

I spent quite a bit of time laughing as I read about the titanic struggle between these two. Their verbal exchanges were sharp and scintillating, but it was the author’s revelation of their inner dialogues that explained the most about their motivations and intentions. The plot intensifies as each character figures out what they really want as opposed to what they’d always ‘thought’ they wanted…and why. Very nicely done. There are also several appearances by (mostly) heroines from earlier books who help move the plot along. An evolving secondary romance is just the icing on the cake.

Eloisa James’ historical romances are always a treat to read. The witty wordplay between primary and secondary characters and her wonderfully descriptive period vocabulary draws the reader into the world of her heroes and heroines…and it’s a very fun place to visit. “When The Duke Returns” is another engaging story from one of historical romance’s bigger names.

One of the better books in this series to date. Though the premise was similar to one of Eloisa James's earlier books, this story is original and the characters are unique. Plus, the triangle of Jemma/Elijah/Villiers takes a turn. The next two books should be very interesting.