The Discarded Duke - Nancy Butler

Nearly destitute, Ursula Roarke agrees to sell her late husband's bloodstock to the Duke of Ardsley. But the wily widow has an ulterior motive in visiting the peer's property in Devon: She hopes to entice him into marriage. Never does she imagine that a handsome sheepherder will jeopardize her plan--and win her heart.

William Ridd has spent years breeding the best woolbearing sheep in England for Ardsley. And he blames Ursula alone for the duke's decision to replace the flocks with horses. Still, Ridd cannot long deny the redhead's tempting charms. But the love of a beautiful woman may not be enough to conquer his fear that a secret from long ago will destroy any future happiness.

When I started reading this book I got the feeling that it was going to be a real keeper. The beginning was really promising with our nearly destitute widowed heroine, Ursula, Lady Roarke, trying to sell some of her horses to the Duke of Ardsley, who also happens to be young, good-looking, rich, and a nice guy. All in all very eligible, and Ursula, feels quite confident she can get him to offer for her. They visit together Myrmion, his property in Devon to see if it will be suitable for the horses the Duke will buy from Ursula. William Ridd is the Duke’s bailiff at Myrmion and he has been breeding and raising sheep there, which also produce a superior quality of wool, and the people in the area depend in the wool industry, which in turn depends on William’s sheep. The competing plans of Ursula and the Ardsley (horses), and William’s (sheep) for Myrmion make them adversaries. However Ursula, soon comes to see the advantages to the people of the area in keeping the sheep, so she proposes to have the horses in a nearby unused property. However the Duke is unconvinced.

All characters are very nicely fleshed out, William, Ursula, Ardsley as well as a neighbour, Miss Coltrane who provides a romantic interest for Ardsley (because obviously our heroine is going to end up with William). However parts of the plot where somewhat unrealistic and far-fetched. William seems to have had a troubled childhood, of which he does not remember much. From the hints and clues we are given early on in the book, the reader knows that William is the real Duke of Ardsley, the older brother of the ‘current’ Duke. This is not a spoiler. Even if the reader was not 100% sure, the title of the book “The Discarded Duke” gives it away. How William lost his rightful place as a Duke was a bit far-fetched for me, and the resolution was not realistic either, featuring a very eeevil grandmother. This is my only complaint about the book. All the characters are delightful (apart from the grandmother obviously), William and Ursula are a really great couple, and Ardsley and Miss Coltrane were also very likeable and their romance quite enjoyable.

If I did not find the story of William’s childhood unconvincing, its resolution far-fetched and the grandmother way too evil, this would have been absolutely perfect. As it is, I am deducting 1 mark for this aspect of the plot. Everything else was spot on, and I can highly recommend this book. I really enjoyed it, and if you have no problem suspending disbelief here and there in a romance, you will absolutely love it.

Grade 4/5.

THE DEVIL'S WEB - MARY BALOGH

REKINDLED DESIRE

The last time Madeline Raine had seen James Purnell, she had been but a chit of a girl, and at his mercy. Purnell had held her helpless in his arms - but protectively above the abyss of her own dangerous hunger for him.

He had left her then, not taking her innocence but taking her heart, as he vanished from England. Since then Madeline had reigned as society's most dazzling and heartless beauty, making all men pay for one man's rebuff of her.

Now James was back, more handsome and arrogant than ever. And Madeline steeled herself not to fall under his spell again. But she soon discovered that the melting power of passion ignited by love would not easily die…

What I did not like: people who know me, also know that I love Mary Balogh, she is one of my favorite authors, most of her books are at least readable, but most of the time very enjoyable. There was one book that I truly hated (“tempting Harriet”, and no, you won't catch me writing a review on that) and I never thought I will find another one to equal it, and even surpass it! But there it is! The devil's web!
For those who don't know, this is the last book in a series of three, and we have had glimpses of Madeline and James's love affair all through the series. It's one of those love and hate relationships, that honestly, need a lot of skill to be believable.

I've seen through the series that James has all the ingredients that make a tortured hero, so of course my interest is piqued. Why do we love tortured heroes?! Most of the time they only whine about their sufferings and make everyone near them feel unhappy?! And when we finally find out the reason for their “torture” it proves to be something that could be solved very easily by a few words of the heroine! But there you have it, the torturing syndrome got me again! And here we have a very fine example of it! James is absolutely impossible! I kept reading because I could not believe it, because a jerk like that was never found by me as a hero in a Balogh book. So I could not stop and just abandon the book, I had to keep trying, and maybe, there will be some explanation, some excuse, SOMETHING to atone for all the bad behavior of the hero toward the heroine. Because his excuse was rubbish for me - he did not feel himself capable of showing love (HA! Love! What about some decency at least and common courtesy. What about just treating your wife like she is a human being!) to the heroine because in his youth he knows himself to have impregnated the girl he loved and was not allowed to wed her himself – so he feels guilty.
Shortly, the hero and heroine are very attracted to each other, but they never seem to at least be friendly. Despite this, they decide to get married – and basically the reason is love – even if not acknowledged aloud in front of the beloved. And now begins the nightmare!
I honestly don't have anything against the heroine, it's obvious that she really tries to make her marriage work. She is not the boring type of heroine, she is active, full of life and very nice and patient with the hero, tries to understand him, tries to avoid discussions, but sometimes, out of nowhere, without any apparent reason, he strikes again. This is what I disliked the most – there were no reasons for what he does to her. They seem to have a good scene, and from nothing he gets prickly like a hedgehog and tells her something hurtful. Just like that! And that was a surprise honestly, because usually marriages in Balogh world, even those of convenience, are very polite, they sort of have some rules, and the hero treats the heroine with respect. Always! So it was very difficult for me to adjust to this new type of hero, who was also very unpleasant. And on top of everything else, he is also very possessive, distrustful and gives orders without explanations!
In the end the hero finds out that the reason for his “torture” was not a valid one (of course) and he finally talks with the heroine and after one last hurtful thing to say (like: oh, are you pregnant?! And is it mine?!), although, apparently, he had come to make peace with her. But they do acknowledge their love for each other in the very last pages of the book and decide to make their marriage work. Like anyone in his right mind would believe their marriage will ever work!

What I liked: there are some little things that I liked to read, or better, that ringed true. First, the first sex scene between the hero and heroine – it is one of the few where the heroine actually finds it a not so pleasant experience. Not that I'm glad for the poor heroine, but really I'm sick of reading about orgasms on the first time, especially when it takes place outdoors, on the hard ground!
Another thing I liked was to see that the hero does not escape his heritage. With a very cold and morose father he did not turn out to be a carefree, outgoing person. That's another thing that does not ring true to me in many romances – characters that come from very troubled parents, with very troubled childhoods, always overcome anything and get to be these beautiful persons with no flaws at all. Like they are not human!
I might have disliked immensely how the hero treats the heroine, but the truth is that it kept me on my toes. I read the book all anxious to find out how everything turns out to be. And that is something I have to admit :) grudgingly...

Grade: 2/5

LOVE IN DISGUISE - EDITH LAYTON

TWO FACES OF LOVE

Miss Susannah Logan felt very fortunate to have not one man but two gentlemen shepherding her through her first London season.

One was the cynical and brilliant Mr. Warwick Jones, whose wit and wealth gave him free entry into society and whose pretended scorn for women was matched only by the sensual intensity of his passion for them.

The other was the handsome and honorable Julian, Viscount Hazelton, whose fierce desire for an unobtainable beauty had led him to financial ruin but could not mar his irresistible good looks.

Warwick Jones and Julian were good friends until they took the inexperienced Miss Logan in hand... each leading her on a different path of love and passion toward a decision that threatened to intoxicate her flesh... and yield her ripe innocence to the one man whose tantalizing nearness she could no longer resist...

Ana's review

After having read the second in this trilogy thinking it was the first I just had to pick this one up and see what I had missed. I'm starting to think Layton used these books to stretch some boundaries. In the other book we had a hero who had been king of the underworld and in this one we have a heroine who comes from trade being disputed by 2 gentlemen. Once more it's all about the hero!

I can see why I. says Warwick it's her favourite hero of the 3 (even if I'm still partial to Arden). He is powerful and strong, but also sensitive, caring albeit too subtle to demonstrate all that. Julian, Viscount Hazelton is more open and is described as the most attractive man, a blond god of a hero he is totally in love with a woman he can't have. This book is about a love triangle, the back blurb of the book doesn't even allow you to understand who will be the hero. It's plain from the beginning that both Julian and Susannah have some growing up to do but while Susannah needs to understand her feelings better Julian will have some disappointments to deal with. Going in the opposite direction is Warwick who becomes more vulnerable as he falls for Susannah and I think he is the true star of the book. He never changes, is always supportive towards Susannah, is a friend to his friends and tries to protect everyone around him. Susannah's falling in love with him is more about her realising and understanding her feelings than Warwick doing anything to conquer her. There's a lot of introspection especially on Susannah and Warwick's part but I wouldn’t call it a slow book as there a little mystery added and even a villain to bring some excitement.

There were some things I found hard to believe like Julian being a Coachman because he was penniless, Susannah living in the same house as 2 gentleman she was not related to (even if with a chaperone), and Lady Marianna Moredon who kept being called Lady Moredon ! But in the end that did not detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Grade: 4/5

Note: Terrible cover and totally wrong for the story told in the book.

Ioana's review

What can I say? I've always cherished books with a strong male character, someone really interesting. And in this case, Warwick became my favorite Layton hero. A little cold and aloof towards people around him, very intelligent and funny in his own way, he is considered an excentric, but proves to be a faithful friend to the few who gained his trust. He has some traces of Dain's complex of “unbeautifulness” (and I'm talking of the more known character of Dain from Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase) – a rather ugly child that grew up near blondy-sparkling foster brothers and sister, developed a sort of obsession for blond people (really, I would have wished that Susannah was not blond, because it feels a little weird, honestly). But he is by far the most interesting character in this book. His love for the heroine is presented in a very nice way, it's impossible not to fall for him when you read about his self-considered impossible love. Pure tortured love, but sweet at the same time :)

Julian is the second hero in this book, a little immature, but charming in his own way. Although I read some years ago on Edith Layton's website that the reason why she began this series was a nocturnal ride in the park with a young and blond coachman that caught her attention, and from this we could assume that he is a central figure in the book, actually he is not. I see him there just to put Warwick in the spotlight, because it's obvious who has the most qualities.

Susannah. She's okay I guess, I'm not overly enthusiastic, but she does grow up during the course of the book. From the first infatuation for the godlike Julian to the more mature way of understanding the difference between infatuation and long-standing love.

The writing. This is Edith Layton. Who knows her style knows what I'm talking about. Who doesn't, then you will encounter many descriptions, many point of views (everyone has one, the florist, the cook, the passerby), she gets into everyone's lives and you get a very detailed view of the whole picture.

The book does have some flaws I suppose, but they don't come to mind right now and are quite minor. But the cover is one of them. Although usually the Signet covers are really nice and true to the book inside, in this case the hero's picture has nothing to do with reality. I regret that it's not available anymore a certain drawing on Edith Layton's old website that showed the author's image of Warwick. It showed a somehow haunted face, not beautiful by any stretch of imagination, but very interesting and unforgettable. That remained Warwick in my own mind.

Grade: 4.5/5