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Not the Duke's Darling

de Elizabeth Hoyt

Altres autors: Mira la secció altres autors.

Sèrie: Greycourt (1)

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Fiction. Literature. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:From the New York Times bestselling author of the Maiden Lane series comes the first book in a new series that "marries her irresistibly witty writing style with an intrigue-steeped plot,"(Booklist) perfect for fans of Tessa Dare and Eloisa James.


Freya de Moray is many things: a member of the secret order of Wise Women, the daughter of disgraced nobility, and a chaperone living under an assumed name. What she is not is forgiving. So when the Duke of Harlowe, the man who destroyed her brother and led to the downfall of her family, appears at the country house party she's attending, she does what any Wise Woman would do: she starts planning her revenge.


Christopher Renshaw, the Duke of Harlowe, is being blackmailed. Intent on keeping his secrets safe, he agrees to attend a house party where he will put an end to this coercion once and for all. Until he recognizes Freya, masquerading among the party revelers, and realizes his troubles have just begun. Freya knows all about his sins-sins he'd much rather forget. But she's also fiery, bold, and sensuous-a temptation he can't resist. When it becomes clear Freya is in grave danger, he'll risk everything to keep her safe. But first, he will have to earn Freya's trust...by whatever means necessary.


Features the bonus novella Patience for Christmas from New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes!

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toooooooo long ( )
  aeryn0 | Jul 23, 2023 |
Not the Duke’s Darling is the first book in Elizabeth Hoyt’s promising new Greycourt series. It follows the exploits of our heroine, Freya, who is part of a secret order known as the Wise Women. These women live in a commune-like environment in northern Scotland. They’re well-educated in many different traditional areas, as well as learning the ways of their foremothers in the healing arts. They’re also very independent and forward-thinking, always trying to protect their fellow women in need in an era when women’s rights were virtually non-existent. Freya is paired with Christopher, a duke, who unexpectedly inherited his title from a distant relative. The two were acquainted in childhood with Christopher being Freya’s brother, Rand’s best friend. Freya had a huge crush on Christopher as a girl, but ever since a scandalous tragedy involving both their families, they haven’t seen each other for fifteen years until a chance meeting in which Freya all but throws herself and a woman and child she’s trying to save into his coach during a daring escape. Then they have a later second meeting at a house party they’re both attending, which leads to a rekindling of their friendship and a whole lot more.

Freya is the daughter of a duke, but when she was twelve years old, her older brother, Rand, was accused of a heinous crime and severely beaten for it by the men of the father of the woman he’d supposedly wronged. Of course, none of it was true, but her brother was left permanently maimed as a result and now lives in seclusion. Not long after the scandal, her father died as well, leaving her ill brother, who was only eighteen at the time, as new duke. Since Rand was unable to care for Freya and her younger sisters, an older, maiden aunt came to take them to live with her and the Wise Women who taught them all they knew. As a result, Freya is now a fiercely independent spitfire, who has worked as the Macha (or spy) of the group for the past five years, saving many women who might otherwise have perished or been horribly abused. She lives under the assumed identity of a companion and chaperon to a lady and her two daughters, but she’s been tasked by the Wise Women to find dirt on a lord who is about to introduce legislation to make witch-hunting legal again. Since the Wise Women are often accused of witchcraft, this would be a terrible turn events for them. As it happens, the house party Freya is to attend with her charges is being held at an estate next-door to the lord she needs to investigate. Also in attendance at the party is Christopher, who Freya blames for Rand’s condition, so she vows to get vengeance on him at the same time. But she didn’t expect to discover that Christopher is actually a decent guy and then find herself falling in love with him.

Freya is a very liberated woman, possibly too much so for some readers given that this is a historical romance. This might be why the book has lower ratings than most of Elizabeth Hoyt’s works, but since I haven’t read any reviews yet, I’m not sure. Given the context of her upbringing, though, I was able to set aside any skepticism. I’m not really sure if Wise Women like what are portrayed here actually existed at the time, but it at least seemed plausible to me. Freya is, however, tough as nails and doesn’t believe that she needs a man in her life at all, something that becomes a sticking point in her burgeoning relationship with Christoper. I often have difficulty with heroines who are as stubborn and independent as Freya is, but somehow she made sense to me. Perhaps it’s because she vacillates between her fiercely independent streaks and softer, more vulnerable moments. I loved how she comforted Christopher when they were locked in a small space and he was panicking. I also like how she took charge to some extent during the love scenes, but was always so giving of herself at the same time. In addition, she could be reasonable and forgiving when faced with the truth of what Christoper’s life has been like since that scandalous night. I’ll admit that Freya did come close to tweaking my buttons when she kept refusing Christopher’s proposals, but in the end, I think she was just afraid of losing herself and her autonomy in their relationship, which is a valid concern that many strong-willed women like her have.

Christopher is haunted by that scandalous night and regrets not taking action to help his friend before things went too far. Simply because he had been involved, he ended up paying a steep price, not just to his psyche, but in his life. His father forced him into an arranged marriage with a woman he’d only met twice, then basically exiled him to India, where his wife died, something he also holds himself responsible for. It wasn’t until a distant relative died without heirs, leaving him as the next duke that he returned to England. When Christopher meets up with Freya again, he realizes she’s everything he’s longed for in a wife and partner, and the exact opposite of his former wife. He loves Freya’s fiery nature and the way she argues and debates with him. She challenges him at every turn, but he finds it all arousing and intriguing. However, the independent lady keeps refusing his suit, as well as his help, even when investigating a potentially dangerous enemy. I absolutely adored Christopher. He’s a kind, caring man, completely accepting of Freya as she is and never expecting her to change into a meek and submissive wife. What he wants is an equal partner and he respects her intellectual abilities. He’s also very patient, never badgering her to accept his proposal. Even though a part of him wants to, he bides his time, allowing her to come to terms with the decision on her own without stifling her autonomy, even if it means possibly losing her.

Overall, Not the Duke’s Darling was another great read from the pen of Elizabeth Hoyt. It boasts some great secondary characters, including Freya’s former best friend, Messalina, another player from that fateful night, with whom she reconnects. Messalina gets several of her own POV scenes, and we also get a brief introduction to Gideon Hawthorne, the man I’m pretty sure will become her hero in the next book of the series, A Rogue Meets His Match. There were a number of other characters that could also make great future heroes and heroines, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Christopher's loyal dog, Tess, who’s always by his side. In addition to the wonderful characters, there’s plenty of action and intrigue, enough for me to categorize this book as romantic suspense. There are multiple mysteries afoot to figure out, including what happened that night fifteen years ago, why someone is blackmailing Christopher, and what happened to the wife of the lord Freya is investigating. I have to say I wasn’t the least disappointed with any of these reveals. The only thing that wasn’t entirely solved is what happened to Messalina’s sister, which is a mystery that I assume will be explored further in future books of the Greycourt series. But for now, Not the Duke’s Darling was an awesome start to this new series that has me eagerly awaiting the next one, which is expected to be released this summer (2019).

Patience for Christmas by Grace Burrowes - Bonus novella. Patience for Christmas is a holiday-themed novella about a bluestocking advice columnist and her publisher. The two have historically been at odds with one another, but not nearly as much as she’s been at odds with a competing advice columnist. Her publisher believes that he can exploit their rivalry to sell more newspapers if they publish daily columns, doling out wise counsel on all things Christmas for the two weeks leading up to the holiday. Together they work hard to complete the endeavor, while falling in love. But what will happen when she discovers his big secret?

Patience was born a well-bred lady, but her father was a profligate spender. Just as she was about to make a good match with a viscount with whom she thought she was in love, her suitor discovered that she had no inheritance and dropped her cold, leaving her reputation ruined. If not for the kindness of her grandmother, she would have had nothing, but luckily the old woman left Patience everything she owned, including a small townhouse. Patience didn’t start out as a bluestocking, but the hardships she endured taught her that she couldn’t rely on the men in her life for anything. So she vowed to do whatever it took to remain independent. The fiery spinster earns her living by writing an advice column as a character named Mrs. Horner, and Mrs. Horner’s Corner has thus far been extremely well-received by the citizens of London. But three months earlier, a competing columnist named Professor Pennypacker emerged and has been her nemesis ever since. Now her publisher, Dougal MacHugh, with whom she’s also usually at odds, wants her to answer letters daily throughout the holiday season in something of a back-and-forth exchange with Pennypacker. Knowing the extra funds will help greatly, she agrees, and as she works with Dougal almost day and night for two weeks, she finds that the man is a lot more likable than she originally thought and soon falls for him. I admired Patience’s spunkiness and her willingness to stand up for herself. She isn’t afraid to speak her mind and gives Dougal a run for his money, but at the same time she’s kind and compassionate toward others and has the heart of an activist.

Scotsman Dougal is a former school teacher who used his inheritance to start a publishing house with dreams of someday printing educational books and materials at a low cost so that they can be accessible to everyone. Things didn’t exactly go as planned, though. As it turns out, Mrs. Horner’s Corner took off and is now the thing that makes him the most money, so he comes up with his scheme to sell even more papers over the holiday season. He genuinely admires Patience and seems to enjoy locking horns with her. I think he was starting to have deeper feelings for her before the story begins, but it’s working closely with her on a daily basis that really solidifies those emotions. By the time Christmas comes, he’s more than ready to propose, but there’s a little matter of a big secret he’s been keeping from her. Dougal is a man I admired for his ability to see and appreciate the value in a woman’s mind. He views Patience as his equal, and when she finally confides her past to him, he’s incensed on her behalf that the viscount would leave her like he did. I also thought that his dream was an admirable one, and I felt that with Patience by his side, he just might achieve it in the future.

Overall, Patience for Christmas was a fun, enjoyable novella. The supporting cast was very likable and Dougal’s cat, George was cute. I was amused by the advice columnist rivalry that had people buying broadsheets like gangbusters. I also enjoyed the meeting of the minds that occurs between Dougal and Patience, and how they gain a new respect for one another. Where I thought the story faltered a bit was in the romance itself. These two characters have an intellectual connection in spades, and I do love seeing that in a hero and heroine’s relationship. However, it didn’t fully translate into an emotional one. They’re very matter-of-fact with each other about nearly everything to do with their romantic connection, including the decision to share a bed. Even the one love scene is IMHO rather bland and lacking genuine passion. Otherwise, though, I felt that the story was well-written. It was my first read by Grace Burrowes, and it was good enough to leave me open to trying more of her work in the future, but I do hope that she steps up the romance a bit more in her other stories. I read Patience for Christmas as a bonus novella in the back of this book, but it appears to have been originally published in the anthology, The Virtues of Christmas, and has also been released as a stand-alone ebook. Star Rating: **** ( )
  mom2lnb | Sep 27, 2022 |
3.5 stars rounded up. I just enjoy reading Hoyt's stories. I would have liked a little more connection between the couple, but it wasn't too shabby. It seems like 90% of her stories end with one or both of the couple deciding to part ways for a (usually) weak reason, then one or both of them is nearly killed, and they decide they can't live without each other. It's not horrid, but I wish she would mix it up a bit. Also, I don't really care for the notion that perhaps, without the freak near death experience, they might have just continued on being dumb believing they couldn't/shouldn't be together! Overcome the hurdles people! =D This one was especially exasperating, because the 'realization of true feelings nearly too late' moment wasn't even the final hurdle after all! It felt like a fake-out, and even more like 'really? Even *then* you're going to hold stubbornly beyond all reason??' *sigh* Also, the plot hinges on the heroine's unusual background, but we otherwise hardly see her use the skills she would have gained from it. It has a pretty high steam level. I look forward to her next book. ( )
  JorgeousJotts | Dec 3, 2021 |
Elizabeth Hoyt's latest historical romance is reminiscent of the best of her Maiden Lane series, but with a feminist bent. Hoyt's heroines have always been the intellectual equal of her heroes, but in this, the hero takes a backseat as the Freya works to solve a mystery and save women on both an individual basis and on a political basis.

Freya is a member of a secret order called the Wise Women, a group dedicated to helping other women. They've often been called witches. The group is about to go into hiding, because of a law being proposed in parliament that would make witch hunting legal and encouraged. Freya's goal is to discredit the Lord sponsoring the bill. Meanwhile, she's been in hiding as a lady's companion for years, living under an assumed name and pretending not to be the daughter and sister of a Duke.

The book opens with Freya and another Wise Woman running through the streets with a Lady and her baby, trying to get the baby and mother to safety. They come upon a carriage and jump in. Of course it's our hero, the Duke of Harlowe. Freya immediately recognizes him, though it's been years since they've seen each other.

When she was a child, Christopher (Harlowe), her brother, and another man (Julian) were involved in the death of a young woman named Aurelia. Aurelia and Freya's brother were trying to elope, but everyone thinks he murdered her. (This is classic Hoyt. Who killed who and when and how?) So Aurelia's family had the brother beaten badly... then his hand had to be amputated and he's not been seen outside of the ducal estate in years and years. (I sense a future book.)

Hoyt throws everyone together at a house party. Freya is there because the estate borders that of the terrible Lord sponsoring the witchhunting bill. Harlowe is there because he's being blackmailed by a sh*tbag named Plimpton who has letters written by Harlowe's dead wife. And Freya's cousin (Aurelia's sister) is there because of course she is.

This is a high drama story, with a sizeable cast and a mystery that goes right up till the end. But Hoyt pulls it off. The story doesn't sag, doesn't get confusing, and the romance is tender and hot and heartbreaking at once.

One of my favorite lines in the novel is this:

"She'd lived so many years alone and independent, perhaps it was too late to revert to what the rest of the world considered normal."

Beyond all of the bananapants plot going on is Freya's very real struggle to decide how much of herself to give in a romantic relationship. In a time when women have no legal rights once married, is there any benefit to marrying, even for love? As a woman who works to defend women from their terrible (usually man-made) circumstances, how can she reconcile herself to falling in love with a man? It's a story that's both timely and timeless.



Clearly, I enjoyed the book and I'm eager for the series to continue. What comes next is a series of content warnings, because Hoyt's books are usually packed full of stuff that can be uncomfortable for readers.



SPOILERS







SPOILERS





YOU'VE BEEN WARNED



Content Warnings:

- Harlowe is exiled to India after the whole thing with Aurelia (The Greycourt Scandal). He's not responsible for her death, of course, but his mere presence that night is enough to have his father force him into an arranged marriage and ship him off to India to work with the East India Company. The references to India are handled sensitively (as far as I could tell), with Harlowe mentioning that the Company is/was horrible and that they were doing things no one in Britain would have stood for. HOWEVER, there was a bad scene in Calcutta, when he and his wife and 70 other people were shoved into one prison cell and his wife was basically smothered to death. We eventually find out that his wife was mentally disabled and that he and she were never physically intimate. THEN we find out that Plimpton, the man who has the letters from Sophie and is blackmailing Harlowe, seduced her so he could get her money and jewelry etc. So Plimpton is a Grade A P.O.S.

- Harlowe has PTSD from the jail cell and it comes up several times over the course of the book.

- Later on, there's a mention of a wife who was murdered by her husband, but we find out that she's actually been imprisoned for a YEAR. Then Freya and Aurelia's cousin are shackled in the cellar alongside her and nearly killed. Harlowe ends up killing the Bad Guy, so CW for imprisonment and murder.

- None of the kissing is expressly nonconsensual, but there is one scene in which Freya kisses Harlowe so that she can bite the shit out of his mouth and steal her brother's ring off his finger.



Suzanne received a copy of this book from the publisher for review. ( )
  Cerestheories | Nov 8, 2021 |
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For every woman who works day in and day out, who takes care of family and friends and community, who sometimes despairs late at night but then gets up in the morning and does it all again anyway.
You are strong and brave and beautiful and this book is for you.
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Had someone asked Freya Stewart de Moray at the age of twelve what she expected to be doing fifteen years later, she would've listed three things.
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Fiction. Literature. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:From the New York Times bestselling author of the Maiden Lane series comes the first book in a new series that "marries her irresistibly witty writing style with an intrigue-steeped plot,"(Booklist) perfect for fans of Tessa Dare and Eloisa James.


Freya de Moray is many things: a member of the secret order of Wise Women, the daughter of disgraced nobility, and a chaperone living under an assumed name. What she is not is forgiving. So when the Duke of Harlowe, the man who destroyed her brother and led to the downfall of her family, appears at the country house party she's attending, she does what any Wise Woman would do: she starts planning her revenge.


Christopher Renshaw, the Duke of Harlowe, is being blackmailed. Intent on keeping his secrets safe, he agrees to attend a house party where he will put an end to this coercion once and for all. Until he recognizes Freya, masquerading among the party revelers, and realizes his troubles have just begun. Freya knows all about his sins-sins he'd much rather forget. But she's also fiery, bold, and sensuous-a temptation he can't resist. When it becomes clear Freya is in grave danger, he'll risk everything to keep her safe. But first, he will have to earn Freya's trust...by whatever means necessary.


Features the bonus novella Patience for Christmas from New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes!

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