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Monday, January 28, 2013

Book Review: The Inconvenient Duchess by Christine Merrill (Free on Amazon!)


The Inconvenient Duchess 

by Christine Merrill
Review by Morgan Wyatt

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Dear Cici and Father,

I have come to Devon and married a duke. And I'm more tired and hungry than I have ever been in my life. Please let me come home.

Compromised and wedded on the same day, Lady Miranda was fast finding married life not to her taste. A decaying manor and a secretive husband were hardly the stuff of girlish dreams. Yet every time she looked at dark, brooding Marcus Radwell, Duke of Haughleigh, she felt inexplicably compelled--and determined--to make their marriage real!




BOOK REVIEW:


The Inconvenient Duchess by Christine Merrill tells a classic problem of two individuals who are tricked into marriage. This tale is a Harlequin Historical. It is currently free on Kindle.

Miranda finds herself wet and dripping on the doorstep of her future husband. Even though she’d been born a lady, the family’s fall from respectability, has her scrubbing floor and clearing gardens. A family friend through a series of letters with an old friend manages to concoct a scheme that will land a titled husband for Miranda.

Marcus is well aware that his mother missed her calling when she didn’t take to the stage. He is well used to her manipulations with her last one being a dying scene, her own. She manages to get Marcus to promise to marry a gel who happens to be a ward of an old friend. He readily agrees knowing with his mother’s death that he’ll not have to honor his promise. Little does he know his mother has put wheels on the marriage, even before she died?

The dripping female who shows up exasperates Marcus, while his brother, St. John, charms Miranda with empty flattery and courtly gestures. Marcus chooses to marry Miranda to save her name, and even though she’ll make a very inconvenient duchess.

There is no chemistry at all between Miranda and Marcus. Why should there be when she spends all her time either being wooed by St. John or thinking about him?  The characters did not act in an  appropriate fashion for their period. It is hard to like a heroine who is so incredibly stupid and faithless. She’s the girl who married the nice guy in high school, and you’re clueless why he ever put up with her.

The Inconvenient Duchess is full of wrong words, contrived plot, and unlikable characters. This book has brought down my overall opinion of Harlequin. The name used to stand for quality, I am not so sure now. This book was free, but I was still aggravated that I wasted so much time reading it. On the other hand, I have downloaded several good free books. This isn’t one of them.


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