The fourth installment of a Georgian-set however very trendy romance
collection that explores the theme of fame versus actuality.
Girl Boadicea “Betsy” Wilde is the eldest daughter of the Duke
of Lindow. Her mom, the duke’s second duchess, ran away with a Prussian
rely when Betsy was a child. To push back even a touch of her mom’s
debauchery, Betsy tamps down her wilder impulses and presents a demure and
completely polished picture throughout her first season. She attracts dozens of
suitors, proving the naysayers flawed when Lord Thaddeus Greywick, a future duke
with a sterling fame, proposes. The difficulty is that Thaddeus doesn’t set
her coronary heart racing like a sure “evil-tongued aristocrat with a darkish soul and a
penchant for drink.” Lord Jeremy Roden has been hanging out at Lindow Citadel
for months, recovering from a disastrous navy marketing campaign in America and
dealing with PTSD. He lounges about guiltily within the billiard room, ingesting too
a lot whisky, making wisecracks, and customarily proving himself unfit for well mannered
society after a terrifying flashback episode in Vauxhall Gardens causes him to
black out for a whole week. The bickering twosome can’t resist one another,
their banter thrumming with wit, ardour, and coronary heart. Jeremy’s frank admissions
of lust ratchet up the stress for Betsy. The characters, together with the
snobbish duke to whom the title refers, his spirited mom, and Betsy’s smart
Aunt Knowe, are endearing and memorable. However James’ (Born To Be Wilde,
2018) depiction of restoration from PTSD falls flat, as does the one-dimensional
villain whose machinations throw an pointless barrier in the best way of lovers
whose journey to self-revelation and acceptance stands by itself.
A lusty journey again to Lindow Citadel with just a few useless ends on
the best way to a deeply felt romance.
