Review: The Duke Who Lied

I received this book for free from Netgalley in order to prepare an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


Review: The Duke Who LiedThe Duke Who Lied (The 1797 Club Book 8) by Jess Michaels
Series: The 1797 Club #8
Published by Passionate Pen on Jul 24, 2018
Genres: Historical
Goodreads
three-stars

 

“So Amelia would come to Hugh with hate and desperation. With heartbreak and resistance.”

FINAL DECISION: A solid addition to the series. I enjoyed the characters but the lie that sets their relationship in motion and the secret Hugh is keeping didn’t work well enough to support the plot of the story for me.

THE STORY: Hugh Margolis, Duke of Brighthollow, has been suffering with his own sense of honor. His sister was seduced by a wicked man and Hugh found himself keeping silent and paying the man off rather than seeking revenge. This lack of action has been eating at Hugh for a year. Now Hugh discovers that the villain is after his next victim. Hugh cannot allow him to ruin another woman’s life. Amelia Quinton thinks she has found the man of her dreams, when her father tells her she must marry the Duke of Brighthollow to settle his debts. Amelia and Hugh begin a marriage with lies and deception between them. What will happen when the two strangers begin to have feelings for one another with the lies Hugh told to force the marriage between them?

OPINION: The characters in this book were really nice. I liked them both and I thought that they had a nice rapport with one another. I book is as sexy as I would expect from this series and overall I enjoyed this entry in the series.

The part of this book that really bothered me was how quickly Amelia turned to trying to make her marriage to Hugh a good one. I just wasn’t convinced. She was too quick to think Hugh a good person and too quick to want and participate in a passionate marriage. A woman is forced to wed a complete stranger and only days later is taking the initiative in their sexual relationship. Nope, just didn’t work for me. I did enjoy the characters and only wish that the initial part of their relationship had been dealt with differently.

I also really didn’t understand why Hugh kept the secret after he and Amelia were married and continued to lie. He clearly could have told her the truth and it would have made their relationship better. Without the buy in to the storyline, everything else felt okay but a little bland.

WORTH MENTIONING: I want the story of Hugh’s sister as well.

CONNECTED BOOKS: THE DUKE WHO LIED is the eighth book in the 1797 Club series. This book can be read as a standalone although there are overlapping characters and relationships between secondary characters that are developed over the series.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3 stars.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in order to help prepare this review. I was not required to write a review or to write a positive review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

 

three-stars

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