Birds of a feather F….lock together
“A Duke of Her Own” by Lorraine Heath
The back of “A Duke of Her Own” reads, “Lady Louisa longs to marry for passion and love— but will she find happiness in the arms of the duke?” A word to the wise, Lady Louisa, it’s just as easy to find happiness in the arms of a rich alpha male as a poorer one, plus you’ll get to wear nicer shoes. Zing!
Lady Louisa is an impoverished daughter of an earl, who is determined to make her own way in society by hiring on as a companion/ matchmaker to wealthy American heiresses in London. She’s employed by the Rose family, who have 2 eligible daughters and a son, and are hoping to get their daughters married off to a high-ranking but poor aristocrat.
Enter stage right, the Duke of Hawkhurst, who is best friends with Louisa’s wastrel brother, the Earl of Ravensley. And then there’s the Marquess of Falconridge, who is another close friend. Gee, yet another 3 good looking and impoverished aristocrats who are also named after birds. Just once, instead of Falcon, Hawk, Raven and Eagle (as sexy a bird as you can get I suppose), how about…. Viscount Vulture, Prince Pigeon and the Duke of Dodo?
The 3 men try to wheedle Louisa into introducing them to her young charges. Except Hawk realises that he’s always had a thing for Louisa, and even though he knows he should be ingratiating himself with the American heiress, he can’t help thinking about her oh-so-proper English companion. You know, it seems to La Lola that the way to finding true love quickly when you’ve been a spinster your whole life, is to suddenly become a matchmaker and try to set up some other girl. Invariably, you’ll end up hooking one of the suitors of your charge. Try this sometime! Never fails!
I liked the first half of “A Duke of Her Own” a lot more than the second half. You see Hawk and Louisa interacting, as Hawk tries to court the American heiress Jenny, but can’t stop himself from staring at and being obsessed by Louisa. There’s even a nice little part where Hawk is overcome with jealousy when he sees Louisa dancing with Jenny’s brother. Alas, this plotline of jealousy was not further explored, to Lola’s considerable disappointment. Eventually Hawk and Louisa are caught pursuing less than scholarly pursuits in a darkened library, and are forced to marry. It seems like every romance couple who’s ever been caught with their pants down and skirts up have been exposed (haha) in the library. (Is it the smell of the books do you think?)
Then the second half, Hawk, who up until then had been an engaging enough hero, becomes a real pain in the ass. He can’t get over the fact that he was forced into marrying Louisa, and that he doesn’t have the money to solve his problems which he would have had had he married Jenny. I get that this leads to conflict and all, but when he still feels that way up until the 2nd last chapter in the novel, that just leaves me looking for a non-stick frying pan to bash over his head. And who could blame Louisa for being fed-up when Hawk keeps whining that he wishes she hadn’t gone to the library. Get over it already dude!
I liked Louisa, who was practical and level-headed, and didn’t waste time feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she rolls up her sleeves and decides to support herself to the extent that she can. Really, she was too good for him! And in the end, Hawk comes to his senses and realises that Louisa is the one he loves. If it’d been La Lola who’d been kept dangling like that, you can bet I’d boot him out of the boudoir chanting “No way Jose” the entire time as he slunk away.
Props to Lorraine Heath though, for not making Hawk suddenly come into a pot of gold left by leprechauns or discovering that he has the special gift of burping diamonds. He finds a way of earning some money, but he’ll never be the wealthiest duke in England. I guess nobody’s perfect.
La Lola said,
August 23, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
The dreaded spambots have struck again! But I managed to retrieve your message lauren:
“I had very similiar feelings about this book. My major problem was the WAY too much attention paid to all those secondary characters in what was a wicked obvious setup for the next books, that I really hated the two American girls and the other two heros were weak to me really didn’t help matters. I hear this series actually got canned after the next book, which makes me smile, as the book she just releved was ten times better. Which makes one wonder, is it ever a good idea to start a series based on the idea of down on their luck impovershed heros?”
And in response, I totally agree. I read “In Bed With the Devil” which I thought was WAY better. Smokin’ sexual chemistry, a hot hero and an engaging heroine. And the 2nd book in that series is out soon, so yay for that!
Lady L said,
August 24, 2008 @ 9:35 am
I don’t know about this book, I hate heroes that are whiny and don’t apreciate the heroine. I probably won’t read it!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!! RMB here to read so I don’t have to!!!! lol.
But that thread tittle…. priceless
La Lola said,
August 25, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
Seriously, someone should award us a gold medal for our Olympic-sized sacrifice!