The Duchess Hunt
Ratings6
Average rating3.2
15
Ratings6
Average rating3.2
One of Amazon’s Best Romances for October 2021 New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath continues her Once Upon a Dukedom series with this lush love story of a duke who discovers what he desires in a wife may not be what he needs… Hugh Brinsley-Norton, the Duke of Kingsland, is in need of a duchess. However, restoring the dukedom—left in ruins by his father—to its former glory demands all his time, with little room for sentiment. He places an advert encouraging the single ladies of the ton to write why they should be the one chosen, and leaves it to his efficient secretary to select his future wife. If there exists a more unpleasant task in the world than deciding who is to marry the man you love, Penelope Pettypeace certainly can’t imagine what it might be. Still, she is determined to find the perfect bride for her clueless, yet ruthlessly charming employer. But when an anonymous note threatens to reveal truths best hidden, Kingsland has no choice but to confront the danger with Penelope at his side. Beguiled by the strong-willed, courageous beauty, he realizes he’s willing to risk everything, including his heart, to keep her safe within his arms. Could it be the duchess he’s hunting for has been in front of him all along?
Featured Series
2 primary booksOnce Upon a Dukedom is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2021 with contributions by Lorraine Heath.
Reviews with the most likes.
I feel like the MMC's secret was 1) WILD, but somehow also 2) completely irrelevant to the plot? It just seemed like it needed to be a thing so that there was a plausible reason for them to think the threats were for him, not her, but it's wrapped up so neatly it seems like it could've been taken out. And also, HOLY SHIT dude, this is like Mr. Rochester levels of fucked up behavior and that's never really addressed? I finished this book and immediately started rereading because the pacing was so weird - I honestly thought I'd missed something.
Most of what I want to say here is a spoiler, so I guess I'll just cut it here (CWs for this book also under cut): first of all, MAJOR warning in this book for child sexual abuse/child porn, also abduction and forcing someone into an asylum (sorry, I know there's better phrasing, but that's what it's called here), plus early on there's people held at gunpoint and also there's blackmail/threats. I don't feel like this book knew what it wanted to be - I was definitely here for the boss/assistant trope, with a side of "helping the person you love find their spouse." Then it took detours into secret sex club, sex to get it out of their systems, and ended with blackmail/Terrible Secrets, and of course there's an HEA. I got to the reveal of the blackmailer and was like "...wait, who?" and it's not like it took me forever to read this book, it was just SO overstuffed I forgot who this guy was supposed to be. He shows up in the Secret Sex Club portion of the book and then not again until the end, so if it was supposed to be a big shock, it completely flopped for me. I don't know. I liked what I thought this book was from the blurb, but not what it ended up being. Penelope was a great character, and it's kind of a shame, because this ended up not being that much about her at all.
4.5 If I remember all the details in January, I'll bump it up to a 5.
Dang, the hype is real on this one. It is definitely better than the first one. It was really really good.
