Series: Desperately Seeking Duke, #3
Traits & Tropes: enemies to lovers; slow burn
Publication Date: 04.26.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Georgian; England, 1788
Heat Level: 2
Rating: 4/5
Philippa Kirkpatrick is one of the most eligible heiresses in England thanks to her connections to the dukedom of Carlyle through her step grandmother’s family. Having been raised at Carlyle Castle, Philippa is a country girl at heart and not eager to leave her beloved home, though the duchess is eager to see her married and settled.
American William Montclair is in London with his brother, tasked with expanding their family’s shipping company. But Will isn’t satisfied with the business and since they could use an influx of cash anyway, he takes a job as steward for the Carlyle estate, promising his skeptical brother that he’ll limit the position to a year only.
Philippa is thoroughly scandalized by the brash young steward and has her hand’s full stopping the duchess from sending him packing on his first day. She decides to teach him how to handle the duchess and other difficult figures around Carlyle, only to find herself unwittingly ensnared by his charms.
For his part, Will is coming to adore everything at Carlyle, especially Philippa. But he has his own secrets to keep and promises to uphold, even from Philippa, even if it means breaking both their hearts.
First off, I want to say I enjoyed this story on the whole and it kept my attention for the most part. That said, the heroine was pretty unlikable at first and definitely had to grow on me, simply because her initial behavior toward the hero was rude beyond belief. Both Philippa and the duchess were incredibly snobby and unnecessarily snappish and judgmental towards him, and this didn’t improve for quite some time. Luckily, Will was charming enough to me to hold my interest and once Philippa started to get to know him and changed her behavior towards him, I really loved her determination to be with Will and make things work no matter what. Considering he almost messed that up big time, her willingness to fight for their future happiness solidified the success of this story for me. I only wish that the story had been more balanced in terms of the secrets Will was keeping and their revelation. Though hints were dropped periodically throughout the story, the big reveal didn’t come till nearly the end and then it was just a lot of plot happening all at once and in conjunction with the culmination of the tension and attraction that had been building between Philippa and Will. I think those revelations deserved a bit more page time or at least more elaboration during the epilogue, which felt like a fairly abrupt ending to me. Everything ended satisfactorily for me, at least, but I would’ve liked just a bit more of it. Beyond that, I liked that once both Philippa and Will were on board with being together permanently, they made it happen and didn’t take no for an answer, I only wish that had happened sooner so I could’ve really enjoyed rooting for them.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Comments
Post a Comment