The Duke and I by Stacy Reid | Audio Review

Series: Forever Yours, #2
Traits & Tropes: scarred heroine; second chance; childhood friends to lovers; unexpected inheritance; brother's best friend
Publication Date: 01.22.18
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; Chiswick, England, 1818
Heat Level: 4
Rating: 3/5
Narration Rating: 3/5

Miss Emma Fitzgerald has every intention of taking control of her life, starting with a visit to her sister in Boston. But first, she’s determined to have one night of passion with the man she’s always loved but believes she can never have, her brother’s best friend Elliot Winthrop, now the Duke of Hartford.

She only meant to have one stolen night to make memories she could take with her, but for Elliot, it has always been Emma. There was no way he could not recognize her and he’s not about to let her go again, if he can just convince her of the genuineness of his feelings.

This book definitely needed to be this novella length; any longer and the heroine would’ve found a way to destroy her relationship with the hero again. I just found her incredibly annoying and her inner monologues repetitive. Elliot did nothing to make Emma think he wouldn’t want to be with her, even after her injury, and yet she insisted on pushing him away. Sure, he could’ve been more persistent in trying to be there for her, but she certainly didn’t make that easy for him. Given how much she doubted herself when she thought he’d given up on her, it doesn’t make much sense that she couldn’t therefore fathom how her rejection might make Elliot doubt himself too. It was just frustrating that she continued to push him away and then got mad when he actually did. Her doubt and refusal to consider what love really means was frustrating and I thought she was way too eager to be a martyr. Emma could only see her own emotions and hurt and probably thanks in part to her family’s overbearing coddling, she couldn’t see beyond herself to how her actions could hurt others. Elliot himself was rather flat as a character, but I did like that he stood up for Emma to his grandmother and kept pursuing her even when she and her brother, his supposed best friend, made that nearly impossible. I did like that there was plenty of steam here, I just wish it had made me feel the characters’ connection more so that I could overlook the things that annoyed me more than I did.

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2738071315