Desperate Duchesses [Mass Market Paperback]

As the reviewer before me just stated, it's clear that this is not meant to be a stand-alone book. There are several plots going on at one time and (of course) not all of them are wrapped up neatly by the end of the novel.

I have to admit, though, that I didn't enjoy it that much for that very reason. Perhaps if I had stumbled upon this series a few years down the line -- after all 4 books were complete -- I would have devoured this book and the sequels in quick succession. As it stands, I feel like I've been given a novel and told I'm only allowed to read the first quarter and I have to wait to have the rest parceled out over the course of another year. That wouldn't be too bad, except James attempts to sell this book also as a stand-alone & that's where it all goes wrong. There are some great characters in this book that are sketched very well -- and I know I'm going to enjoy watching them evolve over the course of the rest of the series. However, the main heroine and hero are not two of them. And that's the pity. In fact, as I type this, I'm having difficulty remembering their names -- even though I remember the names of Elijah, Jemma, and Villiers. I can't even remember the name of the heroine, and I just finished this book last night!!

In short: There is so much time invested in exploring the side characters and setting them up for their own books that the main characters pale in comparison. It's similar to what happened with Esme's character in the "Duchess" series and what happend with Imogen's character in the "Essex sisters" series. The difference, though, is that I liked the main characters in the other series -- in this one, I found the main romance to be quite yawn-worthy. I didn't like the heroine that much and found the hero to be almost invisible.

There were so many things I would have liked to have known about the hero that wasn't explored at all -- just casually thrown into a conversation between other protaganists. I wasn't able to get into his head like we've been able to do in the past with characters that Eloisa written about. And it seemed rather odd to me that, at the end, we're just told how rich, smart, and successful he is -- even though the whole book built him up to be completely useless. If he was all that, I would have thought the heroine should have figured it out, instead of having someone else just TELL her at the end. Or, at the very least, we should have had some scenes with the hero, so WE -- as readers -- knew what he was all about. It all seemed very abrupt and rushed to me.

There should have been more time spent on the h/h so we could actually enjoy the novel as a stand-alone. They were constantly put in the back-seat in favor of the secondary characters. Which is fine if you're reading the whole set of books in a row just for those characters (like Jemma/Elijah). I remember doing that with the "Duchess" series. I devoured all the books because I wanted to know what happened to Esme/Sebastian. However, now that I have to wait months and month between books, I feel like I was cheated in this book. This book should have focused more on the h/h featured in this novel -- and it just didn't.

All in all, I'll give it 3 stars for now. Maybe the rating will go up once I've read the rest of the series. That'll take about two years, if it follows Avon's usual publication schedule.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Yes, it was a bit chaotic and confusing with all the minor character plots. And yes, I agree there was not a lot of substance to the two main characters, especially the hero (truth be told, from the way the book started out, I had no idea he was going to turn out to be the hero of the story). But it was extremely well written in terms of how she handled the dialogue, especially during the chess and domino games. I found the non-Regency setting a refreshing change of pace (this coming from a huge Regency fan like myself!) and loved the fact that many of the characters were messy, imperfect people with loose ends that weren't tied up by the end of the book. And boy can this lady write some great sex scenes!

I suspect James was mimicking the pace and tone of famous 18th century novels, plays, and operas (Tom Jones comes to mind as do some of Sheridan's plays and Mozart's operas)--all of which are known for featuring bawdy interludes and frequent secondary character side trips before circling back to the main plotline. I think she succeeded nicely in capturing the essence of that particular period in all its energy, earthiness, and color.

My only complaint is I think James is almost too creative for the formulaic historical romance genre. I'd love to see her break out into something meatier--a historical novel with good doses of romance a la Diana Gabaldon, perhaps?--and really let herself go. In the mean time, I look forward to reading her other books and seeing how this series evolves.

I honestly can say that I really didn't really care for Damon and Roberta. They barely got that many scenes in the book because there were so many characters that they were really over looked. I also was way more interest at what was happening between Jemma and her husband Elijah. I really can't wait for those two to have their own book and see how they get back together. I'm really going to get mad if Jemma and Elijah don't end up together.I hope that the author really doesn't kill Elijah off because I really want him and his wife to work things out.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 54 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars