What I Did For A Duke: Pennyroyal Green Series [Mass Market Paperback]

I've been bemoaning the lack of real romance with a warm love story in most recent HRs. Well, this one has it in spades and I truly enjoyed reading it. Yes, as a few reviewers before me have pointed out, Long doesn't have titles and the peerage mastered, but I can overlook the Duke of Falconbridge (our H) being called Moncrieffe throughout the book when he should be addressed as "Your Grace", "Duke" or "Falconbridge", depending on who's talking to him, and the young son of a viscount here (the character Harry) is only an "Honorable", not a "Lord". You have to overlook a lot of inaccuracies and anachronisms in most mass market paperback HRs anyway.

The reason this isn't a 5-star book for me is that the whole story takes place at a house party and nothing much happens except for the romance. (Apparently there is no pleasing me. When there's not enough romance I complain, and here I have the romance I've been wanting and still I complain.) There's also an age discrepancy of almost 20 years between H and h, something I'm not usually fond of, but it works here because the young heroine isn't annoyingly immature or naive or TSTL. And the hero is someone I could fall for, if he would ignore the reverse even larger age discrepancy between him and me. He's a wonderfully complex character.

The book starts off well and caught my interest immediately. Long's writing is very good, her ability to describe things, people and emotions is much, much better than the average HR author's, and her characters' dialogue/conversation is witty, humorous and smart and her characters come alive on the page. The love story develops gradually and that's something I appreciate. Instant sex by page 50 isn't my idea of romance. So when this H and h do become intimate, you know that it's not just a physical thing. (But, BTW, that physical thing between them is pretty smokin' hot.)

So the only reason for the 4 stars, rather than the 5 that the romance aspect deserves, is that I did become a bit bored by the breakfasts, picnics, strolls and card playing. There wasn't much else going on. However, that's certainly better than too much going on so I shouldn't be complaining.

I finished reading What I Did For a Duke today and I loved it. From the very first chapter, I was already drawn to the main character, the Duke of Falconbridge. I think one of the things that caught my attention was his dark sense of humor, evident in the first chapter. And interestingly, even though he is a duke, Alex Moncrieffe is not very well liked by the ton, which makes one wonder why. And of course, all those rumors circulating the ton about his dark mysterious past makes him all the more interesting.

The female main character, Genevieve, is also very interesting. I was definitely entertained when she was trying to figure out how to "feign a swoon." And I enjoyed seeing the two main characters interact with each other, slowly revealing their true selves to each other. I found myself drawn to the conversations between the two main characters. The initial aloofness Genevieve displayed seemed to make the Duke even more determined to coax a reaction out from her. And they began surprising each other, becoming more interested in one another.

What I especially like in this book is the dialogue. I like how the conversations were witty and funny at times. There were moments where one of their conversations brought a smile to my face and I enjoyed the scene so much I had to reread it.

I thought this book was a very good light read. I enjoyed seeing Alex and Genevieve's relationship develop as the story continues. Their banters were entertaining to read. And of course, I liked seeing them find their happily ever after. I haven't read any of Julie Anne Long's other books, but after reading this one, I'm planning on getting my hands on another book soon.

I had high hopes for this book because it had so many great reviews, but unfortunately I really ended up hating it. Firstly, as some others mentioned, it was very slow in many places...way too much card playing and going for walks,(although I did laugh out loud at the goose scene). This alone would not make me dislike the book however, what I really didn't enjoy was the story itself and the main characters. Now I fully admit that this might just be due to my own personal preference in regards to what kind of hero/heroine I prefer in these kind of historical romances, but that's why I'm writing this, in case anyone might share my preferences and know to steer clear.

First a bit of setting up:

So Genevieve is your typical young, beautiful, innocent, virgin from a wealthy family...all good there. But the author immediately threw me off by making her madly in love with someone who we know is not the hero. The man she loves is not someone she barely knows, or has only met at a few dances or something, but rather a childhood friend that she has been wildly in love with for years! And this man is not flawed to the point that we know she would be better off with someone else, but rather he's funny, charming, intelligent, and shares her interests and passion for art. They seem like they'd make a wonderful couple actually, and Genevieve truly believes that he returns her feelings. So when he tells her that he is planning to ask their other mutual best friend to marry him instead, naturally she is completely shocked and heartbroken. Like, spends days crying over the lost love of her life, will never love again heartbroken. Plus this all happens during a house party where this man she loves (I think his name was Harry), their friend he intends to propose to, and many other guests are staying in her family's house for a few weeks, so she has to see them together everyday and pretend that she is happy for him. So at the start of the book not only is she already in love but also in extreme pain, and so at this point I'm wondering how the author can possibly turn this into a romantic setting.

In comes the Duke who also decides to stay with her family for the duration of the party, with the intention of seducing Genevieve and then leaving her as a form of revenge to her brother. She pretty quickly figures out his plan though, and basically says hell no to that. But he has figured out from observing her that she heartbroken over Harry, so instead he tells her that he will pretend to be courting her to make Harry jealous so she can thereby win him back, while still making the brother squirm too. She agrees to this.

And this finally gets us to the stuff I really didn't like. Firstly, the duke is old enough to be her father. I tried to forget this while reading but it's pointed out many times throughout the book. In fact the Duke had a son who, if he had survived would have been Genevieve's age. And because of his age he has some stamina issues. While I know this sort of thing happened all the time back then, it's just not what I prefer to be in my fiction.

So during a conversation while the pretend courting is going on, the old Duke basically tells her that he has had lots of experience with whores, and makes a few other inappropriate comments. Instead of being put off by this, Genevieve is only amused and interested. Huh?

And THEN after a few more inappropriate conversations in which the old Duke basically tries to convince her to have sex with him, not because they have any feelings for each other but rather just for the pleasure of it, she agrees to do just that. That's right...our innocent virginal heroine, without much internal conflict or wrestling with scruples, begins to invite the old Duke into her bed every night to have casual sex, all the while still actively plotting and scheming during the day to win back the love of her life Harry. Um, WHAT!?! Pretty slutty there Genevieve.

There's more about this book that I didn't like, but I'll stop here because this review is already so long and I think you get the idea. I apologize if I offended anyone who likes this book, like I said it's just my personal preference and I just hope to help any of those who might share it! :)