The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn
Grace Eversleigh has spent the last five years as the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham. It’s a very thankless job, but the dowager did rescue Grace from almost literally the brink of a forced marriage, and so she’s grateful. When their coach is held up by an Irish highwayman, Jack Audley, the dowager becomes obsessed with the man’s resemblance to her dead son, who died on a voyage from Ireland around 30 years ago. And so she collects the footmen and kidnaps him.
The “is he or isn’t he” question isn’t even a factor as Jack knows his father’s name, he just never bothered to meet his father’s family because his father had told his (maternal) aunt that they didn’t get along. The question is if he was legitimate, and if he’ll accept the dukedom.
Grace is longsuffering, and I wish she’d stand up to the dowager more, but she’s not a martyr, and stands up to pretty much everyone else. Jack is ridiculously nice for a long-lost heir who is a highwayman hero. In any other book, he’d be the guy clearly too sweet to be the love interest who would “tut tut” and pat the heroine’s hand and sympathize with her about what an awful jerk the angsty brooding hero is. That would be Thomas, the current duke, who is the hero of the sequel to this book. Thomas really only has angsty brooding jerk moments due to the whole thing where he was supposed to be duke and now he’s about to be the penniless cousin making him drink way too much. The sequel, I understand, isn’t really a sequel but is what Thomas and his fiancée, Amelia, are doing during this book, which results in a number of scenes where random things are referenced but never followed up on.
I adored the first half of the book, which was really Julia Quinn at her best, but was less fond of the second half, where people started angsting. Angst really isn’t Quinn’s strongest point at all, and the explanation for the angst comes too late for it to really be effective. Still, it was a lot of fun, though I may also be influenced by bouncing off several books in a row after reading several non-happy books in a row.
The “is he or isn’t he” question isn’t even a factor as Jack knows his father’s name, he just never bothered to meet his father’s family because his father had told his (maternal) aunt that they didn’t get along. The question is if he was legitimate, and if he’ll accept the dukedom.
Grace is longsuffering, and I wish she’d stand up to the dowager more, but she’s not a martyr, and stands up to pretty much everyone else. Jack is ridiculously nice for a long-lost heir who is a highwayman hero. In any other book, he’d be the guy clearly too sweet to be the love interest who would “tut tut” and pat the heroine’s hand and sympathize with her about what an awful jerk the angsty brooding hero is. That would be Thomas, the current duke, who is the hero of the sequel to this book. Thomas really only has angsty brooding jerk moments due to the whole thing where he was supposed to be duke and now he’s about to be the penniless cousin making him drink way too much. The sequel, I understand, isn’t really a sequel but is what Thomas and his fiancée, Amelia, are doing during this book, which results in a number of scenes where random things are referenced but never followed up on.
I adored the first half of the book, which was really Julia Quinn at her best, but was less fond of the second half, where people started angsting. Angst really isn’t Quinn’s strongest point at all, and the explanation for the angst comes too late for it to really be effective. Still, it was a lot of fun, though I may also be influenced by bouncing off several books in a row after reading several non-happy books in a row.