is the second book in the Duchess series by Eloisa James. This is the story of Simon and Henrietta. Simon is the nephew of Miles, deceased husband of Esme (characters were introduced in the first book, Duchess); and close friend of Rees, estranged husband of Helene (characters were also introduced in Duchess). Esme is living in the country and is now 6 months pregnant with a baby that may or may not be her husband’s. Simon has gone to visit her, where he encounters Henrietta who lives in the same village. Simon is immediately attracted to her and wants to marry her. But, alas, Henrietta has a health ailment that is believed to prevent to her from performing the marital act. So, Simon does what any 30-something man would do. He dumps her. But, little does he know that there's a letter out there that a lonely woman had written and it will resurface later and changes his life forever.

Sebastian returns from self-exile in Italy (from Duchess). The staunch marquis now works as a gardener at Esme’s estate (Simon hired him). It’s been 6 months since Esme and Sebastian have seen each other. He has done away with a lot of his uptight beliefs that were so annoying in Duchess and now his one and only goal is to pursue Esme.

I enjoyed the fact that you learned more about Rees in this novel and actually saw his character developed more (he got barely a mention in Duchess). Helene was only seen a few times in this book as well, but her story is coming (4th in the series). Carola and Tuppy made a brief visit to the dinner party that bonded Henrietta and Simon forever. I was also glad to see Esme was still as much of a matchmaker as she ever was (she was instrumental in getting Carola and Tuppy back together in Duchess).

All in all, I was very happy with this book and enjoyed seeing the stories of the characters introduced in Duchess carried on.

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I went to my UBS to pick up the Suzanne Enoch books that are on my TBR (Library only had the last two, so if I'm picking up the first one ~ might as well get all of them). Tomorrow, I'll go to my 2nd UBS store and look there ~ I should actually learn to go there first. I usually have better luck at that one.

Labels: Eloisa James, Historical Romance, Very Good