Just Finished:



Your Wicked Ways is the fourth and final book in the Duchess series by Eloisa James. This is the story of Helene (introduced in Duchess) and Rees. In the past three books, the reader would get brief glimpses of Helene and her role seemed to grow in each book. Rees, however, was barely mentioned in the first book, was a background character in the second book, and then the reader got a few interactions with him and Helene in the third book. Side characters in this story are Esme, Sebastian, Gina, Cam, and Simon makes a brief appearance. Carola and Tuppy aren’t even mentioned.

Helene and Rees are a complicated couple. They eloped to Gretna Green when they were quite young. Helene, in fact, barely finished her first season. Theirs was a fiery and passionate romance which fizzled within their first year of marriage. This is their story ~ learning how to connect with someone that you’ve never been able to get out of your system.

Between the two of them, there are so many miscommunications, misunderstandings, etc. that they both need to get past. Along with that, they've both been hurtful towards one another and need to get past that, forgive each other, and learn have to move on into a more "grown up" relationship.

Along with Helene and Rees, I enjoyed the sidestory of Tom (Rees' brother) and Lina, the opera singer. At first, I was deadset on disliking her..but through the course of the book I actually began to really like her spirit.

This book was somewhere between okay and good. I think my favorite of the series would have to be The Duchess, just because it made me laugh more ~ but this was still a fun read.

Next up:

Labels: Eloisa James, Good, Historical Romance

is the third book in the Duchess series by Eloisa James. This is the story of Stephen (introduced in Duchess) and Bea. Stephen is the cousin of Cam, the hero of Duchess in Love. Bea is the companion to Esme’s aunt, Arabella. Bea and Arabella have come to stay with Esme while she is in the final weeks of her pregnancy. Esme and Sebastian’s story continues and Helene is also in this book. There is also some interaction between Helene and Rees so the reader learns more of their relationship. Their interactions made me really look forward to their story, which is the next (and last) one in the Duchess series.

At first, I had misgivings about this one. Stephen is 43, Bea is 23; so I thought immediately that this was going to be another one of those May-December books. (Personal note ~ I really don’t like reading about heroes close to my age dating and falling in love with heroines barely out of high school and/or college. This is why I quit reading Diana Palmer…well, one of the reasons…there’s also this annoying habit of her heroes calling their heroines “Little One”….and also explaining what la petite morte is…after awhile it felt like I was reading the same book over and over and over again).

Back on subject. Stephen is a man in demand. Not only does he have one woman requesting that he have an affair with her, he has one woman proclaim him as her fiancé, and yet another woman fills him with passion that he’s never known before. What’s a man to do?

This story was fun...not as fun as the first two, but still a good read. There were brief mentions of Gina (Duchess), but I would have liked to have seen Carola and Tuppy again. Maybe in the next one.

Ok, off to read.

Labels: Eloisa James, Good, Historical Romance

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

is the story of Gina and Cam ~ and Gina's friend , Carola who is unhappily married to Tuppy, and their friend Esme who is unhappily married to Miles ~ they are joined occasionally by their friend Helene, who is unhappily married to Rees. Thrown in with the friendships is a fun little quad, for Cam is married to Gina ~ Gina is engaged to Sebastian ~ Sebastian has feelings for Esme ~ and Esme, a close friend of Gina's is married to Miles (who has a mistress) and has feelings for Sebastian. Sounds confusing, perhaps, but the stories were actually very easy to follow.

Gina and Cam married very young and the young groom immediately fled for Greece leaving his young bride to live with his father. 12 years later, Gina is in love with Sebastian and has requested an annulment of her marriage to Cam, since it was never consummated. Along the way, Cam meets Tuppy and the two form a fast friendship. When they come to England, Cam is immediately smitten by a readhead he sees dancing with, Cam assumes, her husband. Imagine his surprise when he discovers that the woman he can't take his eyes off of is the wife he deserted 12 years ago.

Carola and Tuppy married three years ago. Carola took an immediate dislike to the marriage act and after two short weeks, Tuppy left her believing that it is what Carola wanted. But now she wants him back. The schemes she comes up with to get him back are humorous and often times laugh-out-loud funny.

Esme married Miles who was quite a bit older than her ~ he saw her once and immediately thought himself "in love". Esme is a beauty ~ Miles is not, although he is a kind man and very likeable. Esme and Miles have lived in separate houses for the majority of their marriage, at Esme's request. Esme is actually a bit of a tragic character. She is beautiful, funny, smart...and incredibly lonely. She and Sebastian (Gina's fiance) are constantly butting heads and the reader could almost tell from the first meeting of these two characters that something inevitably would happen between them.

Helene has a very, very small part in this book ~ but the story of her and Rees is one of the next ones in the series, so I felt I needed to mention her.

I'd rate this story an A ~ Definitely one I want to reread, and one I liked well enough I ran out to my UBS today and picked up all 4 books in the series (I borrowed Duchess from the library).

Labels: Eloisa James, Excellent, Historical Romance