I really enjoyed Duchess by Night, so I had high hopes when I started this book. I found it very formal in style, so much so that it was hard for me to read. Also, the leads talked about how they loved each other to each other, so I didn't understand their insecurity.
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*5 stars*
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I think perhaps James painted herself into a corner with this couple in the series. Rather than just teasing their potential like she has done pretty successfully with Villiers (we've seen him grow through the series, but his final relationship hasn't begun yet), most of their story had already unfolded before this book even began. They started out in the first book having a decent hurdle to overcome before their happily ever after, but progressing that storyline through each book- by the end of the 4th one it was pretty much wrapped up! (Their history has already been explained, the other man/other woman has already been dealt with, their interest in the other has already evolved since their separation... there's not much left to engage readers for several more hours of story). So James was left trying to conjure up some drama for them, but it just feels so transparent and contrived! The characters act like hen-wits so they can sufficiently be in their own way long enough for a few hundred pages of a book... The meat of the book (the page by page descriptions, conversations, etc.) are decently written, but without the bones of story arch, and character development, and a struggle beyond simply overcoming your own inept plans and poor communication, etc. it just sort of lies there in a sad heap. I had liked these two in the previous books, but my interest drained away the further I got in this one. (When someone gets into a mess entirely due to their own daftness, it's hard to even care how they'll fix the problem they caused for no good reason (except to fill pages). =/ ) I feel like an actor who can't muster any effort is asking flatly 'Oh no... ! What-ev-er will they do...?' (things A-F), 'How could it poss-ib-ly go wrong...? *exaggerated shrug*' (things G-M). None of it felt clever, or unique, or the least bit surprising, and that tediousness made the remaining pages seem to go on forever. (And in all those pages they never even addressed why the hero had told his wife he loved his old mistress. They've been hammering on it since like the 2nd chapter of the first book, but then it was suddenly conveniently forgotten here, (and to hear him tell it, in this book, he didn't give a fig for her. So... wth?)). If it weren't part of a series I might not have finished it. James can do much better than this! ( )

Absolutely charming historical. I loved Elijah and Gemma and liked the few side characters as well. The no sex part of it and the contrivances to keep our couple apart were silly and weak, but it did not wildly diminish my enjoyment. The info about the discovery of digitalis at the end was really interesting, and I am so glad James included that. It was also fun seeing the start of Tobias' journey since I already read his book. I have had a stressful week, this audiobook was my escape for a few days, and it did its job very well. ( )

Let me start this review with telling you not to do what I did. Don't read this series out of order. I started with the book one, Desperate Duchesses (Desperate Duchesses, #1) , then I skipped to Duchess By Night (Desperate Duchesses, #3) , followed by A Duke of Her Own (Desperate Duchesses, #6) and finally this one, This Duchess of Mine (Desperate Duchesses, #5) . I still have to read An Affair Before Christmas (Desperate Duchesses #2) and When the Duke Returns (Desperate Duchesses #4). Which I'll probably do next week.

It's very important that this particular series be read in order, especially because of this couple. We've met the hero and heroine in book one and all through the series they come in and out so that by the time we get their own story, we already have preconceived notions of who they are and what their personalities are like.

We already know that their marriage was prearranged when they were very young and that they really didn't know each other much when the marriage took place. Jemma, our heroine, began to fall in love with her husband, that is until one faithful afternoon she drops by his office in Parliament, and finds him having sex with another woman. And that was that for these two.

Jemma decides to bail and high tails it to France, proceeding to flaunt her many affairs, just to embarrass her husband. For NINE years she's been living in France and evading the responsibility she, as well as Elijah, had toward the title, producing an heir. The only reason she comes back to England is to produce an heir because apparently Elijah may not have much time to live. The man has some heart defect.

Right there was my first problem with these two. Infidelity in romance, at least for me, is off-putting and it needs to have a significant plot in order for me to change my mind about it, like there really wasn't any real "cheating", or the heroine was still a virgin, while the hero is assuming otherwise. Stuff like that will redeem the story for me. No such luck in this story.

My second problem was the start of this book. I truly couldn't recognize the two as the people I've met in the first four books. Slowly, I finally begun to recognize them and it took me a long time to at least understand them, but I never bought into the love they finally professed to each other.

What I loved about this book is the secondary plot of the Duke of Villars's character development and his search for his illegitimate children. I recommend this book on this alone.

Melanie for b2b
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