A Duke of Her Own [Mass Market Paperback]

Leopold Dautry, Duke of Villiers, has decided to marry. He has to. After a deathbed promise to look after his illegitimate children, he knows he needs a wife. The problem is that with six children, she can't be just anyone. On the advice of his friends he realises that only the daughter of a duke will do.

Fortunately for Villiers he has two to choose from - Eleanor and Lisette. Unfortunately for him Eleanor has a reputation as a dowdy snob, and Lisette is plain mad.

But the duke needs a mother for his children, so one of them will have to do. Both are beautiful, and during a trip to the country Villiers soon gets to know both of his potential brides better, and realise neither is quite as they seem. Before too long the notorious Villiers is torn, for once in his ducal life, between his own wants and the needs of others.

If only they were the same thing...

The Desperate Duchesses series (Desperate Duchesses,An Affair Before Christmas,Duchess by Night,When the Duke Returns (Desperate Duchesses),This Duchess of Mine) ends on a high, with the decadent Villiers finally getting his turn. More than any other character he has grown and changed through this series. The cold, unpleasant man engaged to Roberta in 'Desperate Duchesses' couldn't be more different now. Yet he is essentially still the same character, proving James' characterisation skills.

Without giving too much away about Villiers' choice, I think James outdid herself in finding a match for this duke. Not that Villiers is ever let off lightly - mostly thanks to his wonderful son Tobias - and how he finally resolves his troubles is adorably done.

Gorgeous and glorious, this books is at times wonderfully funny and deeply touching. A perfect end to an excellent series. Eloisa James just keeps on getting better and better.

Eloisa James is, in my opinion, one of the better current writers of historical romances. Although her books do contain some historical inaccuracies and some Americanisms, and this is no different, they still read as an enjoyable historical romance. She works hard at characterisation and providing three-dimensional heroes and heroines in her stories.

The Duke of Villiers has appeared in several of her previous books as a mysterious, chess-playing duke. In this story he is still mysterious but his nature is slowly unravelled as we see him interact with his children - he has six illegitimate children. Also observing is Eleanor, daughter of the Duke of Montague, a woman who said she would only marry a duke - when the duke that she loved and wanted to marry married another. Vowing to only marry a duke when there are so few leaves her pretty safe from having to marry someone else that she doesn't love.

But now there is a duke on the market, the Duke of Villiers. And he needs a woman from a good family who will have the status to bring up his bastard children. He has two possibles for the role, Eleanor and another duke's daughter, Lisette, and so he spends some time with both of them at a house party at Lisette's father's house. Villiers has a particular requirement in his bride, and Eleanor's heart is someone else's, but can they both change their minds?

What I liked about this book was the characterisation - the slow way in which we learned about Eleanor and watched her understand the nature of her feelings to the two dukes in her life. Villiers was always rather remote in the previous books and he was still a little such in this, but it was good to see some humour and warmth in him.

Overall this was a very good read. I found the houseparty situation, with adjoining bedrooms sharing a balcony between Eleanor and Villiers unlikely, especially as the property is spoken of as Knole House in Kent (with which I am familiar), and some of the conversation seemed a bit too modern for those days, but the book is worth reading for those who like this genre.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009

This has turned out to be my favourite of the Duchess series.

Leopold, Duke of Villiers, is a haughty, self assured, self-absorbed and 'seemingly' invulnerable man. But a fairly recent serious injury leaving him a Death's Door (that's a whole other story you can catch up on in a previous book if you find you enjoy this book) now finds him collecting together under his own roof the six children he sired with a variety of women. Children he had believed were being brought up with foster families and paid for by himself. Villiers decision to personally take care of his 'bastards' was a rash deathbed promise he made when he thought his end was nigh... little realising he'd recover and now his damned sense of honour won't let him rescind. All he has to do now is find a wife of equal status to himself who will not only love his children, but be willing and able to face the social consequences that will inevitably follow.

There are only two Duchesses available... Villiers makes no pretense of what he's after and the two Duchesses, who are very different sorts of women, find his requirements acceptable (for differing reasons) and neither is averse to a wedded alliance. And so the scene is set.

The intrigue is in the development and subsequent interplay of the characters, who are very slickly supported by a colourful cast that ranges from vain mothers, scheming sisters, illegitimate sons, pugs and the inevitable evil children's home matron.

But, the real magnetism of this story centres on the two very unique yet equally intelligent lead characters.

Eloisa James never fails to deliver wit as well as romance and an undercurrent of plot. What, I think, makes her extra special among the mass market romance writer crowd is that she empowers her characters with the intelligence, sense of humour and voice to deliver the wit rather than just creating a narrative circumstance for the reader to laugh at. The interplay between Villiers and Eleanor is electrifying. Eleanor's sparring sister, Anne, is sharp as a pin. And, Villier and Tobias' oft unspoken interplay speaks volumes.

Add to all of this a cleverly, if somewhat thin, plot that keeps the reader just on the right side of nervous right up until the last dozen pages and you can start to breathe easy... and you have a really, really good book.

Oh... and Eloisa James is one of those very rare American writers writing English period romance whose writing does not distract you with all of those irritating Americanisms, like: "I guess", "We might as well quit", "Fall follows Summer", "He didn't have a dime", and "She lived just around the block!"

Buy this one and enjoy it.