The Decadent Duke [Mass Market Paperback]

PLOT: Newly minted debutante Lady Georgina's four sisters have all married well. Now her eccentric, voluptuary mother is determined that Georgy marry no less than a duke--the rakish, decadent Duke of Bedford, to be exact. But it's the Duke's younger, unhappily married, more serious brother John who intrigues the mischievous Georgina. And soon there may be TWO "decadent" dukes...

MINI-REVIEW: I'd say this is Henley's most spirited and enjoyable offering of the past four or five years. It has two excellent protagonists as well as wit, sass, and heart. I certainly enjoyed it more than the increasingly indistinguishable Regency comedies dominating today's market.

FULL REVIEW: Henley is back in fine form, with a Regency-era historical romance featuring several of her trademarks: a vivacious, devilishly witty heroine; her large and eccentric Anglo-Scottish family; and an authoritarian older hero with a good-natured streak of amused tolerance.

This novel will not likely top the list of anyone looking for traditional Regencies of the sweet and stately sort, or for those hoping for the lighter Regency-era romps that have proliferated throughout the 2000s. Also, readers who expect the same level of historical detail and royal and military history that Henley weaves into her Medievals and Elizabethans might be a bit disappointed: although THE DECADENT DUKE (DD) features a fair bit of Regency politics, the emphasis here is on the social doings of the large cast of aristocratic characters.

But, oh, what pleasures these doings offer!

The book features pages of rapid-fire, amusing banter between various characters, particularly between Georgina and her pithy mother and sisters. (Interestingly, although the family is characterized as unorthodox, they are still conventional enough to demand socially advantageous marriages; this tempered characterization is a shrewd and realistic move on the part of Henley, an author perhaps better known for more starkly delineated character types).

Henley hits a home run with her two leads. Georgina and John are thoroughly enjoyable protagonists that, though superficially different, complement one another to perfection.

Georgina's carefree lust for life; humorous appraisal of the foibles of society; and zesty, mischievous nature are delightful counterpoints to John's sober authority and arch, understated humor. John is a very well-characterized hero of the subtle Alpha sort; he is unfailingly decent to his lush of a brother and vulnerable sons, and exercises far more emotional and physical restraint than Henley's earlier Alpha-lions, delicious though they may be. Georgina also has an appealing undercurrent of vulnerability stemming from her father's neglect of her (though this does lead to some baldly Elektra-type linkages to John as a father-figure).

Their mutual attraction is convincingly presented, and the reader will more than likely be rooting for them along the way. Henley builds up the hero and heroine's acquaintance quite a bit--over 200 pages--before they even share a kiss, much less acknowledge tender feelings for one another. The result is an attraction and, later, a love that feels genuine and not rushed, like those found too often in today's romances. (I do think Henley could have given her lovers more "screen time" together, though).

ON HENLEY: Henley's heroines and heroes are bigger than life, her villains low-down and nasty, her eccentrics delightful and diverting. Henley lovers are more passionate than others, their tensions and traumas magnified to high drama. While she deals in stock characters and archetypes, she does not attempt to disguise this. Rather, she relishes and embellishes it. She paints with broad, bold, colorful brushstrokes; what her books lack in nuance they make up for threefold in vigor and sauce and spit.

ROUND-UP:
What this book doesn't contain: No cheating or outside affairs (by either hero or heroine); no homosexual plotlines; no polyamorous elements in the main romance (other characters have affairs); no abusive male protagonists; no hero-heroine premarital sex

What this book contains: a 15-year age difference between heroine and hero; some salty language of the four-letter kind; and a Happily Ever After.

Sensuality level: mainstream single-title Romance level--3-4 brief heterosexual sex scenes described in detail (though this book has far less sensuality than Henley's earlier, classic works).

TWO WORDS
Heroine: Joi de vivre & Sparkling
Hero: Restraint & Conscience

VERDICT: This is a quick-moving, chuckle-worthy read with some moments of high melodrama and others of vividly detailed emotion. Allow yourself to be swept up amongst the varying currents. Henley is having the devil's own fun and invites you to share it with her.

I picked up this book at the bookstore about a week ago when I was looking for some light reading. I haven't read very much Virginia Henley in the past, but I remembered enjoying what I HAD read, so I thought that this might be an enjoyable book. Now, let me first start out by saying I am not a terrible stickler for EXTREME historical accuracy - I feel as though I am not alone in saying I do not read regency romances in order to learn about early nineteenth century England; however, I feel as though this book really didn't even make an attempt to portray society as it would have been (I feel as though one must at least pay lip service to the social mores of the time). The heroine, for example, engages in activities that would be completely unacceptable for ANY unmarried noblewoman during that era (telling raunchy jokes, kissing gentlemen, flirting absolutely SHAMELESSLY) and the fact that everyone in society seems to adore her seems a bit off. Obviously, one expects some license (I would most probably be equally put off if the heroine were to act exactly as early nineteenth century debutantes would), but I felt that this was a bit too much. In this particular novel, it was especially odd to me, because the author put in a subplot that was heavily political and one that was very faithful to the actual historical events.

***Warning May Contain Spoilers***
More than that, however, I feel that the plot was a bit too muddy. The book was endlessly involved in subplots with the heroine's family (in some cases even involving the heroine walking in on several of her sisters and their faithless husbands in flagrante) as well as the hero's wife (who is still alive in the first third of the book) and brother. These plots don't really go anywhere, and tend to detract from the hero and heroine. By the end of the novel, I still feel as though I do not know the main characters, especially the hero, because so much time is taken up by side stories.

I was not a particular fan of this book, and personally cannot recommend it.

I was very disappointed with both the characters and the historical detail in this book. Regency readers are pretty well acquainted with the history and culture of this period, and should be appalled at the lack of attention to even the most basic concepts of Regency life. Henley has her female lead character using vulgar language as well as acting in a manner that would certainly gotten her blacklisted as "fast" by any proper lady, as well as viewing bedroom escapades in a most unlikely situation. (And the author obviously has not read much about women's clothing of the time, but that's another story.) But the detail that prompted me to write this review was the bathtub with HOT AND COLD RUNNING WATER in the hero's home. In every other Regency I've read, a bath necessitated servants running upstairs with cans of fire-heated water. Heck, most homes didn't even have indoor plumbing until the second quarter of the 20th century.

Aside from the historical details, the thing that bothered me most was the author's name-dropping. Nearly every real Duke and Earl in England is mentioned in conversation, along with their estates, to show off the author's reading of Debrett's. Such as, "Look, here comes the Prince of Wales, along with his brother, Prince Edward." Like anyone in Society wouldn't know that... It's like reading chick lit where the women are all wearing Jimmy Choo shoes, carrying Kate Spade bags, and can recognize a designer suit at 50 yards.

I won't waste my time on Virginia Henley in the future; there are many Regency authors who write true to the period, and make a much better story too.