Review: Of Arrogant Dukes and Multiple Deceptions
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2011
Nicholas Buchanan, the Duke of Dorchester, is used to obedience, deference, and most of all, people--especially woman--falling over themselves to please him. Nick accepted an invitation to Ravenswing Manor to inspect a stud farm where he meets Alicia Woodley. Alicia has no interest in a Duke and intends to leave him to the clutches of her enterprising cousin. Nick is immediately intrigued by this anomaly: a woman who doesn't immediately fall on her back for him. Arrogantly, he believes it a trick to make him pursue her and makes a wager with his henchman that he'll bed Alicia in the end. Soon, things get out of hand. Alicia is fending of the attentions of her obnoxious cousin, Frederick, and the conceited duke as well as narrowly avoiding an attempt on her life. Not sure who to trust, Nick and Alicia come together to uncover the truth to why Nick was invited to be a partner in the stud farm and who or why someone would wish Alicia harm.So, this story was just alright. The strongest part was the plot: I enjoyed the mystery about the secret the family has been trying to keep hidden and the comeuppance in the end. (I always love it when characters get their just desserts.) The weakest part, which seemed to overshadow everything, was the romantic relationship between Nick and Alicia.I had a hard time with the romance mainly because the characters themselves didn't feel real--not just Nick and Alicia, but everyone. The uncle was a bumbling idiot. The aunt barely registered. The cousin was a deluded and over indulged female. The other cousin was a complete dandy. Nick? I tried to like Nick, but he didn't seem to come down far from his pedestal. I did like him more as the story moved on, but I really didn't like how he pursued things in the bedchamber. Alicia? She's everything we're supposed to like in a heroine: she's compassionate, she's shamed by her relations uncivil conversations and attempts to trap a duck, she doesn't care to impress a duke, she cares for wounded animals, and she teaches the illiterate in the local school. She was rather funny in her bedroom education, but I lost respect for her that she caved so soon to Nick's charms.All in all, it was a fine story. Although the romance wasn't to my taste, the plot involving the horses and attempts on Alicia's life kept me reading.