Review: The Duke in Denial review
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2014
THE DUKE IN DENIAL is the first novel by author Alexandra Ainsworth. It’s gay historical romance, so how could I resist?This one only took me about a day and half or so to read. Not too bad. It’s set in England in the early 1800s with Bonaparte ruling France. England was scared of an invasion. Sebastian’s uncle and cousin die, making him a duke. On his way to a ball, he meets William, and they connect instantly. Course, like in suppressed fashion, Sebastian isn’t quite sure why he likes William so much. Things get a little more complicated when he becomes engaged to William’s sister, Dorotha, who used to be engaged to Sebastian’s cousin. Awkward.There’s a mystery going on in the story too. I totally had a a theory about what was going on and then was proved wrong in the reveal so I was pretty happy by that.The characters were in-character for the 1800s, including their speech and mannerisms, which could be so annoying for reading in the 21st century. But I think this speaks a lot for the work the author put into for accuracy.Also, major kudos to the author on the switching point of views. William and Sebastian’s parts were distinctive. Usually when I read a book with the author switching back and forth between povs I groan because the two characters are not written differently enough, so much that I think the book could have easily been just in one character’s pov and been the same novel. But with THE DUKE IN DENIAL, Ainsworth successfully, wrote two characters’ point of views that were unique.William was the book boyfriend for this novel. A hot captain? Check. A hot captain who knows his way around the bedroom? Double check. Plus, I could not deal with Sebastian as a book boyfriend and his doe-eyed expression at ‘men can be with other men’?This one seemed to lack something however. I’m not sure what. I enjoyed it of course. But there was something missing. Maybe I didn’t completely fall in love with the characters. Or maybe the pace was too slow. Or the writing slightly too dry. Maybe the love between William and Sebastian lacked that 21st century spark? I’m not sure. It was missing something.Honestly, I would have rated this one on the stars system 3.5 stars. I really try not to bother with halves so I bumped the rating up and gave it 4 stars, or a B on my rating system.