Review: Awesome Historical!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2014
London 1814...Drake, Duke of Manchester is searching the Marriage Mart for a perfect bride. He wants a woman who is poised, sophisticated, and worthy of the title Duchess. But most of all, he wants a woman who does not want the useless emotion of love.Socially awkward Miss Penelope Clayton isn't meant for marriage. A serious botanist, she has no desire to wed, so being forced by her guardian to participate in the Season to find a husband is torture. She'll never fit in with the ton, especially if they discover she's been pretending to be a man within the scientific community.As Drake's family makes over Penelope, turning her from naive bluestocking to enchanting debutante, he is put upon to introduce her to society and eligible bachelors. Despite dance lessons and new gowns, Penelope is the opposite of poised and sophisticated as she stumbles from one mishap to the next. Why then, does he find it so hard to resist her?Review:This is the first story I have read by Callie Hutton and I can say it will not be my last!It was an entertaining, fast paced historical with humor, drama and some sexy thrown all into a great package.I loved the attention to detail and the feel the author gave to the story to make you feel as if you were in 1814, England.  The chemistry between the hero and heroine was almost instantaneous, but I like that they both fought their feelings.Penelope is such a smart character and even though she is socially awkward she tries her hardest not to embarrass herself and the family that is hosting her for the season.  I so enjoyed that she is smart and Botanist, though not acceptable for a women at the time, she hides her identity by using a man's name when submitting her findings.  Her story is so much a Cinderella story, but with book smarts.  I really felt for Penelope when those women were being cruel to her, I wanted to smack them around for treating her so badly.Drake has become the Duke of Manchester at an early age and as such he is putting too much pressure on himself to be the perfect Duke.  To go along with him being the perfect Duke he decides this is the season to find his "Perfect" Duchess.  It takes him quite a while to realize that what he needs is not perfection but someone to brighten him and make not stuffy and there is no one better for that than Penelope.I thoroughly enjoyed this story that made laugh and cry at different points, excellent job making your characters come alive.4 Stars