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The Regency Romp Trilogy #1
The Duke's Holiday
The Duke of Montford, cold, precise, and more powerful than the Prince Regent himself, wants things the way he wants them: cross-referenced, indexed, and at his beck and call. And he always gets what he wants.
Until he meets Astrid Honeywell. And a giant pig. And a crooked castle in the middle of Yorkshire.
Astrid Honeywell, staunch bluestocking, has struggled for years to keep her family together by running the estate and family brewery after her father's death. She is not about to let the tyrannical Duke of Montford steal away all she has worked for because of some antiquated contract between their families. So when the priggish Duke comes to call, she does everything in her power—including setting the family pig on him—to drive him away.
She didn't expect him to be so... well, infuriatingly attractive. Every time he scowls at her, she has the most improper desire to kiss him—and a whole lot more.
Montford can't decide whether to strangle Astrid or seduce her. The one thing he knows for a fact is that he must resist his powerful attraction for her at all costs. He has a very proper, very demure fiancée waiting for him back in London, after all. But when Astrid is kidnapped by a disgruntled suitor and whisked off to Gretna Green, Montford will do anything to get her back.
Will these two drive each other to Bedlam... or can they make it to the altar without killing each other?
Includes a fiery heroine, mistaken identities, errant livestock, pompadours, drunken declarations, a touch of smex, and enough witty banter to sink a ship.
NOTE: This is a sexy historical romance. Recommended for 18+ due to adult content.
Until he meets Astrid Honeywell. And a giant pig. And a crooked castle in the middle of Yorkshire.
Astrid Honeywell, staunch bluestocking, has struggled for years to keep her family together by running the estate and family brewery after her father's death. She is not about to let the tyrannical Duke of Montford steal away all she has worked for because of some antiquated contract between their families. So when the priggish Duke comes to call, she does everything in her power—including setting the family pig on him—to drive him away.
She didn't expect him to be so... well, infuriatingly attractive. Every time he scowls at her, she has the most improper desire to kiss him—and a whole lot more.
Montford can't decide whether to strangle Astrid or seduce her. The one thing he knows for a fact is that he must resist his powerful attraction for her at all costs. He has a very proper, very demure fiancée waiting for him back in London, after all. But when Astrid is kidnapped by a disgruntled suitor and whisked off to Gretna Green, Montford will do anything to get her back.
Will these two drive each other to Bedlam... or can they make it to the altar without killing each other?
Includes a fiery heroine, mistaken identities, errant livestock, pompadours, drunken declarations, a touch of smex, and enough witty banter to sink a ship.
NOTE: This is a sexy historical romance. Recommended for 18+ due to adult content.
434 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 7, 2014
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2610 people want to read
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May 6, 2017
This was my "recommended read" for September's TBR Challenge entry. It's a very long review, so be warned! But many of my friends here really loved this book and I... didn't, so I felt compelled to go into detail about why it didn't work for me.
As I was writing the review, I revised my grade, so I'm going with a D+/2.5 stars.
The Duke's Holiday is a light-hearted “romp” (the cover even boasts that it’s part of the author’s Regency Romp series – just in case I hadn’t realised) in which a very handsome, very rich, very proper, very aloof and very lonely duke (although he doesn’t actually admit the lonely part, of course) has his comfortable and orderly existence completely overturned when he travels to Yorkshire in order to investigate the goings-on at one of his properties there.
Cyril, Duke of Montford (and yes, he’s been given a very un-romantic-hero-like name on purpose) likes everything to be Just So. His pens have to be lined up in a certain way, his boot tassels must face one way and not another, and at meals, no food on his plate can be allowed to touch another food. The book synopsis indicates he has OCD, and clearly this is what the author is getting at, but at the risk of being a party-pooper, I used to know someone with OCD and it wasn’t quite like that.
But anyway. Dramatic license.
The duke dislikes travelling immensely, but circumstances conspire to force him to travel to Rylestone in Yorkshire, an estate he owns, but which has been inhabited for the last two hundred years by the Honeywell family, whose principal occupation is the manufacture of the popular and rather splendid Honeywell Ale. There is some kind of family feud dating back a couple of centuries, too, which I imagine is supposed to prime the reader for the ensuing conflict.
The story is a simple one – Astrid wants to get rid of the duke as soon as possible. He is immediately aware that all is not as it should be and wants to know what’s going on. Astrid tries to pull the wool over his eyes several times and discovers he’s much more canny than she’d given him credit for. And all the while, the pair are fighting a reluctant attraction. The author manages that part of the story quite well – the sexual tension bubbles along nicely, although the sex scenes themselves are nothing special.
I confess that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped or expected to. The author certainly has potential, and I may be tempted to seek out the next book in the series, as I liked the way the two principal characters were being set up – but when it comes down to it, this book is a comedy and I didn’t find it all that funny. And in some places, what the author no doubt intended as humour was actually rather crass; for example, Montford finds the fact that Astrid has one blue eye and one brown one to be very unsettling, and in his extreme annoyance one evening, finds himself thinking that he’d like to gouge one of them out with a soup-spoon and replace it with another of the right colour. (Eeeew!) Although, of course, the problem is deciding which one to keep...
I’ve seen the book likened to a screwball comedy, which is a genre I adore. But I can’t see the similiarity, because The Duke’s Holiday completely lacks the sophistication one would find in the best screwball comedies. This is slapstick which is completely different. There are a couple of faintly amusing set-pieces in the book, such as the foot-and-ale race, and late on, an abduction and rescue, but nothing that really made me giggle.
But my biggest problem with the book is this – I just couldn’t warm to or like the heroine. She’s a woman in a man’s world, trying to run a business, a home, bring up a family and support the local community, which are all laudable things. But I couldn’t reconcile that woman with the one whose behaviour is so frequently infantile, childish and downright stupid that she quickly becomes intensely annoying rather than charmingly eccentric. For a woman whose intelligence is mentioned frequently (clearly a case of TELLING rather than SHOWING), she is disturbingly oblivious to the fact that the duke has the law completely on his side and no matter of moral right or obligation gives her the right to behave in the way she does.
If she’d been as intelligent as the author claims, Astrid would have tried to charm Montford and work out a compromise – which is when she would have discovered that he actually had no intention of throwing her and her family out of their home. After all, he’s got 27 (or is it 37?) houses in England alone, so he is perfectly able to continue to let this one out; but he quite naturally wants to make sure that it's being properly run and cared for. And clearly, it isn’t.
But no – intelligent Astrid decides to behave outrageously and repeatedly tries to throw him off his OWN PROPERTY. And then she refuses to show him the ledgers and account books – which, again, as the owner, he is perfectly entitled to see - which leads to an overly long scene in the library during which the pair engages in a heated tussle which Astrid seeks to end by putting the ledger in her drawers (yeah, must’ve been large drawers or a small book!) – which is very mature.
When everyone around her is pointing out the folly of her actions – they’re all wrong and Astrid is the only one with the strength of purpose to do what must be done. Even when her sister Alice points out how Astrid’s unconventional attitude and behaviour has affected her and everyone else, Astrid STILL can’t be brought to see another point of view.
In this, (which is the next part of the scene I’ve quoted at length below), Astrid sounds and acts like a petulant child stamping her foot and sulking because they know they’re in the wrong but can’t admit it.
Astrid is difficult to like and is just TOO whacky. It feels like the author is trying too hard to make her funny and loveable, but for most of the time, I couldn’t help sympathising with the duke, who thinks she’s completely bonkers and out of control and, when he doesn’t want to shag her, wants to throttle her. I get that the idea was to take the most proper and aloof aristocrat in the history of historical romance and take swipes at him so that bit by bit, he becomes human like the rest of us, but the method of doing so just didn’t work for me. Astrid treats him as a pariah from the get-go, and while he certainly is a bit of a stuffed shirt who needs to loosen up a bit, being unreasonably hostile and downright unpleasant isn’t the way to go about it. And if Montford really does have a form of OCD, flinging him into constant contact with someone as chaotic as Astrid doesn’t seem to me to be the way to devise useful coping mechanisms!
Montford is rather more engaging, although he doesn’t really rise above the two-dimensional, and I actually found myself a little confused by the author’s description of him. To start with, he’s described as incredibly fastidious in everything he does, including his appearance, so he’s well-dressed and never has a hair out of place. This fastidiousness, combined with his tendency to swoon at the sight of blood and his distaste for travel because it makes him throw up, gave me the picture of him as a bit of a fop. But then Ms Fenton turns him into your standard tall, dark, handsome, well-muscled, well-endowed historical hero, and as a result, I found it very difficult to get a handle on him. He’s given a backstory of sorts that is never really fleshed out, which is a missed opportunity. We’re told that Montford lost his parents in a carriage accident when he was four years old, and this is clearly meant to account for his dislike of travel and the sight of blood. I confess, I immediately thought of Colin Sandhurst in Tessa Dare’s A Week to Be Wicked – who had to fend off wild dogs aged 8 when his parents were killed in a similar manner. But the big difference (besides AWtbW being a MUCH better book!) is that we are SHOWN how this event affected and continues to affect Colin throughout that story – here, Montford faints at the sight of blood and throws up in carriages. And that’s about all we get.
The Duke’s Holiday isn’t a terrible book by any means, but it would have benefited from some judicious editing and proof-reading. There is a lot of repetition within scenes which disrupts the pacing and delays the story progression, so there is a lot of pruning and tightening up needed. There are a number of typos and errors, the most obvious of which was the mention of a character wearing a crinoline in the Regency period. Also, Ms Fenton’s grasp of the conventions of the period is a little tenuous and the language and overall style is rather too modern.
I don’t have too much of a problem with that in certain circumstances. I enjoy books by Tessa Dare and Maya Rodale, for example, both of whom write romantic comedies which require one to check one’s “historical accuracy hat” at the door. But Ms Fenton isn’t in that league in terms of either her characterisation or writing to bring out the humour.
I thought the best parts of the book were actually the more introspective and character-based ones. One scene which has stuck in my mind is the one in which Alice (younger than Astrid by three years) finally tells her some home truths:
In fact, re-reading that passage makes me think Alice would have made a far better heroine –one who also chafes against the restrictions imposed upon her as a woman yet who is clear sighted enough to see that she needs to work within them in order to get what she wants.
Anyway, this review is already very long, so I’ll finish by saying that although I like the “opposites attract” trope as a rule, Montford and Astrid are two are polar opposites in so many ways that it’s hard to see how a relationship between them is going to work long-term. It’s certainly true that Montford needs loosening up, but I like to believe that a couple in a romance has potential beyond the HEA at the end of the book; and if he really does have some form of OCD, Astrid is going to drive him up the wall.
Seriously, Felix and Oscar look like soul-mates compared to this odd couple!
As I was writing the review, I revised my grade, so I'm going with a D+/2.5 stars.
The Duke's Holiday is a light-hearted “romp” (the cover even boasts that it’s part of the author’s Regency Romp series – just in case I hadn’t realised) in which a very handsome, very rich, very proper, very aloof and very lonely duke (although he doesn’t actually admit the lonely part, of course) has his comfortable and orderly existence completely overturned when he travels to Yorkshire in order to investigate the goings-on at one of his properties there.
Cyril, Duke of Montford (and yes, he’s been given a very un-romantic-hero-like name on purpose) likes everything to be Just So. His pens have to be lined up in a certain way, his boot tassels must face one way and not another, and at meals, no food on his plate can be allowed to touch another food. The book synopsis indicates he has OCD, and clearly this is what the author is getting at, but at the risk of being a party-pooper, I used to know someone with OCD and it wasn’t quite like that.
But anyway. Dramatic license.
The duke dislikes travelling immensely, but circumstances conspire to force him to travel to Rylestone in Yorkshire, an estate he owns, but which has been inhabited for the last two hundred years by the Honeywell family, whose principal occupation is the manufacture of the popular and rather splendid Honeywell Ale. There is some kind of family feud dating back a couple of centuries, too, which I imagine is supposed to prime the reader for the ensuing conflict.
The story is a simple one – Astrid wants to get rid of the duke as soon as possible. He is immediately aware that all is not as it should be and wants to know what’s going on. Astrid tries to pull the wool over his eyes several times and discovers he’s much more canny than she’d given him credit for. And all the while, the pair are fighting a reluctant attraction. The author manages that part of the story quite well – the sexual tension bubbles along nicely, although the sex scenes themselves are nothing special.
I confess that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped or expected to. The author certainly has potential, and I may be tempted to seek out the next book in the series, as I liked the way the two principal characters were being set up – but when it comes down to it, this book is a comedy and I didn’t find it all that funny. And in some places, what the author no doubt intended as humour was actually rather crass; for example, Montford finds the fact that Astrid has one blue eye and one brown one to be very unsettling, and in his extreme annoyance one evening, finds himself thinking that he’d like to gouge one of them out with a soup-spoon and replace it with another of the right colour. (Eeeew!) Although, of course, the problem is deciding which one to keep...
I’ve seen the book likened to a screwball comedy, which is a genre I adore. But I can’t see the similiarity, because The Duke’s Holiday completely lacks the sophistication one would find in the best screwball comedies. This is slapstick which is completely different. There are a couple of faintly amusing set-pieces in the book, such as the foot-and-ale race, and late on, an abduction and rescue, but nothing that really made me giggle.
But my biggest problem with the book is this – I just couldn’t warm to or like the heroine. She’s a woman in a man’s world, trying to run a business, a home, bring up a family and support the local community, which are all laudable things. But I couldn’t reconcile that woman with the one whose behaviour is so frequently infantile, childish and downright stupid that she quickly becomes intensely annoying rather than charmingly eccentric. For a woman whose intelligence is mentioned frequently (clearly a case of TELLING rather than SHOWING), she is disturbingly oblivious to the fact that the duke has the law completely on his side and no matter of moral right or obligation gives her the right to behave in the way she does.
If she’d been as intelligent as the author claims, Astrid would have tried to charm Montford and work out a compromise – which is when she would have discovered that he actually had no intention of throwing her and her family out of their home. After all, he’s got 27 (or is it 37?) houses in England alone, so he is perfectly able to continue to let this one out; but he quite naturally wants to make sure that it's being properly run and cared for. And clearly, it isn’t.
But no – intelligent Astrid decides to behave outrageously and repeatedly tries to throw him off his OWN PROPERTY. And then she refuses to show him the ledgers and account books – which, again, as the owner, he is perfectly entitled to see - which leads to an overly long scene in the library during which the pair engages in a heated tussle which Astrid seeks to end by putting the ledger in her drawers (yeah, must’ve been large drawers or a small book!) – which is very mature.
When everyone around her is pointing out the folly of her actions – they’re all wrong and Astrid is the only one with the strength of purpose to do what must be done. Even when her sister Alice points out how Astrid’s unconventional attitude and behaviour has affected her and everyone else, Astrid STILL can’t be brought to see another point of view.
“I had no idea the opinions of small-minded gentry were so important to you,” she huffed.
Alice groaned in frustration. “You just don’t understand, Astrid. You never think beyond this pile of stones. Whether you like it or not, the opinions of other people matter. You’ll discover this soon enough when we’re tossed out of here.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“What? It’s true. The duke has the right. And the way you’ve treated him thus far does nothing to help our case. We’ll be lucky if he doesn’t put us all in the workhouse.”
[…]
“I don’t need saving. I am the one trying to save the lot of you!” Astrid cried.
“How can you do it when you won’t accept the truth? Rylestone doesn’t belong to us anymore.”
In this, (which is the next part of the scene I’ve quoted at length below), Astrid sounds and acts like a petulant child stamping her foot and sulking because they know they’re in the wrong but can’t admit it.
Astrid is difficult to like and is just TOO whacky. It feels like the author is trying too hard to make her funny and loveable, but for most of the time, I couldn’t help sympathising with the duke, who thinks she’s completely bonkers and out of control and, when he doesn’t want to shag her, wants to throttle her. I get that the idea was to take the most proper and aloof aristocrat in the history of historical romance and take swipes at him so that bit by bit, he becomes human like the rest of us, but the method of doing so just didn’t work for me. Astrid treats him as a pariah from the get-go, and while he certainly is a bit of a stuffed shirt who needs to loosen up a bit, being unreasonably hostile and downright unpleasant isn’t the way to go about it. And if Montford really does have a form of OCD, flinging him into constant contact with someone as chaotic as Astrid doesn’t seem to me to be the way to devise useful coping mechanisms!
Montford is rather more engaging, although he doesn’t really rise above the two-dimensional, and I actually found myself a little confused by the author’s description of him. To start with, he’s described as incredibly fastidious in everything he does, including his appearance, so he’s well-dressed and never has a hair out of place. This fastidiousness, combined with his tendency to swoon at the sight of blood and his distaste for travel because it makes him throw up, gave me the picture of him as a bit of a fop. But then Ms Fenton turns him into your standard tall, dark, handsome, well-muscled, well-endowed historical hero, and as a result, I found it very difficult to get a handle on him. He’s given a backstory of sorts that is never really fleshed out, which is a missed opportunity. We’re told that Montford lost his parents in a carriage accident when he was four years old, and this is clearly meant to account for his dislike of travel and the sight of blood. I confess, I immediately thought of Colin Sandhurst in Tessa Dare’s A Week to Be Wicked – who had to fend off wild dogs aged 8 when his parents were killed in a similar manner. But the big difference (besides AWtbW being a MUCH better book!) is that we are SHOWN how this event affected and continues to affect Colin throughout that story – here, Montford faints at the sight of blood and throws up in carriages. And that’s about all we get.
The Duke’s Holiday isn’t a terrible book by any means, but it would have benefited from some judicious editing and proof-reading. There is a lot of repetition within scenes which disrupts the pacing and delays the story progression, so there is a lot of pruning and tightening up needed. There are a number of typos and errors, the most obvious of which was the mention of a character wearing a crinoline in the Regency period. Also, Ms Fenton’s grasp of the conventions of the period is a little tenuous and the language and overall style is rather too modern.
I don’t have too much of a problem with that in certain circumstances. I enjoy books by Tessa Dare and Maya Rodale, for example, both of whom write romantic comedies which require one to check one’s “historical accuracy hat” at the door. But Ms Fenton isn’t in that league in terms of either her characterisation or writing to bring out the humour.
I thought the best parts of the book were actually the more introspective and character-based ones. One scene which has stuck in my mind is the one in which Alice (younger than Astrid by three years) finally tells her some home truths:
“No, Astrid,” Alice cried… “I’m twenty-three years old and had no offers, and do you want to know why? Because of you. No respectable man dare approach me because they think my sister is a … a hoyden. A shocking, forward, proselytizing hoyden.”
[…]
“You show no one the slightest deference, attend church infrequently, argue with the vicar. You curse in company, converse with the farmhands and wear trousers.”
“I never wear trousers in public!” she interjected. “Only around the castle. And in the garden.”
Alice gave her a doubtful look. “You ride about the country astride.”
“Sidesaddle is dangerous.”
“It is when you tear off hell-for-leather like you’re riding into battle. Which you do all the time.”
“I wear a perfectly respectable habit.”
Alice snorted. “Which comes up past your ankles.”
“What is so shocking about ankles? I’ll never understand it.”
“Nor I, but that is just the way things are. ...”
“What would you have had me do? Let our family starve?” Astrid burst out. “Someone had to run the estate when father cracked. Someone had to take care of you and the girls. Who else was going to do it? Aunt Anabel?”
Alice blanched at Astrid’s harsh tone. “You make me sound like an ungrateful wretch.”
“Perhaps that is because you are! I have done everything for this family, and you chastise me for it.”
“No! I am merely pointing out that your manner of doing things for this family is so very … blatant. Do you really need to wear trousers to save the estate? Really, Astrid?”
“I wear trousers because they are comfortable and practical, and I ride astride because it is also eminently practical. All of these petty rules and codes restricting the behaviour for ladies are destined solely to subjugate our sex.”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Of course they are, but flaunting [I think the author means “flouting”] those rules is not going to earn you any friends. Or a husband.”
“I don’t want a husband.”
“But I do! And what of Antonia and Ardyce [younger sisters]? What’s to become of them when they’re grown? Your conduct reflects on all of us. It’s a wonder we’re still received as it is.”
In fact, re-reading that passage makes me think Alice would have made a far better heroine –one who also chafes against the restrictions imposed upon her as a woman yet who is clear sighted enough to see that she needs to work within them in order to get what she wants.
Anyway, this review is already very long, so I’ll finish by saying that although I like the “opposites attract” trope as a rule, Montford and Astrid are two are polar opposites in so many ways that it’s hard to see how a relationship between them is going to work long-term. It’s certainly true that Montford needs loosening up, but I like to believe that a couple in a romance has potential beyond the HEA at the end of the book; and if he really does have some form of OCD, Astrid is going to drive him up the wall.
Seriously, Felix and Oscar look like soul-mates compared to this odd couple!
November 24, 2019
4 Stars, just some polishing on the writing and we're there, straight to the moon and beyond.
Paraphrasing the introductions each chapter begins with, this charming and endearing romance could have been titled:
In which the Duke discovers that True Love thrives on Imperfections
or, In which the Duke discovers that, through allowing some asymmetries, life and the world might show nicer perspectives. And while the duke lets go of starchy cravats and perfectly aligned snuffboxes in order to fall in love with the heroine and finally see beauty in chaos and mayhem too I, the reader, fell in love both with the characters... and a little bit with the idea of love all over again.
A contended inheritance, consisting of a crumbling Yorkshire castle with attached brewery, and a centuries old family feud prompt the Duke of Montford, of the many embarrassing names and the most fastidious nature (by his own admission), to take the Great North Road. Those detestable Honeywells are, as usual, up to something fishy and it's time, once and for all, to make them understand who's going to call the shots from now on. Leaving his rigidly organized life and a fiancée of convenience behind, he sets himself on resolving the plaguing situation in the span of a blitz-like-holiday to return as soon as possible to what he thinks he needs most.
But on arriving at destination, what his mind refuses to acknowledge at first, his heart recognizes at once: that, strange as it may be, his salvation from eternal unhappiness has the semblances of a giant male pig named Petunia, a pre-1789 Versailles dotty aunt with dead-poodle-like wigs, vile plebeian swills, messy libraries, rumpled clothes and above all Miss Astrid Honeywell's mismatched eyes, one brown and one blue, the earth, the sky and everything in between.
Check your historical-accuracy-radar at the door, get in the right mood and enjoy the ride. Pedantic tantrums would be out of place here and quite pointless. This is one of those cases where the author shows the rare ability to not taking the story too seriously without losing an iota of intelligent humour. A quirky and smart narrative that doesn't know dull moments, a smoothly ticking comical pace, spontaneous sensuality and bubbly banters complete the picture.
Yes, the language is often anachronistic. Yes, most of the characters' behaviours are implausible for the time period. Yes, the details of the historical setting verge on the wallpaper-ish end of the spectrum. And yet... and yet... the author has nailed a more important aspect, I think, which ascribes to the roots of the Regency genre itself: if the form is modern in tone, style and content, that typical, essential and magical bond between romanticism and farce is there... and it makes for a totally enjoyable romp.
Impatiently waiting the next in the series.
September 9, 2015
Written May 27, 2014
4 1/2 Stars - A lovely hilarious fun historical "tall tale"
A 15 hrs audiobook narrated by Sue Pitkin.
The promising book-blurb: « Includes an OCD Duke, a fiery heroine, mistaken identities, errant livestock, pompadours, drunken declarations, a touch of smex, and enough witty banter to sink a ship. »
I'm impressed. Well done. Simply great!
The Duke's Holiday is Maggie Fenton's first HR and there are a lot of happy reviews. Should be amusing, fun and a historical in the light genre. — And it was. Woot!!
# Cyril Halbert Algernon Monk, the Duke of Montford, a powerful stiff man that wants things the way he wants them, and he always gets what he wants. ~ The Duke now wants what's rightly belong to him, the old Yorkshire estate.
# Astrid Honeywell, a tough young 26 years old miss who has struggled for years to keep her family together by running the estate, the crooked castle Gretna Green, and the family brewery after her father's death. ~ Astrid can't accept an (antiquated) contract that says a tyrannical London Duke now again has the right to her family's home and brewery.
This will be short and simple. ~ Gosh! I'll not even try to explain what's happening here. Just hang on... not a boring or tedious minute. Full speed and adventurous. It sparkled between these two "enemies to lovers" at once.
So much fun, a "chuckle story"
I have only praise for this wonderful story. In my opinion the best kind of historical romance. So much fun, so much comedic entanglements and outrageously wonderful characters. Sweet romantic and a piece of heat and steam.
Looking forward to more romances from this writer. Next part in this The Regency Romp Trilogy will be an auto-buy (in October 2015). I just want to know more about these men and the women they choose.
A very good narrator and audiobook edition as well. Recommended for HR lovers.
I LIKE - YES, yes I do!
******
Added to my audio app in May 2015 from Amazon for just $6 incl a kindle ebook copy.
4 1/2 Stars - A lovely hilarious fun historical "tall tale"
A 15 hrs audiobook narrated by Sue Pitkin.
The promising book-blurb: « Includes an OCD Duke, a fiery heroine, mistaken identities, errant livestock, pompadours, drunken declarations, a touch of smex, and enough witty banter to sink a ship. »
I'm impressed. Well done. Simply great!
The Duke's Holiday is Maggie Fenton's first HR and there are a lot of happy reviews. Should be amusing, fun and a historical in the light genre. — And it was. Woot!!
‘But did she like him? Yes, she suspected she did, just a little bit. ....
Not that Montford was a devil. Far from it. He was a bit of a prude, really. He’d actually blushed when she’d come across him in the river. He was no doubt the sort to drape fig leaves over statuary to preserve their modesty.
Although when he kissed her . . .’
# Cyril Halbert Algernon Monk, the Duke of Montford, a powerful stiff man that wants things the way he wants them, and he always gets what he wants. ~ The Duke now wants what's rightly belong to him, the old Yorkshire estate.
# Astrid Honeywell, a tough young 26 years old miss who has struggled for years to keep her family together by running the estate, the crooked castle Gretna Green, and the family brewery after her father's death. ~ Astrid can't accept an (antiquated) contract that says a tyrannical London Duke now again has the right to her family's home and brewery.
This will be short and simple. ~ Gosh! I'll not even try to explain what's happening here. Just hang on... not a boring or tedious minute. Full speed and adventurous. It sparkled between these two "enemies to lovers" at once.
‘Would he kiss her again? That was her concern. Would he kiss her again, in public? Or . . . Oh God! She’d just thought of something even worse. What if he should kiss someone else?
And then she thought of something even worse than that. Why did she care if he kissed someone else?’
So much fun, a "chuckle story"
I have only praise for this wonderful story. In my opinion the best kind of historical romance. So much fun, so much comedic entanglements and outrageously wonderful characters. Sweet romantic and a piece of heat and steam.
Looking forward to more romances from this writer. Next part in this The Regency Romp Trilogy will be an auto-buy (in October 2015). I just want to know more about these men and the women they choose.
A very good narrator and audiobook edition as well. Recommended for HR lovers.
I LIKE - YES, yes I do!
******
Added to my audio app in May 2015 from Amazon for just $6 incl a kindle ebook copy.
July 20, 2015
4½ got-me-in-a-happy-mood STARS!
The perfect novel to make you smile and fall in love. JUST PERFECT!
You ever feel like escaping those intense or dark reads? Well this is the read for you! It was absolutely hysterical. It made me smile, chuckle and at times had me on the floor rolling around. Trust me this novel will put the whammy on you.
This was a brilliant historical romantic comedy. Mix in a spirited and strong-willed Astrid Honeywell and an attractive Duke Montford, who has no idea what he is getting into, and you will instantly love this read.
Astrid and Montford suited each other so well, it was a match made in heaven. When someone can handle a whole lot of crazy, the chemistry is definitely alive.
You wouldn’t believe half the craziness that goes in this novel. It will catch you so unaware you will double over in laughter.
This novel sure lived up to its sexiness in all ways possible. I definitely recommend this to any reader of any genre! Superb!
ARC kindly provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The perfect novel to make you smile and fall in love. JUST PERFECT!
You ever feel like escaping those intense or dark reads? Well this is the read for you! It was absolutely hysterical. It made me smile, chuckle and at times had me on the floor rolling around. Trust me this novel will put the whammy on you.
This was a brilliant historical romantic comedy. Mix in a spirited and strong-willed Astrid Honeywell and an attractive Duke Montford, who has no idea what he is getting into, and you will instantly love this read.
Astrid and Montford suited each other so well, it was a match made in heaven. When someone can handle a whole lot of crazy, the chemistry is definitely alive.
He couldn’t be near her. She made him do crazy things.
You wouldn’t believe half the craziness that goes in this novel. It will catch you so unaware you will double over in laughter.
This novel sure lived up to its sexiness in all ways possible. I definitely recommend this to any reader of any genre! Superb!
ARC kindly provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 15, 2014
STRAIGHT TO MY KEEPER SHELF (and I'm very picky about that shelf!)
Let me start with the two things I did not like about this book...
1) I had things to do over the last day and a half. Laundry. Cleaning my kitchen. Making my family dinner. And none of that got done because of this novel.
2) I too am a debut author of Regency romance, with a book, Once Upon A Wager, out this week. And I really liked my book, until I read this one.
Here is the bald truth. If you buy only one book today, it should not be mine. It should be The Duke's Holiday, because it is a laugh-out-loud, frolicking fun fest.
Ms. Fenton has crafted a completely original and unpredictable story. Her hero, Lord Cyril Montford, starts out as one of the biggest prigs to ever grace the Regency stage. He has OCD, faints at the sight of blood, and vomits every time he gets into a carriage (although he has a heartrendingly good excuse.) Her heroine, Astrid Honeywell, is "utterly, completely hideous, with ungodly eyes and horrible spots" (and that's quoting Cyril.) Yet by the end of the story, I loved them both dearly. Layer by layer, they become more complex, more insecure, and more human.
And the story surrounding them was just hilarious. Any author who can seamlessly interject the word codswallop into their work has a gift, so I will let Ms. Fenton's words speak for themselves. Here are few of my favorite quotes:
"It is one thing to read scandalous verse, quite another to disguise it behind lofty pretense. Thomas More indeed." (Cyril, upon finding a racy tract Astrid had tucked into a book by, you guessed it, Thomas More.)
"His eyes surveyed her as he would some rare species of poisoned fauna."
"Oh God...she was about to become the hapless heroine in her own personal melodrama." (Astrid, upon being abducted)
"The vicar was a stutterer. It made Sunday mornings a true test of Christian fortitude."
"His hands fell away, and he stepped back, out of the circle of her skirts, and the heat of her body. It was like stepping out of an enchantment." (This is a romance, after all.)
"A bounder of a French aristocrat had picked her up in Marseilles, where she'd washed ashore, and introduced her to the bawdy Bourbon Court, where she had thrived on petty intrigue and decadence until the peasantry began chopping off heads." (This from dotty Aunt Anabel.)
That last one was my personal favorite. Honestly, I defy any author to pack a better character sketch into a single sentence.
This book is a crazy mix of Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde stirred up in a cocktail shaker, with a shot of Monty Python thrown in for good measure. I wish I could be a British citizen for just today, so I could say "this is bloody brilliant" with some measure of authenticity.
Let me start with the two things I did not like about this book...
1) I had things to do over the last day and a half. Laundry. Cleaning my kitchen. Making my family dinner. And none of that got done because of this novel.
2) I too am a debut author of Regency romance, with a book, Once Upon A Wager, out this week. And I really liked my book, until I read this one.
Here is the bald truth. If you buy only one book today, it should not be mine. It should be The Duke's Holiday, because it is a laugh-out-loud, frolicking fun fest.
Ms. Fenton has crafted a completely original and unpredictable story. Her hero, Lord Cyril Montford, starts out as one of the biggest prigs to ever grace the Regency stage. He has OCD, faints at the sight of blood, and vomits every time he gets into a carriage (although he has a heartrendingly good excuse.) Her heroine, Astrid Honeywell, is "utterly, completely hideous, with ungodly eyes and horrible spots" (and that's quoting Cyril.) Yet by the end of the story, I loved them both dearly. Layer by layer, they become more complex, more insecure, and more human.
And the story surrounding them was just hilarious. Any author who can seamlessly interject the word codswallop into their work has a gift, so I will let Ms. Fenton's words speak for themselves. Here are few of my favorite quotes:
"It is one thing to read scandalous verse, quite another to disguise it behind lofty pretense. Thomas More indeed." (Cyril, upon finding a racy tract Astrid had tucked into a book by, you guessed it, Thomas More.)
"His eyes surveyed her as he would some rare species of poisoned fauna."
"Oh God...she was about to become the hapless heroine in her own personal melodrama." (Astrid, upon being abducted)
"The vicar was a stutterer. It made Sunday mornings a true test of Christian fortitude."
"His hands fell away, and he stepped back, out of the circle of her skirts, and the heat of her body. It was like stepping out of an enchantment." (This is a romance, after all.)
"A bounder of a French aristocrat had picked her up in Marseilles, where she'd washed ashore, and introduced her to the bawdy Bourbon Court, where she had thrived on petty intrigue and decadence until the peasantry began chopping off heads." (This from dotty Aunt Anabel.)
That last one was my personal favorite. Honestly, I defy any author to pack a better character sketch into a single sentence.
This book is a crazy mix of Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde stirred up in a cocktail shaker, with a shot of Monty Python thrown in for good measure. I wish I could be a British citizen for just today, so I could say "this is bloody brilliant" with some measure of authenticity.
April 22, 2018
DNF @32%
I hate to stop, but it wasn’t turning around for me. I think I was put off by the very beginning, where the Duke hates his name Cyril Algenon ... It seemed too much of a modern sensibility. I would have understood if his name was common, like Joe or Bob, but it wasn’t. I basically stopped when the dislike of his name became a relavent plot point with a horse named Cyril. It was just too much. I think it was trying to be too funny, or too many types of funny. Like the Three Stooges and the Importance of Being Earnest rolled into one.
The heroine was a pathological liar, and I didn’t warm to her. She insisted on lying when the truth clearly would serve better. The Duke was too stiff and boring. I could have eventually liked him, maybe, but it’s doubtful.
I dunno, maybe I wasn’t in the mood, but I tried unsuccessfully twice and that’s plenty.
I hate to stop, but it wasn’t turning around for me. I think I was put off by the very beginning, where the Duke hates his name Cyril Algenon ... It seemed too much of a modern sensibility. I would have understood if his name was common, like Joe or Bob, but it wasn’t. I basically stopped when the dislike of his name became a relavent plot point with a horse named Cyril. It was just too much. I think it was trying to be too funny, or too many types of funny. Like the Three Stooges and the Importance of Being Earnest rolled into one.
The heroine was a pathological liar, and I didn’t warm to her. She insisted on lying when the truth clearly would serve better. The Duke was too stiff and boring. I could have eventually liked him, maybe, but it’s doubtful.
I dunno, maybe I wasn’t in the mood, but I tried unsuccessfully twice and that’s plenty.
June 27, 2017
*3.5 stars*
At times VERY good, at times I was scratching my head; this book pretty much defines uneven for me.
The narration swung from expressive and fabulous to WTF is that voice??!! I swear, some of the male side characters sounded like my 90 year old grandma. The "historical" aspects of the book have had great liberties taken with them. I liked the chemistry between the MCs and the sort of obsessive nature of the male MC, but the story dragged in odd places and the plot was out there.
Overall, I enjoyed this one. I think...
November 13, 2022
This was an enemy to lovers' slow burn. Overall, I thought the main characters were unnecessarily infantile and the rendition of the upper-class speech was a bit off. I've been reading historical romances for a while now and never heard people of that class say, "ain't", whatever the informality of the conversation, for example.
I feel the story develops more organically when the settings are believable and when this isn't achieved, the book suffers from it.
Apologies for my faulty English. English is not my mother language :-)
I feel the story develops more organically when the settings are believable and when this isn't achieved, the book suffers from it.
Apologies for my faulty English. English is not my mother language :-)
June 3, 2019
4.5/5. The beginning of this book was just exceptional and so fun to read. I love the characterisation of Montford, the obsessive compulsive hero, who at first seems so unyielding and in full control, but as we soon find out his meticulous external appearance masks a mind just a few steps away from succumbing to anxiety and panic attacks.
The slow descent of Montford's orderly life into utter chaos was a frolicking ride to follow. It all started innocently with his man-of-affairs, an even more fastidious person than himself, discovering that owner of his one of his remote estates, had in fact passed away a year ago and that someone had failed to notify His Grace and are continuing to send regular correspondences in his name. This estate is of particular interest, as the Honeywells have been at odds with his family for many generations over the ownership of this disputed estate. Even though, the Montford dukedom owns the estate, the old contract stipulates the the Honeywells are the custodians and cannot be evicted. Tension has remained between the two families since, a tension which has been perpetuated in last 10 years by the person who continues to write updates on the estate in a most insolent and provoking manner, a person who signs his name as A. Honeywell, but in fact turns out not to be the the quite dead Mr Honeywell, who hds no male descendants. This mystery needs solving and when he fails to hear from his his man-of-affairs sent to investigate, Montford has no choice but to go himself, never mind that he is just 2 weeks away from his own wedding - naturally to a paragon because as with everything in his life, nothing less than perfection is acceptable. Of course, we’re not talking about any love match, because that is just too common and to Montford, emotions are as redundant as adjectives.
Astrid Honeywell thinks herself as bloody marvellous, but she is more than aware (and a little bit sensitive) of her failures and imperfections. As the eldest Honeywell daughter, she has been running the Rylestone for her father the last 10 years and turned it into an even more successful ale-producing farm than before. What with people depending on her, a business to run, and a crazed pig on the loose, she has no time nor patience for self-important dukes, even one who has a legitimate claim of ownership on her home.
After a horrific puke-inducing carriage trip to Rylestone, Montford finds himself in his worst nightmare instead of the serene, bucolic paradise his London friends said would await him to give him a well-deserved holiday before the hectics of his wedding. Nothing is straight or tidy in this topsy-turvy place - not the lop-sided walls of the castle, not the senile Honeywell aunt's askewed wig, not the older Honeywell chit's misbehaving corkscrew RED hair, not even the lines of her body with their outrageous curves!
There was something about this female, something he could not quite put his finger on, that was completely . . . well, wrong. Askew. Never mind she was dressed like a stable hand, or had hair the color of fire, or that her skin was riddled with freckles (blech!), or even that she was covered in mud. He felt the same impulse he had felt when confronted by that collection of enameled snuffboxes: the need to line something up before he screamed. His hands clenched into fists at his side. What was it?.....
...He realized why she made him dizzy ... because, as he stared down at her face from this short distance, he could better see her eyes, which were large, rimmed with soot-colored lashes, and . . . Two different colors. One was brown and the other was blue, sky blue.
She was dressed like a stable hand, had the perfect diction of a blue blood, and cursed like a sailor. She was, of course, a Honeywell.
Their meeting produces an instant earth-shattering attraction, so unexpected that it left them rather flummoxed and light-headed and in fact it took a while for the poor, weakened, travel-sickened man to recognise it for what it was.
He seized her hand to shove it away, which was his second mistake of the evening, because when his skin touched her skin, he felt as if lightning had shot from the heavens, through the crooked castle walls, and right into the place that they were joined, ricocheting through the rest of his body without pity. He nearly swooned. Like a besotted London chit in a too-tight corset.
This inconvenient attraction manages to complicate an already messy situation - and it's not just because of the mud, or the pig, or the feral little girls. And yet in spite of his initial resistance to the place and it's inhabitants, Montford finds himself slowly softening.
He could get used to rural life—if something was done to eliminate the . . . well, ruralness.
And now that he was here, now that he’d seen Rylestone’s prosperity, he was more certain than ever that the Honeywells had been cheating him for years. He had no idea what to do to fix things. This was not a situation easily resolved by changing the order of his boots or reshelving a book in its proper location. How, he wondered, did one reshelve a family?
I absolutely adore how the author managed to give us the hero's POV - from his anxiety at the sight of something out of alignment to his Honeywell Ale-addled mind, she just nailed his character to such hilarious perfection. Montford was such a contradiction. On the one hand, he had the innate arrogance and sense of entitlement befitting one of the most powerful men in England. On the other hand, he was such an unheroic hero of epic proportions - faints at the sight of blood, can't get into a moving vehicle without vomiting his guts up, dreadful sense of direction.
I love how Astrid was a combination of strength and and vulnerability especially when it comes to her own perceived physical imperfections. The ending got a bit too over the top for me, and I hated that they finally did the deed in the barn loft immediately after his fiancee's arrival and before he ended their engagement. Not very well done, I thought. It would've been a flawless read otherwise.
These are a few random notable quotes:
Montford could have jumped for joy had he not thought it would mar the creases in his breeches
He had never been impressed by women’s bosoms before. Bosoms were bovine. Bosoms were coarse, so very plebeian. Why could he not get Miss Honeywell’s out of his mind?
All through dinner he’d wanted to reach across the table with his knife and saw off the three little corkscrews of fiery hair that had escaped their pins. He wanted to yank the uneven puff of fichu out from her bodice, whose asymmetry made his palms sweat. He wanted to gouge out one of her eyes with his soup spoon and replace it with one that matched. But the problem was he didn’t know which one to keep: the one the color of ripe autumn wheat, or the one the color of the heavens.
Would he kiss her again? That was her concern. Would he kiss her again, in public? Or . . . Oh God! She’d just thought of something even worse. What if he should kiss someone else? And then she thought of something even worse than that. Why did she care if he kissed someone else?
Not that Montford was a devil. Far from it. He was a bit of a prude, really. He’d actually blushed when she’d come across him in the river. He was no doubt the sort to drape fig leaves over statuary to preserve their modesty.
Indeed, she was lucky she remembered her name, but that was only because he kept saying it over and over between his kisses.
Sweet, merciful God in heaven. He was a believer now. She had red hair. Everywhere.
The slow descent of Montford's orderly life into utter chaos was a frolicking ride to follow. It all started innocently with his man-of-affairs, an even more fastidious person than himself, discovering that owner of his one of his remote estates, had in fact passed away a year ago and that someone had failed to notify His Grace and are continuing to send regular correspondences in his name. This estate is of particular interest, as the Honeywells have been at odds with his family for many generations over the ownership of this disputed estate. Even though, the Montford dukedom owns the estate, the old contract stipulates the the Honeywells are the custodians and cannot be evicted. Tension has remained between the two families since, a tension which has been perpetuated in last 10 years by the person who continues to write updates on the estate in a most insolent and provoking manner, a person who signs his name as A. Honeywell, but in fact turns out not to be the the quite dead Mr Honeywell, who hds no male descendants. This mystery needs solving and when he fails to hear from his his man-of-affairs sent to investigate, Montford has no choice but to go himself, never mind that he is just 2 weeks away from his own wedding - naturally to a paragon because as with everything in his life, nothing less than perfection is acceptable. Of course, we’re not talking about any love match, because that is just too common and to Montford, emotions are as redundant as adjectives.
Astrid Honeywell thinks herself as bloody marvellous, but she is more than aware (and a little bit sensitive) of her failures and imperfections. As the eldest Honeywell daughter, she has been running the Rylestone for her father the last 10 years and turned it into an even more successful ale-producing farm than before. What with people depending on her, a business to run, and a crazed pig on the loose, she has no time nor patience for self-important dukes, even one who has a legitimate claim of ownership on her home.
After a horrific puke-inducing carriage trip to Rylestone, Montford finds himself in his worst nightmare instead of the serene, bucolic paradise his London friends said would await him to give him a well-deserved holiday before the hectics of his wedding. Nothing is straight or tidy in this topsy-turvy place - not the lop-sided walls of the castle, not the senile Honeywell aunt's askewed wig, not the older Honeywell chit's misbehaving corkscrew RED hair, not even the lines of her body with their outrageous curves!
There was something about this female, something he could not quite put his finger on, that was completely . . . well, wrong. Askew. Never mind she was dressed like a stable hand, or had hair the color of fire, or that her skin was riddled with freckles (blech!), or even that she was covered in mud. He felt the same impulse he had felt when confronted by that collection of enameled snuffboxes: the need to line something up before he screamed. His hands clenched into fists at his side. What was it?.....
...He realized why she made him dizzy ... because, as he stared down at her face from this short distance, he could better see her eyes, which were large, rimmed with soot-colored lashes, and . . . Two different colors. One was brown and the other was blue, sky blue.
She was dressed like a stable hand, had the perfect diction of a blue blood, and cursed like a sailor. She was, of course, a Honeywell.
Their meeting produces an instant earth-shattering attraction, so unexpected that it left them rather flummoxed and light-headed and in fact it took a while for the poor, weakened, travel-sickened man to recognise it for what it was.
He seized her hand to shove it away, which was his second mistake of the evening, because when his skin touched her skin, he felt as if lightning had shot from the heavens, through the crooked castle walls, and right into the place that they were joined, ricocheting through the rest of his body without pity. He nearly swooned. Like a besotted London chit in a too-tight corset.
This inconvenient attraction manages to complicate an already messy situation - and it's not just because of the mud, or the pig, or the feral little girls. And yet in spite of his initial resistance to the place and it's inhabitants, Montford finds himself slowly softening.
He could get used to rural life—if something was done to eliminate the . . . well, ruralness.
And now that he was here, now that he’d seen Rylestone’s prosperity, he was more certain than ever that the Honeywells had been cheating him for years. He had no idea what to do to fix things. This was not a situation easily resolved by changing the order of his boots or reshelving a book in its proper location. How, he wondered, did one reshelve a family?
I absolutely adore how the author managed to give us the hero's POV - from his anxiety at the sight of something out of alignment to his Honeywell Ale-addled mind, she just nailed his character to such hilarious perfection. Montford was such a contradiction. On the one hand, he had the innate arrogance and sense of entitlement befitting one of the most powerful men in England. On the other hand, he was such an unheroic hero of epic proportions - faints at the sight of blood, can't get into a moving vehicle without vomiting his guts up, dreadful sense of direction.
I love how Astrid was a combination of strength and and vulnerability especially when it comes to her own perceived physical imperfections. The ending got a bit too over the top for me, and I hated that they finally did the deed in the barn loft immediately after his fiancee's arrival and before he ended their engagement. Not very well done, I thought. It would've been a flawless read otherwise.
These are a few random notable quotes:
Montford could have jumped for joy had he not thought it would mar the creases in his breeches
He had never been impressed by women’s bosoms before. Bosoms were bovine. Bosoms were coarse, so very plebeian. Why could he not get Miss Honeywell’s out of his mind?
All through dinner he’d wanted to reach across the table with his knife and saw off the three little corkscrews of fiery hair that had escaped their pins. He wanted to yank the uneven puff of fichu out from her bodice, whose asymmetry made his palms sweat. He wanted to gouge out one of her eyes with his soup spoon and replace it with one that matched. But the problem was he didn’t know which one to keep: the one the color of ripe autumn wheat, or the one the color of the heavens.
Would he kiss her again? That was her concern. Would he kiss her again, in public? Or . . . Oh God! She’d just thought of something even worse. What if he should kiss someone else? And then she thought of something even worse than that. Why did she care if he kissed someone else?
Not that Montford was a devil. Far from it. He was a bit of a prude, really. He’d actually blushed when she’d come across him in the river. He was no doubt the sort to drape fig leaves over statuary to preserve their modesty.
Indeed, she was lucky she remembered her name, but that was only because he kept saying it over and over between his kisses.
Sweet, merciful God in heaven. He was a believer now. She had red hair. Everywhere.
June 22, 2015
Sorry. Call me a wet blanket, but I'm probably not going to finish this book. Not liking the heroine, Astrid. Not too crazy about the Duke, either. Definitely not my kind of comedy. Slapstick. Petunia the pig got too much coverage already, at only 25% into the book.
November 5, 2017
A clear 4.5 stars.
This was so much fun! No wonder it is called the Regency Romp series :)
The hero, Cyril -he had several other funny, nerdy names- was a bit of an OCD poker-up-his-arse kind of duke (yes, a mofo-duke, Joanna!). He preferred to call himself Montford and was pretty shut down emotionally, mostly due to a very traumatic incident when he was four years old. Then he meets Astrid, who is basically his antithesis. She has been running an estate that should have reverted back to him after her father died without male issue a year back, but she neglects to inform him of this and continues to live there, looking after her several siblings and managing a brewery as well. He finds out, and eventually travels into the darkest wilds of Yorkshire, as he sees it, to sort things out. Oh, and she has been cooking the books so that it looks like the Estate is quite unprofitable, thus allowing her to pay him very little and allowing her to distribute the profits amongst the tenants in a very Robin Hoodesque, Socialist fashion.
I loved that Astrid was capable and intelligent, and that she never changed into that simpering, boring chit who suddenly realises her life is empty and all she needs is a man and babies to fulfil her. (It happens so often in HR. You sit there and ask yourself: where did she go? Who is this person? Set up as intellectual, independent and strong-willed, the heroine ends up falling into so many TSTL moments you want to scream. Thank God this does not happen here.)
As you can imagine, the sparks fly and the adventures, or misadventures, of the poor, beleaguered duke are very funny. Just wait till you read about the foot and ale race at the village fair. I could not stop smiling and chuckling as the duke's dignity gradually dissolved into the mud through which he ran/staggered. Hilarious! So suspend your disbelief and settle in for the ride :)
Plenty of articles flung at said duke by indignant and furious heroine. Plenty of nasty but amusing banter. And ultimately, plenty of passion and action. An entertaining, funny tale with a warm heart. I'm definitely going to read the next one in the series, as we meet the two protagonists in this book and I am already interested in their story.
This was so much fun! No wonder it is called the Regency Romp series :)
The hero, Cyril -he had several other funny, nerdy names- was a bit of an OCD poker-up-his-arse kind of duke (yes, a mofo-duke, Joanna!). He preferred to call himself Montford and was pretty shut down emotionally, mostly due to a very traumatic incident when he was four years old. Then he meets Astrid, who is basically his antithesis. She has been running an estate that should have reverted back to him after her father died without male issue a year back, but she neglects to inform him of this and continues to live there, looking after her several siblings and managing a brewery as well. He finds out, and eventually travels into the darkest wilds of Yorkshire, as he sees it, to sort things out. Oh, and she has been cooking the books so that it looks like the Estate is quite unprofitable, thus allowing her to pay him very little and allowing her to distribute the profits amongst the tenants in a very Robin Hoodesque, Socialist fashion.
I loved that Astrid was capable and intelligent, and that she never changed into that simpering, boring chit who suddenly realises her life is empty and all she needs is a man and babies to fulfil her. (It happens so often in HR. You sit there and ask yourself: where did she go? Who is this person? Set up as intellectual, independent and strong-willed, the heroine ends up falling into so many TSTL moments you want to scream. Thank God this does not happen here.)
As you can imagine, the sparks fly and the adventures, or misadventures, of the poor, beleaguered duke are very funny. Just wait till you read about the foot and ale race at the village fair. I could not stop smiling and chuckling as the duke's dignity gradually dissolved into the mud through which he ran/staggered. Hilarious! So suspend your disbelief and settle in for the ride :)
Plenty of articles flung at said duke by indignant and furious heroine. Plenty of nasty but amusing banter. And ultimately, plenty of passion and action. An entertaining, funny tale with a warm heart. I'm definitely going to read the next one in the series, as we meet the two protagonists in this book and I am already interested in their story.
November 30, 2016
Ugh. If you aren't going to give me somebody to like, please at least make something interesting. The titular Duke is OCD. The end. No other character development necessary, apparently. Oh yeah, he gets travel sick and faints at the sight of blood. That's his character so far. His friends are abominable and his motivations are stupid. Astrid, for what little we've seen her in the 20% of the book I've bothered with, is progressive. The end. She wears trousers and distributes profits equitably and is angry a lot because she has red hair. Apparently.
There's also lots of slapstick. Which is probably what the author is counting on to maintain interest. Also, lots of inappropriate yearning. So if fighting physical attraction to someone wholly unsuitable and lots and lots of broad, physical humor is your thing, you might enjoy this book. I definitely did not.
There's also lots of slapstick. Which is probably what the author is counting on to maintain interest. Also, lots of inappropriate yearning. So if fighting physical attraction to someone wholly unsuitable and lots and lots of broad, physical humor is your thing, you might enjoy this book. I definitely did not.
June 12, 2014
There are times I love to escape with a fun, light, romance and The Duke’s Holiday fit the bill perfectly. Maggie Fenton has produced a Regency romp that’s filled with quirky, lovable characters, witty banter and enough slap stick humor guaranteed to produce many laugh out loud moments.
A sexy Romantic Comedy featuring a sinfully delicious Duke and a feisty, outspoken heroine. Loved it!
A sexy Romantic Comedy featuring a sinfully delicious Duke and a feisty, outspoken heroine. Loved it!
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July 12, 2018Odié con todo mi ser a la protagonista: Astrid. Idealista, malcriada, horrible. No sé, no me gustó para nada y creo que desentona por completo para la época, no es más que una maleducada.
November 3, 2018
The Duke of Montford likes everything to be neatly lined up. A place for everything and everything in it's place. The one blemish on his ordered ledger is a small unprofitable estate in Yorkshire. An estate which was swindled out of the family 100s of years earlier and will only return to him after the last male descendent of the swindlers, the Honeywell's shuffles off his mortal coil.
When Montford discovers that the aforementioned Honeywell did in fact pass on many years earlier he immediately smells a rat. Someone has been sending him reports from the estate and it's lake of funds and signing them "A. Honeywell".
Astrid Honeywell has been managing the estate and the family brewery since she was a child. Unfortunately as a woman she isn't a legitimate heir and by rights the estate should be returned to the Duke of Montford. After Montford sends his right hand man to investigate she realises her number is up, but she won't go down without a fight.
Astrid is completely wrong for Montford. Everything about her is wrong. Her hair is an unruly mess or red tangles. Her eyes are different colours, and not only does she wear a man's clothing she insists on riding her horse astride. She definitely won't fit into his ordered life.
But despite driving him crazy at every turn, she is also the first person who has been able to make him come alive...to enjoy life, to get drunk and to make a fool of himself.
The Dukes Holiday is a complete romp. It's great fun form beginning to end, one of those rare perfect books that I can't fault in any way.
When Montford discovers that the aforementioned Honeywell did in fact pass on many years earlier he immediately smells a rat. Someone has been sending him reports from the estate and it's lake of funds and signing them "A. Honeywell".
Astrid Honeywell has been managing the estate and the family brewery since she was a child. Unfortunately as a woman she isn't a legitimate heir and by rights the estate should be returned to the Duke of Montford. After Montford sends his right hand man to investigate she realises her number is up, but she won't go down without a fight.
Astrid is completely wrong for Montford. Everything about her is wrong. Her hair is an unruly mess or red tangles. Her eyes are different colours, and not only does she wear a man's clothing she insists on riding her horse astride. She definitely won't fit into his ordered life.
But despite driving him crazy at every turn, she is also the first person who has been able to make him come alive...to enjoy life, to get drunk and to make a fool of himself.
The Dukes Holiday is a complete romp. It's great fun form beginning to end, one of those rare perfect books that I can't fault in any way.
March 1, 2015
1.5 Stars because it wasn’t a terrible book, but I can’t say I enjoyed it.
For the most part, this was a well-written historical romance (minus the spelling errors) and it was fast-paced, which is not as common as you would hope. I definitely appreciated and was impressed by the amount of story the author managed to fit into this book. I’ve read plenty of books where the story hasn’t even started by 30 percent and that always weirds me out. Anyways: fast-paced, lots of happenings, some humorous scenes and overall well written (technically speaking). Given all this, I completely understand why so many people liked this book and I really really wanted to like it as well. Unfortunately I hated the main character and most of the book was from her point of view, so that kind of ruined it for me.
For those who haven’t read the book, I would still recommend it because chances are what bothered me might not bother you and therefore you’ll probably enjoy it as much as everyone else.
The rest is pretty spoilery, so read at your own risk:
For the most part, this was a well-written historical romance (minus the spelling errors) and it was fast-paced, which is not as common as you would hope. I definitely appreciated and was impressed by the amount of story the author managed to fit into this book. I’ve read plenty of books where the story hasn’t even started by 30 percent and that always weirds me out. Anyways: fast-paced, lots of happenings, some humorous scenes and overall well written (technically speaking). Given all this, I completely understand why so many people liked this book and I really really wanted to like it as well. Unfortunately I hated the main character and most of the book was from her point of view, so that kind of ruined it for me.
For those who haven’t read the book, I would still recommend it because chances are what bothered me might not bother you and therefore you’ll probably enjoy it as much as everyone else.
The rest is pretty spoilery, so read at your own risk:
August 1, 2016
I loved this book. It's fun, it has great characters. The conflict and all the problems suit the story well. The romance is believable. It even has a villain and his actions move the story forward. A lovely humorous historical romance.
October 7, 2023
Read:10/10/23
Crazy hijinks
For November oTom
Waay took long
Crazy hijinks
For November oTom
Waay took long
August 13, 2014
Another wonderful recommmendation from my most favorite and trusted GR reviewer, Jill. Take her word for it, if not mine. It's loads of fun (like Barbara Metzger's books) but with far more heart and emotion (like Tessa Dare's), not just antics to make us laugh.
Great characters, terrific action and hilarious scene descriptions from each character's perpspective in ways that made me cry laughing. Or do I mean laugh till I cried? There were tears, my face was squinched up and I was LMBO. You get my drift. Delightful.
The author calls it a romp but it has more sincere emotino tucked away in it than a silly romp, and I hope you give it a try. You'll thank Jill, too.
4.5 stars. I may re-read it (my litmus test for 5-star books) but I'm not itching to do so. Plus it needs a little more attention to details in the editing.
Great characters, terrific action and hilarious scene descriptions from each character's perpspective in ways that made me cry laughing. Or do I mean laugh till I cried? There were tears, my face was squinched up and I was LMBO. You get my drift. Delightful.
The author calls it a romp but it has more sincere emotino tucked away in it than a silly romp, and I hope you give it a try. You'll thank Jill, too.
4.5 stars. I may re-read it (my litmus test for 5-star books) but I'm not itching to do so. Plus it needs a little more attention to details in the editing.
May 7, 2015
More like... between 3.5- 3.999... because this ended up being wayyyyyy too long and insane.
I like insane -_- and for about three quarters of it, the story was actually amazing.
An hero with OCD.
A woman determined to thwart him every step of the way. And by that, she means keep her own crooked castle in the family and get the Duke out of her hair.
But then the villain had to appear _ no spoiler, since this appears on the synopsis _ and between the attempted rape _ thwarted of course_ and insanities _ like pigs, crazy aunts and flying wigs _ the ending really took his own damn time to appear.
More coherentinsane review currently on my blog and on my Booklikes page.
I like insane -_- and for about three quarters of it, the story was actually amazing.
An hero with OCD.
A woman determined to thwart him every step of the way. And by that, she means keep her own crooked castle in the family and get the Duke out of her hair.
But then the villain had to appear _ no spoiler, since this appears on the synopsis _ and between the attempted rape _ thwarted of course_ and insanities _ like pigs, crazy aunts and flying wigs _ the ending really took his own damn time to appear.
More coherent
August 11, 2015
Hilarious to an extent but the event were way to crazy for me to follow ! Just wasn't my cuppa :/
July 26, 2014
DNFed at 25%. I tried to give this as much a chance as I possibly could but ultimately the heroine was so so utterly TSTL that I found it impossible to continue.
I don't think I've ever sided with an absolutely arrogant stuffy male as much as I have with the hero in this one. It probably helped that I stopped where I did so I didn't have to actually read him deflower her while he was still engaged to someone else, which I'm assuming is where the author was going to take their mutual attraction.
The heroine though. Oh my GOD, I've never read a more willfully blind, childish and naive idiot in my life. I did not see ONE example of her supposedly vast intelligence. I could probably have suspended disbelief for most of her idiocy though but her conscious and willful legal obtuseness was the last straw for me. It doesn't fucking matter that you think you have some moral right to a property! If someone else has the legal title to it, THEY FUCKING HAVE THE LEGAL TITLE TO IT. It doesn't matter that you think the country's property and primogeniture laws are arcane and sexist! As long as they fucking exist, and you're bound to the legal contract that gives you an equitable right to the property, then when your right ceases to exist, IT FUCKING CEASES TO EXIST. Exactly WHAT did Astrid imagine she was accomplishing by getting his man of affairs permanently wasted, and trying to drive the duke out of the property that's fucking his?! He could take the matter to court with the utmost ease and have your whole fucking family imprisoned you brainless twit! Instead of endearing yourself to him and throwing yourself on his mercy to provide for you in some way, you instead get his back up at every turn, act like a complete fucking blind idiot and try to hide the fact that you've actually been stealing from him for a decade! Yeah, again, it doesn't fucking matter that you think the Montfords have taken what belongs to the Honeywells, you still can't pay him a fraudulently low tithe through "creative bookkeeping". Something that's fucking obvious to him when he's spent fucking 5 minutes in the area. So fucking YEAH, he CAN look at that as thievery, BECAUSE IT FUCKING IS.
And my GOD her sanctimonious, naively idealistic self-righteousness! Anyone who didn't see things her way was an idiot, despite repeatedly exhibiting more common sense and practical reason than she ever did. And God help anyone who tried to point out something she didn't yet want to admit to herself or see. Because ignoring the truth always works out so well. And she was the worst kind of (non-)feminist too! The judgmental, idealistic, self-righteous kind that looks down on women for liking dresses and shoes and jewellery or wanting a husband and children, or basically trying to exhibit any sort of blatant femininity. Fuck that! You RESPECT each individual woman's choices and wishes and decisions for her own life, whatever they may be. She was so convinced that she was one of the ordinary folk that she ignored that she had a lot of privileges that allowed her the freedom to believe she could pursue the future she wanted. I'm assuming MF was trying to go for someone like Alys Weston in The Rake (even down to the different-coloured eyes) but Astrid wasn't even 1% as amazing as Alys.
And wow, did she have a talent for making everything about her and only her. Even while her sister explained to her her own wishes for her life, all she could think of was how jealous her sister clearly was of her. GAHHH. LITERALLY everyone else kept being reasonable and intelligent and pointing out the stark truth in their situation, while she continued to be a blithering idiot. I think the pretense with the brother was truly The End for me. Because in what universe did she imagine that one of the, if not the, most powerful dukes in the country would not have thoroughly investigated the lack of an actual Honeywell heir himself before claiming the property back?! Actual fucking idiot. If Montford hadn't been so filled with lust and the novel feeling of having some fun in his life, he'd have stopped humouring her insanity and thrown her and her family the fuck off of his property by about 5 chapters in.
She couldn't stop playing unnecessarily stupid games for one fucking second, not even during the final declaration of love (which I skimmed ahead to read to see if maybe I'd judged the book prematurely-I hadn't, she was even more fucking terrible that I expected, with the added bonus of him turning morally sketchy too).
I couldn't believe in any character description and couldn't be invested in any character development because of teh constant extreme contradictions. We're told that Alice and Wes are complete idiots in one scene, and then they're spouting extremely wise life insights the next. We're told that Astrid is a bluestocking and "intelligent" and she decides to fucking hide the account books despite it being obvious to Montford after spending 5 minutes in the area that it's more prosperous than he's been told it is, and that clearly they've been fucking ripping him off for years.
I couldn't take the story seriously but I couldn't invest in it as a farce either. The amount of suspension of disbelief it required was beyond even my considerable abilities. The heroine was truly more insufferable than most alpholes I've read, and that's saying something, and the hero showed lots of stuffy, starchy, dukish promise but was unfortunately shoved blindly into the Honeywells' collective insanity with nary a warning nor a life jacket. I really don't care about these people and their idiocy and their HEAs and not having read any of the interactions between Katherine and her apparent step-nephew the Ton's Most Beautiful man or whatever, I really couldn't give a rat's arse if he finds out that she's not so frigid after all. Everyone in this universe can fucking go hang. I'm off to re-read Courtney Milan, and get this tripe out of my mind.
I don't think I've ever sided with an absolutely arrogant stuffy male as much as I have with the hero in this one. It probably helped that I stopped where I did so I didn't have to actually read him deflower her while he was still engaged to someone else, which I'm assuming is where the author was going to take their mutual attraction.
The heroine though. Oh my GOD, I've never read a more willfully blind, childish and naive idiot in my life. I did not see ONE example of her supposedly vast intelligence. I could probably have suspended disbelief for most of her idiocy though but her conscious and willful legal obtuseness was the last straw for me. It doesn't fucking matter that you think you have some moral right to a property! If someone else has the legal title to it, THEY FUCKING HAVE THE LEGAL TITLE TO IT. It doesn't matter that you think the country's property and primogeniture laws are arcane and sexist! As long as they fucking exist, and you're bound to the legal contract that gives you an equitable right to the property, then when your right ceases to exist, IT FUCKING CEASES TO EXIST. Exactly WHAT did Astrid imagine she was accomplishing by getting his man of affairs permanently wasted, and trying to drive the duke out of the property that's fucking his?! He could take the matter to court with the utmost ease and have your whole fucking family imprisoned you brainless twit! Instead of endearing yourself to him and throwing yourself on his mercy to provide for you in some way, you instead get his back up at every turn, act like a complete fucking blind idiot and try to hide the fact that you've actually been stealing from him for a decade! Yeah, again, it doesn't fucking matter that you think the Montfords have taken what belongs to the Honeywells, you still can't pay him a fraudulently low tithe through "creative bookkeeping". Something that's fucking obvious to him when he's spent fucking 5 minutes in the area. So fucking YEAH, he CAN look at that as thievery, BECAUSE IT FUCKING IS.
And my GOD her sanctimonious, naively idealistic self-righteousness! Anyone who didn't see things her way was an idiot, despite repeatedly exhibiting more common sense and practical reason than she ever did. And God help anyone who tried to point out something she didn't yet want to admit to herself or see. Because ignoring the truth always works out so well. And she was the worst kind of (non-)feminist too! The judgmental, idealistic, self-righteous kind that looks down on women for liking dresses and shoes and jewellery or wanting a husband and children, or basically trying to exhibit any sort of blatant femininity. Fuck that! You RESPECT each individual woman's choices and wishes and decisions for her own life, whatever they may be. She was so convinced that she was one of the ordinary folk that she ignored that she had a lot of privileges that allowed her the freedom to believe she could pursue the future she wanted. I'm assuming MF was trying to go for someone like Alys Weston in The Rake (even down to the different-coloured eyes) but Astrid wasn't even 1% as amazing as Alys.
And wow, did she have a talent for making everything about her and only her. Even while her sister explained to her her own wishes for her life, all she could think of was how jealous her sister clearly was of her. GAHHH. LITERALLY everyone else kept being reasonable and intelligent and pointing out the stark truth in their situation, while she continued to be a blithering idiot. I think the pretense with the brother was truly The End for me. Because in what universe did she imagine that one of the, if not the, most powerful dukes in the country would not have thoroughly investigated the lack of an actual Honeywell heir himself before claiming the property back?! Actual fucking idiot. If Montford hadn't been so filled with lust and the novel feeling of having some fun in his life, he'd have stopped humouring her insanity and thrown her and her family the fuck off of his property by about 5 chapters in.
She couldn't stop playing unnecessarily stupid games for one fucking second, not even during the final declaration of love (which I skimmed ahead to read to see if maybe I'd judged the book prematurely-I hadn't, she was even more fucking terrible that I expected, with the added bonus of him turning morally sketchy too).
I couldn't believe in any character description and couldn't be invested in any character development because of teh constant extreme contradictions. We're told that Alice and Wes are complete idiots in one scene, and then they're spouting extremely wise life insights the next. We're told that Astrid is a bluestocking and "intelligent" and she decides to fucking hide the account books despite it being obvious to Montford after spending 5 minutes in the area that it's more prosperous than he's been told it is, and that clearly they've been fucking ripping him off for years.
I couldn't take the story seriously but I couldn't invest in it as a farce either. The amount of suspension of disbelief it required was beyond even my considerable abilities. The heroine was truly more insufferable than most alpholes I've read, and that's saying something, and the hero showed lots of stuffy, starchy, dukish promise but was unfortunately shoved blindly into the Honeywells' collective insanity with nary a warning nor a life jacket. I really don't care about these people and their idiocy and their HEAs and not having read any of the interactions between Katherine and her apparent step-nephew the Ton's Most Beautiful man or whatever, I really couldn't give a rat's arse if he finds out that she's not so frigid after all. Everyone in this universe can fucking go hang. I'm off to re-read Courtney Milan, and get this tripe out of my mind.
June 14, 2014
I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers romances. There is just something intriguing, fun, and sexy about watching two people who seemingly despise each other fall in love. What's that saying, "there's a thin line between love and hate"? Makes it all the more exciting.
"Damn that woman to bloody hell, but she was a...a...The Duke's Holiday is a humorous enemies to lovers historical romance that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Handful.
A strumpet.
Worse. He suspected she was a bluestocking.
The horror." - Montford
The Montfords and the Honeywells have despised one another for nearly two centuries. When the Duke of Montford discovers the last of the male line of Honeywells, Alyosius Honeywell, has been dead for one year, Montford believes he can finally be rid of them. Ownership of the Honeywell estate and brewery will revert to the dukedom. But Astrid Honeywell, the eldest daughter and current manager of the estate, doesn't plan on making it easy. She won't give up without a fight.
This was just pure escapist fun. I loved the mayhem and comedy that ensued as Montford and Astrid tried to outwit each other, and just generally drove each other crazy. There were some very funny scenes involving the antics of these two.
I especially loved Montford who is a total prig with OCD tendencies. His struggle with Astrid was the most fun to watch. I liked Astrid, but she did grate on my nerves a bit for the first third of the story. However, she did grow on me as the story progressed. By the end I liked her quite a bit.
The story was well written, although there was an overuse of italicized words which drove me a bit crazy at first. I was able to overlook that as the story unfolded.
There was a set up for a romance of two secondary characters which will be the focus of Book 2. While I liked those two characters, I'm not sure I found them intriguing enough to pick up their book. I guess we'll see. I might change my mind.
Overall this was a very enjoyable amusing romance. I know Lisa Kleypas does not write humorous historical romances, but this book reminded me of the Wallflower series for some reason. So, if you like humorous romances, and if you like the Wallflower series, then you might like The Duke's Holiday.
Final Rating: 4 stars
February 21, 2018
One of the best HR book I've read so far. It's full of hilarious and adventures scenes.
There are very good reviews about the book. So I've just write a few things. When I started to read, it capture my attention and it didn't release me until the last sentence.
It's very colorful, very theatrical story. Pacing is very successful. I was not bored or lost my enthusiasm one second.
I love all the chracters and each one have a proper and important role. Dialogs are magnificent, especially between hero and heroine. Despite of all of the funny material, it still has a depth and include very sweet romance which imo, all of these aspects is hard to find in a one book. I don't remember, when I had such a great time, with a light spirit, reading a book, yet even an HR one. I think, it's one of the rare boosk that make me want to read it again in close future.
I'm very happy to gain so successful historical author. This book earns all kind of praise. I'm very glad to read it.
There are very good reviews about the book. So I've just write a few things. When I started to read, it capture my attention and it didn't release me until the last sentence.
It's very colorful, very theatrical story. Pacing is very successful. I was not bored or lost my enthusiasm one second.
I love all the chracters and each one have a proper and important role. Dialogs are magnificent, especially between hero and heroine. Despite of all of the funny material, it still has a depth and include very sweet romance which imo, all of these aspects is hard to find in a one book. I don't remember, when I had such a great time, with a light spirit, reading a book, yet even an HR one. I think, it's one of the rare boosk that make me want to read it again in close future.
I'm very happy to gain so successful historical author. This book earns all kind of praise. I'm very glad to read it.
January 14, 2022
The Duke's Holiday was a fun book to jump into. Not sure what's going on with me and historical romances lately, but I'm enjoying the heck out of them. In this, you will meet Astrid and Cyril. They didn't start off on the right foot and if I'm being honest here, they didn't get on the right foot for a while.
Which brought me wonderful tension-filled scenes between these two. I loved them all and couldn't wait for things to explode. When they did, I was very content and wanted more. Always more. There was just something about these two that made me smile. Whether it was the scheming or lying being done or just the little sexy moments between them. I just ended up really liking them and the overall story.
So, in other words, I'm very excited to jump into the sequel!
Which brought me wonderful tension-filled scenes between these two. I loved them all and couldn't wait for things to explode. When they did, I was very content and wanted more. Always more. There was just something about these two that made me smile. Whether it was the scheming or lying being done or just the little sexy moments between them. I just ended up really liking them and the overall story.
So, in other words, I'm very excited to jump into the sequel!
June 8, 2015
I recently saw this book favorably reviewed at Dear Author and it made me realize it's been awhile since I've sat down and giggled through a historical romance. This is a really fun book. The duke of Montford is a very serious, intense, dour duke. He takes his responsibilities very seriously, running a pristine estate and always doing his duty for his country. He is also very particular about the way his life and house is run. He likes everything in its place. His office desk must have his papers in proper order with not an edge of paper out of place. His books are alphabetized. His clothes are hung in his closet to perfection. He's OCD and doesn't care. 200 years ago, a contract was signed, giving a Montford property to the Honeywell family, for as long as a male Honeywell was alive. This property includes a castle and a popular brewery. Montford has always been upset his family lost this property, and finds the Honeywell family his biggest nemisis, even if they don't know it. But finally one day, Montford receives notice the last of the male Honeywells has died - and Montford now wants to reclaim his property. But if he thinks the recently deceased Honeywell was his biggest nemesis, he has yet to meet his daughter.
Astrid Honeywell has been running her crumbling estate this entire year after her father passed away. She knew Montford would be waiting to take away her property as soon as he heard her dad died, so she waited as long as she could to tell him. She not only cares for the estate, but for her sisters and aunt too. Astrid is not your typical lady. She wears trousers, she chases pigs, she doesn't ride side-saddle. She has never learned to pour tea properly. When Montford rides out to Astrid's house, his OCD tendencies go into full panic. First, the castle is actually crooked, leaning over to one side. Montford has barely recovered from that non-symmetrical heart-attack when he meets Astrid and realizes she has mismatched-colored eyes. This is only the beginning of exasperating things Montford will encounter.
"But your Grace," he said in a whisper, as if afraid of being overheard by the carriage walls, "I don't think they bathe this far north."
Montford bit back a retort to this ridiculous statement, but it was a ridiculous statement that reflected Montford's own fears. Who knew what dreadful fate awaited them at Rylestone Hall? Outside privies? Garderobes? He shuddered.
This is a really fun read. As soon as you meet Astrid and her wild siblings and her crazy ways - you know where this book is headed. You know Montford is going to have one headache after another and it's so much fun to watch him try not to combust with the need to straighten everything in Astrid's house. I immediately fell in love with Astrid. She has a lot of responsibility in taking care of her sisters and the estate and trying to keep everyone happy. But I also like that she isn't perfect. Her sister Alice at one point points out that Astrid's lack of decorum and lack of seriously trying to get a husband to help them out by not losing the property, is an actual burden. Alice blames Astrid for her shocking behavior which means lack of suitors. I like that this was brought up- it's one thing to be an over the top heroine and silly, but to bring in the mature side of it, was a nice addition.
Speaking of silly moments, we get a lot. Astrid at one points hides the estate book in her underwear because she doesn't want Montford to read it.
She sat up quickly, lifted her skirts, and shoved the book into her drawers.
The duke froze.
He stared at her as if he'd been hit by a load of bricks. Or every book in the library. At once.
At length, he seemed to find his voice. "You didn't just..." It wavered on the last word.
She laid her hands over her lap protectively. "Oh, I did." She arched her brow challengingly because she couldn't help herself.
His jaw snapped shut, his lips thinned to a hard line, and his eyes narrowed.
Beyond the silliness, Montford and Astrid have a very sexy romance develop. At first Montford can't believe he is lusting after a freckled heroine who has red unruly hair - but he becomes quite fond of her. She pushes his buttons, makes him think and stretches the boundaries of what he is comfortable with.
And there is also the time Montford gets drunk. Really, really drunk.
He arrived at the edge of her bosom and buried his head there. Her pulse leapt as she waited for what he would do next. But he didn't move for the longest time, his full weight pressing her against the wall. His arms fell from her shoulders, and he sighed into her bosom. The garden around them was quiet, still. All she could hear was the steady sound of his breathing and her pulse thundering in her ears.
After a minute or so passed, she grew uncomfortable and a little cold, her inner heat fading.
What was he doing down there?
A sound ripped from the back of his throat. It took her a moment to comprehend what it was. When she did, she completely cold.
A snore.
The cad! The utter cad! He'd kissed her senseless, then buried his head in her breasts and fallen asleep!
"Oh, you...you beast!" she cried, shoving him away from her.
He didn't wake up. He just slowly crumpled to the ground like a folding accordion and continued to snore with his cheek mashed up against the garden wall.
Lots of smiles reading this one. Looking forward to book two.
Rating: B
Astrid Honeywell has been running her crumbling estate this entire year after her father passed away. She knew Montford would be waiting to take away her property as soon as he heard her dad died, so she waited as long as she could to tell him. She not only cares for the estate, but for her sisters and aunt too. Astrid is not your typical lady. She wears trousers, she chases pigs, she doesn't ride side-saddle. She has never learned to pour tea properly. When Montford rides out to Astrid's house, his OCD tendencies go into full panic. First, the castle is actually crooked, leaning over to one side. Montford has barely recovered from that non-symmetrical heart-attack when he meets Astrid and realizes she has mismatched-colored eyes. This is only the beginning of exasperating things Montford will encounter.
"But your Grace," he said in a whisper, as if afraid of being overheard by the carriage walls, "I don't think they bathe this far north."
Montford bit back a retort to this ridiculous statement, but it was a ridiculous statement that reflected Montford's own fears. Who knew what dreadful fate awaited them at Rylestone Hall? Outside privies? Garderobes? He shuddered.
This is a really fun read. As soon as you meet Astrid and her wild siblings and her crazy ways - you know where this book is headed. You know Montford is going to have one headache after another and it's so much fun to watch him try not to combust with the need to straighten everything in Astrid's house. I immediately fell in love with Astrid. She has a lot of responsibility in taking care of her sisters and the estate and trying to keep everyone happy. But I also like that she isn't perfect. Her sister Alice at one point points out that Astrid's lack of decorum and lack of seriously trying to get a husband to help them out by not losing the property, is an actual burden. Alice blames Astrid for her shocking behavior which means lack of suitors. I like that this was brought up- it's one thing to be an over the top heroine and silly, but to bring in the mature side of it, was a nice addition.
Speaking of silly moments, we get a lot. Astrid at one points hides the estate book in her underwear because she doesn't want Montford to read it.
She sat up quickly, lifted her skirts, and shoved the book into her drawers.
The duke froze.
He stared at her as if he'd been hit by a load of bricks. Or every book in the library. At once.
At length, he seemed to find his voice. "You didn't just..." It wavered on the last word.
She laid her hands over her lap protectively. "Oh, I did." She arched her brow challengingly because she couldn't help herself.
His jaw snapped shut, his lips thinned to a hard line, and his eyes narrowed.
Beyond the silliness, Montford and Astrid have a very sexy romance develop. At first Montford can't believe he is lusting after a freckled heroine who has red unruly hair - but he becomes quite fond of her. She pushes his buttons, makes him think and stretches the boundaries of what he is comfortable with.
And there is also the time Montford gets drunk. Really, really drunk.
He arrived at the edge of her bosom and buried his head there. Her pulse leapt as she waited for what he would do next. But he didn't move for the longest time, his full weight pressing her against the wall. His arms fell from her shoulders, and he sighed into her bosom. The garden around them was quiet, still. All she could hear was the steady sound of his breathing and her pulse thundering in her ears.
After a minute or so passed, she grew uncomfortable and a little cold, her inner heat fading.
What was he doing down there?
A sound ripped from the back of his throat. It took her a moment to comprehend what it was. When she did, she completely cold.
A snore.
The cad! The utter cad! He'd kissed her senseless, then buried his head in her breasts and fallen asleep!
"Oh, you...you beast!" she cried, shoving him away from her.
He didn't wake up. He just slowly crumpled to the ground like a folding accordion and continued to snore with his cheek mashed up against the garden wall.
Lots of smiles reading this one. Looking forward to book two.
Rating: B
January 27, 2016
★★★★½ Audio very well narrated; enjoyed it more the second time around, partly due to the wonderful narration.
May 7, 2015
This is the perfect example of "too much of a good thing".
I can't recall a novel with a more entertaining beginning thank this one. The characters are hilarious, the setting is amazing, the dialogue is snappy, and Petunia the pig is great.
Montford, with his OCD and tragic past, is very endearing.
Astrid, with her mismatched eyes and bluestocking ways, is incredibly funny.
And aunt Anabele is one of the funniest characters in recent times!
It was absolutely delightful to dive into this world and all its crazy turns!
Sadly, near the end it started to drag. And drag. And draaag.
I honestly think that the was unnecessary. It's a very touchy subject, unreadable for some, and I hate to see it used so lightly as a plot point. It really sucked all the fun out of the book...
And it wasn't much better how Montford, barely a day after the event, . No offence, but after such a traumatic experience the last thing you want to do is re-enact pieces of it in a ~romantic~ way.
That said, it was mostly enjoyable, and very funny, and I CAN'T WAIT to read the next book about Sherbrook and Lady Katherine!
December 5, 2015
Fantastic fun. Fenton knows exactly what she's about. There was such commitment to this story - the writing, the style, the characters. I ate it up. This kind of farcical style can be hit and miss, but I thought it was funny and clever. The characters were great - Montford and his need for control slowly unraveled by Astrid's unpredictability and intelligence. The book managed to keep its lighthearted tone whilst giving its two main characters believably angsty back stories, which is no mean feat. And they really fizzed as a couple. Their interactions were great. Their conversations were pitch perfect. I know I'm really loving a couple when I'm eager for the next scene which puts them together and smiling each and every time they are. Although I could really, really have done without the first sex scene on a horse (I'm still baffled by the logistics) - it was a little bit too much farce for me and the book loses half a star for that alone. Then we have the cast of side characters and future heroes and heroines, not to mention pigs with stupid names who all really worked for me as well. Fenton is not Sherry Thomas or Courtney Milan or Rose Lerner. She's writing an entirely different type of romance here, it won't be for everyone, but I enjoyed it very much.
April 21, 2015
This book had the potential and had the right feel but it had a couple of things that irked me. Astrid and Montford do NOT like each other, at all. Even until the very, very end. I kept waiting for the moment where they started to be warmer to each other and actually get along. I know that the arguing and bullying was part of the enemies to lovers thing to work but I felt it was a little too harsh. When Montford thinks he'd like to gorge out Astrid's eyes or kick her head in, it felt awkwardly too strong and almost like a domestic violence issue might arise.. Not the stuff of romance. I found Montford hard to like. Yes, he's quirky and has issues, but he was hard to read. On a positive note, I will say the race scene was by far my favorite. With a few minor tweaks, I think this book has the potential to be a lovely book.
*** An advance reading copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
*** An advance reading copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
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