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Duchess in Disguise
The Duke of Westhampton had a wife in the country -- and a mistress in town. This suited the Duke of Westhampton, but his young wife, whom he'd wed and tucked away on his estate with scarcely a second glance was not pleased. So, being as audacious as she was innocent, she undertook to win his attention, to charm and undo him, in the world of the Regency haut ton, where he was very well known -- and she was not.
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First published March 1, 1979
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About the author
Caroline Courtney
47 books29 followersHer other names: Penny Jordan, Annie Groves, Melinda Wright, Lydia Hitchcock
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on 24 November 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialised bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan, and was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale, in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her late husband bought her out of his own money at a time when he could ill afford it the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels. Her husband died at the beginning of 21th century.
She has earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for threebair-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her present historical romance novels, she has adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70m of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
As Widow, Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family. She passed away on 31 December 2011.
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on 24 November 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialised bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan, and was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale, in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her late husband bought her out of his own money at a time when he could ill afford it the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels. Her husband died at the beginning of 21th century.
She has earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for threebair-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her present historical romance novels, she has adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70m of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
As Widow, Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family. She passed away on 31 December 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 29, 2025
Double bleh!
(Since I Blehed my previous read - My Dear Duchess (Regency Royal, #6) and this book, also about a moc of a duke, takes absurdities to another level - so, double the bleh!)
The story unfolds as per the blurb - the H, a duke, wishes to marry and 'bury' a convenient and bidding wife - with 'no town ideas'- in the country and carry on with his merry, mistressy way in the city. He decides on a countrified family (super noble, super old-name and super poor) and sends a letter to the girl's mother (who had just passed away, unbeknownst to him) and asks for Miss de Villiers' hand. The older sister loves another and so the quick-witted and precocious (she's seventeen) younger Miss de Villiers decides she'd do just as well - by marrying the rich duke and making things right for her impoverished family. They marry, he dumps her in the country, makes good on his promise to help along her brother and new brother-in-law.
And then, she suddenly becomes resentful.
Because everyone else is getting their way, their thing and she's the one left alone, to rot. And so, London beckons.
Rebellion and Revenge.
(And Penny Jordan meets Barbara Cartland.)
Plan- She'll turn her dowdy, frumpy, skinny, waif-ish self into an eye-popping and alluring seductress and then lure (maybe seduce) and then dump her erring husband. All this when she doesn't knew anything about the bees and the birds but we'll learn along the way.
So, the plan unfolds - in a not very thought out or practical or even believable way.
The glaring plot holes kept me from enjoying this silly and shallow caper - a class of books I lap up just fine.
(Since I Blehed my previous read - My Dear Duchess (Regency Royal, #6) and this book, also about a moc of a duke, takes absurdities to another level - so, double the bleh!)
The story unfolds as per the blurb - the H, a duke, wishes to marry and 'bury' a convenient and bidding wife - with 'no town ideas'- in the country and carry on with his merry, mistressy way in the city. He decides on a countrified family (super noble, super old-name and super poor) and sends a letter to the girl's mother (who had just passed away, unbeknownst to him) and asks for Miss de Villiers' hand. The older sister loves another and so the quick-witted and precocious (she's seventeen) younger Miss de Villiers decides she'd do just as well - by marrying the rich duke and making things right for her impoverished family. They marry, he dumps her in the country, makes good on his promise to help along her brother and new brother-in-law.
And then, she suddenly becomes resentful.
Because everyone else is getting their way, their thing and she's the one left alone, to rot. And so, London beckons.
Rebellion and Revenge.
(And Penny Jordan meets Barbara Cartland.)
Plan- She'll turn her dowdy, frumpy, skinny, waif-ish self into an eye-popping and alluring seductress and then lure (maybe seduce) and then dump her erring husband. All this when she doesn't knew anything about the bees and the birds but we'll learn along the way.
So, the plan unfolds - in a not very thought out or practical or even believable way.
The glaring plot holes kept me from enjoying this silly and shallow caper - a class of books I lap up just fine.
February 22, 2015
Just how many books am I going to rate low this year, seriously?! What's happening?? And how many times am I going to say "This started out great, BUT THEN..."?!?! Gah.
This book was an odd mix of The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer and Heart's Desire by Barbara Cartland, with some random Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion references thrown in, and a character oddly reminiscent of the Duke of Avon in Heyer's These Old Shades. A very strange mix. I know that, had I picked this novel 3-5 years ago, I would have loved it. I'm sure because Heart's Desire, my first Regency novel ever, and which plot so closely resembles this one, had been an instant hit with me, and I had absolutely LOVED it. Young cast-off bride who disguises herself and makes husband fall madly in love with her was a plot that really endeared itself to me. I thought it sooooo romantic!!
In fact, I'm pretty sure I still do, but not in the way that this book was delivered. It was just silly. And frankly, pretty disgusting too. I never really had a problem with the fact that back in the Regency era, noblemen had mistresses and opera dancers (not that I agree with such a custom, but I understand it, to a certain extent), and usually as long as there are no explicit scenes and the relationship between the hero and his mistress(es) isn't too much detailed, I don't mind. In Duchess in Disguise, it seemed that whole focus was on the Duke of Westhampton and his mistresses. And the innocence and incapacity to understand exactly WHAT a mistress is, by his young wife.
Clorinda De Villiers was wed in haste (and dare I say, at random!) to the Duke of Westhampton, her reason for agreeing to the mad bargain being to save her family from financial ruin, and his to make a respectable alliance. He barely looks at her, let alone speaks, and almost as soon as they arrive at Westhampton, he departs for London and leaves Clorinda behind, and the poor young girl is ordered (by him) to "be prepared at all times for his return". In a fit of pique, she decides to go to London by herself, disguised, and to make the Duke fall in love with her to "teach him a lesson".
The Duke is incredibly arrogant, boorish, rude and selfish. And naturally, he is jaw-dropping sexy and sought after by all the young misses and their matchmaking mamas. He's a Duke. He's hot. He's rich. Of course everyone loves him. Even though he's a complete asshole. And remains so throughout the book. He falls in love with Miss de Vere, yet he never tells her that he's already married, and he kisses her and treats her like he would any of his mistresses. The only difference between him and the perverted Lord Winterstoke (the villain, apparently) was that the latter wasn't hypocritical about his relations with women. He was a publicly acknowledged dangerous rake and didn't shy away from it. Westhampton was just as bad, but got away with his behaviour "because he was a Duke". Bleargh.
My main problem with the love story though, was that it was purely based on physical appearance. Westhampton wouldn't look twice at Clorinda when she was dressed in dowdy country clothing, but now that she's in town masquerading as the beautiful Miss de Vere, wearing all the latest fashions, suddenly she's gorgeous and irresistible. The Duke and "Miss de Vere" meet freaking three times in London and are already desperately in love with each other. Clorinda HATED the Duke with a passion, and now she LOVES him with the same passion. It was so dramatic and unrealistic.
The only things that made this book bearable were the lavish period details and descriptions, which I surprised but pleased to encounter in such a short work, and the character of Monsieur Lafayette, who reminded me of Avon from TOS, calling Miss de Vere his infant and being super wise and classy and all that. ;)
Other than that, this wasn't a good read. Much too short for the kind of plot, little to no character development, too much focus on the hero's mistresses, and a stupid appearance-based silly love story. It would have been better if Miss de Villiers and the Duke of Westhampton had been engaged and not married. Adultery was never attractive, even if Regency noblemen were allowed to have "discreet affairs". Note to Westhampton: Ushering Miss de Vere during the middle of a waltz to a nearby room to kiss her senseless is NOT discreet. At least wait until your mistress is not in the vicinity for heaven's sake.
This book was an odd mix of The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer and Heart's Desire by Barbara Cartland, with some random Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion references thrown in, and a character oddly reminiscent of the Duke of Avon in Heyer's These Old Shades. A very strange mix. I know that, had I picked this novel 3-5 years ago, I would have loved it. I'm sure because Heart's Desire, my first Regency novel ever, and which plot so closely resembles this one, had been an instant hit with me, and I had absolutely LOVED it. Young cast-off bride who disguises herself and makes husband fall madly in love with her was a plot that really endeared itself to me. I thought it sooooo romantic!!
In fact, I'm pretty sure I still do, but not in the way that this book was delivered. It was just silly. And frankly, pretty disgusting too. I never really had a problem with the fact that back in the Regency era, noblemen had mistresses and opera dancers (not that I agree with such a custom, but I understand it, to a certain extent), and usually as long as there are no explicit scenes and the relationship between the hero and his mistress(es) isn't too much detailed, I don't mind. In Duchess in Disguise, it seemed that whole focus was on the Duke of Westhampton and his mistresses. And the innocence and incapacity to understand exactly WHAT a mistress is, by his young wife.
Clorinda De Villiers was wed in haste (and dare I say, at random!) to the Duke of Westhampton, her reason for agreeing to the mad bargain being to save her family from financial ruin, and his to make a respectable alliance. He barely looks at her, let alone speaks, and almost as soon as they arrive at Westhampton, he departs for London and leaves Clorinda behind, and the poor young girl is ordered (by him) to "be prepared at all times for his return". In a fit of pique, she decides to go to London by herself, disguised, and to make the Duke fall in love with her to "teach him a lesson".
The Duke is incredibly arrogant, boorish, rude and selfish. And naturally, he is jaw-dropping sexy and sought after by all the young misses and their matchmaking mamas. He's a Duke. He's hot. He's rich. Of course everyone loves him. Even though he's a complete asshole. And remains so throughout the book. He falls in love with Miss de Vere, yet he never tells her that he's already married, and he kisses her and treats her like he would any of his mistresses. The only difference between him and the perverted Lord Winterstoke (the villain, apparently) was that the latter wasn't hypocritical about his relations with women. He was a publicly acknowledged dangerous rake and didn't shy away from it. Westhampton was just as bad, but got away with his behaviour "because he was a Duke". Bleargh.
My main problem with the love story though, was that it was purely based on physical appearance. Westhampton wouldn't look twice at Clorinda when she was dressed in dowdy country clothing, but now that she's in town masquerading as the beautiful Miss de Vere, wearing all the latest fashions, suddenly she's gorgeous and irresistible. The Duke and "Miss de Vere" meet freaking three times in London and are already desperately in love with each other. Clorinda HATED the Duke with a passion, and now she LOVES him with the same passion. It was so dramatic and unrealistic.
The only things that made this book bearable were the lavish period details and descriptions, which I surprised but pleased to encounter in such a short work, and the character of Monsieur Lafayette, who reminded me of Avon from TOS, calling Miss de Vere his infant and being super wise and classy and all that. ;)
Other than that, this wasn't a good read. Much too short for the kind of plot, little to no character development, too much focus on the hero's mistresses, and a stupid appearance-based silly love story. It would have been better if Miss de Villiers and the Duke of Westhampton had been engaged and not married. Adultery was never attractive, even if Regency noblemen were allowed to have "discreet affairs". Note to Westhampton: Ushering Miss de Vere during the middle of a waltz to a nearby room to kiss her senseless is NOT discreet. At least wait until your mistress is not in the vicinity for heaven's sake.
August 17, 2019
Pedigreed but woefully countrified h marries the grand duke H with rakish tendencies. Their marriage is one of convenience and h wants nothing more than to change it into one of inconvenience by trying to make him fall in love with her - for revenge. That's right; h Clorinda (the name I disliked) wanted the Duke to fall in love with her only so that she could reject him and make him suffer as she did when he largely ignored her post their lacklustre wedding and left her to her devices at his country seat.
An ill-conceived plan of seduction is then embarked upon by the h who goes from dowdy country miss to belle of the season with a little bit of French fashion and grooming and a trip to glittering Regency London. She captures the H's attention and also the interest of some very unsavoury characters before a single waltz with the Duke changes everything. Pandemonium follows and I really didn't think it was well written, that. The final scene between the the star crossed pair was not satisfying either and I still fail to understand how it took the Duke so much time to figure out that the woman he loves and the one he married was one and the same.
FYI, this book is written by Penny Jordan - whose HP novels I quite like. This one though, did very little to impress me. Not worth the read.
An ill-conceived plan of seduction is then embarked upon by the h who goes from dowdy country miss to belle of the season with a little bit of French fashion and grooming and a trip to glittering Regency London. She captures the H's attention and also the interest of some very unsavoury characters before a single waltz with the Duke changes everything. Pandemonium follows and I really didn't think it was well written, that. The final scene between the the star crossed pair was not satisfying either and I still fail to understand how it took the Duke so much time to figure out that the woman he loves and the one he married was one and the same.
FYI, this book is written by Penny Jordan - whose HP novels I quite like. This one though, did very little to impress me. Not worth the read.
April 16, 2025
4.5 stars - I guess I’m in the minority 😬 - this was a lot of fun for me - which makes sense since I’ve liked a lot of Penny Jordan harlequins and this is a pen name for her. It’s got all the fun stuff… I loved the Cinderella-ish aspect. I loved the dark and dangerous broody hero. I loved the completely innocent selfless heroine who ends up showing some backbone. I loved the angst we got with the OW situation. Just all the stuff I want in a Regency read. 💕💕
The only real drawbacks for me are:
1. that we don’t get a confrontation between the hero and OW - she’s just conveniently dispatched out of the country
2. I was anticipating a sex scene (in all its purple prose glory 🤡) but we never get it.
3. The hero abandons the h during a party , after a torrid embrace - he leaves her to deal with a smarmy rake and his own mistress alone — and I kept expecting an explanation and apology for that, but it’s just dropped. It was such an odd thing for him to do since he’s been very jealous and fierce and protective before this scene… the author even has the heroine upset about it… anyway it was just a dangling thing I wanted resolution on
⚠️SAFETY SPOILERS⚠️
This may not be safe for some. The hero weds the heroine in a marriage of convenience in the truest sense. They had never met before the wedding day and he barely looks at her. It’s all a business arrangement for them both really. He leaves her in his country home without consummating the marriage. He heads back to London to resume his life, which includes a married woman as his mistress. The heroine, who had intentionally altered her appearance for the wedding, eventually resumes her normal (lovely) looks and decides she’s tired of hanging in the country - so she takes off to London against the wishes of her “husband”. This is where their romance begins… he thinks she’s someone else and promptly drops his mistress once he’s besotted with the h…. I know some readers will feel this is a cheating scenario, and technically, of course, it is. But for me, since there weren’t feelings in either direction, they hadn’t been sexually intimate yet, nor was there any expectations of fidelity, I didn’t really see this as “cheating”. Of course the scenario is a source of angst once the heroine develops feelings but the hero is besotted by then, so I feel it takes away the sting for the reader.
YMMV 🤷🏼♀️
The only real drawbacks for me are:
1. that we don’t get a confrontation between the hero and OW - she’s just conveniently dispatched out of the country
2. I was anticipating a sex scene (in all its purple prose glory 🤡) but we never get it.
3. The hero abandons the h during a party , after a torrid embrace - he leaves her to deal with a smarmy rake and his own mistress alone — and I kept expecting an explanation and apology for that, but it’s just dropped. It was such an odd thing for him to do since he’s been very jealous and fierce and protective before this scene… the author even has the heroine upset about it… anyway it was just a dangling thing I wanted resolution on
⚠️SAFETY SPOILERS⚠️
This may not be safe for some. The hero weds the heroine in a marriage of convenience in the truest sense. They had never met before the wedding day and he barely looks at her. It’s all a business arrangement for them both really. He leaves her in his country home without consummating the marriage. He heads back to London to resume his life, which includes a married woman as his mistress. The heroine, who had intentionally altered her appearance for the wedding, eventually resumes her normal (lovely) looks and decides she’s tired of hanging in the country - so she takes off to London against the wishes of her “husband”. This is where their romance begins… he thinks she’s someone else and promptly drops his mistress once he’s besotted with the h…. I know some readers will feel this is a cheating scenario, and technically, of course, it is. But for me, since there weren’t feelings in either direction, they hadn’t been sexually intimate yet, nor was there any expectations of fidelity, I didn’t really see this as “cheating”. Of course the scenario is a source of angst once the heroine develops feelings but the hero is besotted by then, so I feel it takes away the sting for the reader.
YMMV 🤷🏼♀️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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August 21, 2011I have such happy memories of reading Caroline Courtney's books -- my sister Heather was a regency romance junkie and for some reason, I bypassed her Georgette Heyers and scooped up her Caroline Courtneys. She had 8. I read them behind closed doors, not because my parents would mind my reading them, but because I was supposed to be doing homework. It was my year of "failing" (meaning I was no longer getting all As) and my parents had taken away my phone, and then my television-watching privileges, so that left ... books. I passed Courtney's books onto my friend Tricia, who was a romance junkie, and she read all eight very quickly. It was that time of life -- we could drive, we even had boyfriends, but what prom dress, what teenage boy, what in our lives could compare to the characters and stories in these books? The quiet, virtuous girls whom no one noticed but, when dressed in exquisite clothing, could reform rakes and take the lead of English society --
These books were pure escapism and still make me smile.
These books were pure escapism and still make me smile.
May 20, 2013
It had the potential to be a more angsty read, the drama and buildup was merely to a letdown. He had married her, left her immediately in the country.....and returned to a mistress...a married "lady" whose description made her appear a lady whore as to any type of admiration and/or affair. He immediately falls in love with his wife portraying a disguised virginal country miss, while still fooling around with the married lady everywhere... (while still thinking he was being in any manner of discreet?)by the end of the book I was hoping she would divorce him for the young man who admired her during her pretense. The ending scene of her being finally bedded and wedded happily after knowing he had been bagging the other woman... at best insincere at least skeezy...she more or less apologized for her deception while he excused his.... he was a asshat...lol
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2015
cute book. I really liked how she took it into her own hands to do something abt her situation. I also appreciated how fast paced it was. this did sacrifice details and depth of the story but if you are looking for a quick good read, this is it!
February 24, 2023
What a delightful read. I have never read this author and was not sure what to expect. The summary on the back intrigued me so I decided to read and I am so happy I did.
The characters were engaging, likeable and you wanted to root for them. The author's descriptions of the characters, their clothes and the places the story took place in were so accurate and inspiring so that it felt as if you were right there.
It was such a good book. The HEA was sweet and left feelings of love in your heart at the end.
The characters were engaging, likeable and you wanted to root for them. The author's descriptions of the characters, their clothes and the places the story took place in were so accurate and inspiring so that it felt as if you were right there.
It was such a good book. The HEA was sweet and left feelings of love in your heart at the end.
April 19, 2010
This is one of my all-time favorite romance books! I absolutely loved the will power of the heroine in this book and I loved the way she took her life in her own hands and decided to make her husband fall in love with her. What a woman!
January 11, 2020
Duke of Westhampton was looking for a biddable bride, so he proposed to the de Villiers daughter, without saying which daughter. The elder sister already had someone, so Clorinda stepped up as they were desolate and quite desperate for money. They met on their wedding day, with Clorinda tried to look older than she was (she was seventeen!) so her appearance was quite different that what she usually was. The duke dismissed her and put her in the countryside and back to London without consummate their marriage. Enraged, Clorinda planned on taking revenge by going to London in disguise and enchanted him. After he fell in love she would dump him. She went to London in her natural appearance and she became a toast.
The beginning was quite decent, but as the story progress it became too dramatic. Westhampton was an ass and Clorinda was too young, impulsive and whiny. I stopped reading when Winterstoke tried to blackmail her to became his mistress. I think his blackmail was ridiculous but how could she and her family became distressed really beyond me. The duke and Clorinda's love story also the epitome of unbelievable. Their interaction was only for a few days, so how could they professed to love each other deeply? Well, I stopped reading before I knew that the duke admitted his love, but Clorinda did. How could she, when at the beginning she hated him so much?
The beginning was quite decent, but as the story progress it became too dramatic. Westhampton was an ass and Clorinda was too young, impulsive and whiny. I stopped reading when Winterstoke tried to blackmail her to became his mistress. I think his blackmail was ridiculous but how could she and her family became distressed really beyond me. The duke and Clorinda's love story also the epitome of unbelievable. Their interaction was only for a few days, so how could they professed to love each other deeply? Well, I stopped reading before I knew that the duke admitted his love, but Clorinda did. How could she, when at the beginning she hated him so much?
May 28, 2017
It was A GUILTY PLEASURE BOOK WITH A THIN & very unlikely plot line from a single person narrative with even more unlikely characters. Finished it in an evening with some wine. It isn't a book I would have picked for myself, but found it and read it fast enough. Despite the thin plot it was a sweet PG romance that I found enjoyable.
January 27, 2022
I think if this book had been longer and took place over a longer space of time it would have been great. And does the hero need glasses? Cause he is a bit dumb. Like the heroine, she was brave and helped her family and went to get her man. She was cool. Hero...kinda forgettable and not worthy of the heroine. But read it for her part of the story.
November 13, 2021
Unfortunately, in the boxes of books I bought from eBay, I have 12 by this author. Hopefully they will not all be as trite, predictable, and boring as this one. This must be book number 72 with the same plot that I have read. I mean really, what kind of chance does this marriage have?
July 17, 2022
Passion is not same as love.
Men can fool around with multiple woman and that’s ok because having a body naked is not love. I get it!
Woman must love before giving up their body. I do not get it.
Absolutely disliked the book. Was so boring I actually quit half way. Then I really wanted to find out how this book written in 1979 ends.
Men can fool around with multiple woman and that’s ok because having a body naked is not love. I get it!
Woman must love before giving up their body. I do not get it.
Absolutely disliked the book. Was so boring I actually quit half way. Then I really wanted to find out how this book written in 1979 ends.
December 27, 2023
I loved this book once and then sorted out all my historical romances. I found a new one in a charity shop years later and bought it. For old times sake. The plot is thin and the duke and his duchess have as much character as a pair of paperdolls! Their clothes speaks for them!
August 19, 2017
Good beginning but soon it becomes very boring. Nothing really original.
October 28, 2018
I only skimmed this book. It was boring. It did not have substance. Not worth your time. Do NOT read this.
May 17, 2015
In Regency England, seventeen-year old red-head Clorinda de Villiers (I do wish this heroine had a nicer name!), her elder sister Emily and their useless gambler of a brother Jack receive a letter from the Duke of Westhampton, addressed to their now-dead mother. The Duke wishes to marry Miss de Villiers. No matter if he has never set eyes on her before. Driven by dire poverty and Jack’s reckless behaviour, they have little choice. But, since Emily is already in love with the local squire’s son, Robert, it is Clorinda who offers to be the sacrificial lamb. At least she will be moneyed, they will be able to pay off their debts, and so on.
Because the only trousseau Clorinda can manage is a refurbishing of some of their mother’s old (and not just also old-fashioned, but also unsuitable colour-wise) gowns, she ends up looking drab and ill-dressed. And her attempt to bleach her hair—turning it from red-gold to a straw, so that she might look more like Jack, who will be giving her away—makes Clorinda look even worse. The result is that her new husband barely even looks at her before telling her that she is to stay on in his palatial country seat while he goes to London.
With the Duke gone and her hair beginning to grow out fiery and vivid again, Clorinda becomes increasingly bored—and annoyed. Until she decides on a plan: to go to London as her own young, beautiful self, pretending to be someone completely different—and make her own husband fall in love with her, just so that she can teach him a lesson when she reveals who she really is. And dumps him.
I have a soft spot for marriage-of-convenience novels, and if it’s a historical, so much the better. Duchess in Disguise has most of the necessary elements in place: the reasons for the match; the feisty heroine who refuses to sit tight; the rakish husband with a sad childhood which has led to his coldness; the people who support and help the heroine; the lecherous villain; the flamboyant, experienced older woman who is the Duke’s mistress.
What lacks, however, is the time and space this narrative required to make it convincing. While it’s fine (if you don’t nitpick) till about when Clorinda decides to go to London, after that it gets hurried—so hurried that it’s very hard to believe how and when these two people fell in love (and is it really love, in less than half-a-dozen meetings?) And the many coincidences which tie up Clorinda’s life with the lives of two people, both French émigrés, who help her get her Duke.
Not a bad book (and the historical detail, while not intrusive, is well done and seemed accurate to me). But it needed to be much longer, spending more time with the characters to make their story more believable.
Because the only trousseau Clorinda can manage is a refurbishing of some of their mother’s old (and not just also old-fashioned, but also unsuitable colour-wise) gowns, she ends up looking drab and ill-dressed. And her attempt to bleach her hair—turning it from red-gold to a straw, so that she might look more like Jack, who will be giving her away—makes Clorinda look even worse. The result is that her new husband barely even looks at her before telling her that she is to stay on in his palatial country seat while he goes to London.
With the Duke gone and her hair beginning to grow out fiery and vivid again, Clorinda becomes increasingly bored—and annoyed. Until she decides on a plan: to go to London as her own young, beautiful self, pretending to be someone completely different—and make her own husband fall in love with her, just so that she can teach him a lesson when she reveals who she really is. And dumps him.
I have a soft spot for marriage-of-convenience novels, and if it’s a historical, so much the better. Duchess in Disguise has most of the necessary elements in place: the reasons for the match; the feisty heroine who refuses to sit tight; the rakish husband with a sad childhood which has led to his coldness; the people who support and help the heroine; the lecherous villain; the flamboyant, experienced older woman who is the Duke’s mistress.
What lacks, however, is the time and space this narrative required to make it convincing. While it’s fine (if you don’t nitpick) till about when Clorinda decides to go to London, after that it gets hurried—so hurried that it’s very hard to believe how and when these two people fell in love (and is it really love, in less than half-a-dozen meetings?) And the many coincidences which tie up Clorinda’s life with the lives of two people, both French émigrés, who help her get her Duke.
Not a bad book (and the historical detail, while not intrusive, is well done and seemed accurate to me). But it needed to be much longer, spending more time with the characters to make their story more believable.
September 12, 2013
What a cheese-fest! LOL You have the duchess, Clorinda (I kept thinking of her as "Chlorine", HA), who wears her mother's outdated clothes and bleaches her hair - and yet, somehow, she's able to "remove" the bleach to return to her natural hair color. She decides to go to London and wear fashionable clothing, because changing your name from Clorinda de Villiers to Cecilia de Vere and likewise changing your hair color and clothes renders you utterly unrecognizable. smh The duke, Julian, is a pompous jerk who does nothing but smirk and sneer at every turn - and yet, somehow, we're supposed to believe by the end of the story that he's madly in love with Clorinda because of his overwrought, over-dramatic, and utterly ridiculous declarations of love.
This book was a dated cheese fest. One book is an amusing look at how regencies were written 35 years ago, but you'd have to be a glutton for sappy punishment to read more than that.
This book was a dated cheese fest. One book is an amusing look at how regencies were written 35 years ago, but you'd have to be a glutton for sappy punishment to read more than that.
June 2, 2011
It was okay. I really like the time period. The romance part didn't have any depth at all. I didn't like that the main character kept being described at not being completely physically mature, and the fact the the Duke was so much older, didn't do anything for me. It did keep my attention, but I still found it lacking. I might give another one of her books a chance down the road. I hope that I like it better than I liked this one.
November 8, 2011
Clorinda. That's the name of the main character. Clorinda. I bet that was a popular name around the regency period...:D
The plot was actually pretty fun with the disguise and forced marriage and all. I just never got over the fact that Clorinda (seriously) is only 17 and described as still having the body of a child. That just makes the whole marriage and romance a little too creepy for my taste.
The plot was actually pretty fun with the disguise and forced marriage and all. I just never got over the fact that Clorinda (seriously) is only 17 and described as still having the body of a child. That just makes the whole marriage and romance a little too creepy for my taste.
December 20, 2023
Another one where the H is just a poor boy ruined by his dysfunctional childhood and our beautiful, spirited, extremely young and innocent h redeems him. You do believe he will absolutely worship at her feet the rest of their lives. Hope she does not die in childbirth cuz that would definitely set up another generation of trauma for this crew.
November 6, 2015
1.5 stars. I really wanted to like this book, but I can't. There were some great ideas buried in the book, but the author didn't develop them and instead described other unimportant things. This could be a good romance if only....
August 23, 2012
Entertaining but so very bad. She’s an irritating adolescent and he’s a shadow of a dunce. I’ve overgrown the virginal heroines and their innocence, even if they do deliciously stupid things as pretend to be other people to seduce their husbands.
September 2, 2016
Clorinda marries to save her sister who is in love with another. She plots to gain her husband's love.
July 12, 2016
1.5 stars really. The premise was a good one, the execution just plain daft.
September 1, 2012
3.5 stars
November 16, 2014
the story is very shallow ..... the whole story is about the heroine we always read from her point of view so we never get to know what is the hero thinking......very boring and ridiculous
January 24, 2015
Lord. Bodice Rippers can be a ludicrous proposition to begin with, but when they are badly written and stupefyingly boring then they are a nightmare! Don't read this.
April 21, 2025
It was "OK". I thought the h was rather immature in her thoughts & actions, but then I realized she was only 17. Still, I struggled with this a bit.
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