Miss Rosalind Weaver is on a mission. She must convince the Duke of Fallon to marry her, or her father will give her away to the next highest bidder, a man she cannot stand. She thinks all the Duke desires is reassurance that she can give him an heir, but she soon learns he wants a more thorough test of how she will fare as his wife--in the bedroom....
I didn't realize I've already read this novella back in 2019. I listened to the audiobook this time around. May not be historically accurate in a few scenes but I enjoyed the steamy scenes.
Wow. This didn't work for me. The hero's backhanded comments about Frigid Dead Wife #1 and their baby girl that died a few days after his wife died. The Evil Other Woman who is the sister of Mentally Unstable Dead Wife #2 and or course the sisters were incestuous and of course the hero um...well, you know. But like, he was drunk so...what? That excuses him? And I'm supposed to think he's a romance hero and has this great love match with the heroine (Wife #3) and of course we get an epilogue where she squirts out a baby of the proper gender (oh barf, a boy). Historically accurate? Sure. Girls have been devalued since the dawn of time. Doesn't mean I want to read about it in a story the author is trying to spin as a romance.
This was a good little story, just not anything spectacular. It was interesting and had plenty of steam. I kind of wish it had been more fleshed out, that would have really sold things for me.
Good lordy the steam!! It is definitely a spicy read!
I enjoyed the narration by Faye Adele. Her British accent was pleasing to the ears and helped move the story along. The pace was terrific, just right for this historical read. I am interested in checking out other reads by this narrator, she gave me happy ears!
There was actually a plot here for a complete book - and reasons for calling this guy the Devilish Duke. Two dead wives, a good for nothing father, a horrible suitor. I'm not sure why authors insist of cramming short stories to the gills, specially erotic ones. The whole point of erotic stories is the sex!! Why not write better sex scenes and leave it at that?
Not bad. It got a bit melodramatic towards the end, which felt forced. Then there was no real resolution. Basically the heroine says “it’s fine” and that was it. I have read shorter stories with more substance, so length alone does not excuse it.
It started strong and the sex scenes were enjoyable.
This was a lot for a short story and it probably would have rated higher if it was a full novel.
I liked the premise of the MFC taking things into her own hands. There was plenty of heat between the lead characters along with lots of backstory which would really have benefit from a more pages. If that had been done, this would have leant into the dark-romance category making an interesting read for a period romance.