The Duchess Diaries

by Barbara Dawson Smith

It's curious how one woman can haunt a man…

Ten years as a high-stakes jewel thief should have helped me forget Sophie Huntington Ramsey. But no matter how far I traveled, she was never far from my thoughts. Her earthy sensuality. Her wild passion. For ten long years, my memory of our one forbidden night together burned as hot as the encounter itself. The thought of her betrayal with my oldest, dearest friend blazed even hotter.

Imagine my surprise when I heard of Sophie's widowhood--and that her husband the Duke of Mulford, named me guardian of her young son! Imagine my shock when I learned that Sophie might have had a hand in her husband's untimely death.

It seems that fate has brought Sophie and me together once again. When I return to England to claim my role as guardian, I also vow to win back Sophie's heart. I will slowly seduce her until she is weak with wanting. And when I've had my fill of her, I will expose her as a murderess.
Sophie Huntington Ramsey, the Duchess of Mulford, is about to get something she never bargained for…
-- From the Memoirs of Grant Chandler

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Regency

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

From http://www.barbaradawsonsmith.com/bio...
A member of Romance Writers of America since 1981, Barbara Dawson Smith sold her first historical romance two weeks after sending it to a publisher. Her books have won the Golden Heart Award from RWA, and Best Historical Romantic Suspense and Best Regency Historical from Romantic Times. She has been a finalist for the National Readers’ Choice Award, Romance of the Year by Affaire de Coeur magazine, the Golden Quill, and the Booksellers' Best Award. She has also been a five-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award, and realized a lifetime dream in 2002 when she won the award for TEMPT ME TWICE. Barbara also writes romance as Olivia Drake.

Barbara lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and who knows how many neighbor children running up and down the stairs. When she's not finishing a chapter or teaching a seminar on writing, she enjoys browsing in her collection of over a thousand research books.

Reviews

[Laura P · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part I enjoyed this book. It started off a little slow... Sophie and Grant, each other's one true love, have a young, passionate relationship, then split when she becomes pregnant and he talks of not wanting a commitment (without knowing about the pregnancy). She marries his best friend, which pisses Grant off (understandably), but because the friend knows of the pregnancy and helps her. Therefore, everyone thinks the kid is his. (This isn't a spoiler - it's all revealed in the first chapter or two.) So, when Grant hears about the engagement, he does the logical thing and runs off to travel the world as a jewel thief. Obviously. Though it adds a mysterious, sexy quality to his character. Sophie becomes widowed, with her husband leaving guardianship to Grant, which causes his return into Sophie's life. Now, for people that supposedly had this wild love, they take a darn long time getting around to even kissing again. Once they do, you finally start to believe the love and sexual tension, but I was getting mighty antsy to see if the author would make their love feel real and true. Once the sexual tension picked up, the plot become more intricate, the characters became more believable, and the book became harder to put down. (Always a positive quality.) Obviously...happy ending ensues. The reason for only 3 stars? Partly for the slow start and partly for the ridiculous ending. Through the book a mystery is being solved, along with their personal secrets (such as Grant being the kid's father) being revealed. The problem I had was that they both had kept such huge secrets, and participated is some major lying, yet one scene of "oh my god I almost lost you" and everything was forgotten. It just seemed resolved too easily and without enough hurt feelings (which is what would happen in real life). Overall, after a dragging start, it was an intense book that I'd still recommend despite it's fluffy ending.

[AndreaH · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man is made gaurdian of his former lover's son, now a duke upon the death of his father whom his ex-lover is accused of murdering?
Grant Chandler is determined to prove Sophie Ramsey's guilt for killing a friend, all the while enjoying her charms.
But did Sophie really do it, and if she did, can he really give her up?

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had a good story line to it, but I didn't feel anything for the characters.

[Elis Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent mystery, though the reader won't have enough info to suss out the villain's motive before the final reveal.