The Duchess (Montgomery/Taggert) Mass Market Paperback – August 1, 1992

I really loved this book. And let me just say, I was picturing Luke Evans of the Hobbit movies as Trevelyan! Anyway, I was sucked into this from the start. I was afraid it would be slow starting, the kind of thing where its taking the heroine forever to travel to the Scottish castle..but not so. We have a few pages of set up and then we're off, she meets Trevelyan and I fell in love.He certainly wasn't perfect, but neither was she and I loved seeing how they grew as people together. I rather liked Claire and thought she was a breath of fresh air in a genre where the heroines can sometimes be whiny, spineless, and weepy but instead, she was smart and full of life. My one quibble was that for as smart as she was, she kept insisting that she loved Harry and couldn't ever see that maybe he was only after her money. Even if she didn't want to admit to loving Trev, she should have at least admitted that she clearly knew him better than her finance. Then at the end she kept crying she doesn't know Trev... but she knew Harry??? The one good thing was that other characters point all this out to her so I realized she had to come to these realizations on her own.Nonetheless, its a great romance and it kept me thoroughly entertained so I couldn't ask for more. I loved that it wasn't a "duke marries for money and then really falls for her" story because those are a dime a dozen. This was unique and a true keeper! It is my second Jude Deveraux book and won't be my last!

...But then, though it remains entertaining, it gets a bit over the top. The last 50 or so pages, it's like the author kind of realized she didn't want to keep at it for enough pages to create a careful and moderately credible denoument, and squished together à reconci lliation inconsistent with the nature of several of the characters she had rather nicely developed for most of the story. Still, fun to read, light, engaging, somewhat unusual bit players, and , if all's well that ends well, the epilogue tells us that everything is put to rights for everyone for whom we may have developed some fondness in the course of the story.

Back in the 90s, my mom and dad had a big bin full of torn up and well loved romance novels. They read constantly and as I got older, I read them all too - over and over again. Now, as an adult, I’m going back and reading these old novels again and they all feel like friends. This one is one of my favorites. ❤️❤️

A story full of emotions, personalities and suspense. Love how the characters Don't change but emorph. You love and hate them because of what occurs, but can't put this book down. Teller the story of how family dynamics changed lives and how money and inheritance affected lives. Even encorporated some surprises

** This review has SPOILERS**Claire, an American heiress who must marry with the approval of her family, becomes engaged to a Scottish duke and the family heads off to the estate in Scotland. Once there she is virtually ignored, plus surrounded by eccentric characters and rigid rules put in place by her fiance's evil mother. Bored and inquisitive, she wanders the estate and runs into Trevelyan, who turns out is the actual duke believed dead, and also a world famous explorer, whose books she loves. He is caustic and mysterious and yet interesting and Claire becomes torn between her supposed love for her handsome fiancé and this mysterious man who enthralls her with his storytelling and challenges her views of the world.This story had a good beginning, I liked the main characters, even Trevelyan's abrasiveness. I liked that the reader knew the secret of who he was, even though Claire did not. I liked Claire's love of knowledge and romantic view of the world and of Scotland, but started having problems with her when she began being portrayed as being much more close minded than initially characterized. Then I started having more problems with the story, which brought me out of the romance that was developing. Her little sister was one of these issues, I was going along with the portrayal, and felt that the sisters loved each other despite her really being a brat, then all of a sudden her little sister says her sister is an idiot for not knowing how to love the Duke and she would know better and loved him. She was all of 14, and it was very jarring, particularly the venom never before or after displayed towards her sister. But I had the biggest problem with the villain of the story, the duke's mother, who was so evil and who threatened Claire and everyone she held dear, and then… nothing. She just kind of disappears from the book. Claire and her never have a showdown. And I never could get a handle on her fiancé, who was bland one minute, ridiculous the next (taking her out shooting repeatedly and not noticing how bored she was), being blasé about his brother one minute, then suddenly being portrayed as willing to die for his brother, worshiping his mother to believing the worst of her, never very bright, yet somehow attracting the attention of the overly bright Brat? His character didn't make sense to me, although I am glad that the author did not villainize him.And I felt that the book would have been better without the epilogue, which somehow has the fascinating character of the little sister married to the bland duke, and everyone else just neatly disposed of.That said, it kept me interested and reading until the end and the author writes well enough. Good for one read, not a keeper.

The book arrived in excellent condition and in a timely manner.

A period piece heaped in romance and mystery with an added dash of humor…..a very early Montgomery history. Enjoy it!

Lovely

Brilliant, if you have read her books and like her writing style. Couldn't resist and finished it ASAP.

Fun to read

Good