Review: Dukes are Forever by Anna Harrington
Series: The Secret Life of Scoundrels
Historical Romance
Released: November 24, 2015
Forever
Reviewed by Sheena
Battlefields and barrooms hold much more interest for Edward Westover, Duke of Strathmore, than a little girl’s fondness for dolls and lace. When he takes possession of his enemy’s estate, everything that villain held dear-including his daughter-belongs to Edward. Hire a governess, arrange a dowry, give a few reassurances, and be off on his way-that’s Edward’s plan. But he’s in for the shock of his life. For his new ward is a beautiful, impetuous, and utterly irresistible woman . . .
Kate Benton is stunned. Who is this arrogant, infuriating man who’s invited himself into her home and taken over her life? Her vow: to do everything in her power to convince him to leave her-and Brambly House-alone. Yet as chilly days melt into sultry nights, Kate sees glimpses of kindness underneath Edward’s cool façade . . . and a passionate nature that takes her breath away. There’s so much she doesn’t know about this man. But does she dare trust this devilish duke with her heart?
“I have a feeling that after tonight, he’ll never touch your stash again…”
The humbling of a gruff and tough, no-nonsense hero and a woman who long thought she would never have love, a husband or family of her own- Dukes Are Forever is a story of second chances and looking beneath the surface to and beyond preconceived notions. Colonel Edward Westover is a man possessed. Hell-bent on revenge on the man who killed his beloved brother and sister in law in a drunken-carriage driving accident, the Colonel methodically sets out to dismantle the life of the man responsible for their deaths. Kate Benton is a woman before her time, a doctor of sorts, strong willed and settling for a life that is not of her choosing, she is caught in the Colonel’s cross hairs when she is swept up and taken possession of after her father, Colonel’s Westover’s sworn enemy, loses a hand of cards! And. She. Is. Livid.
Their courtship is tumultuous and contained a lot of the push and pull that I enjoy in historical novels. The main drawback for me was the writing style put me off more often than I liked. The moments where we got to see the hero and heroine interact were witty and interesting and I loved seeing Katherine in her element- helping the sick and using her modern and creative methods to help heal their ails. However, much of the novel was a bit overwrought and slow. The overwrought I can typically power through, however the slow pace is a killer. Nowhere near a DNF threat, but there were places where I certainly yearned for things to pick up the pace a bit! I have read so many amazing historical novels with a fast paced, clever plot and delectable intrigue, that it was almost impossible not to draw a comparison and point out the lack here.
Perhaps the best part of the novel was the hero’s redemption. Whenever I see that the hero is a vindictive, mean and grumpy duke, I always begin to contemplate just how huge his redemption will need to be. The badder the douche, the bigger the redemption, and in the Colonel’s case, he needed an epic re-haul. After winning her estate and by all counts- her- from her father, Westover is in no mood to coddle the confused and furious Kate. With a father more interested in gambling and drinking, Kate has run her home in a modest manner for years. Instantly appalled by the modest way in which the estate is held, Westover, hires an estate governess to fancy it up and uses his considerable finances to pay off the pensions of her staff- then in true Colonel fashion, he uses his finances to control Kate, threatening to send her staff to poverty by taking back his generous payments. (Jerk!!) Edward Westover has no intention of being a kindly overlord- instead he bounds into her life and onto her land and makes cruel edicts and demands. She stands up to him, and dislikes him immediately (I mean really!) but ah, soon enough, the tell tale glimpses of his pain and underlying character and she begins to fall in love- and quite helplessly so.
What do you get when you mix two stubborn people, determined to break the other? Combustible passion! Their antagonism and mutual prodding is nothing more than a prelude to their leashed passion. Kate rises his ire with her strong will and Edward drivers Kate to madness. Edward is authoritative, autocratic and pretty mean. Yes, we know he is in pain from losing his loved ones and his war and battle training only fuels his drive to beat his enemies into the ground. Separating Kate from her father was not his primary ordeal. Battling back his need to boss her around and have things go his was his greatest challenge. Too much of the novel he spent being a jackass and he was unlikable. Usually the unfortunate circumstances suffered by the hero mitigates the effect his vile behavior has on me and I sympathize. I had trouble rooting for these two because I felt Kate was too often victimized by him. That redemption quotient I mentioned earlier? Edwards was huge, he needed to make huge gains before I turned a corner with him to begin to like him. I didn’t make it around that corner. I approached it…peeked around it, but alas, I did not make that last turn around the bend. Kate absolutely saved this novel. I understand how magnetism works, even when you want to be repelled by the jerk, hulk of a handsome Duke, dammit he just lures you in, lust and time spent together giving way to love. It’s a formula, I get it. Yet, the author just does a wee bit too good of a job painting Westover as unlikable that I never got on board with his redemption. I frankly think Kate could do better! He still has work to do as far as I am concerned and while the HEA is nice- I would have enjoyed an epilogue where it was made crystal clear that the man I spent 300 pages disliking, underwent a personality transplant and became the man Kate no doubt deserves. Harumph!
Dukes Are Forever is the first of The Secret Life of Scoundrels series and I may put book #2 somewhere on my TBR one day, maybe list. I would need some sort of excerpt or blurb to confirm that the writing style and story pace is kicked up a notch, but author Anna Harrington has an interesting voice and is sure to offer an interesting tale. Secondary characters are well placed and it looks like there are at least two gentleman who could have their own spin off tales. Slow paced, HEA and a hero and heroine who bicker and steadfastly freak each other out until they can barely keep their hands off one another. This was my first Anna Herrington novel and I find it very middle of the road and worth a read if you’ve got the time.
Grade C+
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