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Jun 02, 2010

kari rated it:

This book fell very flat for me. It seemed to plod along at a snail's pace until the final few chapters. It started out well, with snappy dialogue, but when they all trooped off to Lisette's country home, the plot s l o w e d way down and it seemd like not much happened, other than the trip to the orphanage.
I didn't like the hero, Leopold. At all. And I didn't like his behavior. At all. Tough for me to want him to end up with the heroine, whom I wasn't all that crazy about either, when More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2011

Kit★ rated it:

I dove immediately into this book after recently finishing Duchess By Night. I've read most of this series out of order, but I have to admit that this is the one I was most anticipating. Villiers is my favorite of all the men in this series, and I couldn't wait for his story. At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to like Eleanor, especially since her desires seemed to be so focused on Gideon, Duke of Astley. At first, oddly enough, I was sort of liking Lisette better, she seemed good, but then More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Anna rated it:

This book would be better titled A Duchess of His Own, as it is really the story of the how Leopold, the Duke of Villiers finally finds love. He has been one of my favorite characters through out the Desperate Duchess series and to finally have a whole book devoted to him is well worth the wait. This is a perfect book for those last days of summer vacation as it is a fast, engaging read. While this is a romance, James does such a wonderful job of adding some meat to the sauce. The characters are More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 09, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Couldn't finish it. I was disappointed with who Villiers wound up marrying (I skipped ahead after about 100 pages) as I'd expected him to marry the other one, but I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised. I like Villiers, in spite of his wicked ways and his 6 illegitament children, and was really looking forward to this being a great book. It fell short rather quickly for me. I came to hate Eleanor and was flat out confused by Lisette, the only sane ordinary character in the entire stor More...

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Apr 17, 2011

willaful rated it:

The “Desperate Duchesses” series was very up and down for me and this last book was the most up and down of all; one minute I enjoyed it, the next I was bored, the next I wanted to throw it against the wall.

The book starts off with a bang, a dramatic, sensual moment between the Duke of Villiers, who is looking for a mother for his numerous illegitimate children, and Eleanor, a spinster who has never recovered from her first love marrying another woman. This mislead me about how the r More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2010

~ames~ rated it:

Throughout the series, the main couple was always Jemma and her duke, Elijah. But someone drew my interest way more than that couple, and that was Leopold, Duke of Villiers. Talk about your anti-hero. At the beginning of the series, he sets out to seduce Jemma (via a chess game) who was married! So you know right away, this guy is a scallywag. But throughout the series, you get to know him better and when it comes out that his six, yes six, bastard children were not being as well taken care of a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 08, 2009

Tina rated it:

I have never read an Eloisa James book before. My preferred romance category is the contemporary. ButLynne Connolly's Richard and Rose series has whetted my appetite again for historical romance and I had read a pretty good review of this book.

I was pleasantly surprised by it. I do think there were a couple of situations that strained my credibility a bit, but over all this was a really nicely written book with great characters and excellent dialogue.

In this story the More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2009

Sharon rated it:

As a book reviewer, I read a lot, A LOT, of books. From women’s fiction to mysteries to biographies, I’ve read nearly every genre there is, even science fiction. But my guilty pleasure, when I want to just relax and read something fun …is a good ol’ bodice ripping historical romance. Yep, I want all the steamy, frisky, good-time loving that can be found in the pages of a delightfully indulgent romance novel.
And one of the best authors of the historical romance genre is Eloisa James. In he More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Melissa rated it:

After the resolution of This Duchess of Mine, another book just seems like a sot to tie up Villiers's storyline, introduced in An Affair Before Christmas as a really distracting side-plot with Charlotte Tatlock (whom we never see again, not even in the extra chapter for this book on James's website). Eleanor makes a nice heroine, but after Jemma she's a little bland. On the minus side for this book, we find out who is the mother of Damon's child (an unresolved plot point from Desperate Duchesses More...

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Aug 11, 2009

Kim rated it:

A decent and ultimately satisfying wrap to EJ's Desperate Duchesses series, but like the rest of this series (& everything James in general) I found it a little windy. I appreciate the rich detail and strong sense of time & place that EJ puts into her stories, but there are times when I feel like she's talking over my head. IMO, it's tedious to have to stop & think about every subtle nuance of character dialogue and interaction, especially when she's going to rehash all of it two or three page More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2011

Melissa rated it:

The only reason I give this book 4 stars and not 5 is because the beginning was just so horribly boring. I picked it up and as I started reading, but I just couldn't get into it after 10 or so pages, so I started more or less just skimming pages to see if I even wanted to keep going. Then, somewhere around page 50 a passage caught my eye and from that moment I literally could not put the book down. The only problem was that I had started reading it at just after midnight and by was 4am by More...

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Aug 17, 2011

Jan rated it:

Moss had been raving about Eloisa James, so I decided to try her out. I picked up the first of this series, read the sample, encountered Villiers, and decided to jump ahead to the last book. Mostly because the plot of the other books didn't really appeal to me.

Alas. I misunderstood the blurb and believed Lisette was going to be the heroine until we actually met her. So for the first quarter of the book I kept waiting for the heroine to show up. Sigh. Sometimes, I'm slow. Anyway I ima More...

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 14, 2009

Dara rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Sep 03, 2009

Ana T. rated it:

After a few "so so" reads Eloisa James has finally delivered a book that I love. For the whole series of The Desperate Duchesses, Villiers has been a secondary character that intrigued me the most. We have seen him change from a jaded rake only interested in chess to a man decided to take responsibility of his 6 bastard children to the point that he will marry the woman who better fits the role of a mother.

With no clue where to start he follows the advice of de More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 25, 2011

adventurat rated it:

I loved pretty much everything about this book. The heroine Eleanor isn't a breathy, wide-eyed ingenue; the hero (the Duke of Villiers) is neither handsome nor particularly charming, and their situation is far from typical, and I loved every minute I spent with them and their crazy supporting cast. From the heroine's dictatorial mother to her slightly patronizing younger, married sister, to the angelic-looking but weak Duke of Astley, to the completely barking (but not uncharming) Lisette, Elean More...

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Dec 08, 2011

Endang rated it:

aku suka novel ini.. lebih dibandingkan 5 novel sebelumnya..
mungkin karena di novel2 sebelumnya selalu ada Duke of Villiers dan itu buat saya penasaran tentang dia.
karakter wanita di novel ini pun sangat "cocok" untuk di masa kini.
padahal sudah mulai bosen dengan novel Eloisa James yg Desperate Duchesses.. untunglah di "paksa" baca mataku ini..
akhirnya terpuaskan.. ha..ha.. (apa maksudnya tuh)

Leopold Daughtry, Duke of Villiers adalah seoran More...

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Jan 18, 2012

Julia rated it:

When a book contains characters as frivolous, selfish, and single-minded as Duke Leopold and Lady Eleanor, it's no surprise when it turns out to be a complete dud. I really thought I would like this book, but sadly, I spent the entire novel upset at Leopold's selfish and degrading behavior towards Eleanor (not okay to sleep with someone when you're engaged to someone else....) and Eleanor's stupidity for going along with his insulting advances and utter shallowness (at the onset of the book she More...

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Mar 02, 2011

Laura rated it:

I thought I'd give Eloisa James a try because a lot of people seem to like her books. I luckily found the entire Desperate Duchesses series at my local library. I didn't like the first book in the series. Second was a bit better. Third I actually liked, as I did the fourth one, because in those the chess playing wasn't the most important thing and the focus was on the main couple. The fifth on the other hand, which seems to be a favourite among many, was not very good. I just don't like Jemma. More...

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Aug 12, 2011

Moss rated it:

Damn you Eloisa James, for your scrumptious hero and heroine, and their smarts and their thoughtful, cool conversations, for giving your heroine more than a modicum of self-awareness and self-respect and for gifting your hero with the lovely sardonic turn of phrase that has every woman who reads this book squirming with joy, for writing your characters with control and precision, for giving them common sense (oh for an ounce or so more to inject into the neck of this genre), for using all the us More...

15 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2012

Ellie rated it:

I had to come back to this and write a little review because this book really surprised me. I grabbed this book on a whim because it was on sale electronically and read it over the Christmas holiday. At first, I thought it was a light, fun, historical which I enjoyed but the more time I thought about it the more special I realized it was.

I love how perfect the hero and heroine in the book are for each other and how they really take the course of the book to figure this out for themse More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Suzie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Feb 28, 2010

Zojar rated it:

The sixth, and final, book in the Desperate Duchesses series by Eloisa James. Through the story telling in the previous books I had come to have a love/hate type of feeling for the Duke of Villiers. By the time I'd finished this book, I felt as if I might have fallen for him. Brilliant story, loved the characters and was routing for our heroin and for Leopold, Duke of Villiers, right from the word go. Wonderful story, a few extra secrets revealed [nice little twists, by the way:]. I wish t More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Jessica rated it:

One of my all time favorites by Eloisa. Her characters in this novel are dynamic and challenging. Villiers isn't the typical dark hero; he isn't tortured. He isn't in need of redemption. He can do all that himself. He just needs someone that will motivate him to stay on the straight and narrow- who will show him that there are parts of life that will be more rewarding than all the debauchery of his youth. Eleanor is incredibly stubborn but still appealing to me. I don't find her to steadfast tha More...

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Jul 11, 2011

Quinn rated it:

I'm sorry, Eloisa, but I just didn't care for the book. Some of the dialogue was hysterical, but the characters just didn't do it for me.

I can't get into a hero who has "6 pieces of accidental baggage" and not even the same quantity in ounces of personality. I like reading men I myself would be in a danger of falling for, and he was SO not that!

I didn't know it until now, but I much prefer stories that revolve around one man and one woman. Not a weird triangle More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 22, 2009

Lynn rated it:

As a romance writer, Eloisa James is in a class by herself. She consistently presents us with delicious tales of historical England and “A Duke of Her Own” is one of her most scrumptious gift to romance fans yet. “A Duke of Her Own” tells the tale of Leopold Dautry, the notorious Duke of Villiers, whose character is interwoven into the previous storylines. This time, it’s Leopold’s turn and he finally gets his own “happily ever after”. The best thing about a James romance is the lack of clichés, More...

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Jan 19, 2010

Yune rated it:

I think I've found a female protagonist in a romance novel that I actually really like. Eleanor, while hopelessly in love (with the wrong man, of course), still manages to be practical, capable of humor and passion; and while she's fond of her idiot dog, doesn't fawn over it overmuch or allow it to take over the story. (Yes, Crusie, I'm looking at your books.) Naturally, there's no way any lady would actually take in stride the societal improprieties that she does, but it's truly endearing on More...

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Oct 02, 2009

Penny rated it:

A Duke of Her Own by Eloisa James

I am seriously going to have to enter a 12-step program to get over my addiction to A Duke of Her Own. I cannot stop re-reading this sucker. I just re-read it for the third time in a matter of weeks.

It doesn't look like anything special (cheesy pastel romance cover).

It doesn't sound like anything special (book blurb on the back turned me off--I hate books where the hero is trying to choose between 2 women, and the whole duel th More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

For me, Eloisa James' books have become like little gems. Each one is fantastic and they're a gift to get to read each one. For those of us who have read the series in order, getting to the Duke of Villiers story was so exciting but I worried that she wouldn't have a heroine to match him. She did. Eleanor is cleaver and witty. She's loving and misunderstood and stoic when she should be railing against the world. I loved it. And I loved that she finally cleared up who the mother of the Earl of Gr More...

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Dec 01, 2011

Sherly rated it:

Finally the book is out in my country! Such a great closing for Desperate Duchesses series!! But I thought it would have been better if the title is "A duchess of His own". It's more appropriate to the story. This book doesn't disappoint me, I read it with joy . It's amazing :D

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I'm dying to read this : the last book of Desperate Duchesses series. Poor me, it hasn't been published yet More...

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Mar 04, 2011

Melissa rated it:

When you are hurt by love it hardens the heart, it makes us put up walls to prevent hurt and disappointment. Eleanor has done such a thing and refers to marriage as an agreement, however her agreement is turned a little when compitions come to play. She is torn over her true hearts desire and holding true to herself in allowing him to make a choice. She is hurt in the same way as the first and decides that she will never be good enough. Read the story to find out if she gets what she deserve More...

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