Okay, I will admit first off that I was totally charmed by Tessa Dare's toy themed book trailer for her new Stud Club (oh gag me with a spoon) trilogy. It was just too clever (especially the bit where the playboy Ken doll is surrounded by naked Barbies, but I digress...)
But I was smitten enough to give the first book of that trilogy, One Dance With a Duke, a try. Heck--I even spent real money to buy the book!
Well, I would have been better off just watching the book trailer a few more times. Gaaak! This book and I did not see eye to eye, at all.
The heroine is described as being 26, but as having had only 2 'seasons' on the deb circuit/marriage mart. Given that she is presented as being high enough 'ton' to rate invitations to the best parties/balls--she should have made her debut at 18--so at 26, she would have been in her 8th(?) season-- definitely old enough to be considered On the Shelf, if not an absolute Ape Leader(apologies to G. Heyer). So right there, at the very beginning of the book I was jerked out of the story.
But by the time the Duke proposes a marriage to 'protect her reputation' I was losing patience with our author--our heroine kept dithering (and dithering and dithering). Once again I got the impression that the author was filling the word count by saying the same thing over and over.
And the Duke--meh--what a jerk!
I was not interested enough to even flip to the end to see how it all worked out.