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Desperate Duchesses #7
Three Weeks With Lady X
Having made a fortune, Thorn Dautry, the powerful bastard son of a duke, decides that he needs a wife. But to marry a lady, Thorn must acquire a gleaming, civilized façade, the specialty of Lady Xenobia India.
Exquisite, head-strong, and independent, India vows to make Thorn marriageable in just three weeks.
But neither Thorn nor India anticipate the forbidden passion that explodes between them.
Thorn will stop at nothing to make India his. Failure is not an option.
But there is only one thing that will make India his—the one thing Thorn can't afford to lose...
His fierce and lawless heart.
Exquisite, head-strong, and independent, India vows to make Thorn marriageable in just three weeks.
But neither Thorn nor India anticipate the forbidden passion that explodes between them.
Thorn will stop at nothing to make India his. Failure is not an option.
But there is only one thing that will make India his—the one thing Thorn can't afford to lose...
His fierce and lawless heart.
376 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 25, 2014
440 people are currently reading
5379 people want to read
About the author
Eloisa James
123 books9,510 followersNew York Times bestselling author Eloisa James writes historical romances for HarperCollins Publishers. Her novels have been published to great acclaim. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa's very first book that she "found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar"; later People Magazine raved that "romance writing does not get much better than this." Her novels have repeatedly received starred reviews from Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal and regularly appear on the best-seller lists.
After graduating from Harvard University, Eloisa got an M.Phil. from Oxford University, a Ph.D. from Yale and eventually became a Shakespeare professor, publishing an academic book with Oxford University Press. Currently she is an associate professor and head of the Creative Writing program at Fordham University in New York City. Her "double life" is a source of fascination to the media and her readers. In her professorial guise, she's written a New York Times op-ed defending romance, as well as articles published everywhere from women's magazines such as More to writers' journals such as the Romance Writers' Report.
Eloisa...on her double life:
When I'm not writing novels, I'm a Shakespeare professor. It's rather like having two lives. The other day I bought a delicious pink suit to tape a television segment on romance; I'll never wear that suit to teach in, nor even to give a paper at the Shakespeare Association of America conference. It's like being Superman, with power suits for both lives. Yet the literature professor in me certainly plays into my romances. The Taming of the Duke (April 2006) has obvious Shakespearean resonances, as do many of my novels. I often weave early modern poetry into my work; the same novel might contain bits of Catullus, Shakespeare and anonymous bawdy ballads from the 16th century.
When I rip off my power suit, whether it's academic or romantic, underneath is the rather tired, chocolate-stained sweatshirt of a mom. Just as I use Shakespeare in my romances, I almost always employ my experiences as a mother. When I wrote about a miscarriage in Midnight Pleasures, I used my own fears of premature birth; when the little girl in Fool For Love threw up and threw up, I described my own daughter, who had that unsavory habit for well over her first year of life.
So I'm a writer, a professor, a mother - and a wife. My husband Alessandro is Italian, born in Florence. We spend the lazy summer months with his mother and sister in Italy. It always strikes me as a huge irony that as a romance writer I find myself married to a knight, a cavaliere, as you say in Italian.
One more thing...I'm a friend. I have girlfriends who are writers and girlfriends who are Shakespeare professors. And I have girlfriends who are romance readers. In fact, we have something of a community going on my website. Please stop by and join the conversation on my readers' pages.
After graduating from Harvard University, Eloisa got an M.Phil. from Oxford University, a Ph.D. from Yale and eventually became a Shakespeare professor, publishing an academic book with Oxford University Press. Currently she is an associate professor and head of the Creative Writing program at Fordham University in New York City. Her "double life" is a source of fascination to the media and her readers. In her professorial guise, she's written a New York Times op-ed defending romance, as well as articles published everywhere from women's magazines such as More to writers' journals such as the Romance Writers' Report.
Eloisa...on her double life:
When I'm not writing novels, I'm a Shakespeare professor. It's rather like having two lives. The other day I bought a delicious pink suit to tape a television segment on romance; I'll never wear that suit to teach in, nor even to give a paper at the Shakespeare Association of America conference. It's like being Superman, with power suits for both lives. Yet the literature professor in me certainly plays into my romances. The Taming of the Duke (April 2006) has obvious Shakespearean resonances, as do many of my novels. I often weave early modern poetry into my work; the same novel might contain bits of Catullus, Shakespeare and anonymous bawdy ballads from the 16th century.
When I rip off my power suit, whether it's academic or romantic, underneath is the rather tired, chocolate-stained sweatshirt of a mom. Just as I use Shakespeare in my romances, I almost always employ my experiences as a mother. When I wrote about a miscarriage in Midnight Pleasures, I used my own fears of premature birth; when the little girl in Fool For Love threw up and threw up, I described my own daughter, who had that unsavory habit for well over her first year of life.
So I'm a writer, a professor, a mother - and a wife. My husband Alessandro is Italian, born in Florence. We spend the lazy summer months with his mother and sister in Italy. It always strikes me as a huge irony that as a romance writer I find myself married to a knight, a cavaliere, as you say in Italian.
One more thing...I'm a friend. I have girlfriends who are writers and girlfriends who are Shakespeare professors. And I have girlfriends who are romance readers. In fact, we have something of a community going on my website. Please stop by and join the conversation on my readers' pages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,003 reviews
April 25, 2014
DNF @ 30% because I just don't have the patience to continue. This book is terrible.
I've given Eloisa James many a shot, and it seems that we're just not meant to be. For me, Eloisa James' HRs are like supermarket sushi.
- Every so often, I feel the urge to pick some up, but I never end up finishing what I get
- It somehow manages to fuck up a simple formula that requires few ingredients to be successful
- For some fucking reason, it will needlessly contain cheese
Here's why I hated what I've read of this book:
1. The writing is atrocious. Here are a few examples:
- "His gray eyes turned warm. And warm was dangerous because it made India feel warm too."
...OH, YOU DON'T SAY
- "He looked rough and dangerous, like a man who would threaten to kill an evil master and mean it."
...I'm fainting with horror. Do stop.
- "He looked like a farm laborer.
Or a king."
...because it's so FUCKING DIFFICULT TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FARMER AND A KING IN 1800 ENGLAND?!
- "A cat couldn’t look at a king, after all, nor a bastard at a marquess’s daughter."
...A cat couldn't look at a king? WHUT?
- "He folded his arms across a chest that was far broader than it should have been."
...should have been? I'm sorry, how awkwardly proportioned is this man?
2. HER EYES. HER FUCKING EYES. Xenobia (called India) has amazing eyes. They have the ability to harden cocks.
- "Her eyes had turned squinty, which paradoxically just made her more attractive."
...I HAD NO FUCKING IDEA THAT SQUINTY EYES = SEXY
- "Something about those furious blue eyes was giving him an erection."
...Well, you're an easy one to please, aren't you?
- "Her eyes flashed again, and Thorn felt an answering throb in his cock."
...it's a wonder this fucker gets anything done, much less be a successful businessman, since it seems like the bloodflow in his brain is constantly relegated to his throbbing cock.
3. The main character is a Mary Sue. She's got hair that's "thick and hard to handle, as well as being an unusual color, more like silver than gold," her boobs are FAR too big, and she's got a tendency to put on weight mostly in her boobs (I weep tears for her, really). "She had her paternal grandmother’s bosom, and there was too much of that too." WAAAAAAAAAH. My boobs aren't fashionable, but men seem to fall all over to worship at my breasts, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Spare me.
All men fall in love with her. She's got at least 9 marriage proposals, despite being at the ripe old age of *gasp* 26. She is a tremendously successful interior designer, so NOBLEWOMAN GOING AGAINST THE TIMES AND IS TREMENDOUSLY LAUDED FOR IT, check. She not supposed to have a career, being a lady, but damned if she'll listen to the times, or the critics. Oh, wait, she doesn't have any critics, she's an orphan, she does what she fucking pleases.
She's got a fear of marriage? Why? HER PARENTS LOVED EACH OTHER TOO MUCH. Oh, cry me a fucking river.
4. The love interest is a patronizing douche. His name is Thorn. Short for Tobias. Like what the FUCK, man?! How the fuck do you get from Thorn to Tobias? Thorn wants to hire the MC to be his interior designer. She agrees. He changes his mind. Then he changes his mind again. And then he threatens to blackmail her when she refuses.
Thorn is an asshat. He belittles India's name...
5. THE OLDEST 6-YEAR OLD IN THE FUCKING WORLD. Oh, here we go, insert orphan child trope here. In the book, somehow Thorne manages to get himself a 6-year old orphan child who speaks like...this.
6. LALALALLALALALLA. Lala is the daughter of a nobleman, her real name is Laeticia. She's supposed to be witless, she can't even read. We get to see her narrative, and it just seems that she's a very, very shy woman. Would someone without a brain in her head be capable of thinking and analyzing her situation like this?
I've given Eloisa James many a shot, and it seems that we're just not meant to be. For me, Eloisa James' HRs are like supermarket sushi.
- Every so often, I feel the urge to pick some up, but I never end up finishing what I get
- It somehow manages to fuck up a simple formula that requires few ingredients to be successful
- For some fucking reason, it will needlessly contain cheese
Here's why I hated what I've read of this book:
1. The writing is atrocious. Here are a few examples:
- "His gray eyes turned warm. And warm was dangerous because it made India feel warm too."
...OH, YOU DON'T SAY
- "He looked rough and dangerous, like a man who would threaten to kill an evil master and mean it."
...I'm fainting with horror. Do stop.
- "He looked like a farm laborer.
Or a king."
...because it's so FUCKING DIFFICULT TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FARMER AND A KING IN 1800 ENGLAND?!
- "A cat couldn’t look at a king, after all, nor a bastard at a marquess’s daughter."
...A cat couldn't look at a king? WHUT?
- "He folded his arms across a chest that was far broader than it should have been."
...should have been? I'm sorry, how awkwardly proportioned is this man?
2. HER EYES. HER FUCKING EYES. Xenobia (called India) has amazing eyes. They have the ability to harden cocks.
- "Her eyes had turned squinty, which paradoxically just made her more attractive."
...I HAD NO FUCKING IDEA THAT SQUINTY EYES = SEXY
- "Something about those furious blue eyes was giving him an erection."
...Well, you're an easy one to please, aren't you?
- "Her eyes flashed again, and Thorn felt an answering throb in his cock."
...it's a wonder this fucker gets anything done, much less be a successful businessman, since it seems like the bloodflow in his brain is constantly relegated to his throbbing cock.
3. The main character is a Mary Sue. She's got hair that's "thick and hard to handle, as well as being an unusual color, more like silver than gold," her boobs are FAR too big, and she's got a tendency to put on weight mostly in her boobs (I weep tears for her, really). "She had her paternal grandmother’s bosom, and there was too much of that too." WAAAAAAAAAH. My boobs aren't fashionable, but men seem to fall all over to worship at my breasts, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Spare me.
All men fall in love with her. She's got at least 9 marriage proposals, despite being at the ripe old age of *gasp* 26. She is a tremendously successful interior designer, so NOBLEWOMAN GOING AGAINST THE TIMES AND IS TREMENDOUSLY LAUDED FOR IT, check. She not supposed to have a career, being a lady, but damned if she'll listen to the times, or the critics. Oh, wait, she doesn't have any critics, she's an orphan, she does what she fucking pleases.
She's got a fear of marriage? Why? HER PARENTS LOVED EACH OTHER TOO MUCH. Oh, cry me a fucking river.
4. The love interest is a patronizing douche. His name is Thorn. Short for Tobias. Like what the FUCK, man?! How the fuck do you get from Thorn to Tobias? Thorn wants to hire the MC to be his interior designer. She agrees. He changes his mind. Then he changes his mind again. And then he threatens to blackmail her when she refuses.
I have you in a corner, India. If you’re thinking that my father wouldn’t like it...you’re right. Not only would he not like it; he would destroy your reputation without a second thought.”He thinks little of women, and is willing to marry Lala, a noblewoman who can barely read, because he wants a brainless woman to be his wife.
"A wife is an investment, like any other, and I take care of my possessions."Thorn doesn't want a wife, he wants a pretty breeding mare. While on his courtship of the aforementioned Lala, Thorn continues his flirtation with his "three week wife," India. Because it's not cheating if he's not married yet.
Thorn is an asshat. He belittles India's name...
Dear Lady Xenobia,He acts like a fucking 7-year old boy.
I think I’ll call you Lady X. It has such an exotic sound to it; I feel as if I am writing to the madam of a prosperous brothel. (I’ve never done that before, in case you’re wondering.)
Thorn
Dear Mr. Dautry,
I am named after a queen who conquered all of Egypt, not after a brothel owner.
Lady Xenobia
She took a deep breath and twisted all her hair around itself. Most of her hairpins seemed to be mysteriously missing.And he shows no signs of winning me over anytime soon.
“I pulled them out in the carriage,” Dautry said, watching her fruitlessly pat her head.
“Why on earth did you do that?”
“I was bored.”
5. THE OLDEST 6-YEAR OLD IN THE FUCKING WORLD. Oh, here we go, insert orphan child trope here. In the book, somehow Thorne manages to get himself a 6-year old orphan child who speaks like...this.
“My father said that in the event of tribulation or strife, I was to be sent to you.” She stopped again.Give me fucking break. And the orphan's name? Rose, to go with her adopted daddy, Thorn. Isn't that nauseating?
“He did not fuss, and neither did I,” said Rose, and up went that little nose again. “I don’t like to be unclean, and I didn’t care for the insects living in the straw. But I did not complain.”
“Or cry. At least,” she added, “until I reached your house, when I succumbed to exhaustion.”
6. LALALALLALALALLA. Lala is the daughter of a nobleman, her real name is Laeticia. She's supposed to be witless, she can't even read. We get to see her narrative, and it just seems that she's a very, very shy woman. Would someone without a brain in her head be capable of thinking and analyzing her situation like this?
“Better married to Mr. Dautry than never married at all.” Lala had been beset by suitors all season, but her father had rejected every one. She knew why: he had decided that her beauty was worth a huge settlement. In short, no one had bid high enough to pay off his debts.Aaaaaaaand I'm just done -_-
January 29, 2021
4.5 stars
I know a lot of people are massive Eloisa James' fans, but she's not really my go-to romance author. I don't have any reason for that, so...shrugs
My point is, I didn't really go into this with any sort of expectations one way or the other. I basically snuggled up with a drink, curled up on the couch, and hoped that this wasn't going to be some tedious and/or boring story.
And it wasn't!
I was more than pleasantly shocked that this had charm, humor, and heart. I guess I just wasn't expecting to like it that much, so it really surprised me how quickly I was sucked into the story of India and Thorn.
Thorn is a duke's illegitimate first son. But unlike most bastards, his father found him, claimed him, raised him in his home, and loves him very much. He's found the correct lady to marry (one who is docile and will give his future children legitimacy & a good home), but he needs to impress her mama, or the deal is off.
So. He buys a massive estate and invites the woman and her family to visit for a house party. <--did I mention he's filthy rich? Well, he is.
Unfortunately, the place he bought belonged to a man who used it to throw huge orgies.
Well-known orgies.
Which means he's got to find a way to make the house look impeccably respectable in less than a month.
Enter Lady X, aka Lady Xenobia India.
India is a working girl.
No, not that kind of working girl.
She's the daughter of an earl, but due to her parents' odd lifestyle and poor attention to finances, she grew up broke. But she didn't want to have to marry for money, so she decided (with the help of her guardian) to use her special talent to make a little (a lot) of cash.
What's her special talent, you ask?
Basically, she renovates the homes of the rich and famous.
Which is how she and Thorn meet.
Anyhoo. Their love story was very sweet, with enough of the cute n sassy back-and-forth dialogue that I love to keep me interested.
Now, I will say this was longer than most of the trashy romance novels that I normally read, and I was a bit worried about the length. Sometimes the wordier the story is, the more the author tends to drrrrrrrag out the Will They or Won't They until it gets ridiculous. That didn't really happen here. I mean, toward the very end I was on the verge of getting annoyed with the two of them and their (I thought) idiotic misunderstanding of each other's intentions.
But.
I get like that by the end of every romance novel I read.
And, yet, I keep reading them...
Even so, this one one of the better romances I've read in quite some time.
Highly recommended!
I know a lot of people are massive Eloisa James' fans, but she's not really my go-to romance author. I don't have any reason for that, so...shrugs
My point is, I didn't really go into this with any sort of expectations one way or the other. I basically snuggled up with a drink, curled up on the couch, and hoped that this wasn't going to be some tedious and/or boring story.
And it wasn't!
I was more than pleasantly shocked that this had charm, humor, and heart. I guess I just wasn't expecting to like it that much, so it really surprised me how quickly I was sucked into the story of India and Thorn.
Thorn is a duke's illegitimate first son. But unlike most bastards, his father found him, claimed him, raised him in his home, and loves him very much. He's found the correct lady to marry (one who is docile and will give his future children legitimacy & a good home), but he needs to impress her mama, or the deal is off.
So. He buys a massive estate and invites the woman and her family to visit for a house party. <--did I mention he's filthy rich? Well, he is.
Unfortunately, the place he bought belonged to a man who used it to throw huge orgies.
Well-known orgies.
Which means he's got to find a way to make the house look impeccably respectable in less than a month.
Enter Lady X, aka Lady Xenobia India.
India is a working girl.
No, not that kind of working girl.
She's the daughter of an earl, but due to her parents' odd lifestyle and poor attention to finances, she grew up broke. But she didn't want to have to marry for money, so she decided (with the help of her guardian) to use her special talent to make a little (a lot) of cash.
What's her special talent, you ask?
Basically, she renovates the homes of the rich and famous.
Which is how she and Thorn meet.
Anyhoo. Their love story was very sweet, with enough of the cute n sassy back-and-forth dialogue that I love to keep me interested.
Now, I will say this was longer than most of the trashy romance novels that I normally read, and I was a bit worried about the length. Sometimes the wordier the story is, the more the author tends to drrrrrrrag out the Will They or Won't They until it gets ridiculous. That didn't really happen here. I mean, toward the very end I was on the verge of getting annoyed with the two of them and their (I thought) idiotic misunderstanding of each other's intentions.
But.
I get like that by the end of every romance novel I read.
And, yet, I keep reading them...
Even so, this one one of the better romances I've read in quite some time.
Highly recommended!
October 29, 2018
DNF @ 75%. I can't continue, I'm just soooo MAD!!! This book makes me soooo MAD!!!
And I'm a pretty high grader too when it comes to books. Even books I don't really like I give at least a 3 star, and then I think it's too low so I don't rate it at all. But I'm MAD MAD MAD!! I'd give this book 1 star but I'd feel bad about it, but I don't feel bad (too much) to give it 2 stars because I wasted HOURS reading it! And I just can't! I can't keep going!!
First of all, I did pay for this book at some point, and don't recall at all reading it, likely because I couldn't continue after the first 2 chapters. It moved soooo slowly! Or maybe the book was too long? Can't tell. All snail-paced to me. No spark, no real wit, no intensity, no intrigue. I mean WHAT????!!!! I read a lot of historical romance in the Regency and Victorian periods. I've bought more than one EJ book, and I think I've disliked most of them but did like one or two OK. The Ugly Duchess might have been one I liked, even though I don't really recall it either.
Second, the premise is STUPID!!! H wants a particular girl (who is totally wrong for him) without knowing really anything about her, he just planned to marry her and that's the end of it. h wants to marry too but has a preconception of the type of husband she wants (someone nice and accepting and sweet, opposite of H). The two are attracted (through lots of instant dislike and sparring) from the start and end up having sex half way through the book. After that, they can't keep their hands off each other even tho H has invited his best friend to a house party as a prospective husband for h and H's almost fiancee is also at the house party. And they keep getting pissed at each other, H and h, about humping each other right under the noses of the best friend and the almost fiancee. SO DON'T DO IT!!!!!! can someone have some self control and self respect please? Or some sense of honor for the other people they supposedly care about???? I mean WHAT????
K, after that little rant I took the star down to one, because I'm so mad I can feel my blood pressure rising.
Third, there are so many misc. stuff going on that I'm skipping like crazy. Like the side story with Lala (the stupid nickname of the fiancee) and her mother and the real love of her life, the doctor that also got invited to the house party. Then there's the ward of H, little Rose, an orphan from a friend of his from his mudlarking days. As much as the little girl is sometimes amusing, I really don't care to read pages and pages and pages about her!!
And the coupe de grace, the crap I read just before I DNF'ed this sucker, went something like this:
h: why did you kiss me like that?
H: I'm competing with my best friend. It's a guy thing. He wants you, so I want you more.
h: that's stupid.
H: yep.
h: I refuse to be an object of a stupid competition.
H: wanna f+*K?
h: OK.
H: Crap, forgot to use protection.
h: How could you! you don't care about me at all! humping me against a wall without protection!
H: But...thought you wanted it? Anyway, have to get married now, since you're likely preggers.
h: I won't marry you! You don't know me at all! You didn't even know I was a virgin!
H:......um...you told me you weren't? And I did ask you again when I saw you walking funny next day, and you denied it again?
h: you should have known! and just because I was orgasming my first time after hard, rough sex, does not mean I wasn't a virgin!
H: no blood either
h: I bled for 2 days after riding my horse when I was little! I hate you! I won't marry you!
I rest my case.
And I'm a pretty high grader too when it comes to books. Even books I don't really like I give at least a 3 star, and then I think it's too low so I don't rate it at all. But I'm MAD MAD MAD!! I'd give this book 1 star but I'd feel bad about it, but I don't feel bad (too much) to give it 2 stars because I wasted HOURS reading it! And I just can't! I can't keep going!!
First of all, I did pay for this book at some point, and don't recall at all reading it, likely because I couldn't continue after the first 2 chapters. It moved soooo slowly! Or maybe the book was too long? Can't tell. All snail-paced to me. No spark, no real wit, no intensity, no intrigue. I mean WHAT????!!!! I read a lot of historical romance in the Regency and Victorian periods. I've bought more than one EJ book, and I think I've disliked most of them but did like one or two OK. The Ugly Duchess might have been one I liked, even though I don't really recall it either.
Second, the premise is STUPID!!! H wants a particular girl (who is totally wrong for him) without knowing really anything about her, he just planned to marry her and that's the end of it. h wants to marry too but has a preconception of the type of husband she wants (someone nice and accepting and sweet, opposite of H). The two are attracted (through lots of instant dislike and sparring) from the start and end up having sex half way through the book. After that, they can't keep their hands off each other even tho H has invited his best friend to a house party as a prospective husband for h and H's almost fiancee is also at the house party. And they keep getting pissed at each other, H and h, about humping each other right under the noses of the best friend and the almost fiancee. SO DON'T DO IT!!!!!! can someone have some self control and self respect please? Or some sense of honor for the other people they supposedly care about???? I mean WHAT????
K, after that little rant I took the star down to one, because I'm so mad I can feel my blood pressure rising.
Third, there are so many misc. stuff going on that I'm skipping like crazy. Like the side story with Lala (the stupid nickname of the fiancee) and her mother and the real love of her life, the doctor that also got invited to the house party. Then there's the ward of H, little Rose, an orphan from a friend of his from his mudlarking days. As much as the little girl is sometimes amusing, I really don't care to read pages and pages and pages about her!!
And the coupe de grace, the crap I read just before I DNF'ed this sucker, went something like this:
h: why did you kiss me like that?
H: I'm competing with my best friend. It's a guy thing. He wants you, so I want you more.
h: that's stupid.
H: yep.
h: I refuse to be an object of a stupid competition.
H: wanna f+*K?
h: OK.
H: Crap, forgot to use protection.
h: How could you! you don't care about me at all! humping me against a wall without protection!
H: But...thought you wanted it? Anyway, have to get married now, since you're likely preggers.
h: I won't marry you! You don't know me at all! You didn't even know I was a virgin!
H:......um...you told me you weren't? And I did ask you again when I saw you walking funny next day, and you denied it again?
h: you should have known! and just because I was orgasming my first time after hard, rough sex, does not mean I wasn't a virgin!
H: no blood either
h: I bled for 2 days after riding my horse when I was little! I hate you! I won't marry you!
I rest my case.
September 9, 2019
Let me start by saying I loved Eloisa James' older works. I once upon a time read everything by her and she used to be on my must read shelf. Her humour is often laugh out loud. And there are very funny bits in this book. I particularly enjoyed the letter writing.
The dialogue was a bit racy and overtly sexual, it was especially lacking in the respect a gentleman should have been showing Lady Xenobia, but it was amusing and quick witted. So the first half of the book was enjoyable. Then everything pretty much went downhill... on steroids.
I take issue with the fact that the hero and heroine think it's ok to fool around because all he has is "an understanding" with Lala, the woman he claims to want to marry and not an actual engagement yet.
The heroine, Xenobia, is hired to fix up his house so that his fiancée-to-be's mother will approve the match he had already asked permission for. Yet the main couple continued their 'shady shenanigans' even after the fiancée arrived. She was there. In person. The level of crude behavior they showed. Lah. The utter crassness.
I hated the wallowing they both did about who was good enough or not good enough for whom. And the constant quite disrespectful declarations of "I will sleep with you but you do know I will never marry you right?" the hero kept making. I disliked the way Lady X kept comparing herself unfavorably to Lala's beauty, meekness and niceness it got tiresome quickly.
Spoilers...
Even more irritating was the "oh it's ok to treat her as a cheap lay as long as she isn't an actual virgin" attitude held by the hero towards Lady X and then his "now you should go off and marry my best friend but hey don't you ever tell him we slept together" passing her around was so tasteless.
They kept saying that although the hero was a bastard by birth he was a true gentleman. I saw no evidence of this. None.
Also didn't quite get why Lady X was so eager to throw her virginity away, especially for the supposed time period. She was rich, blue blooded, youngish and had prospects. Not threatened by a life of spinsterhood and despair with no hope of suitors.
The back and forth Xenobia kept doing ... one minute saying it was all his fault for not trusting her, he should know her better, how dare he believe her lies, she was done with him. (I kept thinking of that "If you don't know me by nowwww, you will never never never know me oooo" song by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes)
Then her complete about face that it was all her fault, because she had lied to him and then her proceeding to blame herself for absolutely everything, I found this to be ... ugh ... just ugh.
I liked the child introduced in the book but there is no mention of the kid being a genius so one has to wonder at some of the very adult things a barely six? year-old girl says. Not very realistic and makes you wonder if the author no longer remembers being around children of that age and how they actually talk.
Also does the hero have to be responsible for, or on the verge of developing, every clever invention in the world? One was more than enough ... rubber bands, hair pins, stethoscope necklaces ... sheesh we get it. He is rich and clever.
Although his constant complaining about the costs of refurbishing the manor made one wonder if he was actually all that rich.
The ending was a series of idiotic misunderstandings, late/overdue acknowledgement of feelings and cliché grand gesture/ injuries bringing everyone to their senses and back together.
I often wonder about silly things when reading stuff like this, such as when they kissed after the days and days of one of them being incapacitated in bed, unconscious and unable to clean their teeth I wondered if that kiss tasted gross. Hmm maybe teeth clean up happened off scene before the kiss.
This all sounds very negative but some will enjoy the book very much I am sure. If you aren't a nitpicker or accustomed to a much higher standard from this particular author. It is a 2/5 star book by original Eloisa James standards. Regular 3/5 stars otherwise.
I think it must be the industry forcing their novelists to churn out book after book to fit the publishing schedule and preferred release dates that is responsible for the decline in the craft of those romance authors who used to be maestros. I begin to think again of moving over to my long neglected love of fantasy and sci fi after more than a decade's separation.
The dialogue was a bit racy and overtly sexual, it was especially lacking in the respect a gentleman should have been showing Lady Xenobia, but it was amusing and quick witted. So the first half of the book was enjoyable. Then everything pretty much went downhill... on steroids.
I take issue with the fact that the hero and heroine think it's ok to fool around because all he has is "an understanding" with Lala, the woman he claims to want to marry and not an actual engagement yet.
The heroine, Xenobia, is hired to fix up his house so that his fiancée-to-be's mother will approve the match he had already asked permission for. Yet the main couple continued their 'shady shenanigans' even after the fiancée arrived. She was there. In person. The level of crude behavior they showed. Lah. The utter crassness.
I hated the wallowing they both did about who was good enough or not good enough for whom. And the constant quite disrespectful declarations of "I will sleep with you but you do know I will never marry you right?" the hero kept making. I disliked the way Lady X kept comparing herself unfavorably to Lala's beauty, meekness and niceness it got tiresome quickly.
Spoilers...
Even more irritating was the "oh it's ok to treat her as a cheap lay as long as she isn't an actual virgin" attitude held by the hero towards Lady X and then his "now you should go off and marry my best friend but hey don't you ever tell him we slept together" passing her around was so tasteless.
They kept saying that although the hero was a bastard by birth he was a true gentleman. I saw no evidence of this. None.
Also didn't quite get why Lady X was so eager to throw her virginity away, especially for the supposed time period. She was rich, blue blooded, youngish and had prospects. Not threatened by a life of spinsterhood and despair with no hope of suitors.
The back and forth Xenobia kept doing ... one minute saying it was all his fault for not trusting her, he should know her better, how dare he believe her lies, she was done with him. (I kept thinking of that "If you don't know me by nowwww, you will never never never know me oooo" song by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes)
Then her complete about face that it was all her fault, because she had lied to him and then her proceeding to blame herself for absolutely everything, I found this to be ... ugh ... just ugh.
I liked the child introduced in the book but there is no mention of the kid being a genius so one has to wonder at some of the very adult things a barely six? year-old girl says. Not very realistic and makes you wonder if the author no longer remembers being around children of that age and how they actually talk.
Also does the hero have to be responsible for, or on the verge of developing, every clever invention in the world? One was more than enough ... rubber bands, hair pins, stethoscope necklaces ... sheesh we get it. He is rich and clever.
Although his constant complaining about the costs of refurbishing the manor made one wonder if he was actually all that rich.
The ending was a series of idiotic misunderstandings, late/overdue acknowledgement of feelings and cliché grand gesture/ injuries bringing everyone to their senses and back together.
I often wonder about silly things when reading stuff like this, such as when they kissed after the days and days of one of them being incapacitated in bed, unconscious and unable to clean their teeth I wondered if that kiss tasted gross. Hmm maybe teeth clean up happened off scene before the kiss.
This all sounds very negative but some will enjoy the book very much I am sure. If you aren't a nitpicker or accustomed to a much higher standard from this particular author. It is a 2/5 star book by original Eloisa James standards. Regular 3/5 stars otherwise.
I think it must be the industry forcing their novelists to churn out book after book to fit the publishing schedule and preferred release dates that is responsible for the decline in the craft of those romance authors who used to be maestros. I begin to think again of moving over to my long neglected love of fantasy and sci fi after more than a decade's separation.
August 9, 2025
4.5 stars
If I had realized the MMC of this book was the mudlark bastard son of Villiers, I would have read it long ago, even earlier if I had known Villiers would make an appearance in all his sartorial splendor.
Lady Xenobia, daughter of a penniless marquess, has built a reputation for herself as a home-fixer: she renovates and decorates homes with faultless taste and style, she fires and replaces servants so homes run smoothly, she’s even been known to right a few relationship wrongs. She is expensive but worth it, and her services are in high demand…as is her hand in marriage by many of her clients’s sons.
Thorn Dautry, former mudlark, now wealthy entrepreneur, and always-bastard (of Villiers), has chosen Laetitia Rainsford as his future bride. She’s beautiful, sweet, and calm, her pedigree will ensure respectability for their offspring, he can park her in the country and forget about her and the offspring, and her father desperately needs Thorn’s wealth. Laetitia requires a country estate, according to her father. Thorn buys one. Laetitia’s mother must approve the match, so Thorn invites Laetitia’s family for a country house party.
Unfortunately, Laetitia’s mother is a snobbish, whining, vicious, self-centered boor who abhors the thought of a bastard marrying her precious daughter. Her precious daughter finds Thorn too frightening, too masculine, too wealthy, too everything. The estate Thorn bought was previously owned by a notorious libertine and housed a harem of prostitutes and is in a state of disrepair. Out of the blue, Thorn inherits the 5-year-old daughter of a former mudlark, recently deceased.
Lady Xenobia to the rescue. Thorn’s stepmother hires Xenobia to rehab his house and estate, staff it with servants, manage the house party to ensure the success of his courtship, and help him hide his new ward, whom everyone will assume is his own illegitimate daughter, until his proposal has been accepted.
I loved the dynamic between Lady X and Thorn: sparks flew! Thorn couldn’t keep his eyes, thoughts, or hands off Xenobia:
Yet his life was planned. There was no space for a woman who made him feel unmoored. He had to shovel all this feeling back into a hole in the ground and bury it.
This resolution hit the fan when his best friend, a future duke, took one look at Xenobia and saw his future duchess.
If you’re not a fan of love quadrangles, you probably won’t like this. I, though, loved how complicated it became.
What I didn’t love, for which I deducted a star from my rating, was how freely, even eagerly, Xenobia entered into a physical relationship. It didn’t fit her personality, her plans, or her life goals; it was just done too casually. I also didn’t love the blowup that occupied the book from the 75%-90% mark, when both Xenobia and Thorn wanted to misunderstand and blame the other and both were quick to take offense and lash out. Fortunately, the last 10% made up that lost ground nicely and the epilogue left a warm fire burning in the hearth.
If I had realized the MMC of this book was the mudlark bastard son of Villiers, I would have read it long ago, even earlier if I had known Villiers would make an appearance in all his sartorial splendor.
Lady Xenobia, daughter of a penniless marquess, has built a reputation for herself as a home-fixer: she renovates and decorates homes with faultless taste and style, she fires and replaces servants so homes run smoothly, she’s even been known to right a few relationship wrongs. She is expensive but worth it, and her services are in high demand…as is her hand in marriage by many of her clients’s sons.
Thorn Dautry, former mudlark, now wealthy entrepreneur, and always-bastard (of Villiers), has chosen Laetitia Rainsford as his future bride. She’s beautiful, sweet, and calm, her pedigree will ensure respectability for their offspring, he can park her in the country and forget about her and the offspring, and her father desperately needs Thorn’s wealth. Laetitia requires a country estate, according to her father. Thorn buys one. Laetitia’s mother must approve the match, so Thorn invites Laetitia’s family for a country house party.
Unfortunately, Laetitia’s mother is a snobbish, whining, vicious, self-centered boor who abhors the thought of a bastard marrying her precious daughter. Her precious daughter finds Thorn too frightening, too masculine, too wealthy, too everything. The estate Thorn bought was previously owned by a notorious libertine and housed a harem of prostitutes and is in a state of disrepair. Out of the blue, Thorn inherits the 5-year-old daughter of a former mudlark, recently deceased.
Lady Xenobia to the rescue. Thorn’s stepmother hires Xenobia to rehab his house and estate, staff it with servants, manage the house party to ensure the success of his courtship, and help him hide his new ward, whom everyone will assume is his own illegitimate daughter, until his proposal has been accepted.
I loved the dynamic between Lady X and Thorn: sparks flew! Thorn couldn’t keep his eyes, thoughts, or hands off Xenobia:
Yet his life was planned. There was no space for a woman who made him feel unmoored. He had to shovel all this feeling back into a hole in the ground and bury it.
This resolution hit the fan when his best friend, a future duke, took one look at Xenobia and saw his future duchess.
If you’re not a fan of love quadrangles, you probably won’t like this. I, though, loved how complicated it became.
What I didn’t love, for which I deducted a star from my rating, was how freely, even eagerly, Xenobia entered into a physical relationship. It didn’t fit her personality, her plans, or her life goals; it was just done too casually. I also didn’t love the blowup that occupied the book from the 75%-90% mark, when both Xenobia and Thorn wanted to misunderstand and blame the other and both were quick to take offense and lash out. Fortunately, the last 10% made up that lost ground nicely and the epilogue left a warm fire burning in the hearth.
November 20, 2015
4 sigh-worthy, swoon-worthy stars!
Three Weeks With Lady X is the seventh book in Eloisa James’ Desperate Duchesses series and is a charming, witty, and sexy story.
Description...
Having made a fortune, Thorn Dautry, the powerful bastard son of a duke, decides that he needs a wife. But to marry a lady, Thorn must acquire a gleaming, civilized façade, the specialty of Lady Xenobia India.My review…..
Exquisite, head-strong, and independent, India vows to make Thorn marriageable in just three weeks.
But neither Thorn nor India anticipate the forbidden passion that explodes between them.
Thorn will stop at nothing to make India his. Failure is not an option.
But there is only one thing that will make India his—the one thing Thorn can't afford to lose...
His fierce and lawless heart.
Three Weeks With Lady X is such an entertaining story. The way it all unfolds grabbed me from the first pages and held on to the very last.
Lady Xenobia India is the perfect example of my favorite heroines. A strong, independent free thinker, she's the furthest thing from a Wallflower the ton has ever seen. She's a beautiful woman and had many opportunities to marry, but didn't want a conventional arrangement. She's worked hard to fund her own dowry so that she could choose her own husband, and this alone made me love her!
Thorn Dautry, the hero of this story, is Tobias, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers. There was something so powerful about him, and yet so vulnerable, too. Being labeled a bastard, even though his father found and claimed all his bastard children, was something Thorn had to live with. But it was refreshing to see how he handled it all... not accepting and assuming his role as a lesser member of society, but making himself into a force to be reckoned with, in his own rights. This alone made me adore him and hope for the kind of happily ever after only the most amazing of heroes is worthy of.
The bottom line...
Despite something that was, in my mind, a highly unlikely, in fact, nearly impossible event towards the end - I loved this book! Eloisa James has been a favorite historical romance author of mine from the very first book I read, A Kiss At Midnight, and has been an auto-buy author ever since. I adore the humor, the passion, and the unique stories she gives us, and the beauty of her happily ever afters.
A copy of this story was provided by Avon Books in exchange for an honest review.
February 7, 2017
I may need a moment because the epilogue left me wrecked! Wonderfully wrecked though... Three Weeks With Lady X is the second book I've read by Eloisa James, the first having been My American Duchess which is also a favourite of mine. But Thorn has to be my favourite hero in James' books... so far that is. I've always said that I prefer titled heroes in my historicals but I may have been a bit premature because I feel like by blows are extremely underrated. Thorn with his rough ways, his passion and his confidence snared me from the start.
"He might have dressed like a bloody peacock to come to her, but it was all just show, covering up who he really was: more beast than man. They were beauty and the beast, the lady and the bastard... It was stupid. Impossible."
India and Thorn's relationship starts as wonderfully as any amazing love/hate relationship romance starts. At first they can't stand one another but there's this underlying attraction despite that. Their chemistry just sizzled off the pages and if I wasn't laughing at the veiled insults they threw at one another, I was getting all hot and bothered because of the sexual tension.
"Incredible," he murmured. "Miracles necer cease. I am always surprised by what my sex will tolerate."
"How odd," India said sweetly. "I myself am never surprised by men. Absurdity is so common that it seems characteristic of your sex."
Then there were all the heartwarming moments when they were realising their feelings for one another, or when they were remembering their childhood. I honestly don't want to go into the details of this book, because while there was nothing out of the ordinary about it when it comes to a historical romance, the characters were definitely extraordinary and I fell in love with them so hard. The writing drew me in which is why this is my first 6 star read of 2017.
Strongly recommended!
March 1, 2016
Eloisa James is consistently excellent! One more example.
April 29, 2017
Ledi Zenobija Indija Sent Kler je ćerka markiza. Siroče i bez prebijene pare, Indija je sama obezbedila svoju budućnost i sreću radeći kao dizajner enterijera i organizatorka domaćinstava. Iako je dobro uspela da očuva svoju reputaciju uprkos "nesrećnom" zanimanju, Indija je rešila da se povuće iz posla i nađe muža.
Ona prihvata da uradi još jedan poslednji posao za njenu prijateljicu vojvotkinju od Vilijersa; da obnovi novu kuću gospodina Tobajasa "Torna" Dotrija, vanbračnog sina vojvode Vilijersa koji želi da kuća bude brzo spremna kako bi impresionirao ženu koju planira da učini svojom suprugom i njenu majku. Torn je napušten od strane svoje majke i sad želi ženu koja nema druge ambicije osim da bude supruga i majka, koja je miroljubiva i neće poremetiti njegov život.
Torn i Indija se uopšte ne simpatišu u početku, a onda se među njima razvija čudno prijateljstvo koje prerasta u požudu i ljubav.
Uživala sam čitajući ovu knjigu jer je ispunjena sa predivnim, svadljivim odnosom između Indije i Torna Povremeno, ovo dvoje tvrdoglavih ljudi kao da su činilii sve da sabotiraju njihovu moguću vezu. Oboje imaju problema sa napuštanjem iz detinjstva i samim tim, probleme sa poverenjem. Jako su me nervirali svojim nekim budalastim odlukama.
Ovi likovi prave greške.Ponekad su greške očito destruktivne, a ponekad su samo obične nevine greške u proceni. Ovde se delom radi o nemogućnost ovih likova da prepoznaju njihove sopstvene obrasce i pogreške.
Ali postoji nešto zaista neverovatno lepo kod dvoje ljudi koji leče jedno drugo i grade jaku međusobnu vezu,
Osećam se dužnom da napomenem; jedan od glavnih aktera ove priče je Vander Brodi, junak sledeće knjige u ovom serijalu. Da pređem odmah na stvar, otkinula sam na njega! Obožavam ga i ne dam ga nikom! On je moj, tako da, drage moje, tražite nekog drugog.
Ovo je najbolja Eloizina knjiga koju sam dosad pročitala.
Nadam se da će Vulkan ispoštovati redosled i ubrzo prevesti Vanderovu priču.
Ona prihvata da uradi još jedan poslednji posao za njenu prijateljicu vojvotkinju od Vilijersa; da obnovi novu kuću gospodina Tobajasa "Torna" Dotrija, vanbračnog sina vojvode Vilijersa koji želi da kuća bude brzo spremna kako bi impresionirao ženu koju planira da učini svojom suprugom i njenu majku. Torn je napušten od strane svoje majke i sad želi ženu koja nema druge ambicije osim da bude supruga i majka, koja je miroljubiva i neće poremetiti njegov život.
Torn i Indija se uopšte ne simpatišu u početku, a onda se među njima razvija čudno prijateljstvo koje prerasta u požudu i ljubav.
Uživala sam čitajući ovu knjigu jer je ispunjena sa predivnim, svadljivim odnosom između Indije i Torna Povremeno, ovo dvoje tvrdoglavih ljudi kao da su činilii sve da sabotiraju njihovu moguću vezu. Oboje imaju problema sa napuštanjem iz detinjstva i samim tim, probleme sa poverenjem. Jako su me nervirali svojim nekim budalastim odlukama.
Ovi likovi prave greške.Ponekad su greške očito destruktivne, a ponekad su samo obične nevine greške u proceni. Ovde se delom radi o nemogućnost ovih likova da prepoznaju njihove sopstvene obrasce i pogreške.
Ali postoji nešto zaista neverovatno lepo kod dvoje ljudi koji leče jedno drugo i grade jaku međusobnu vezu,
Osećam se dužnom da napomenem; jedan od glavnih aktera ove priče je Vander Brodi, junak sledeće knjige u ovom serijalu. Da pređem odmah na stvar, otkinula sam na njega! Obožavam ga i ne dam ga nikom! On je moj, tako da, drage moje, tražite nekog drugog.
Ovo je najbolja Eloizina knjiga koju sam dosad pročitala.
Nadam se da će Vulkan ispoštovati redosled i ubrzo prevesti Vanderovu priču.
March 11, 2014
Three Weeks with Lady X was an unusual experience, and my first encounter with Eloisa James's writing. The plot is at once simplistic yet complex, the characters an intriguing puzzle, to which nothing is as it seems.
Lady Xenobia India St. Claire, daughter of a deceased marquess, is a highly sought-after interior designer (in modern terms) by members of the nobility. Since the age of 15 she has done this with her godmother, and by 26 she's decided it's time to marry -- not for love, nor security, but for a want of children. Unbeknownst to her, another man had the same idea.
Tobias (Thorn) Dautry, the eldest bastard of the Duke of Villiers (hero of A Duke of Her Own), has more money than he knows what to do with it. Due to an incident, he spent his childhood in London slums, which honed a deadliness in him that never went away, even when he was declared to be a duke’s son at the age of 6. Deciding it’s time to marry as well, Thorn is adamant on Laetitia Rainsford, a nice, beautiful young lady who sadly lacks intelligence. Thorn’s goal was to find a wife who would cherish and never abandon his children, which makes sweet Laetitia a perfect candidate. The only problem? Wooing her parents to the match.
In preparation to impress Laetitia’s fastidious mother, Thorn’s stepmother, Eleanor, requested India’s aid in renovating his new country estate, much to the displeasure of both. Yet, Thorn and India soon finds themselves with much in common, including a desire that cannot be doused. But the biggest question remains, when Thorn is bent on marrying Laetitia, how would his feelings for India factor in the three weeks they have at his estate? Moreover, would Thorn suit India’s wishes in a husband?
This novel plays like Mozart’s Turkish March, at times fast-paced and biting, at times passionate and uncertain. Thorn and India start off antagonistically, trading barbs and insults, yet both hiding a physical attraction to each other. Their frequent letters regarding the renovations of Thorn’s estate showcase not only their witty intelligence, but their unique compatibility. As the letters change in humor and passion, so do Thorn and India’s relationship, from that of strangers to friends, and finally to lovers. Despite that, amidst the humor and wit lay the striking loneliness of two individuals heavily influenced by their respective childhoods. India is fiercely independence and unable to trust easily due to her parents’ mad behaviors and her father’s wasteful life; Thorn, for all his self-made wealth, could not escape the stigma attached to his lowly birth, which in his mind makes him unworthy of India, though he aims to have her one way or another.
Dealing with such strong characters, Eloisa James still managed to infuse a believable gentleness to both Thorn and India, a grand feat to be sure. For Thorn, obtaining the daughter of his old friend as a ward made his fatherly attributes clearer to the readers, as well as added a multidimensional to his erstwhile cold and cynical image.
“There's sickness in the world, India. I saw some of it as a boy, more as a man...I don't want it in my house, or anywhere near Rose.”
India loved the way he was protecting Rose, so she smile at him a wide smile. Unguarded. Unusual for her. (Loc 2373/6074)
On the other hand, India is more complex in a far less conventional manner, to the extent that at times it seems as though there are two of her, at war with each other. One side of her is the strict, harshly blunt society dame, the “Lady Xenobia” who is a master at her profession and willing to knock Thorn off his pedestal. However, when she is drunk, she becomes a much friendlier person, confiding in Thorn, wishing for a true friend to listen and satisfy her curiosities. To that end, her vulnerabilities make her as endearing to the readers as to Thorn, a crumbling of her normal façade. At the same time, her seemingly drastic change while sober made me wonder just who is the real her: Lady Xenobia, or India? Ultimately, that answer is slowly revealed as India succumbs to Thorn’s seductions and reflects upon her own wishes for her future.
Writing a story of layered complexity must be Eloisa James’s specialty, for this one could be described as a wedding cake. One tier upon another builds the childhood, youth, and experience for Thorn and Xenobia to whom they are at the start of the novel, and another set builds upon their warring selves of want and need, fantasy and reality, towards a grand ending with much happiness and children. The sheer amount of wit and depth in this story impressed me, and I want nothing more than to read Vander (Thorn’s best friend)’s story as well as that of Rose, his adorably precocious ward.
Published on Buried Under Romance
*Review copy courtesy of the publisher for an honest review
Lady Xenobia India St. Claire, daughter of a deceased marquess, is a highly sought-after interior designer (in modern terms) by members of the nobility. Since the age of 15 she has done this with her godmother, and by 26 she's decided it's time to marry -- not for love, nor security, but for a want of children. Unbeknownst to her, another man had the same idea.
Tobias (Thorn) Dautry, the eldest bastard of the Duke of Villiers (hero of A Duke of Her Own), has more money than he knows what to do with it. Due to an incident, he spent his childhood in London slums, which honed a deadliness in him that never went away, even when he was declared to be a duke’s son at the age of 6. Deciding it’s time to marry as well, Thorn is adamant on Laetitia Rainsford, a nice, beautiful young lady who sadly lacks intelligence. Thorn’s goal was to find a wife who would cherish and never abandon his children, which makes sweet Laetitia a perfect candidate. The only problem? Wooing her parents to the match.
In preparation to impress Laetitia’s fastidious mother, Thorn’s stepmother, Eleanor, requested India’s aid in renovating his new country estate, much to the displeasure of both. Yet, Thorn and India soon finds themselves with much in common, including a desire that cannot be doused. But the biggest question remains, when Thorn is bent on marrying Laetitia, how would his feelings for India factor in the three weeks they have at his estate? Moreover, would Thorn suit India’s wishes in a husband?
This novel plays like Mozart’s Turkish March, at times fast-paced and biting, at times passionate and uncertain. Thorn and India start off antagonistically, trading barbs and insults, yet both hiding a physical attraction to each other. Their frequent letters regarding the renovations of Thorn’s estate showcase not only their witty intelligence, but their unique compatibility. As the letters change in humor and passion, so do Thorn and India’s relationship, from that of strangers to friends, and finally to lovers. Despite that, amidst the humor and wit lay the striking loneliness of two individuals heavily influenced by their respective childhoods. India is fiercely independence and unable to trust easily due to her parents’ mad behaviors and her father’s wasteful life; Thorn, for all his self-made wealth, could not escape the stigma attached to his lowly birth, which in his mind makes him unworthy of India, though he aims to have her one way or another.
Dealing with such strong characters, Eloisa James still managed to infuse a believable gentleness to both Thorn and India, a grand feat to be sure. For Thorn, obtaining the daughter of his old friend as a ward made his fatherly attributes clearer to the readers, as well as added a multidimensional to his erstwhile cold and cynical image.
“There's sickness in the world, India. I saw some of it as a boy, more as a man...I don't want it in my house, or anywhere near Rose.”
India loved the way he was protecting Rose, so she smile at him a wide smile. Unguarded. Unusual for her. (Loc 2373/6074)
On the other hand, India is more complex in a far less conventional manner, to the extent that at times it seems as though there are two of her, at war with each other. One side of her is the strict, harshly blunt society dame, the “Lady Xenobia” who is a master at her profession and willing to knock Thorn off his pedestal. However, when she is drunk, she becomes a much friendlier person, confiding in Thorn, wishing for a true friend to listen and satisfy her curiosities. To that end, her vulnerabilities make her as endearing to the readers as to Thorn, a crumbling of her normal façade. At the same time, her seemingly drastic change while sober made me wonder just who is the real her: Lady Xenobia, or India? Ultimately, that answer is slowly revealed as India succumbs to Thorn’s seductions and reflects upon her own wishes for her future.
Writing a story of layered complexity must be Eloisa James’s specialty, for this one could be described as a wedding cake. One tier upon another builds the childhood, youth, and experience for Thorn and Xenobia to whom they are at the start of the novel, and another set builds upon their warring selves of want and need, fantasy and reality, towards a grand ending with much happiness and children. The sheer amount of wit and depth in this story impressed me, and I want nothing more than to read Vander (Thorn’s best friend)’s story as well as that of Rose, his adorably precocious ward.
Published on Buried Under Romance
*Review copy courtesy of the publisher for an honest review
December 4, 2019
I stuck with this waaaaaaay longer than I should have. I kind of liked the banter between India and Thorn, I guess. So I was willing to overlook the bizarre setup (India is a Lady, daughter of a Marquess, who does interior design as an honest-to-goodness paid-handsomely profession, for example) and Thorn horning in on the invention of the rubber band (because India gave him an idea) and the worlds most precocious six year-old... I'm starting to hate myself because it is now apparent I have only myself to blame for sticking with this idiocy.
I was entertained enough to continue on for quite a while but then India and Thorn have wild monkey sex for reasons that make no sense to either of them (both planning on marrying other people) and the whole thing went to oblivion. I truly regret that I kept going past that point so I could get to the three-ring circus the whole thing turned into. We even get extra viewpoints thrown in so we can see the sappy Lala fall in love with a balding country doctor just so we know how very ridiculous it is for India to continue championing Thorn's initial stupid plan.
I finally quit when Lala's parasitic mother started throwing accusations around and everyone responded by lying their stupid heads off in the most absurd way possible and I just couldn't even deal any more. It's like all their brains had been sucked out by aliens who wanted to mess with everybody to the maximum degree possible. I guess if you posit that Eloisa James is an alien then you can make a case that that's exactly what happened. Man I hate when authors go for cheap drama and make everybody into stupid caricatures of themselves.
So yeah, one star. And a deep regret that I ever picked this up in the first place. And an even deeper regret that I kept with it as long as I did.
I was entertained enough to continue on for quite a while but then India and Thorn have wild monkey sex for reasons that make no sense to either of them (both planning on marrying other people) and the whole thing went to oblivion. I truly regret that I kept going past that point so I could get to the three-ring circus the whole thing turned into. We even get extra viewpoints thrown in so we can see the sappy Lala fall in love with a balding country doctor just so we know how very ridiculous it is for India to continue championing Thorn's initial stupid plan.
I finally quit when Lala's parasitic mother started throwing accusations around and everyone responded by lying their stupid heads off in the most absurd way possible and I just couldn't even deal any more. It's like all their brains had been sucked out by aliens who wanted to mess with everybody to the maximum degree possible. I guess if you posit that Eloisa James is an alien then you can make a case that that's exactly what happened. Man I hate when authors go for cheap drama and make everybody into stupid caricatures of themselves.
So yeah, one star. And a deep regret that I ever picked this up in the first place. And an even deeper regret that I kept with it as long as I did.
May 26, 2021
I can't believe I finally liked an Eloisa James book. She's the author that is most hit and miss for me. Shrug.
I read the previous book so I was not lost about who was who, as this is the story of the bastard son of the Duke in the previous one.
I loved this book up until Lady X decided to lie about something very important and take his chance to decide for himself what to do... she simply took it and it was weird from that moment on... I am not going to say a lot because of spoilers, but I was a little disappointed in both of them.
I hate when the characters start lying left and right and hurting each other for no good reason. Deciding for them what's best without considering that they are adults and can choose for themselves.
The sunniest part was the child with a grandma soul that was absolutely cuuuute.
This book very close resembled the previous one but was done better. The H wanting to marry the "perfect " bride and meeting another one right before making the final decision.
I read the previous book so I was not lost about who was who, as this is the story of the bastard son of the Duke in the previous one.
I loved this book up until Lady X decided to lie about something very important and take his chance to decide for himself what to do... she simply took it and it was weird from that moment on... I am not going to say a lot because of spoilers, but I was a little disappointed in both of them.
I hate when the characters start lying left and right and hurting each other for no good reason. Deciding for them what's best without considering that they are adults and can choose for themselves.
The sunniest part was the child with a grandma soul that was absolutely cuuuute.
This book very close resembled the previous one but was done better. The H wanting to marry the "perfect " bride and meeting another one right before making the final decision.
March 12, 2022
✨WHERE IS THE HGTV✨
1+6=7 — aka this book is literally the exact same thing as books 1 and 6, neither of which I liked. This set-up is literally the exact same as book 1 and book 6 (this is book 7 but also the start of a spin off series). Why are they all so hellbent on marrying the wrong person? I hate that trope. If you also hate that trope, don’t bother with this one. And if it’s not clear, also skip books 1 and 6. And also skip book 5. And I’ve heard nothing but horrible things about book 2 so might as well skip that one. I haven’t read books 8 or 9 but you know I’ll have opinions. Stay tuned. I loved books 3 and 4 for what that’s worth.
But back to the point, I hate when characters are dead-set on marrying other people for ages after they meet the other MC. I can totally see it before they meet the other, and even a bit after….but not into the 60-70% range. All of the mentioned books drag it out so far and I can’t handle that. Especially when their reasons for marrying the wrong person are just so pointless. Or they would harm other people. Or make bad people win. There are just so many opportunities for this trope to go wrong! Ha ah ha ha ah ha ha. (If you want an Eloisa book that does so RIGHT by this trope, read How to Be a Wallflower.
I also don’t want the POV of the wrong person the hero is trying to marry. She ended up being fine, but this series spends way too much time on other couples in every book not about those couples! (It was fun here because I started to care way more about the side romance.) I love a good side romance, but I want that as a side dish not a whole course. I also loved that we got a horrible mother who was not even the mother of one of our MCs. I LOVED it wow so fun ha ha live laugh love, such joy, fun times, great times, yay, ha ha.
I just wanted it to be like a cute Life as We Know It moment. They get delivered a kid so make the best (and cutest) of it. I really wanted them to be secluded on the site of the home renovation and try to raise the kid and do cute things together and fall in an overflowing bubble bath or two. I wanted to actually see her renovate the house. Pretty much all of that happened off the page or in a letter or two. Same thing with the kid stuff.
Also Xenobia was kind of a dick for a lot of the book. I was never really endeared to her. I had a little history with Thorn from the last book…but that didn’t help much. He wasn’t much better than Xenobia. He was adorable with the kid but never really with Xenobia. The sex was lackluster and there wasn’t much of it and I also remember none of it so that’s fun.
⭐️⭐️.25/5 🌶🌶🌶.25/5
__________
Initial reaction:
Stop I didn’t even like it why did I cry at the epilogue 😭 (anything that goes “the house where they lived is still there 200 years later and their great great grand children remember them” just fucks me up I can’t).
1+6=7 — aka this book is literally the exact same thing as books 1 and 6, neither of which I liked. This set-up is literally the exact same as book 1 and book 6 (this is book 7 but also the start of a spin off series). Why are they all so hellbent on marrying the wrong person? I hate that trope. If you also hate that trope, don’t bother with this one. And if it’s not clear, also skip books 1 and 6. And also skip book 5. And I’ve heard nothing but horrible things about book 2 so might as well skip that one. I haven’t read books 8 or 9 but you know I’ll have opinions. Stay tuned. I loved books 3 and 4 for what that’s worth.
But back to the point, I hate when characters are dead-set on marrying other people for ages after they meet the other MC. I can totally see it before they meet the other, and even a bit after….but not into the 60-70% range. All of the mentioned books drag it out so far and I can’t handle that. Especially when their reasons for marrying the wrong person are just so pointless. Or they would harm other people. Or make bad people win. There are just so many opportunities for this trope to go wrong! Ha ah ha ha ah ha ha. (If you want an Eloisa book that does so RIGHT by this trope, read How to Be a Wallflower.
I also don’t want the POV of the wrong person the hero is trying to marry. She ended up being fine, but this series spends way too much time on other couples in every book not about those couples! (It was fun here because I started to care way more about the side romance.) I love a good side romance, but I want that as a side dish not a whole course. I also loved that we got a horrible mother who was not even the mother of one of our MCs. I LOVED it wow so fun ha ha live laugh love, such joy, fun times, great times, yay, ha ha.
I just wanted it to be like a cute Life as We Know It moment. They get delivered a kid so make the best (and cutest) of it. I really wanted them to be secluded on the site of the home renovation and try to raise the kid and do cute things together and fall in an overflowing bubble bath or two. I wanted to actually see her renovate the house. Pretty much all of that happened off the page or in a letter or two. Same thing with the kid stuff.
Also Xenobia was kind of a dick for a lot of the book. I was never really endeared to her. I had a little history with Thorn from the last book…but that didn’t help much. He wasn’t much better than Xenobia. He was adorable with the kid but never really with Xenobia. The sex was lackluster and there wasn’t much of it and I also remember none of it so that’s fun.
⭐️⭐️.25/5 🌶🌶🌶.25/5
__________
Initial reaction:
Stop I didn’t even like it why did I cry at the epilogue 😭 (anything that goes “the house where they lived is still there 200 years later and their great great grand children remember them” just fucks me up I can’t).
February 9, 2017
What a disappointment this book turned out to be :-(.
Spoilers ahead.
It started with a lot of promise – I love the enemy to love trope and the animosity between India and Thorn in the beginning was terrific. Their banter in the letters they exchanged was wonderful and I loved that they were so similar in their need for control over their lives and those around them and the sparks that arose because of this. And I liked how attracted both were from the beginning. But as the story progressed and we spent more and more time in India’s head and not that much in Thorn’s, it became clear that she was very infatuated with him, while he just intensely desired her but that he would never want her as a wife. He even told her right before they slept together for the first time, and to make sure she understood where they stood, that he would seduce her but he wouldn’t marry her simply because his cock was inside her. Yep, this guy was very romantic. He also kept saying that she would be perfect for his best friend Vander, and that if she dressed sexier he would definitely notice her. But when Vander did show interest in her, he became jealous and possessive, stating it was because of rivalry between him and Vander, and not because of anything else. It honestly took way too long for him to realise and show how he really felt about India, and by then I had completely lost interest in the romance.
Vander still sat against the wall, his arms on his knees. Without raising his head, he said, “She’s mine, Thorn, and the sooner you get used to it, the better. You treated her like a doxy, and you didn’t protect her when she needed it.”
The only highlight of this book was Vander, which was why I gave the book two stars instead of just one. The way he stood up for India, being there for her when she needed it, made me wish that he was rather the hero than Thorn.
This was my first book by this author, and although I liked her writing, I didn’t like the way she wrote her hero and in the end even the heroine.
July 25, 2016
I've given this an A- at AAR, so 4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up to 5 in the rating.
I’ve admitted to having been underwhelmed by Eloisa James’ last two or three books, but she’s still an author whose books I’ve never been able to not read when they come out. I’m happy to report that she’s back on top form with Three Weeks with Lady X, a continuation of her Desperate Duchesses series.
The plot is fairly simple, but what makes it such a terrific story is the depth to the characterization of the two principals, neither of whom turns out to be quite what they seem. The book is warm, funny and very sexy, with a great cast of secondary characters and a very well-written relationship between the hero and his friend, Lord Evander Brody, whom we will no doubt meet again in a future book.
Thorn (Tobias) Dautry is the eldest, illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers (hero of A Duke of Her Own), and is very much a self-made man. Abandoned by his mother, Thorn was grew up in the London slums until he was found and rescued by his father from a gang of Mudlarks (children who were put to work foraging in the depths of the Thames). Despite the fact that his father is a duke, Thorn has made his own fortune, having an eye for investment and invention and a talent for turning a profit. But being rich as Croesus won’t buy Thorn respectability – not that he’s particularly concerned about being respectable for himself - but he wants children of his own one day and is determined to ensure their respectability and acceptance by society. The best way to do this will be for him to find himself the right kind of wife, a lady of good birth and breeding who will dote on her children and be docile and compliant in her marriage.
Thorn believes he has found the perfect candidate in Lady Laetitia Rainsford, a young woman of impeccable lineage whose father is in desperate need of the funds Thorn would provide as part of the marriage settlement. Laetitia is beautiful, quiet, kind, and adores children – but she is looked on by society, and even her own mother - as a simpleton because she never has much to say for herself.
These are not considerations that worry Thorn, however. He wants an uncomplicated marriage with a sweet, kind woman who will do exactly as she’s told. The problem is that Lady Rainsford is a real stickler for propriety and position – in short a total snob - and she is not at all keen on the idea of her daughter’s marrying a bastard, even if he’s the son of a duke and incredibly rich to boot.
Thorn has recently purchased a country estate – sight unseen – and decides that the best way to impress his prospective in-laws will be to invite them there. Unfortunately, the house is very run down, so Thorn’s stepmother asks a friend for help on his behalf.
Although Lady Xenobia India St. Claire is the daughter of a marquess, she had a less than conventional upbringing; she lost both parents in a tragic accident when she was quite young, and has had to make her own way in the world as a result. Unusually for a young woman at this time, she works for her living – as what I suppose we would call an interior designer. At the age of twenty-six, she has decided it’s time for her to ‘retire’ and find herself a husband, but before she can do so, India is asked by Eleanor, Duchess of Villiers to help her stepson to transform the rambling pile he’s purchased into something habitable that will also impress Lady Rainsford.
India is beautiful, intelligent and witty, and despite having had many proposals has accepted none of them. She has worked hard, determined to earn the dowry her parents never provided for her so that she can to choose a husband who will love her and be a good father to the children she craves, rather than have to marry for money. She likes the idea of a quiet, biddable spouse who will be happy to let her run the household, but agrees to take on this one last commission.
Two such independently minded personalities are bound to clash, and so they do, right off the bat. Thorn and India start with the verbal sparring straight away, and the chemistry between them just leaps off the page. India starts work on the house and writes to Thorn regularly to update him on her progress; the missives between them are often very funny, and provide real insight into the way their relationship is developing, showing a similar intelligence and a shared sense of humor, and revealing much as to their overall compatibility.
They develop a friendship of sorts – something which India has never really experienced before. Her parents were highly eccentric, often leaving her to fend for herself for days on end, and she has come to believe over the years that they never really cared about her. Because she is a woman with a profession, India has to be incredibly careful of her reputation, never doing anything that could cause the slightest bit of gossip and as a result of that, and her absorption in her work, she is lonely.
At first sight, Thorn is the epitome of the super-confident alpha-male. Ms. James’ description of him through India’s eyes at their first meeting puts him way above “swoonworthy” on the scale of hero-hotness:
But even he is revealed to have insecurities which relate to more than his illegitimacy.
Three Weeks with Lady X is certainly the best of Ms James’ more recent books, and, I think, one of her best ever. It captured my attention immediately and if I hadn’t had to get up early for work the next day, I’d have finished it in one sitting. The plot, as I’ve said, isn’t complicated or original, but the characterization is excellent and the romance is very well developed, both of which are things which far outweigh a predictable plot. I have to admit to a couple of minor niggles, however. I found Thorn’s ward, Rose, was rather too precocious, even though I loved the way his softer side was revealed through his care and concern for her. And I did think that the storyline veered off the rails a little towards the end when Thorn decided he had to prove to India that her parents did love her after all.
But those are minor reservations about a book which was otherwise an absolute delight.
I’ve admitted to having been underwhelmed by Eloisa James’ last two or three books, but she’s still an author whose books I’ve never been able to not read when they come out. I’m happy to report that she’s back on top form with Three Weeks with Lady X, a continuation of her Desperate Duchesses series.
The plot is fairly simple, but what makes it such a terrific story is the depth to the characterization of the two principals, neither of whom turns out to be quite what they seem. The book is warm, funny and very sexy, with a great cast of secondary characters and a very well-written relationship between the hero and his friend, Lord Evander Brody, whom we will no doubt meet again in a future book.
Thorn (Tobias) Dautry is the eldest, illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers (hero of A Duke of Her Own), and is very much a self-made man. Abandoned by his mother, Thorn was grew up in the London slums until he was found and rescued by his father from a gang of Mudlarks (children who were put to work foraging in the depths of the Thames). Despite the fact that his father is a duke, Thorn has made his own fortune, having an eye for investment and invention and a talent for turning a profit. But being rich as Croesus won’t buy Thorn respectability – not that he’s particularly concerned about being respectable for himself - but he wants children of his own one day and is determined to ensure their respectability and acceptance by society. The best way to do this will be for him to find himself the right kind of wife, a lady of good birth and breeding who will dote on her children and be docile and compliant in her marriage.
Thorn believes he has found the perfect candidate in Lady Laetitia Rainsford, a young woman of impeccable lineage whose father is in desperate need of the funds Thorn would provide as part of the marriage settlement. Laetitia is beautiful, quiet, kind, and adores children – but she is looked on by society, and even her own mother - as a simpleton because she never has much to say for herself.
These are not considerations that worry Thorn, however. He wants an uncomplicated marriage with a sweet, kind woman who will do exactly as she’s told. The problem is that Lady Rainsford is a real stickler for propriety and position – in short a total snob - and she is not at all keen on the idea of her daughter’s marrying a bastard, even if he’s the son of a duke and incredibly rich to boot.
Thorn has recently purchased a country estate – sight unseen – and decides that the best way to impress his prospective in-laws will be to invite them there. Unfortunately, the house is very run down, so Thorn’s stepmother asks a friend for help on his behalf.
Although Lady Xenobia India St. Claire is the daughter of a marquess, she had a less than conventional upbringing; she lost both parents in a tragic accident when she was quite young, and has had to make her own way in the world as a result. Unusually for a young woman at this time, she works for her living – as what I suppose we would call an interior designer. At the age of twenty-six, she has decided it’s time for her to ‘retire’ and find herself a husband, but before she can do so, India is asked by Eleanor, Duchess of Villiers to help her stepson to transform the rambling pile he’s purchased into something habitable that will also impress Lady Rainsford.
India is beautiful, intelligent and witty, and despite having had many proposals has accepted none of them. She has worked hard, determined to earn the dowry her parents never provided for her so that she can to choose a husband who will love her and be a good father to the children she craves, rather than have to marry for money. She likes the idea of a quiet, biddable spouse who will be happy to let her run the household, but agrees to take on this one last commission.
Two such independently minded personalities are bound to clash, and so they do, right off the bat. Thorn and India start with the verbal sparring straight away, and the chemistry between them just leaps off the page. India starts work on the house and writes to Thorn regularly to update him on her progress; the missives between them are often very funny, and provide real insight into the way their relationship is developing, showing a similar intelligence and a shared sense of humor, and revealing much as to their overall compatibility.
They develop a friendship of sorts – something which India has never really experienced before. Her parents were highly eccentric, often leaving her to fend for herself for days on end, and she has come to believe over the years that they never really cared about her. Because she is a woman with a profession, India has to be incredibly careful of her reputation, never doing anything that could cause the slightest bit of gossip and as a result of that, and her absorption in her work, she is lonely.
At first sight, Thorn is the epitome of the super-confident alpha-male. Ms. James’ description of him through India’s eyes at their first meeting puts him way above “swoonworthy” on the scale of hero-hotness:
He walked toward them with the effortless confidence of a man who is formidable in every respect, even though he wore no coat or cravat, just a white linen shirt and breeches that stretched over his thigh muscles. Stubble darkened his jaw, and his hair was neither pulled back in a neat queue nor covered by a wig.
He looked like a farm laborer.
Or a king.
But even he is revealed to have insecurities which relate to more than his illegitimacy.
Three Weeks with Lady X is certainly the best of Ms James’ more recent books, and, I think, one of her best ever. It captured my attention immediately and if I hadn’t had to get up early for work the next day, I’d have finished it in one sitting. The plot, as I’ve said, isn’t complicated or original, but the characterization is excellent and the romance is very well developed, both of which are things which far outweigh a predictable plot. I have to admit to a couple of minor niggles, however. I found Thorn’s ward, Rose, was rather too precocious, even though I loved the way his softer side was revealed through his care and concern for her. And I did think that the storyline veered off the rails a little towards the end when Thorn decided he had to prove to India that her parents did love her after all.
But those are minor reservations about a book which was otherwise an absolute delight.
December 19, 2014
In her first book after her fairy tale series, Eloisa James revisits the world of her Desperate Duchesses, featuring Thorne, aka Tobias, illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers, as the hero. His heroine? Lady India St. Claire, the daughter of a marquess who makes her living as a sort of interior decorator to the English nobility. I loved every detail of this story of two damaged souls finding each other, from the lyrical language to the emotional unveiling of the harsh details of both their childhoods. Thorne is a total dish, and India is strong and sympathetic without being pitiable. Their story is sexy and funny and smart, and has supplanted A Duke of Her Own as my favorite Eloisa James book. The cameos from Villiers and Eleanor were just icing on the cake :)
May 18, 2014
I have such a love-hate relationship with Eloisa James's books. She's written some of my favorite romances ever (e.g., When Beauty Tamed the Beast is a book I like enough to re-read, which is a rare feat these days), I love her writing, she's very witty, she writes great sex scenes, and I think her supporting characters are really well fleshed out (more on this later, but I usually end up finding them more interesting and compelling than the H/h, which is once again true in this book).
So. Three Weeks with Lady X: Thorn Dautry, whom you may remember as Juby/Tobias from A Duke of Her Own, has put aside his days as a mudlark and is now a respectable gentleman. Or almost. Or not at all. Lady Xenobia India St. Clair is a cross-between a Regency interior decorator and Gordon Ramsay from Hell's Kitchen. Yes, she will tell you where to put that table, but she will also change the way your household operates. She's kind of a badass, and her job has enabled her to put aside a lot of money for reasons that are solid yet also kinda sad.
Anyway, the meet-cute is that Thorn has met the perfect woman, Laetitia Rainsford - she's beautiful and nurturing and can't read and WILL BE HIS BRIDE GODDAMMIT - and has purchased a country home that's a bit of a fixer-upper from an old, dead skeezeweasel. He needs someone to make it look less like the Playboy Mansion so her aristocratic parents will approve the marriage. Enter India. They spar immediately, and he wants her bad.
I've been trying to figure out why this book didn't work for me. I love sparring! I love combative relationships! I love independent women!
I think partly it's because I actively dislike Thorn. And his relationship with India moves too quickly for my understanding - I understand why he's attracted to her, but I don't understand why she's interested in him at all. His attraction to India - and his decisions to continue fooling around with her while actively pursuing another woman - made sense to me.
He was abandoned as a child, maybe has a hangup about independent, career-minded women, and wants someone who will nurture and love his children. And, as much as he resists realizing this, it is pretty obvious that though India is talented and good at her job, she's also pretty great with the childrens. So his attraction to India made sense to me and worked for me.
BUT WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY DOES INDIA LIKE THORN?
She's certainly sexually attracted to him from the get-go, and that's all well and good and understandable. Then they move into a correspondence that I think is supposed to be sexually charged and a sign that they're intellectual equals, but to me reads as ... vaguely creepy, particularly on Thorn's end. India is all like, "Cool, let me tell you what I'm doing with your house. I'm going to completely ignore your instructions because they're crap and you don't know what you're doing," and Thorn is like, "TELL ME, DO YOU TOUCH YOURSELF AT NIGHT? I AM NO GENTLEMAN SO I CAN SAY THESE THINGS WITH IMPUNITY!"
(There is also a scene, right before they make sweet tender love for the first time, when Thorn tells her, "Just because I stick my cock in you doesn't mean I'm going to marry you," and India is like, "Ooh. So frank, so blunt. I am even more turned on right now." And I am not going to police the way she feels desire or the things that turn her on, BUT. For me as a reader: EW GROSS, and also, way to assume that the ladies are always interested in marriage.")
Also, at least for me, Thorn is way too jealous and possessive. The terms of employment are kind of creepy; she is his "temporary wife for three weeks." India is reluctant to work for him because she (rightly) thinks that he doesn't cherish Lala (who is lovely and my favorite character) the way he ought to. Also he's kind of a sexist jerk. ("I will coddle Laetitia, and frankly, I would never speak to her the way I have to you, because I've spoken to you the way I speak to a man." SWOON, I love being told that I'm exceptional / different from other women, because it implies that other women suck, but I'm one of the guys, you know? Ugh ugh ugh.)
Anyway. She's reluctant. He blackmails her into working for him with reasons that I'm not sure really hold up all that well. (I mean, he is like, "I will tell my mom and dad that you refused to work for me because I'm a bastard!" And India, who is friendly with Eleanor, thinks that this is a realistic threat. But surely Eleanor and the Duke of Villiers know that Thorn is ... kind of a jackass? and might not immediately believe him?)
Other creepy nonsense. She is working for him! and brings dudes in to do manly, dudely stuff that India herself can also do because she is a badass! and when Thorn catches wind of this, he flips out and gets possessive because obviously all of the men India hires are secretly in love with her. He is mostly a competitive ass when it comes to India, and to her credit, she calls him on this. When he proposes to her (after having realized his love for her when he was told that she was going to marry his best friend): "Don't you see, Thorn? Don't you see that? That's just more competition with Vander. You're offering this big diamond ... but that's not what I want. I deserve *better*!" (And so does his father: "You treated her like the bastard you are.")
And this was kind of my biggest problem with the novel. This happens at ... 86% of the way through. Thorn fundamentally misunderstands what India is telling him at this moment. She communicates that she wants someone who loves her, who doesn't see her as a prize to be won, and Thorn hears, "You're the daughter of a marquess and I am but a lowly mudlark."
There are still some real issues to work on with regards to their communication, here; they are both (differently) stuck in their respective pasts. (Long story short: India's parents died in a tragic accident in the Thames, and she believes they were leaving her forever at the time; they had taken some valuable jewels with which she believes they meant to sell to fund their escape from parenthood.) Thorn recognizes this to some extent after India rejects him. "The Duke of Villers had bought Eleanor a ring. But India could buy her own jewelry. What she needed was the faith the man she married wouldn't leave her, as she believed her parents had done. She would never have enough faith in him ... he had to find those jewels and bring them to her. He had to prove not only his own love for her, but her parents' love."
So what would a reasonable person do in this situation? Try to demonstrate to India that her parents always loved her! Well and good. He tracks down the jeweler who tells him that her parents had the jewels on them when they died. AND who can also testify to the fact that India's parents wanted to sell them to fund her debut, THUS PROVING THAT THEY LOVED HER AND WEREN'T LEAVING HER FOREVER.
This is the point where a reasonable person would stop, bring the nice jeweler to India, and be like, "Look! Your parents loved you! You can trust that other people might also love you some day too!"
Does Thorn do this? NO. NO. India tells him that it is (a) not about competition and (b) it is not about a big diamond and Thorn decides to round up the old gang and go hop in the Thames to get those jewels back, thus risking his life and the lives of his compatriots! JESUS CHRIST ON FLAPJACKS, THORN. She has already lost BOTH OF HER PARENTS TO THE THAMES. Why the HELL would you risk your life?! We know at this point that she doesn't actually need the jewels to know that her parents loved her; the jeweler is able to provide the pertinent information. This means, in my view, that Thorn jumps in the Thames and almost dies for himself; to prove that he's worthy of India to himself. It isn't about India, and it isn't about loving her then; it's about his own insecurities (that he kind of needs to work through if this is going to be a successful relationship), and it demonstrates, to me at least, that he didn't understand a single word of what she was telling him in her rejection.
So, because one of the things I really value about romance novels is that they emphasize the importance of female sexual desire as well as solid communication, I was disappointed in Three Weeks with Lady X.
Oh, final edit: forgot to write about how much I liked Lala, whose romance is a nice secondary plot in the book. Lala is the best and the most interesting and I would read an entire book about her and the hot doctor. The end.
So. Three Weeks with Lady X: Thorn Dautry, whom you may remember as Juby/Tobias from A Duke of Her Own, has put aside his days as a mudlark and is now a respectable gentleman. Or almost. Or not at all. Lady Xenobia India St. Clair is a cross-between a Regency interior decorator and Gordon Ramsay from Hell's Kitchen. Yes, she will tell you where to put that table, but she will also change the way your household operates. She's kind of a badass, and her job has enabled her to put aside a lot of money for reasons that are solid yet also kinda sad.
Anyway, the meet-cute is that Thorn has met the perfect woman, Laetitia Rainsford - she's beautiful and nurturing and can't read and WILL BE HIS BRIDE GODDAMMIT - and has purchased a country home that's a bit of a fixer-upper from an old, dead skeezeweasel. He needs someone to make it look less like the Playboy Mansion so her aristocratic parents will approve the marriage. Enter India. They spar immediately, and he wants her bad.
I've been trying to figure out why this book didn't work for me. I love sparring! I love combative relationships! I love independent women!
I think partly it's because I actively dislike Thorn. And his relationship with India moves too quickly for my understanding - I understand why he's attracted to her, but I don't understand why she's interested in him at all. His attraction to India - and his decisions to continue fooling around with her while actively pursuing another woman - made sense to me.
He was abandoned as a child, maybe has a hangup about independent, career-minded women, and wants someone who will nurture and love his children. And, as much as he resists realizing this, it is pretty obvious that though India is talented and good at her job, she's also pretty great with the childrens. So his attraction to India made sense to me and worked for me.
BUT WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY DOES INDIA LIKE THORN?
She's certainly sexually attracted to him from the get-go, and that's all well and good and understandable. Then they move into a correspondence that I think is supposed to be sexually charged and a sign that they're intellectual equals, but to me reads as ... vaguely creepy, particularly on Thorn's end. India is all like, "Cool, let me tell you what I'm doing with your house. I'm going to completely ignore your instructions because they're crap and you don't know what you're doing," and Thorn is like, "TELL ME, DO YOU TOUCH YOURSELF AT NIGHT? I AM NO GENTLEMAN SO I CAN SAY THESE THINGS WITH IMPUNITY!"
(There is also a scene, right before they make sweet tender love for the first time, when Thorn tells her, "Just because I stick my cock in you doesn't mean I'm going to marry you," and India is like, "Ooh. So frank, so blunt. I am even more turned on right now." And I am not going to police the way she feels desire or the things that turn her on, BUT. For me as a reader: EW GROSS, and also, way to assume that the ladies are always interested in marriage.")
Also, at least for me, Thorn is way too jealous and possessive. The terms of employment are kind of creepy; she is his "temporary wife for three weeks." India is reluctant to work for him because she (rightly) thinks that he doesn't cherish Lala (who is lovely and my favorite character) the way he ought to. Also he's kind of a sexist jerk. ("I will coddle Laetitia, and frankly, I would never speak to her the way I have to you, because I've spoken to you the way I speak to a man." SWOON, I love being told that I'm exceptional / different from other women, because it implies that other women suck, but I'm one of the guys, you know? Ugh ugh ugh.)
Anyway. She's reluctant. He blackmails her into working for him with reasons that I'm not sure really hold up all that well. (I mean, he is like, "I will tell my mom and dad that you refused to work for me because I'm a bastard!" And India, who is friendly with Eleanor, thinks that this is a realistic threat. But surely Eleanor and the Duke of Villiers know that Thorn is ... kind of a jackass? and might not immediately believe him?)
Other creepy nonsense. She is working for him! and brings dudes in to do manly, dudely stuff that India herself can also do because she is a badass! and when Thorn catches wind of this, he flips out and gets possessive because obviously all of the men India hires are secretly in love with her. He is mostly a competitive ass when it comes to India, and to her credit, she calls him on this. When he proposes to her (after having realized his love for her when he was told that she was going to marry his best friend): "Don't you see, Thorn? Don't you see that? That's just more competition with Vander. You're offering this big diamond ... but that's not what I want. I deserve *better*!" (And so does his father: "You treated her like the bastard you are.")
And this was kind of my biggest problem with the novel. This happens at ... 86% of the way through. Thorn fundamentally misunderstands what India is telling him at this moment. She communicates that she wants someone who loves her, who doesn't see her as a prize to be won, and Thorn hears, "You're the daughter of a marquess and I am but a lowly mudlark."
There are still some real issues to work on with regards to their communication, here; they are both (differently) stuck in their respective pasts. (Long story short: India's parents died in a tragic accident in the Thames, and she believes they were leaving her forever at the time; they had taken some valuable jewels with which she believes they meant to sell to fund their escape from parenthood.) Thorn recognizes this to some extent after India rejects him. "The Duke of Villers had bought Eleanor a ring. But India could buy her own jewelry. What she needed was the faith the man she married wouldn't leave her, as she believed her parents had done. She would never have enough faith in him ... he had to find those jewels and bring them to her. He had to prove not only his own love for her, but her parents' love."
So what would a reasonable person do in this situation? Try to demonstrate to India that her parents always loved her! Well and good. He tracks down the jeweler who tells him that her parents had the jewels on them when they died. AND who can also testify to the fact that India's parents wanted to sell them to fund her debut, THUS PROVING THAT THEY LOVED HER AND WEREN'T LEAVING HER FOREVER.
This is the point where a reasonable person would stop, bring the nice jeweler to India, and be like, "Look! Your parents loved you! You can trust that other people might also love you some day too!"
Does Thorn do this? NO. NO. India tells him that it is (a) not about competition and (b) it is not about a big diamond and Thorn decides to round up the old gang and go hop in the Thames to get those jewels back, thus risking his life and the lives of his compatriots! JESUS CHRIST ON FLAPJACKS, THORN. She has already lost BOTH OF HER PARENTS TO THE THAMES. Why the HELL would you risk your life?! We know at this point that she doesn't actually need the jewels to know that her parents loved her; the jeweler is able to provide the pertinent information. This means, in my view, that Thorn jumps in the Thames and almost dies for himself; to prove that he's worthy of India to himself. It isn't about India, and it isn't about loving her then; it's about his own insecurities (that he kind of needs to work through if this is going to be a successful relationship), and it demonstrates, to me at least, that he didn't understand a single word of what she was telling him in her rejection.
So, because one of the things I really value about romance novels is that they emphasize the importance of female sexual desire as well as solid communication, I was disappointed in Three Weeks with Lady X.
Oh, final edit: forgot to write about how much I liked Lala, whose romance is a nice secondary plot in the book. Lala is the best and the most interesting and I would read an entire book about her and the hot doctor. The end.
March 11, 2014
As a fan of Eloisa James I am about to make a really BIG statement. Three Weeks with Lady X is the best of her books I've read to date. Thorn Dautry is the bastard son of the ny well loved character the Duke of Villiers (A Duke of her Own). After building his fortune, he wants one thing, a family, and not just any family, he must marry a lady. He wants to do everything he can to insure his future children have every advantage. Thorn has his eyes set on a certain lady, but in order to marry her he needs a respectable property. Lady X is in high demand because her ability of organizing a household is second to none. Her skills have allowed her to build her own fortune and have forced her to turn down more proposals than she can count. Lady X knows she must enter the marriage mart soon, so reluctantly (at first) takes on this last project to make Thorn and his property respectable. What neither of them expected was the fire that ignited between them!
I had trouble putting this book down once I started reading, the story is full of vivid details, lots of back story, an insane amount of passion and it kept me turning pages late into the night to see what was coming next. This book is unpredictable in the most delicious way! I gave Three Weeks with Lady X, 5 STARS and can honestly say as I stated earlier, this is my FAVORITE Eloisa James book to date. This is a must read for not only fans of Eloisa James, but ALL fans of this genre.
I had trouble putting this book down once I started reading, the story is full of vivid details, lots of back story, an insane amount of passion and it kept me turning pages late into the night to see what was coming next. This book is unpredictable in the most delicious way! I gave Three Weeks with Lady X, 5 STARS and can honestly say as I stated earlier, this is my FAVORITE Eloisa James book to date. This is a must read for not only fans of Eloisa James, but ALL fans of this genre.
May 21, 2015
Bloody hell! This book is awesome!
February 12, 2020
Working girl and a bastard son.
Not that kind of working girl, and not just any bastard, but Duke Villiers eldest by-blow.
As you can see respectability will be the theme of the day.
Now filthy rich, Thorn hasn't shaken the past.
Orphaned India has secured her own dowry to ensure a marriage, but just needs to find the time to accept one of her suitors. They just keep falling to their knees--mind out of the gutters. Just when she's ready to do so an urgent request from a dear friend delays her. The Duchess of Villiers' stepson, Thorn, needs a country seat worthy of the noble lady he has his eye on. The derelict estate of the deceased and scandalous noblemen was had for quite a few pennies, but is uninhabitable and therein begins the three weeks.
This was moving along swimmingly for me until the melodrama of slaying Thorn's past to win the future occurs. I file that under idiotic. Whatever .*waves hand* My favorite character ended up being a young girl with a doll name Antigone. ❤️💕
So, with a sad heart, I round this 3.5 story down.
Not that kind of working girl, and not just any bastard, but Duke Villiers eldest by-blow.
As you can see respectability will be the theme of the day.
Now filthy rich, Thorn hasn't shaken the past.
Orphaned India has secured her own dowry to ensure a marriage, but just needs to find the time to accept one of her suitors. They just keep falling to their knees--mind out of the gutters. Just when she's ready to do so an urgent request from a dear friend delays her. The Duchess of Villiers' stepson, Thorn, needs a country seat worthy of the noble lady he has his eye on. The derelict estate of the deceased and scandalous noblemen was had for quite a few pennies, but is uninhabitable and therein begins the three weeks.
This was moving along swimmingly for me until the melodrama of slaying Thorn's past to win the future occurs. I file that under idiotic. Whatever .*waves hand* My favorite character ended up being a young girl with a doll name Antigone. ❤️💕
"I do not agree," Rose replied, quite politely. "But I realize that I am too young to be heard on the subject."That's actually pretty much a direct quote from my childhood albeit more polite; I had the vocabulary of a salty old sea dog at a tender age.
So, with a sad heart, I round this 3.5 story down.
September 7, 2018
A total turd! I'm not familiar with Eloisa James' writing, but I think she has a knack for parody. Prime example: this "romance", oops. . . .
The cheesy and trite prose made me gag. However, I continued on hoping the characters or romance would deliver but they disappointed too.
Goody-Two Shoes, er, Xenobia aka India lost her temper over the littlest things, making the conflict between herself and Thorn feel contrived. I also felt she was too anachronistic for Regency England to be believable. Thorn wasn't much better. The author appropriately nicknamed him as he was truly a thorn in the side.
What about the love and chemistry between Thorn and Xenobia? Wafer-thin.
The last straw was the unbelievable characterization of Rose, Thorn's adopted daughter who was five-years-old but going on 100. Poor girl possessed the diction of an adult with a big constipation problem. You know, stuffy. What kid talks that way? Ridiculous.
Don't get me started on the pretentious names of the characters. In fact, this entire book was a pretentious farce and big waste of my time.
The cheesy and trite prose made me gag. However, I continued on hoping the characters or romance would deliver but they disappointed too.
Goody-Two Shoes, er, Xenobia aka India lost her temper over the littlest things, making the conflict between herself and Thorn feel contrived. I also felt she was too anachronistic for Regency England to be believable. Thorn wasn't much better. The author appropriately nicknamed him as he was truly a thorn in the side.
What about the love and chemistry between Thorn and Xenobia? Wafer-thin.
The last straw was the unbelievable characterization of Rose, Thorn's adopted daughter who was five-years-old but going on 100. Poor girl possessed the diction of an adult with a big constipation problem. You know, stuffy. What kid talks that way? Ridiculous.
Don't get me started on the pretentious names of the characters. In fact, this entire book was a pretentious farce and big waste of my time.
August 6, 2016
5 Stars | Hot Steam
Sublime storytelling and provocative, boldly drawn characters set this sharp and sensual romance apart, establishing Three Weeks with Lady X as one of this year’s elite must-read novels. Eloisa James’ exquisite writing treats the reader to an engaging and unforgettable tale- a savory mix of witty charm and insatiable fire that captivates and stirs the soul.
Gruff and luscious Thorn is a spectacular hero- complex, intelligent, unrefined and disarmingly sexy. He is the perfect match for the strong-willed and vivacious India. Their enchanting progression from prickly adversaries, to fragile and flirtatious friends, to fervent and inseparable hearts, is a remarkable and moving adventure. With playful correspondence and parring banter, Thorn and India delight and entertain. As ardent lovers- spellbound by feverish and unyielding desires- they simply mesmerize. Their blissful, white-hot encounters never failed to tempt, thrill and utterly satisfy.
I adored this unparalleled and intoxicating romance- tearing through the book, reading late into the night, riveted and relishing every last word.
Complimentary copy courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers LLC in exchange for an honest review.
• • •
A little extra about this fabulous novel from Eloisa James' Website http://eloisajames.com/coming.php :
"Details about this upcoming novel will trickle forth, but readers can look forward to revisiting some beloved characters as this book is loosely connected to the Desperate Duchesses series. The hero of Three Weeks With Lady X is Tobias, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers (the hero of A Duke of Her Own, the last book in the series). Tobias appears in the last two books of that series, as a young boy."
Sublime storytelling and provocative, boldly drawn characters set this sharp and sensual romance apart, establishing Three Weeks with Lady X as one of this year’s elite must-read novels. Eloisa James’ exquisite writing treats the reader to an engaging and unforgettable tale- a savory mix of witty charm and insatiable fire that captivates and stirs the soul.
Gruff and luscious Thorn is a spectacular hero- complex, intelligent, unrefined and disarmingly sexy. He is the perfect match for the strong-willed and vivacious India. Their enchanting progression from prickly adversaries, to fragile and flirtatious friends, to fervent and inseparable hearts, is a remarkable and moving adventure. With playful correspondence and parring banter, Thorn and India delight and entertain. As ardent lovers- spellbound by feverish and unyielding desires- they simply mesmerize. Their blissful, white-hot encounters never failed to tempt, thrill and utterly satisfy.
I adored this unparalleled and intoxicating romance- tearing through the book, reading late into the night, riveted and relishing every last word.
Complimentary copy courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers LLC in exchange for an honest review.
• • •
A little extra about this fabulous novel from Eloisa James' Website http://eloisajames.com/coming.php :
"Details about this upcoming novel will trickle forth, but readers can look forward to revisiting some beloved characters as this book is loosely connected to the Desperate Duchesses series. The hero of Three Weeks With Lady X is Tobias, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers (the hero of A Duke of Her Own, the last book in the series). Tobias appears in the last two books of that series, as a young boy."
November 20, 2019
..
Three Weeks With Lady X was the seventh book in the Desperate Duchesses series. It features Tobias (Thorn) Dautry, s the hero of this book, who is the rough-around-the-edges, powerful bastard son of the Duke of Villiers, who was the hero of A Duke of Her Own -and- Lady Xenobia India St. Claire, daughter of a deceased marquess, is one highly sought-after interior designer members of the nobility. They meet when Thron hires India to transform the rundown country estate he recently purchased. This heroine, a strong, independent, free thinker who works to support herself, while funding her own dowry. That in itself is an oddity of times.
This series is suitable for
*** MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY ***
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Having made a fortune, Thorn Dautry, the powerful bastard son of a duke, decides that he needs a wife. But to marry a lady, Thorn must acquire a gleaming, civilized façade, the specialty of Lady Xenobia India.
Exquisite, head-strong, and independent, India vows to make Thorn marriageable in just three weeks.
But neither Thorn nor India anticipates the forbidden passion that explodes between them.
Thorn will stop at nothing to make India his. Failure is not an option.
But there is only one thing that will make India his—the one thing Thorn can't afford to lose...
His fierce and lawless heart.
Rose, a precocious six-year-old orphan of a friend of Thorns, from hiss mud-larking days, drops on his doorstep with this declaration: “My father said that in the event of tribulation or strife, I was to be sent to you.” What a way to describe the unfortunate demise of one's father. It takes a lot of imagination and creativity to develop a character like this one. She was an intelligent and adorable creature, just craving love and safety.
The old adage 'opposites attract' seems to ring true in this case. At first, this couple struggles with a type of love/hate relationship. The exchange of humorous notes, in lieu of romantic letters, provided chuckles, insight, and entertainment regarding this complicated relationship. They experienced many misunderstandings, trials, and confusion before they reached an inevitable conclusion to this story.
I the reader is looking for the ilk of the beau monde of the era and their uppidty societal rules, you will not be finding it in this tale. This is an alternate view of life in the era with those that skate on the edge of the ton. The dialogue in this tale tends to be a tad bit racy. The courting ritual is skipped in lieu of a bargain between these two strong-minded individuals.
This is NOT a clean series. Those who actually prefer steamy to clean and sweet might not view it as flawed. Due to this aspect, I recommend it with reservations. If you prefer clean and sweet reads, avoid this book. It is not fair to an author when readers provide bad reviews about steamy scenes if they know they are included in advance. I have been guilty of this offense myself. It takes a lot of time and effort for an author to research and write each book. And there are readers who prefer the material included in this one to a clean and wholesome read. However, I actually prefer the latter. This does have steamy sex scenes, so if you like a sex-free book this is not it. If you enjoy steamy reads, jump into this book looking forward to plenty.
This book is able to stand on its own, but if you read them in order, you will be more familiar with some of the characters that carry over. Each story does include its own H.E.A., which is always a good way to conclude the adventure the reader invests their time and attention, ultimately becoming acquainted with the characters in a personal way.
---------------------------------------
When the Duke Returns
(Desperate Duchesses Book 4)
- Kindle Edition
by Eloisa James (Author)
Print Length: 386 pages
..
Three Weeks With Lady X was the seventh book in the Desperate Duchesses series. It features Tobias (Thorn) Dautry, s the hero of this book, who is the rough-around-the-edges, powerful bastard son of the Duke of Villiers, who was the hero of A Duke of Her Own -and- Lady Xenobia India St. Claire, daughter of a deceased marquess, is one highly sought-after interior designer members of the nobility. They meet when Thron hires India to transform the rundown country estate he recently purchased. This heroine, a strong, independent, free thinker who works to support herself, while funding her own dowry. That in itself is an oddity of times.
This series is suitable for
*** MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY ***
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Having made a fortune, Thorn Dautry, the powerful bastard son of a duke, decides that he needs a wife. But to marry a lady, Thorn must acquire a gleaming, civilized façade, the specialty of Lady Xenobia India.
Exquisite, head-strong, and independent, India vows to make Thorn marriageable in just three weeks.
But neither Thorn nor India anticipates the forbidden passion that explodes between them.
Thorn will stop at nothing to make India his. Failure is not an option.
But there is only one thing that will make India his—the one thing Thorn can't afford to lose...
His fierce and lawless heart.
Rose, a precocious six-year-old orphan of a friend of Thorns, from hiss mud-larking days, drops on his doorstep with this declaration: “My father said that in the event of tribulation or strife, I was to be sent to you.” What a way to describe the unfortunate demise of one's father. It takes a lot of imagination and creativity to develop a character like this one. She was an intelligent and adorable creature, just craving love and safety.
The old adage 'opposites attract' seems to ring true in this case. At first, this couple struggles with a type of love/hate relationship. The exchange of humorous notes, in lieu of romantic letters, provided chuckles, insight, and entertainment regarding this complicated relationship. They experienced many misunderstandings, trials, and confusion before they reached an inevitable conclusion to this story.
I the reader is looking for the ilk of the beau monde of the era and their uppidty societal rules, you will not be finding it in this tale. This is an alternate view of life in the era with those that skate on the edge of the ton. The dialogue in this tale tends to be a tad bit racy. The courting ritual is skipped in lieu of a bargain between these two strong-minded individuals.
This is NOT a clean series. Those who actually prefer steamy to clean and sweet might not view it as flawed. Due to this aspect, I recommend it with reservations. If you prefer clean and sweet reads, avoid this book. It is not fair to an author when readers provide bad reviews about steamy scenes if they know they are included in advance. I have been guilty of this offense myself. It takes a lot of time and effort for an author to research and write each book. And there are readers who prefer the material included in this one to a clean and wholesome read. However, I actually prefer the latter. This does have steamy sex scenes, so if you like a sex-free book this is not it. If you enjoy steamy reads, jump into this book looking forward to plenty.
This book is able to stand on its own, but if you read them in order, you will be more familiar with some of the characters that carry over. Each story does include its own H.E.A., which is always a good way to conclude the adventure the reader invests their time and attention, ultimately becoming acquainted with the characters in a personal way.
---------------------------------------
When the Duke Returns
(Desperate Duchesses Book 4)
- Kindle Edition
by Eloisa James (Author)
Print Length: 386 pages
..
July 13, 2018
Yup. One big miss for me by this author.
I was so bothered by the readiness of the H and h to indulge in sexual encounters while H was in the process of wooing a (different) more suitable woman for his bride. For me, it was just unethical.
How can a woman meet this lady socially, knowing your lover is about to propose to her, and not feel guilty? How could he continue to have sex with one woman while actively courting the other, keeping her dangling on the string of her expectation?
The excuse: I haven't proposed yet. We are not yet engaged. So basically, let's screw the shit out of each other while we can.
Then he threw the h at his friend, who the H thought would make her a terrific husband, all the while still banging her?? And the friend not at all bothered that our putative hero had already slept with her, indeed, was still sleeping with her! Yep, his friend wanted to marry her anyway. Not because of any grand passion. But he liked her well enough. Lukewarm, much?
It was simply too ridiculous and not the sort of thing that would have been going on at that time with young, unmarried women.
Both the H and the h should have been slapped hard for their unconscionable behaviour.
They bloody deserved each other.
I was so bothered by the readiness of the H and h to indulge in sexual encounters while H was in the process of wooing a (different) more suitable woman for his bride. For me, it was just unethical.
How can a woman meet this lady socially, knowing your lover is about to propose to her, and not feel guilty? How could he continue to have sex with one woman while actively courting the other, keeping her dangling on the string of her expectation?
The excuse: I haven't proposed yet. We are not yet engaged. So basically, let's screw the shit out of each other while we can.
Then he threw the h at his friend, who the H thought would make her a terrific husband, all the while still banging her?? And the friend not at all bothered that our putative hero had already slept with her, indeed, was still sleeping with her! Yep, his friend wanted to marry her anyway. Not because of any grand passion. But he liked her well enough. Lukewarm, much?
It was simply too ridiculous and not the sort of thing that would have been going on at that time with young, unmarried women.
Both the H and the h should have been slapped hard for their unconscionable behaviour.
They bloody deserved each other.
July 1, 2018
Totally enjoyed this couple. The 80% seamed to drag and the angst increased at this point instead of resolving which reduced it from 4 stars to 3. I enjoy some level of angst, but get annoyed when it becomes unnecessary..I think I have little patience for it.
September 25, 2016
1st read: March 2014
I think this is my favorite book ever written by Ms. James after Elijah and Jemma's book(This Duchess of Mine)
2nd read: September 2016
I think this is my favorite book ever written by Ms. James after Elijah and Jemma's book(This Duchess of Mine)
2nd read: September 2016
October 12, 2016
Torn ❤
Divno. Jako zanimljiva i lepa priča. Kao i sve što Eloiza napiše. :)
Divno. Jako zanimljiva i lepa priča. Kao i sve što Eloiza napiše. :)
February 10, 2020
I came close to DNF at about 75%. You would think that if you get that far into a book you would be all in. Anyway, I persevered and was glad I did. I liked to characters and the plot up to about 50% into the book, then it took a drastic decline. There really is only so much you can take of the 'I have the hots for you, but I'm going to marry this other chick' crap. But, everyone got their HEA and all is right with the world.
Tobias "Thorn" Dautry is the first born illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers and has made a fortune for himself. All he needs is a well born wife. He wants calm, gentle, bribable, and above all, beautiful.
Lady Xenobia India St. Clair is a lot of things: headstrong, single minded, independent. There are only two things about her that match Thorn's list: She is well born and she is beautiful.
Along the way to making Thorn marriageable to the woman of his dreams, India finds that he is the man of her dreams. What a mess. 3 1/2-Stars
Tobias "Thorn" Dautry is the first born illegitimate son of the Duke of Villiers and has made a fortune for himself. All he needs is a well born wife. He wants calm, gentle, bribable, and above all, beautiful.
Lady Xenobia India St. Clair is a lot of things: headstrong, single minded, independent. There are only two things about her that match Thorn's list: She is well born and she is beautiful.
Along the way to making Thorn marriageable to the woman of his dreams, India finds that he is the man of her dreams. What a mess. 3 1/2-Stars
November 5, 2020
Lady X is too cute.
She's independent, works helping to fix up people house/designer. She's well spoken.
Thorn is a bastard to a Duke who believe Lala will be his wife. But Lala isn't the right girl.
He hires Lady X to fix up his house so that once he's married he'll have a place.
But Lady X wins his heart instead. Enjoyed their back and forth rants.
She's independent, works helping to fix up people house/designer. She's well spoken.
Thorn is a bastard to a Duke who believe Lala will be his wife. But Lala isn't the right girl.
He hires Lady X to fix up his house so that once he's married he'll have a place.
But Lady X wins his heart instead. Enjoyed their back and forth rants.
August 3, 2016
I kind of liked the first half of this story--though I never felt I had a good grasp of the characters--but then it went downhill. Too many scenarios were contrived; there were niggling inconsistencies that kept creeping in throughout the book; and the H/h turned out to be too immature to simply discuss their feelings straight out. It's a sort of variation on the "big misunderstanding" trope.
I found myself not really liking the H/h all that much. Too immature, as I said. And Thorn was inexcusably boorish at times, IMHO. Edited to add: And India's lie about her virginity, to improve her chances of getting what she wanted from Thorn? That made me even less disposed to like her.
Random quibbles:
I thought it was odd that Thorn calls India "India" out of the blue, when up to that point in time we have no indication that he knows that she even goes by that name.
We see that he is "Tobias"--no, wait, "Thorn"--or is it "Tobias" after all?--and then somewhere down the road we understand that yes, it is Tobias, but he has chosen to be called Thorn. Okay, got it, but that did confuse me. (Would I have already known this if I had read the previous books?)
We learn things sort of haphazardly in this book. Like, I'm halfway done and Thorn is suddenly thinking about India's beauty mark. What beauty mark? Did I miss some earlier mention of that?
I also thought it odd that when asked about a seeming lack of proof of her virginity--there was no blood on the sheets--India explains that she rode her horse one day years ago and bled for two days. Say what?
And how come in the epilogue we hear nothing about Lala?
Stuff like this kept intruding on any sustained enjoyment of the book.
I found myself not really liking the H/h all that much. Too immature, as I said. And Thorn was inexcusably boorish at times, IMHO. Edited to add: And India's lie about her virginity, to improve her chances of getting what she wanted from Thorn? That made me even less disposed to like her.
Random quibbles:
I thought it was odd that Thorn calls India "India" out of the blue, when up to that point in time we have no indication that he knows that she even goes by that name.
We see that he is "Tobias"--no, wait, "Thorn"--or is it "Tobias" after all?--and then somewhere down the road we understand that yes, it is Tobias, but he has chosen to be called Thorn. Okay, got it, but that did confuse me. (Would I have already known this if I had read the previous books?)
We learn things sort of haphazardly in this book. Like, I'm halfway done and Thorn is suddenly thinking about India's beauty mark. What beauty mark? Did I miss some earlier mention of that?
I also thought it odd that when asked about a seeming lack of proof of her virginity--there was no blood on the sheets--India explains that she rode her horse one day years ago and bled for two days. Say what?
And how come in the epilogue we hear nothing about Lala?
Stuff like this kept intruding on any sustained enjoyment of the book.
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