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The Way to a Duke's Heart (The Truth About the Duke, #3)

Caroline Linden

Start date: November 1, 2012

Finish date: November 30, 2012

Why we're reading this: "Buddy Read"
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Jun 24, 2017 Lara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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I'm not certain how to score this book. But I will say that I had not read the previous books in the series, and while some of the circumstances are mentioned, I didn't feel like I had missed out on anything. This book does stand alone.

The heroine is not exactly a bluestocking, but she is more comfortable with numbers than with people. Her brother relies on her to make investment decisions as she can go deep into the project details that he can't stand. In fact, the hero is advised by her family I'm not certain how to score this book. But I will say that I had not read the previous books in the series, and while some of the circumstances are mentioned, I didn't feel like I had missed out on anything. This book does stand alone.

The heroine is not exactly a bluestocking, but she is more comfortable with numbers than with people. Her brother relies on her to make investment decisions as she can go deep into the project details that he can't stand. In fact, the hero is advised by her family member to talk to her as though she were a man. She doesn't trust easily, is too outspoken for a woman of her time, and has a bit of scandal in her past that has soured her against dandies.

The hero is the son of a duke who never seemed to measure up. After a falling out with his father, he became quite the wastrel and rake. When the hero first comes to the heroine's attention, he is recovering from a broken leg, and secretly investigating a scandal in his father's past that could lead to the dukedom going to another branch of the family.

I appreciated the reality of the characters' human reactions to relationships in their lives. Charles feels bitterness towards his father, blows up over an infatuation, and lets that shape his behavior for years until he is finally having to grow up despite himself. Tessa doesn't fit anywhere and struggles to be able to do the things she enjoys as women are patronized when it comes to matters of investments. Her real failing is in her lack of understanding of how people work.

And that leads me to how they help each other. Charles involves himself in Tessa's life due to suspicions related to his investigations. He comes to realize that it's time to take responsibility for his life and stop relying on others to take care of things, partly due to Tessa's example. He also is able to do Tessa a good turn when he is able to "read the room" and find out information about an investment opportunity that was hidden. The story could have devolved into the stereotypical ladies man falls for the one woman who doesn't fall at his feet, but he's aware of that aspect of her attractiveness, and he manages to appreciate the delightful aspects of her outspoken personality as her family has not. His reaction when he finds out about her past scandal is wonderful. She ends up misinterpreting some of his behavior as being better than it is, but when he comes clean she doesn't hold it against him, but understands his perspective.

There isn't a ton of suspense and I thought at least one sex scene was a bit gratuitous. In many ways this book was more along the lines of Heyer and Chesney in that the people are not so nice in their behaviors as we often see. The reason for the hero's injury is an example of this (view spoiler) in that it isn't heroic at all.

The narration was good but not great. The male narrator had a very deep voice for Charles, even when he was young. He also tended to use a grating falsetto for older women that sounded false. However, he mostly did a good job and was clear. ...more

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