The Duke Is Mine (Fairy Tales, #3) in Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn

Jan 03, 2012 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own

I saw this book online a couple of months before it was released and couldn't get it out of my head! I love the cover so much and when I figured out it was a retelling of the Princess and the Pea, I knew I had to read it. And it was awesome! Olivia has been betrothed to Rupert, a duke, ever since she was born, but when she meets Quin, a duke whose mother is trying to find him the perfect wife, none of her plans matter anymore. The problem is Quin's mother has other women for Quin to marry, women ...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Melissa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

After reading countless period romances I get used to the sometimes bizarre rituals that people of the ton follow in order to find their daughters the perfect husband. I'd thought that I had read them all. Then with this book I read the behaviors of the parents of Olivia Lytton in The Duke is Mine, and my jaw dropped, literally. Their actions take the cake when it comes to losing one's head in pursuit of the perfect marriage partner for a daughter. In fact I would go so far as to say that it was After reading countless period romances I get used to the sometimes bizarre rituals that people of the ton follow in order to find their daughters the perfect husband. I'd thought that I had read them all. Then with this book I read the behaviors of the parents of Olivia Lytton in The Duke is Mine, and my jaw dropped, literally. Their actions take the cake when it comes to losing one's head in pursuit of the perfect marriage partner for a daughter. In fact I would go so far as to say that it was nauseating at least and anger inducing as well. Olivia's parents are friends with the father of a future duke, Rupert, and they will go to any lengths to make sure that this marriage, and the future heirs that come after, would take place. Olivia does not really have any say in the matter. She has been promised to Rupert since she was five. Rupert is a sweet young man, but he is only eighteen and he is mentally challenged in so many ways. He has a heart of gold, but he does not have the mind to match it. Olivia dutifully follows her parents' directions, but she is unhappy, but resigned. She is intelligent and impulsive, and marriage to Rupert would be confining and difficult. This book threw me off from the very beginning with the actions of the two groups of parents as Rupert decides to follow his dream and head to war to fight France for England. This worries his father who wants nothing more than an heir, so the two parents put Olivia and Rupert in the library and tell them that it is their duty to get on with it and produce an heir even though they are unmarried. Nothing occurs, but the whole event was horrifying to read -- so horrifying that I questioned whether something like this would ever truly occur. I know that these romances are not meant to follow reality completely, but they need to keep me grounded a bit. It was an anger inducing moment for me as a reader, and I don't think that I ever truly recovered enough to enjoy the rest of the book.

As "reward" for being a good girl and making hay with Rupert, Rupert's father agrees to dower Olivia's twin sister Georgie, and the two of them are sent to visit the Duke of Sconce. The duke has been married before, but it was not a good marriage, and it ended in tragedy, so his mother has determined that she will find him the perfect bride. She invites Georgie and one other lady to their estate to perform a series of tests in order to determine who would be the right bride for Quin. Quin is a mathematical mind who prefers logic to emotion. He has been taught to fear emotion, and his bad experience with his first wife seems to prove the point that we are in danger if we let our heart decide our life. Georgie is the perfect bride for him in every way. She performs just as a future duchess should. She shares his love of math and science. She behaves in public admirably. But things are thrown off from the very beginning when the duke first meets Olivia when she runs through the rain to his home when their carriage overturns. Quin is immediately smitten. Olivia behaves horribly in every situation. She does not follow conventional society behavior. She says whatever is on her mind. She pushes back against the dowager duchess. She is everything that his future wife should not be. But Quin cannot stay away from her.

I was afraid when these interactions first began that I was going to have to be rooting for a relationship that would require the two main participants to behave horribly to good people. Olivia is betrothed to Rupert who is off fighting a war. Georgie is Olivia's sweet hearted sister. How could I root for Olivia and Quin to find happiness together. They were going to have to be conducting some sort of clandestine affair. But luckily, at least as far as Georgie is concerned, that issue resolves itself rather quickly and realistically.

The relationship between Quin and Olivia was an interesting one. Quin is not used to relying on emotions. Poetry makes no sense to him. He fights against any tendencies to be sentimental, but Olivia pushes him to explore that part of his personality. He is an interesting contrast to Rupert who doesn't use any amount of logic. Instead he is all emotion -- crying at everything, writing simple poetry to express his thoughts, trusting his feelings, but not putting much logical thought into anything. In the end it is clear that Quin will not completely abandon his logical tendencies, but he manages to intersperse them with emotions as he determines to love, despite all the risks that come with that. That was an interesting thing to see develop.

Olivia really does not change at all in the novel. She starts out impulsive and headstrong, and she ends the same way. She is like a little tornado, drawing everyone in the room into her unconventional thoughts and behavior. Some of this is good. Sometimes it can get a bit tiring. It would be nice if she had shown some real growth in the novel. Instead it felt as if she was simply a wild device to aid Quin in his growth. I liked her strength as a character, but I think that the book would have been helped if she was not so predictable in her interactions with everyone.

The ending chapters of the book that led Quin and Olivia to head to France to bring Rupert home were a bit melodramatic. Once again I kept pulling myself out of the story to wonder if something like this could really occur. Who in this day and age would allow Quin and Olivia to head out on their own on a daring rescue mission into a hostile environment? It just seemed like a ridiculous device set up to create some dramatic tension. Olivia explains that it is a big test for Quin to see if he makes the cut as a potential husband, but seriously, I'm sure she could have figured this out in a less dangerous way.

And finally, the tie to the Princess and the Pea was just ridiculous. I really enjoyed the first two books in this series and how they tied Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast to a period romance, but in this story it really seemed more like a plot device. It wasn't a seamless connection of fairy tale and period romance. Instead it was awkward and unnecessary. I think this had more to do with the chosen fairy tale than with the story itself.

So overall I would say that this was a good enough romance novel. It definitely was not my favorite of the Happily Ever Afters series. I did really enjoy the two characters, but there were too many elements of the story that fell flat for me to give it more than three stars. ...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Ada rated it really liked it

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Feb 12, 2012 Michelle rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance-historical

I was not a big fan of this one, as Olivia was kind of the mean girl of the story. The way she spoke about her mentally handicapped fiancee, and didn't give her sister the spotlight or even take second fiddle when Georgiana has a chance with Quin really rubbed me the wrong way. I liked Quin and would like to see Georgiana's story, but it wasn't until they go France that I like her at all. Disappointing, since I love most of Ms. James' books. The Princess & the Pea storyline was a bit of a stretc ...more

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