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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A keeper, December 30, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: American Duchess (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)
I read this one ages ago and still read it again occasionally. William Bodmin is dying and like many self made Americans he wished to sell his fortune for a title. Eyeing the crop of eligibles he finds the poor but impressive Duke of Hastings. Tracey Bodmin, realizing that her marrying an aristocrat is her father's dying wish, is willing to do the inevitable. Adrian (the Duke) has a family to care for and an estate to finance so he looks to the current crop of heiresses. Quickly discarding most of the crop, his eye lands on Tracey Bodmin who in addition to having money is lovely and personable boot. So Tracey and Adrian do their duty. . . Duty never felt so good. Tracey, Adrian, and Tracey's father find themselves quite pleased with the results and prepare for a happily ever after. . .only reality intrudes. Tracey's democratic tendencies leave her feeling ill suited for a ton marriage--especially with someone as truly aristocratic as Adrian. Add in a difficult pregnancy and a long lost suitor determined to free her from the strict rules of English society, and Tracey's marriage is poised to fall apart. It's a tale of a totally unsuited couple that find that not only do opposites attract, they can even survive once the honeymoon is over.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely a keeper..., July 28, 2001
This review is from: American Duchess (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)
I have to agree with the reviewer below who did such a great job in outling the story. Although this is an old story, there is still so much in it to like upon a re-read. It is a story of a couple brought together by duty and love - on his part, the duty to his estates and tenants, to his family, and to his Name and Title, and on hers, to her father. In agreeing to marry, they discover firstly that they get along surprisingly well, and secondly that they love each other - but not without several hiccups. One of Tracy's problems is her post-natal depression (the baby blues) which combine with a general feeling of insecurity both as a very young wife and mother and as a foreigner and outside. Her attempts to do what she thinks her husband wants from her - to be a political hostess - only serve to create a rift between the two. This is made worse when a former suitor arrives in London and completely misread's Tracy's feelings about her marriage and about himself. But everything ends happily (this is a romance!), and the young duke and duchess realize that they are in love, and that Tracy does not in fact have to play the part of political hostess. Add to all this some delightful vignettes into the way in which American heiresses were received in British high society (well before the 1880s and 1890s when many more American heiresses arrived to win titles), and the ways in which a young Republican heroine adjusts to life at the top of the aristocratic ladder. Tracy's political beliefs are not taken seriously by the statesmen who listen to her, but then fortunately she is no firebrand, either. At least one of the love scenes were curiously reminiscent of a similar scene in THE GAMBLE (one of my favorite Joan Wolf books). This scene and other scenes are slightly more explicit than the norm for this period (early 1980s), but most of the sensuality is conveyed by such scenes as the couple fishing together, riding together, the duke lifting a heavy branch off the road, and so forth. If you like Joan Wolf, this book is a must-read. It is also a favorite choice for most Regency readers. There is no explicit adventure, but the story of a couple learning about each other and the sacrifices they have made for others.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A LASTING GEM, November 25, 2006
This review is from: American Duchess (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)
I find the older Regencies by Joan Wolf to be far superior to her current ones--doubtlessly written to ensure high sales in the bodice-ripper catagory--although Wolf is never as explicit or sexy as most of her fellow writers...The American Duchess is an old-fashioned story of a marriage undertaken for love of others that developes into a true marriage of equals--Tracy Bodmin, the American heiress, is counted as a rustic unsuited because of her plebian background for her marriage to the almost purple-blooded Duke of Hastings--yet he (and the reader) comes to realize that she is his equal in many qualities and surpasses him in compassion and adaptability....
She marries to please her father and comes to love her husband as well as ---by being totally herself--drawing him--a very worldly veteran of the war against the French and within the ton -- very deeply in love with her...
This novel and others in Wolf's early series reminds me in many ways of a shorter, less complex Jane Austin --- and for those who have read Wolf's Edge of Light about King Alfred--Tracy shares many characteristics with Alfred's wife---Elswyth...
a book I hesitate to read at times because I am afraid of wearing it out...but thanks to EBAY and people who don't know a gem when they find it, I can probably find another copy...
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