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3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent plot, but hero seemed lacking., November 17, 2001
This review is from: The Dark Duke (Most Unsuitable Men Trilogy, Book 2) (Harlequin Historical #364) (Mass Market Paperback)
"The Dark Duke", Adrian FitzWalter, has a certain ....reputation around London. A lady's man, to be sure - but also something more. He fights duels, breaks hearts, and is the bane of his step mother's life.
Lady Hester is a rather plain daughter of a family with good connections. And yet, she chooses to be the companion of the Duchess of Barroughby.
Hester sees something good in Adrian, something the rest of the ton - and his family - have overlooked in him for years. And in nurturing the Dark Duke, Hester discovers a man not nearly as bad as he thinks. A man made meloncholy by circumstance but with nothing evil inside.
This was a good book. And I certainly liked Lady Hester. She was quiet, but not at all meek. I enjoy it when heroines trust their instincts where the hero is concerned. Hester trusted in Adrian's innate goodness and went with it.
I had some problems with Adrian. Although Adrian meant well, he enabled his step mother and half brother to live shallow, vapid lives. And, of course, his enabling brought on feelings of sadness and meloncholy within Adrian.
It is this very meloncholy - bordering almost upon self pity and depression - that kept this book from getting a 4 star rating from me. I don't mind tormented heros, but there's a line between tormented and getting on with life and tormented and wallowing. Adrian wallowed.
I enjoyed reading "The Dark Duke". It isn't one of my favorite books by Margaret Moore, but it was still satisfying reading.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
the plain companion and the dark duke...., November 27, 2007
This review is from: The Dark Duke (Most Unsuitable Men Trilogy, Book 2) (Harlequin Historical #364) (Mass Market Paperback)
this second book in the Most Unsuitable Men trilogy has the supposedly plain Hester, whom we first met in
The Wastrel (Most Unsuitable Men Trilogy, Book 1) (Harlequin Historical #344), whose beautiful sisters have both married, and whose parents never even try to find a husband for her. Hester then becomes companion to Duchess Barroughby-a vain harridan of a woman who treats everyone but her own son like scum.
Hester endures the Duchesses ill temper stoically for several months until excitement is thrown into the household upon the arrival of the Duke of Barroughby, hated stepson to the Duchess, and reported Rake and Scoundrel.
What quickly conspires is an intelligent meeting of the minds of two kind, but misunderstood, and lonely lovers. I throughly enjoyed this exceptional Harlequin Historical-which is even better than some of the big name mainstream Historical Romances out now.
This book was as good as The Wastrel but completely different in tone, much darker in mood and in the romance area- while very loving and touching, it is also one of the cleanest Harlequin Historicals I've read-if you want juicy love scenes you won't find them in here. But I honestly do not feel that takes away from the story.
I agree with the above reviewer-while The Dark Duke is set in Victorian England, it reads much more like a Regency book so fans of both eras should enjoy it. The first book, The Wastrel, is only mentioned in passing so you can read this as a stand alone. I eagerly look forward to reading what happened to Elliot-the Duke's semi villainous brother in the next book
The Rogue's Return (Most Unsuitable Men Trilogy, Book 3) (Harlequin Historicals #376) next
4.5 stars!
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