Customer Reviews

Duchess By Night

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I've read all of Ms. James' books, starting with Potent Pleasures, as soon as each was published. I made the switch to the very different Duchess series and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I did not love Duchess By Night, and I think this would have to be the first James book that I would not recommend - particularly to someone who has never read the author before. I did appreciate the lessened focus on chess, and readers who complained will also appreciate that this book pretty much just focuses on the two main characters (though I'm biding my time for Jemma's book!), but I found this book lacking in the spark I've come to expect from Ms. James. The plot was on the side of contrived, even for a historical romance (where contrived plots don't bother me as much), the first several chapters were boring, and the romance didn't--and couldn't, as the hero thought the heroine was male!--pick up until over halfway into the book. I'll keep it, because it goes with my collection, but unless you're a die-hard fan of the author, skip this for one of her better novels.

Harriet, the Duchess of Berrow, is to accompany the Duke of Villiers and the Duchess of Cosway to Lord Strange's notorious estate. But unlike the others, Harriet isn't traveling as herself; she is traveling as the Duke's nephew!

Lord Strange is uncomfortable with the odd attraction he has for the Duke of Villier's nephew, Harry Cope. If he hadn't promised the Duke to protect young Harry, Lord Strange would avoid the almost beautiful man.

I am an enormous Eloisa James fan. I have loved every installment in the Desperate Duchesses series. Duchess By Night is my favorite so far. Full of laughter, tears and heart thumping lust, Duchess By Night is Joyfully Recommended!

Annmarie

reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

After awhile most regency romances become a blur, all of them having much the same structure, plot devices and wilting women. Eloisa James's most recent contirbution is of a different mold and keeps the romance reader's attention. The characters here are well drawn and not carbon copies of every other period romance. The Duchess of Berrow, Harriet, has real despair while Lord Strange enjoys a complexity of character we rarely see in summer novels. I liked this book quite a lot and intend to pass it on to another romance reader.

For those who have been disappointed in Ms. James ensemble casts, I think Duchess by Night will be a welcome treat, as it focuses almost exclusively on the hero, Lord Strange and the heroine, Harriet. Tired of her boring life as a much-sympathized widow, Harriet, Duchess of Berrow, decides to visit the house party of the scandalous Lord Strange in the guise of a young man. Her disguise lends her a sense of freedom she's rarely felt since the suicide of her husband. And when Lord Strange undertakes to teach "Mr. Cope" the manly arts, she learns the finer points of fencing AND flirtation. Much to Lord Strange's confusion. This is a wonderfully funny, sensual and heart-wrenching romance that will satisfy the highest of sticklers. I loved it.

This book is dedicated to Georgette Heyer and it becomes apparently fairly quickly why; those who have read Heyer's 'The Masqueraders' will be familiar with the central theme of this book, that of a woman disguised as a man and finding herself befriending a man who eventually sees through her disguise. In this story the disguised woman is the Duchess of Berrow, a widow of 27 whose life has become rather boring and staid. When her friend Isidora wants to create a mini scandal she decides to attend a house party at the home of Lord Justinian Strange, and asks Harriet, Duchess of Berrow, to go with her. They are also accompanied by the Duke of Villiers, a man that Harriet has previously hated but who begins to be revealed as someone rather more likeable than she thought.

Of course Harriet can't attend the house party as herself as her reputation will be ruined. Isidora and the Duke of Villiers together help her to dress as a young man and she is introduced as Mr Cope, a relation of Villiers'. As Harriet settles into her new role she begins to find the freedom that men have - not only in terms of less restrictive clothing and the ability to say what they mean without excessive politeness, but also in discovering enjoyment in galloping horses, learning to fence and more. But can she keep her identity secret, can her growing friendship with Lord Strange survive her eventual unmasking?

What was particularly good about this book was the focus on Harriet and Strange and the gradual way in which they get to know each other. Most of the book is narrated from Harriet's point of view but we get occasional insights into Jem's thoughts, which are rather perturbed at his apparent attraction to another man. We learn more about both characters and how events in their past have shaped the way in which they live their lives today. What I also appreciated was that this was a romance which actually ran fairly smoothly without lots of awkward misunderstandings to irritate the reader, although the story did have a slight blip to this effect at the end.

The author has an excellent writing style with fast pacing but also some depth to the characterisation. The dialogue occasionally let the author down as people spoke in modern American rather than Georgian English but overall it was a very enjoyable story and one that is apparently part of a series about Duchesses. On the strength of this story I will be eagerly looking out for the next one.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

Usually, I am not a fan of Ms. James' novels. Pleasure for Pleasure was the only other book she has written that I enjoyed, and so when I picked up this book, it was only because I had no other option. I was pleasantly surprised. Although the beginning was a bit bizarre, I soon became engrossed in the story and could not stop reading.

Harriet was a dumpy widow who wanted a bit of excitement in her life and found it at the infamous party of Lord Justinian Strange (or as his friends call him, Jem). I fell a little bit in love with Jem from the first time he appeared in the novel. He was so quirkly and witty, it was impossible not to laugh along with him.

The novel kept me engaged from beginning to end, and I was not dissapointed with the end. While most romance authors desperately try to create excitment by twisting a murder plot into the story, or have the whole 'tortured hero' thing going for the male protaganist, James had no need to use any of these. Her simple story of two people who fell in love took a piece of my heart. I will never again brush past a James novel, and always stop to take a second look.

This book is as beautifully written as all of Eloisa's works are. She is unique in her ability to take the romance conventions and turn them upside down. I loved the clever, funny dialogue,and Lord Strange's reaction to finding himself attracted to "Harry" is absolutely priceless! This book is a cure for anyone who wants a breath of fresh air, and at the same time it offers all the things we find the most satisfying in historical romance--tenderness, passion and all-out emotion.

One thing that occurs to me as I read other review of this book--as they seem to be widely polarized--is that as a fan and hobby-level researcher of historical dress, I think modern women might underestimate the power of "the clothes making the man" as used in this story. Yes, in our world, we have the unconscious ability to detect male and female, though many of us dress alike. Yet Harriet makes a point of reveling in the feel of her freed-up body, her waist, her legs, and this is something anyone who's spent time in a corset or panniers can attest to; you hold your body very differently as a woman, much differently than today.

All that aside, my first read of this book, I have to admit, wasn't completely over-the-moon as I had been with other books by Ms. James. Yet subsequent reads, and also refreshing it in the context of the other Duchess series books, really made me look at it again. Harriet is an interesting character, not really before her time but very much alive within it. Jem Strange is conflicted, and like many of the men in James' books, and men in real life, labors onward under the shadow of incorrect assumptions from his family and his own father.

It's not a simple book, and I think if you're looking for a simplistic bodice-ripper, you may want to go elsewhere. But I agree with another reviewer that the multiple subplots and other, recurring characters add lots of depth and interest in the series.

Yes, I know books like this are hard to read in public because the cover is embarrassing, but it's worth it. Harriet was a great heroine, wanting to escape her boring life, and I loved the "girl masquerading as a boy" thing. The scene where she had the actress after her to make love made me laugh out loud, and the scene where Lord Strange taught her to fence was very sexy. This book was fun. I would have given it five stars, except for the cover.

I have read and enjoyed a fair number of novels by Eloisa James but "Duchess by Night" is the only one I've read and reread. Do you remember the witty dialogue and the laugh out loud situations encountered in Georgette Heyer's books with gender bending heroes and heroines...and yet despite all the fun, the romance within made your heart melt? This is "Duchess by Night." Very fitting that in James' forward, we find that this book is dedicated to Georgette Heyer.

Yet despite the fun (as I think is true with most gender bending romances) there is some underlying tone of seriousness within as well - it's a blossoming or a realization of self that comes to the heroine of which these stories are based that I greatly value.

Eloisa James' expert writing, wit and imagination shines in this novel and of all her books, this one is a favorite.