The Confessions of a Duchess (The Brides of Fortune) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ Nicola Cornick (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cornick (Deceived) introduces the small village of Fortune's Folly in the nondescript launch of her Brides of Fortune Regency romance series. When unscrupulous Sir Montague Fortune, jilted by a rich woman, reinstates the medieval Dames' Tax, the population soars with impoverished men seeking wealthy spinsters and widows who would rather marry than pay half their money to the odious squire. Sent to the village by the Home Secretary to investigate a murder and determined to find a well-dowered wife, Dexter Anstruther encounters his feisty ex-lover Laura, the dowager duchess of Cole. While Dexter follows clues to the murder mystery and Laura unites the single women in a humorous war against Sir Montague, the two are distracted by lust and endless opportunities for verbal sparring. Witty but lacking historical depth, this romance is neither disappointing nor outstanding. (June)
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From Booklist

After one of the women living in Fortune’s Folly rejects his proposal of marriage, Sir Montague Fortune gets his revenge by reinstating an old law requiring any unwed woman in the village to surrender one half their fortune to him. Even though she has very little to lose financially, Laura, the dowager Duchess of Cole, would rather fight Sir Montague than marry again, until Dexter Anstruther suddenly arrives and threatens to upset her carefully planned counter-campaign. Officially, Dexter had come to Fortune’s Folly to catch himself a rich wife. Unofficially, Dexter is investigating the suspicious death of a local magistrate. While neither one has anything to do with Laura, Dexter finds he still can’t forget the only woman he ever loved. One of the secondary characters from Unmasked (2008) is given a second chance at romance in this wonderfully original, sinfully amusing, and sexy Regency historical by the always entertaining Cornick. --John Charles

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: HQN Books (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373773773
• ISBN-13: 978-0373773770
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,562 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice new twist on historical romance ...., July 6, 2009

By	C. Brigden (Minot, ND) - See all my reviews

The concept of the Brides of Fortune Series is that Sir Montague Fortune who is the Fortune Folly village squire (and over-all jerk) finds an old law on the books that allows him to tax all the unmarried women unless she marries within the year. This first book of the series starts the chaos of every bachelor arriving in this small village hunt for a rich -desperate heiress. Laura is a widow in her 30's who is the dowager duchess and broke but finds herself with men hoping that her family with give her a healthy dowry out of pride. Laura finds herself face-to-face again with her one night stand that has always had a little bit of her heart. This is a great story of romance, humor, mystery, strong-willed women who don't take Sir Montague Fortune law lying down.

Looking for forward to the rest of summer in Fortune's Folly; July 2009 - The Scandals of An Innocent and August 2009 -The Undoing of a Lady (Brides of Fortune).

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2 stars- A decent read, June 2, 2009

By	Sadie (Canada) - See all my reviews

Nicola Cornick's new Brides of Fortune series has a very original premise. After the scheming and greedy lord, Sir Montague Fortune, is rebuked in marriage by a young heiress in the small Yorkshire town of Fortune's Folly, he decides to take revenge. His method of revenge is to evoke a medieval law that states that all single women must surrender half their fortunes to the lord of the manor. Once he does, the small town becomes a marriage market for all fortune seeking men to flock to in hopes of catching a young heiress for themselves.

One of those men is Dexter Anstruther, who's been sent to the Folly to investigate government business and catch a rich bride by orders of his boss. However, his mission is hindered when he stumbles into Laura Cole, dowager Duchess of Cole, who happens to be the older woman whom Dexter first experienced love with and who turned him away cruelly four years earlier. For her part, the dowager has some serious secrets concerning Dexter and the rekindled passion between the two of them threatens to bring them all out in the open...

The Confessions of a Duchess sounded like a very original read on the surface; however in execution it is more typical. Actually, it may remind a lot of readers of a silly Harlequin Presents because about forty pages in it is revealed that Laura's big secret is the young daughter she bore Dexter as a result of a night they spent together. Not being a great fan of the 'secret baby' theme, I gritted my teeth and read on to see if the author could make up for throwing that plot in there. On the whole I would say she did, but I warn readers that this element is in there because some will never be able to accept it. I was able to look past it though.

When I did look past it there was a decent, if not groundbreaking, romance. Dexter and Laura were fairly well suited to each other. Both of them were calm and collected on the surface and passionate and principled underneath it all. Opposites attracting is a common theme, but more often than not birds of a feather flock together and I believed in their romance. I also liked that Laura knew Dexter was a good man and only kept his daughter from her out of fear for the child's future. This situation was a difficult one to write, but I liked how it was handled.

So I liked the romance. However, this book had a few problems.

The main problem was that I didn't really like Cornick's writing style. It was witty enough but mostly consisted of her describing the two leads lusting each other. There was much tightening of body parts and wetness and hot breathlessness. It got very boring, very fast.

There was also a murder plot concerning Dexter's job mixed in between the secret baby stuff and the lusting but it was only referred to in passing and resolved too easily. The other major plot point, the Dames' Tax, was also not properly dealt with by the woman it concerned and it was not wrapped up. I assume because there are two more books to come in this series which I may or may not read given my issues with this first instalment.

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting debut (some spoilers), October 10, 2009

By	Bronwyn (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This was a well written book, and an excellent introduction to the series.

The heroine Laura is (gasp!) a 34 year old Duchess, and the hero Dexter is 8 years her junior. 4 years ago they shared a night of passion, and the morning afterwards she coldy dismisses him.

Fast forward to the present day, and Laura is widowed with a young daughter in a small village, and Dexter shows up with a mission to marry an heiress and do some work as well.

The storylines are well written and the suspense is interwoven instead of thrown in at the end like in some romances. I loved that the book was set in the village rather than in town, and I thought the author did a marvellous job of conveying 19th century village life and society.

The romance itself, and specifically the heroine is the reason why I rate the book 3 stars. **spoilers ahead**

I thought that the heroine Laura was a bit wishy washy for example, enjoying Dexters physical affections and then the next morning acting coldly. Her excuse was that she did not want Dexter to learn the secret of her daughters parentage. How she handled that left me shaking my head. She stated that she did not want to disclose the truth because of her daughters best interest , yet when she is offered marraige, she balks at it because it is not in her best interest (in that he does not love her). Maybe I am overreacting however I totally sided with Dexter on his reaction. I think it truly tragic for someone to not know who their child is, and to be denied the right to get to know them.

All in all, I think that Lauren was a spirited character, I liked her a person not as the romantic lead in the book.

I look forward to reading the other installments.