New York Times bestselling author Cathy Maxwell’s glittering Marrying the Duke series continues—Twice he has been close to the altar and still no duchess.Will the third time be the charm? A duke can’t marry just anyone. His wife must be of good family, be fertile, be young. Struggling playwright Sarah Pettijohn is absolutely the last woman Gavin Whitridge, Duke of Baynton, would ever fall in love … Baynton, would ever fall in love with.
She is an actress, born on the wrong side of the blanket, and always challenges his ducal authority. She never hesitates to tell him what she thinks.
However, there is something about her that stirs his blood . . . which makes her perfect for a bargain he has in mind: In exchange for backing her play, he wants Sarah to teach him about love.
And he, in turn, has a few things to teach her about men . . .more
Once you get past the first two books, you realize how funny the series name “Marrying the Duke” really is. Poor Gavin was set to marry the heroine in book 1, but she fell for someone else. In book 2, he chose to court the heroine, but she fell in love with his brother. Gavin finally gets his happy ending in this one!
When I started this book, I wasn’t 100% into it so it took me a bit to get through. It was a slow starting book, but in the end I really enjoyed it. I think Sarah was a good and appropriate for Gavin. The two created a cute couple that defied the rules of the upper classes.
Eh. That’s seriously all I can say about this book. The plot was ten times better than the previous book in the series.
I thank the romance Goddesses that Gavin and Sarah had spent TONS of time together before either admitted to being in love (the couple in the previous book spent barely any alone time together, it made no sense for them to be in love)!
Honestly, after a three book build up to the Duke of Bayton finally getting is own story, his own true love, and FINALLY loosing his V-card…..it was all just EH. It did have a fantastic ending with public declarations of love, but I’m really disappointed that there was no surprise baby! Sarah had a miscarriage when she was young, after her first husband pushed her down a staircase. The midwife said she bled so much that she’d never be able to have anymore children. Now, I know that this is totally possible, but we also know that it’s tearing that makes the woman sterile, not necessarily the bleeding. Back in 1801, there is a BIG possibility that the midwife could have made a mistake. If there had of been a surprise baby ending in this book, I probably would have given it 4 stars. I’m happy that Gavin and Sarah were able to adopt a brood of children who needed loving parents, but this could have happened as well as a surprise baby!
Obviously I’m really disappointed that there was no surprise baby.
So the scene where the 33-year-old virginal Duke finally looses his virginity………gosh, after so much build up in all three books of him talking about wanting to bed a woman, I thought the scene would be better. It was better than the lame love scene in the previous book, but this one wasn’t that great either. It was kinda boring.
Honestly, I’m just glad to be done with this series. I don’t even want to read the prequel novella!
I will still buy and read Cathy Maxwell’s books, she has written some of my favorite romance novels over the years but she can certainly do better than Marrying the Duke! It was like she was being pushed into finishing this series and didn’t give it all the attention and finesse she usually does. The premise of the whole series was intriguing, but I felt like each story could have been told just a bit better.
(What is UP with the model for the cover of this book?! Sarah is 43! That model looks like she’s about 20 years old! Yes, Sarah is supposed to look about 10 years younger than she actually is, she’s obviously got really good genes, but that model is WAY too young to be Sarah! Come on people. You could have done better than this.)
Very enjoyable.
This book explored the pre-conceived notions of the time period. Certain things just weren’t done. The female characters, Sarah, runs right up to that imaginary line, head-but ts it, all the while not expecting it to move. She confronts anyone and everyone about the expected norms, while she goes ahead and does as she pleases.
love Cathy Maxwell. Her books have humor and the characters all have flaws that are real.