She never really craved attention, until she tasted his… even though his word is his bond, he immediately falls for the rebellious, youngest daughter of the Duke instead of his intended, whom he finds completely dull.
When Melissa suddenly disappears into the woods, people realize this is not one of her usual games. With wolves as the least of her problems, Patrick is determined to find her before the night is out.
Soon it becomes apparent that someone is behind the disappearance and that the key to the riddle just might lie in a birthmark…
*If you like a realistic yet steamy depiction of the Regency and Victorian era, then Bewitching the Forbidden Duke is the novel for you.
This is Scarlett’s 4th novel, a historical Regency romance novel of 80,000 words (around 400 pages). No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a strong happily ever after.
Pick up “Bewitching the Forbidden Duke” today to discover Scarlett’s fantastic new story!
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Great, multi-faceted characters. Very interesting plot. Vivid descriptions. I felt every emotion. Just steamy enough. Kept me intrigued from the first page to the last. Simply a GREAT read!
*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.
One minute the story takes on a juvenile view point, next minute it goes adult. Essentially the main male character has not brains. Doesn’t know if he is coming or going. He is ruled by an overbearing parent. The main female is as idiotic as he is. At some point the story just skims the surface of steamy no depth or real emotions. Near the end lots of stuff starts happening and revelations erupt. Other than that the story was boring in its telling. Maybe the other books are more interesting.
DNF at 61% (chapter entitled “A Series of Misunderstandings”)
I really hate to be so hard on a book, but in the spirit of honesty, if I could rate Scarlett Osborne’s “Bewitching the Forbidden Duke” zero stars, I would. I found this book to be poorly researched, written, and edited, with unlikable, unintelligent characters and a mostly nonsensical plot. Even the title doesn’t really make sense; the male main character, Patrick, is the son of a duke and uses the courtesy title of marquess, but is not a duke himself. (To be fair, perhaps he inherits the title at some point after I stopped reading, but even so, he definitely was not a duke for more than half the book, so I think they could have come up with a better title.)
My biggest problem with this book was that I did not like the main characters, Melissa and Patrick. Melissa came across as immature and unintelligent, while Patrick seemed pretty spineless as he mindlessly obeyed his father’s orders, almost without question, and turned a blind eye to the rumors about his father’s unsavory business dealings. Their relationship development was basically nonexistent, and I had a difficult time figuring out why they wanted to be together so badly. It seemed like a case of “insta-love” on Patrick’s part coupled with Melissa’s determination to pursue Patrick as revenge on her mother and sister, Rose, because her mother blatantly favored Rose, and Rose wanted Patrick.
Aside from the awful main characters, there were a lot of things about the plot that didn’t make sense to me. For example, after they decided to elope, Melissa and Patrick spent an entire afternoon together unchaperoned in Hyde Park, and were seen by several members of the ton. They were incredibly indiscreet, with Patrick even dragging Melissa off the path to make out with her in the trees, which should have resulted in Melissa’s total ruination in the eyes of Society. However, the next morning, Melissa has a change of heart and sends Patrick a note, telling him that since his engagement to Rose was never “publicly revoked,” he can just go back to being engaged to Rose. I don’t think it would have been that easy given their shenanigans in the park the day before! (Also, I don’t think Patrick’s engagement to Rose was ever officially announced, just discussed between the families, so there wasn’t anything for him to “publicly” go back to. But that’s beside the point.)
Further, it made no sense for Melissa to freak out about Patrick’s father’s planned hunt, and for that to be the reason she questioned whether Patrick was lying to her about breaking his engagement to Rose. She obviously didn’t understand how an elopement was supposed to work since her lady’s maid, Brynn, had to explain to her repeatedly that Melissa couldn’t tell anyone about what she and Patrick were planning. Given the need for secrecy, why did Melissa think Patrick would tell his father about their planned elopement, when he would have tried to stop them from carrying out their plans? It makes total sense to me why Patrick would have wanted his father to believe that he still planned to marry Rose, and if Melissa wasn’t so dumb, she would have realized that too.
Finally, there were a number of historical details in this book that the author just plain got wrong. For example, I don’t think unmarried young ladies would have been permitted to correspond with gentlemen, other than close relatives, without their parents’ permission. At first, before Rose’s “engagement” to Patrick, Melissa and Brynn act like it’s no big deal for Melissa to write to Patrick, but I’m pretty sure it would have been a huge breach of propriety. Similarly, it would have been a breach of propriety for Melissa to attend an overnight party unchaperoned. Her lady’s maid would not have been considered a suitable chaperone since she wouldn’t have been welcome to participate in the festivities.
In addition, the author didn’t seem to be using titles correctly for the ducal characters or their offspring. For example, she referred to both Rose and Melissa as “Lady Greyfield” on several occasions, which is incorrect. Their father’s title was the Duke of Greyfield, but his last (family) name was Alford. As his daughters, their full names would have been Lady Rose Alford and Lady Melissa Alford, and they would have been addressed as Lady Rose and Lady Melissa. Further, the author repeatedly referred to their mother as “Lady Greyfield,” which is also incorrect. She might have been addressed as “Her Grace” or “Duchess,” but never as “Lady Greyfield.”
I almost never DNF books, but I have now done so twice in the past few months, and both of them were published by Cobalt Fairy. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
*ARC provided by the author/publisher via BookFunnel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Rose was a vane manipulative creature. I hated her character and her lying mother from the first meeting! Gad!! What worthless beings! There is underlying evil afoot (to keep true love apart) from nefarious self serving people. Will it work or will true love conquer all??? I disagreed with the decision to keep that snot Rose in the dark. She should be told the truth even though she loves lies!! It seems Patrick’s father’s past finally caught up with him in the end!! Lol