When girl meets Duke, their marriage breaks all the rules… appears in his library wearing a wedding gown, he decides on the spot that she’ll do.
His terms are simple:
– They will be husband and wife by night only.
– No lights, no kissing.
– No questions about his battle scars.
– Last, and most importantly… Once she’s pregnant with his heir, they need never share a bed again.
But Emma is no pushover. She has a few rules of her own:
– They will have dinner together every evening.
– With conversation.
– And unlimited teasing.
– Last, and most importantly… Once she’s seen the man beneath the scars, he can’t stop her from falling in love…
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Tessa Dare is a new author to me, but a lot of people I respect recommended her on Twitter, so I thought I’d try one of hers. I loved it.
Ash is scarred and makes wise cracks to hide his pain. He needs a wife to make sure he has an heir, but he’s not expecting any woman to fall for him because he thinks he’s too scarred. His staff are fiercely loyal to him and are doing their best to get their master to fall in love. I kept thinking of Beauty and the Beast – the Disney version.
Emma is proud but pragmatic. She knows that a seamstress and disgraced daughter of a parson isn’t likely to get an offer to marry a Duke, so she takes the opportunity when she’s offered it. She and Ash fall for each other, but take ages to admit it to each other.
I love the sense of humour and the interaction between the two. There were a couple of scenes (especially the one with the cat!) which made me laugh out loud.
I don’t read many historicals, so I have no idea about historical accuracy, but as a rom com, it’s brilliant.
This was my first historical romance read and it was EVERYTHING! Tessa Dare automatically became a favorite author of mine after I finished this book. I loved everything about this story and can’t recommend it enough.
Listened to the audio book
A great story. I laughed out loud so many times. I loved the sense of humor the author gave the characters. And the reader gave each character their own unique personality which added to the humor. It was a very entertaining and romantic storyline.
Great read!
Tessa Dare is a national treasure, with an unique wit and whimsy that often causes me to unexpectedly bark with startled laughter. An unusual spin on the traditional historical British romance novel, yet Dare also manages to give readers lively and engaging heroes, heroines, supporting characters worth caring about, and plots that aren’t cookie-cutter predictable.
Awesome story and characters! Very original. Humorous and steamy.
“The Duchess Deal” by Tessa Dare
I loved this story.. I laughed, and sighed, and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audio book that I borrowed from my state library via OverDrive. So glad that my turn to read this story finally arrived.
Love all of Tessa Dare’s books.
Witty, great characters–worth it for the dialog alone!
Nobody writes better dialogue than Tessa Dare!
Loved this book, couldn’t stop laughing.
This to me came off with Beauty and the Beast vibes along with a marriage trope thrown in. It had witty banter and two characters who both needed to heal from the past and found the healing in each other.
The Duchess Deal was fantastic! The storyline was quite original and the splashes of comedy throughout the story was a nice surprise. Although the characters relationship started out quite unconventionally, their chemistry was magnetic and completely swoon-worthy.
Loved it! And can’t wait to start the next book in the series!
I was very surprised that I enjoyed the story so much!
Tessa never disappoints but this had me from the get-go. It had it all- great characters, witty dialogue throughout, steamy encounters and truly engaged my emotions. Raced through the pages but didn’t want it to end. This goes on my keeper list.
I loved the characters. The humor was great! I would definitely recommend it!
I loved the characters in this book. The Duke married for love, just not for the love of the seamstress. He married for the love of his people. They were both so believable and memorable.
Love this book, have read all in series.
Fantastic. That’s all.
I loved the characters in this book. Very dry humor.