[Review] The Duke Who Loved Me by Jane Ashford
Format: eARC/physical copy
eARC provided by: Sourcebooks Casablanca via Netgalley
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Opposites attract and communication is key in Jane Ashford’s The Duke Who Loved Me, the first book in her Duke’s Estates series. James, the new Duke of Tereford, has always been obstinate. And if something wasn’t going his way, James was always willing to get his fists involved. Or leave his long-time acquaintance Cecelia to handle it. Her finesse with organization and paperwork led James to offer a deal to Cecelia: he’ll offer marriage and she can handle all his ducal paperwork that he knows she enjoys, and she gets to be a duchess in exchange. James knows most ladies of the ton would gladly take that deal. But not Cecelia. She has a mind of her own, and a new princely suitor. But if they’re going to find a happily-ever-after, both James and Cecelia will have to learn to communicate, learn to cooperate, and learn to trust in their deep-seated love for each other.
I thought The Duke Who Loved Me was a sweet Regency romance featuring two faulted individuals who both had a lot to learn about love and sacrifice. I felt that both James and Cecelia had a lot to learn when it came to compromising, even though emphasis was seemingly placed on James and his need to be right. I liked that neither main character was held up on a pedestal; they’d both made mistakes, with each other and in society’s eyes. This book is definitely a slow-burn; James might make his intentions known quite early on, but many obstacles fall into their path before James and Cecelia can get together. There was an unexpected will they/won’t they component that I wasn’t expecting, and I was happy to see things finally falling into place.
I sadly wasn’t truly drawn to either James or Cecelia as characters; I honestly found other characters, like James’s grandmother and Cecelia’s aunt, to be more intriguing than some of the storyline featuring our two main characters. They weren’t poorly done, and I’m sure my lack of connection was on me and not how Ashford wrote them. I am looking forward to the next book in The Duke’s Estates series, and I hope to see some appearances from James and Cecelia as Ashford focuses on another duke’s tale.
The Duke Who Loved Me is a clean romance; interactions are all fade-to-black, and even mentions of lurid acts are creatively censored (both for the audience as well as the delicate ears of the ladies of the ton).
Overall, The Duke Who Loved Me was well-written and centered around a unique plot in Regency London. I wish I felt more engaged with the main characters, as I often found myself not even caring if they ever wound up together, but even despite that I thought this was a sweet romance with a lot to bring to the historical romance genre.
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