HOW TO MARRY A DUKE
Vicky Dreiling
ISBN #: 978-0-446-56537-0
Publisher Name: Hachette Book Group/Grand Central/Forever
Date Released: January 2011
Genre: Historical Romance
Retail Price: $7.99
Book Format: Print

BACK COVER BLURB:
Tristan, the Duke of Shelbourne, is a man on a mission: find a wife he can tolerate as long as they both shall live. Love is not necessary-nor desired. But how to choose among a dizzying array of wealthy-yet-witless candidates? Hire London’s infamously prim and proper matchmaker. Then pretend she’s not the most captivating woman he’s ever met.

Devising a game to help a devilish Duke pick his perfect mate is the kind of challenge Tessa Mansfield relishes. Her methods may be scandalous, but she’s determined to find Tristen more than a wife – she’ll bring him true love. Yet when Tessa watches the woman vie for the Duke’s affections, she longs tow in his heart herself. And after a stolen kiss, Tessa knows she has broken a matchmaker’s number one rule: never fall in love with the groom.

COVER SNARK:
Not bad, not very original. In the book the heroine is a little more voluptuous. I wish the model on the cover was as well.

FIRST LINES:

The belles of the Beau Mode had resorted to clumsiness in an effort to snag a ducal husband.

Tristan James Gatewick, the Duke of Shelbourne, entered Lord and Lady Broughton’s ballroom and grimaced.

LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:

HOW TO MARRY A DUKE is a cute, funny tale that I enjoyed reading. HOW TO MARRY A DUKE’S characters and situation were engaging and the situation sucked me in from the first page. Despite my enjoyment, I did have several issues with HOW TO MARRY A DUKE. If you’re a fan of reality television, HOW TO MARRY A DUKE is based upon a mix of The Millionaire Matchmaker, The Bachelor, with Pride and Prejudice thrown in. A lot of author’s lately have taken modern culture and adapted that into their writing. While I enjoyed how it was done in HOW TO MARRY A DUKE, I found it a little implausible historically that the characters would allow themselves to be used like that or that someone in Tessa’s position would put herself out there like that (become a matchmaker and open herself up to that kind of scrutiny, given her background). I also wished that the author used a little more originality so that I didn’t feel as if I were being hit in the head with a two by four by feeling like I was in an episode of the above mentioned shows instead of being immersed in Tristan and Tessa and their story. I had also said that HOW TO MARRY A DUKE reminded me of Pride and Prejudice. It did in its tone to me, not the actual wording. As I reading some of the dialogue and some of the phrases, scenes from Pride and Prejudice kept popping in my head, and I wondered if the author had used some of Ms. Austen’s writing for inspiration to get a feeling for the tone and dialogue.

What I really enjoyed about HOW TO MARRY A DUKE is how during the reading I literally had no idea how Tessa and Tristan were going to be able to overcome the circumstances and find their happily ever after. As someone who can usually guess where something is going I found that refreshing. I do wish that in the end there were more consequences to their actions, and Tristan did have such an assh--e moment when he learned Tessa’s secret as to why she felt she could never marry (at that point in the novel, I felt he took a giant step back in character development and I found it hard to forgive and like him again) and was glad that he was knocked into his senses by his mother fairly quickly.

Overall, HOW TO MARRY A DUKE was an interesting read, fun and light premise and I’d read this author again.

WHERE PURCHASED:
Borrowed from my local library.

RATING: