DESPERATE DUCHESSES
ELOISE JAMES
ISBN#(13)9780060781939/(10)0060781939-Print/(13)978006144397/(10)0061443948-E Book
May 2007
Avon Books, An imprint of Harper Collins
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
Mass Market Paperback
$6.99 Print & E-book
400 pages
Historical Romance
Rating: 4 Cups

Roberta St. Giles can no longer stand the dramatics of her father or his courtesan, Mrs. Grope. She longs to find a husband of her own and escape the life her father expects her to lead. She arrives at the house of a very distant relative with hopes of finding the husband that she longs for so desperately. She has her sights set on the Duke of Villiers, thinking that she is in love with him but finding out he is not the man she thinks he is.

Damon Reeve, Earl of Gryffyn, has never been one for love at first sight or having thoughts of marriage. Just minutes after meeting Roberta, he decides that he will have her anyway that he can get her. He also thinks she is a fool for loving a man like Villiers. He knows he is not the best catch, as he has an illegitimate son, but that does not matter to him. He knows that Roberta will be his.

Roberta is thrown into the whirlwind lives of the Duke and Duchess of Beaumont. She watches how her cousin handles herself around Villiers and wonders if there is more than a chess game brewing between the two of them. Damon watches Roberta as she grows to understand the truth of what happens at balls, and between a man and a woman. He knows he will be the one to bring out her deepest passions and he will be her last. As Roberta gets to know Villiers better she wonders, only briefly, if this is truly what she wants. Damon after all, occupies her thoughts most of the time. Will love come to her easily or will it take an act of God to make her see it?

Funny and very romantic is one way to describe this story. Ms. James has given us the first of her new series and what an opening book. Delightful and filled with the innocence of Roberta, and the pure sensual masculinity that is Damon, the reader will be hooked from the first chapter. Love certainly has a way of playing with one's emotions and staying back just far enough that when it does hit, it will be a blast. Ms. James has described the coming together of two souls in precise detail, yet leaves us with a longing for such a thing in our own lives.

Liadan
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books