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Liked It “When I'm smiling as I finish a book, I feel it well deserves the 5-star rating, and this one made me smile. It's a wonderful book, with great characters: a crochety old, domineering dowager duchess, Augusta Cavendish; her companion Grace Eversleigh, a lovely, gentle woman, but poor. Being a ...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “I was stunned that I was not pulled into the world and writing style I am used to delving into with Julia Quinn. It started off quite interesting, but seemed to dwindle downhill, and not pick back up until the end. The writing style was so different from what I expected, and JQ branched away...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“When I'm smiling as I finish a book, I feel it well deserves the 5-star rating, and this one made me smile. It's a wonderful book, with great characters: a crochety old, domineering dowager duchess, Augusta Cavendish; her companion Grace Eversleigh, a lovely, gentle woman, but poor. Being a companion to the duchess takes more patience than most people have, but Grace is that. There is, too, an adorable hero, Jack Audley, who has a past with a secret, but who now is a highwayman; and Thomas Cavendish, a serious but tender man, who has been the Duke of Wyndham for all his life and since babyhood has been contracted to marry a woman who is his peer. There also are a few lesser characters who make this a great tale.
Marie T wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Jack Audley and his small band of highwaymen stop a fancy carriage on a dark road, hoping to rob its occupants so they can help former soldiers and their families. The occupants are only two: a lovely woman who captures Jack's heart immediately, to the point that he steals only a kiss from her; and a mean-mouthed old woman who is astounded by Jack's presence and soon demands that she show him a miniature portrait she says is of her now dead son, insisting that Jack sounds like him and may be her grandson. But being her grandson would entail many things Jack would not want - and being unable to have Grace because of her lowlier birth is only one of them. When the dowager duchess arranges his kidnapping, has him brought to Wyndham manor, introduces him to all the splendor that could rightfully be his, and later insists on traveling to Ireland where she will inspect his dead parents' marriage records, Jack tries everything to get out of the trap. But his love for Grace, and hers for him, develops along the way - and his respect for the current Duke, Thomas, develops as well. Being the duke will make so many things unpalatable for Jack, but he's not sure how this all will end.
The second book of this series is waiting on my shelf. It will be really hard not to pick it up to continue the story - and it is one that I must read for this current Challenge; just that I don't often read the same author back-to-back. A dilemma I'll solve some time this evening!”
“This book has had my full attention from page 1--i LOVE IT!! It's very engaging with a great cast of characters. Awesome book :)”
KD wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The best book for Julia Quinn yet. I just fell in love with book. It was totally different from what I've read from Ms Julia, in style, writing even the characters.
Taloune M wrote this review Tuesday, September 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The story is about two people, from different worlds, fall in love. Grace, who is the companion of the Dowager Duchess Mrs. Cavendish, falls in love with the highwayman that robs them. And the Duchess believes that the highwayman is her grandson. And the quest begins.
Read the book :))
”
“typical bodice ripper; i think i am starting to hit my threshold for another 10 years”
smog wrote this review Friday, August 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book was so fun! What happens when a highwayman, Jack, stops a carriage with a Dowager Duchess and her companion on the road? The Dowager Duchess says he's her grandson the next Duke and he falls for her companion. He doesn't believe it, but the old Duchess 'kidnaps' him and brings him back home. Only problem is that there is another Duke, his cousin. Is he the rightful heir? Can they prove his birth to be legitimate? When a whole froup go back to his birthplace to find out, and what happens in the end is wonderful!I loved reading every word of this book. The lost Duke of Wyndham is definitely a book you should read.”
CarolynD wrote this review Monday, July 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I enjoyed it! It’s one of those stories that just flow so easily. The characters were wonderful. I loved Jack’s sense humor, it was sly and witty. Jack and Grace’s love story was sweet and sensual, considering it was love at first sight/touch/smell…you get the idea. Thomas was likable and interesting (can’t wait until his book in September!). But the scene stealer in the book, was the Dowager Duchess, she was so mean and ornery, she was unbiased on who to annoy and ridicule.
Wandeca wrote this review Friday, July 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Although I enjoyed the story, I can’t say that it was the author’s best work. But did it make me smile? Yes! Did it make me anticipate the next book? Yes!
”
“OK - I had read so many bad reviews on this book - but someone that I Have a lot of book loves in common with assured me that I would like it. She is 100% correct. I do wonder why Julia just didn't make just one big book out of the two volumes as it does go back in time - but I will just skip over the part that is too redundant.”
Pattigr wrote this review Wednesday, July 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“As I finished reading the last page of this novel, I was quite surprised to actually feel relieved that it was all over. Quite amazing, really, since I enjoyed most of Julia Quinn's books. I asked myself: what was missing, why do I feel unmoved by the hero's anguish? Then I thought about some of Quinn's Bridgerton books - and the Bridgertons in general - and I realized what was missing. THE LOST DUKE OF WYNDHAM had every possibility of being a wonderful and touching romance novel. Indeed, all the elements are there. Both the hero and heroine's lives provide the common foundation for great characters that is guaranteed to touch the cord of any romance book reader.
Michelle wrote this review Saturday, February 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Grace Eversleigh, orphaned at the age of seventeen, was left with no choice but to be a companion to the cantankerous dowager duchess of Wyndham. While things could have gone worse for her after being left homeless, serving the selfish duchess hasn't exactly been a walk in the park and truly verged on martyrdom. Jack Audley is an overt flirt who can charm even the tetchiest of characters. Yet underneath the fun-loving façade is a man living with guilt and shame. A man whose parentage could ruin the only chance he has of finally finding happiness. Here, you have these two characters whose inner sadness should really stir up some strong emotions, yet I was rather detached from the beginning. I did not feel a connection with Grace. When Jack finally breaks down and reveals his biggest shame, I wasn't moved by it. It was obvious that Quinn was trying to use it as one of the reasons why Jack dreaded being the duke. I, however, felt that it would have made more of an impact if it was revealed earlier and the reader was told of how Jack progressively dealt with the problem.
I really wanted to like this novel. Truly, I did. But you know it's a sign of tedium when you find yourself stopping in the middle of a page wondering what on earth was going on and having to re-read some parts. Grace and Jack are likeable enough, Jack more so due to his charm, but I felt that they both lacked the depth to get you really engrossed with their lives and feel moved by their predicament.
This was a very predictable, drawn out novel that would probably turn off readers who are not familiar with Julia Quinn's work. However, this certainly won't stop me from reading her again because I only have to think of books like An Offer from a Gentleman (Bridgerton 3) or When He Was Wicked (Bridgerton Family Series) to know what the real Julia Quinn is capable of. ”
“"It was great, just what I look for in a historical romance. Dashing hero, heroine I can sympathize with, good storyline, and great secondary characters. The novel tells the tale of Jack Audley, an Irish highwayman who one day finds himself robbing a woman who swears she's his grandmother - a woman otherwise known as the Dowager Duchess of Wyndham. If she's right and his birth was legitimate, this would make him the new Duke of Wyndham, replacing her younger grandson Thomas. In order to keep him from running off before the matter can be settled, the Duchess kidnaps Jack and, in the process, he falls in love with her companion, Miss Grace Eversleigh. Unfortunately, Grace knows her place in society all too well, and as this unlikely family searches for Jack's identity, she realizes that her happiness rests on one piece of paper - the registry which may or may not record his parents' marriage.
M wrote this review Sunday, February 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Thomas is just what you're looking for in a secondary character who's getting his own book in the fall - well developed, but with a good dose of mystery about him. We still don't know what's up with him and his family (he has bad relationships with both his deceased father and still-alive-and-kicking grandmother). It's clear something is happening between him and his fiancée Amelia, but God only knows what. Overall, he's a perfect tease for Mr. Cavendish, I Presume, which will be out on 30 September (a date I was already looking forward to due to Lisa Kleypas' Seduce Me At Sunrise).
Well-executed, with tinges of both the humorous and the tragic, Publisher's Weekly was quite right when they called the book 'thoroughly satisfying on all emotional levels'. So, you ask, why have you given it a B+? Well, firstly, the editing was far less than perfect. While it didn't have blatant spelling and grammar mistakes (unlike some other romances I could name), it often referred to things that hadn't happened yet, or referred incorrectly to things that had - i.e. "it was the first time she had said his name" when she's said it at least twice before. Not really Quinn's fault (get a better editor, honey), but it would have been an A- if these mistakes hadn't kept jumping out at me. And satisfying though it may have been, it wasn't a conversion romance. That is, I wouldn't recommend it as a jumping-off point for someone who doesn't already read trashy romance novels (TRN's). If you do read them, though, you should really enjoy it - scamper off to B&N (or, if you're so blessed, the library) and get it."
http://travelingwithoutamap.blogspot.com/2008/06/sunday-book-club-volume-2.html”
“I think this was the wrong Julia Quinn book to start on. I've heard nothing but good things about her past books but this book was just flat out boring. One dimensional characters and no "umph". I'll try one of her earlier books. This one is skipworthy. No stars.”
retroredux wrote this review Monday, January 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
