Tristan, Duke of Shelbourne, has decided it is time to leave his youth behind and get a wife and take his duties as Duke seriously. He has many requirements but wants a woman, not some young debutante girl. When he accidentally steps on a fan and meets the lovely gaze of a woman, he is smitten. But when he learns her identity as a matchmaker who has declared that she will never marry, Tristan decides to hire Tessa. Tessa enjoys her matchmaking business as she helps the painfully shy and overlooked wallflowers find their own happiness but she knows that a successful match of a duke will give her the coup she wants. But here the fun begins! Instead of having just one woman for Tristan meet, Tessa does something daring. She invites twenty some young ladies to her home all at once and announces that they are all competing for the dukes hand (very much like our modern day show, The Bachelor.) Tristan initially refuses, he is persuaded by Tessa that this is the best course of action....plus he has a hard time denying Tessa anything already *g*Sigh, I really enjoyed this book. For a debut novel it was excellent!! It is funny, sweet, sexy, emotional and guaranteed to leave a smile on your face. I am sad that I do not have a back list to devour and I can not wait for the next book in this series, How to Seduce a Scoundrel to come out in July. It was so much fun watching Tristan and Tessa trying to ignore their growing feelings for each other, after all, Tristan had committed himself to finding a wife and he couldn't just stop the courtships and choose the matchmaker! I was happy that Tristan truly did not develop any feelings for any of the other woman, other than friendship. All his emotions were for Tessa alone. And oh, sigh, the ending...what a beautiful ending! I highly recommend this one and look forward to more! 4 1/2 stars
Heheh, finally made it and read the first review here! *grin*
ReplyDeleteAfter your WOW I really was curious.
I have some questions.. If I may: How old is the heroine of this novel, then? And is it an angsty read? I don't know, I'm not that fond of too much angst, especially not the constructed kind of angst, and often don't even enjoy it when my favorite authors write angsty novels, so I thought I should ask.. :) I think I'll give this novel a try anyway, but..
Oh and do you know a Historical Romance with NOT-Dukes? I mean, just middle-class people did have sex back then, so how come all I find on Goodreads is stuff like "The Duke and I" (which wasn't bad, yeah..) or "How to Seduce a [Duke/Viscount/Bla]" etc.? XD
Thanks for the review, it made me soo curious! Arg!
Hmm, I don't remember her exact age but I think it was around 25ish since she was considered a spinster for that time. And def not an angsty read, really fun and light hearted!
ReplyDeleteYeah, as for middle class there is just not much out there which is a bummer! It does seem like most books have a duke, etc but some books that feature a working class male and a female (may or may not be aristocracy) are Unveiled by Courtney Milan, Mine til Midnight by Lisa Kleypas and Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt. The entire Maiden Lane series by Hoyt it actually set for the most part, in St Giles so they are more gritty and interesting. Not much for balls and such. Excellent books.
Let me know if that helps and I will try to think of some more if you need them :) I hope you give this book a try, it is quite a fun book that should make you smile alot :)