The Reluctant Duchess

by Sharon Cullen

[Amanda]

I received The Reluctant Duchess for free in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

It's hard for me to pass up a murder mystery wrapped up in a romance. Bonus points for it being a historical romance. Which is why I requested it when I saw it on NetGalley. (As I am wont to do, apparently.)

That said, it was a little difficult to get into The Reluctant Duchess, mostly because of how often we're told about Sara's social anxiety and Ross being overbearing and duke-ish. I caught glimpses of it with Sara's inner reactions and how Ross acted, but the excess explanation overshadowed really seeing it for myself.

That said, once I got past the awkwardness of the narrative (including the occasional random backstory dumps in between dialogue), the story sucked me in. Sara, for the most part, was easy to relate to, because she had trouble seeing herself for the awesome person she is. It did get old, especially toward the end, but that's kind of normal in books.

As for Ross, he spent a lot of time comparing Sara to his dead fiance, Meredith. Which was rather annoying at first, but I think maybe it was necessary for his character, as least in terms of showing how HE'S changed since Meredith's death.

I enjoyed all the secondary characters, including Ross's mom and his friend Montgomery (although it was annoying how often we were told they were friends and how they'd come to be friends after Meredith's death -- I would have preferred to see it in action).

Even so, it was easy to suspect who was behind Meredith's murder and the letters to Sara. Likely because once Ross and Sara were forced into attending a few balls, only one man kept coming around afterward, so there was never much mystery for me on that end. Who else would it have been?

I was glad to see Ross and Sara finally come together at the end, and it was rather sweet how Ross took care of Sara after all that happened. I'm intrigued by Sara's friend Grace, who I assume had her own book previously. I might be willing to pick that one up to try more Sharon Cullen.