The Duke's Disaster

by Grace Burrowes

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

The Duke's Disaster is truly a disaster. This book made me so angry in places! I was excited to read this one, since it was the Historical Romance version of a fake relationship turned real. Noah Winters needs a wife, since he needs heirs. The woman he had been courting accepted another man's proposal, so he turns to her companion. Thea is luckily in need of a husband, since she needs protection for herself and her younger sister, because their brother is useless. But Thea has a secret, which may put her marriage in jeopardy. If only Noah would let her disclose it.

I kind of figured what Thea's secret would be, since it happens a lot in Historical Romances. I think it was made into a bigger deal than it needed to be, since it is so common, but I was hoping that the author would do something different with it. Well, she does, but The Duke's Disaster was just one big, unbelievable mess! Thea tries to tell Noah before the wedding, but he's convinced she's trying to talk her way out of their agreement, and he's not going to let that happen. Then she tries again during their wedding night. She's asking him to slow down and to stop, so she can say what she needs to say, but his reaction is essentially "Spread your legs and shut up!" At least until she starts to cry, because he cannot have a crying woman in his bed! This made me sooo angry! He does not treat her right at all!

After Thea's secret is out, Noah will not let her explain. He just shuts her down completely, assumes the worse, and then stalks off. He also tells everyone who will listen, despite not wanting all and sundry in his business! What kind of sense does that make?! He also realizes that something is off about Thea and her secret, but he still won't let her tell him what happened and continues to ignore her for weeks. Then everything is all peachy keen and whatever. I suppose Noah's reaction is more realistic for the time, but if I wanted realism, I'd pick up a Historical Fiction and not a Romance! Noah is not the kind of hero I want to read about! How am I suppose to cheer for them to work things out when he's a complete asshole!?

The Duke's Disaster does get worse, since Noah is hiding something! Thea finds out, and of course she's upset about it, since he reacted so badly to her telling him the truth. Well, Noah is also lying about what he was hiding, for no reason, other than she's a liar so he doesn't need to explain anything to her. What the heck is your problem?! He lets this continue for the entire book, and just casually reveals the truth while talking to someone else in Thea's presence. She of course is like "wait, a minute! what?!" And he's basically like "Not now, woman!" Way to respect your wife!

The only thing I actually really liked about The Duke's Disaster was Noah trying to reform Thea's drunken, lazy brother. He's an earl, but does not take responsibility for anything. He drinks until he passes out, gambles excessively, and doesn't care for either of his sisters' well being. Noah won't stand for any of that, so he regularly stops by, forces Tim out of bed, gets him cleaned and dressed and shoves his responsibilities in his face. If only he was as concerned about Thea and her problems.

Clearly, I was not happy with The Duke's Disaster. Noah is an awful human being. Thea has no backbone whatsoever. Together, they're just not a couple I could root for. Thea was wronged, and her husband simply doesn't care until the very end. She longs after him like a lonely puppy, when she should be standing her ground against him. There's also this five page suspense plot-line thrown in at the end, which only added to my frustrations, since it was underdeveloped and didn't add anything to the story.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.