The Duchess War (Brothers Sinister, #1)

by Courtney Milan

[Berls]

I got a late start on this book and didn't manage to get it read in time for August book club. (In part because it's an Audible exclusive. I find that SO ANNOYING!). But I had started it AND the reviews from the group were really good, so I decided to read it on my own. And I'm really glad I did as this was a particularly good HR and I would like to read the rest of the series actually.

I think the characters are probably what made this book. Minnie is a fantastic character - she's quiet/softspoken and tries really hard to be overlooked. Due to a mysterious past mishap that we learn about as the book progresses, she has set her life ambitions very low. To be married to basically anyone. And yet, you quickly see that she deserves so much more. She has a brilliant mind and is a good friend.

And then there's the Duke... Robert. He is far from your typical Duke. He recognizes the privileges that he enjoys and wants to do something with that privilege. He also is running from his past - but in a very different way that Minnie. And, like Minnie, because of those past experiences he is expecting to settle for so much less than what he deserves. So CLEARLY they deserve each other.

They each have some friends/family members that we learn enough about that I really am hoping we'll see more of them in future books - a couple I hope HAVE their own books. I have suspicions, based on the series name "Brothers Sinister" but we'll see.

Another great thing about this book is that the HEA is not at the marriage. In fact, after their married, a god 30-40% of the book remained. There is a lot more to contend with in the town, because of the factory and Roberts attempts to correct some wrongs in that area. I really enjoyed that there was so much more to this story than the romance - even though the romance was pretty brilliant because of how great the characters were. And the ACTUAL HEA moment in the epilogue was even more great as a result. Even though I'm not a big HR reader and I HATE that I can't listen to these books because of them being Audible Exclusives, I do plan to continue the series hopefully .