The Day of the Duchess is more angst filled than the previous books but still has some of the fun and hijinks that you can count on from the Soiled Sisters! The story is filled with present day and flashbacks of Sera and Malcom so you see how it started and how it got to where they are today.
Sera and Malcom got married and then things got bad. After years apart, Sera wants her freedom. Malcom isn't so sure he wants to let her go. He agrees to a divorce IF she helps him find her replacement. What follows is a bit like the regency version of the Bachelor! Lots of wanna be duchesses, their moms, and of course, Sera and her sisters! Now, let me start by saying I went into this prepared (and sure) to hate Malcom after we are introduced to him in The Rogue Not Taken. MacLean does manage to redeem him though! Reading about how their relationship went so wrong was heartbreaking. I struggled with this aspect of the book the most because I was just not prepared for this level of emotion. I mean, you learn in book one that there is cheating being alluded to, so I had planned to never read this. Safety Gang Spoiler: He does cheat. He has excuses (Sera trapped him into marriage, he didn't know she was pregnant, they didn't love each other). I never really got over this cheating and even though Malcom does amazing things win Sera, this event was never far from my mind.
Sera's sisters provide a great deal of levity and fun, as expected! The Day of the Duchess is part second chance romance, part dating game, and deeply emotional. While I struggled with aspects of the past, the end of the story is satisfying and heartwarming.
- POV: 3rd
- Tears: yes
- Trope: second chance
- Triggers: Malcom did cheat on Sera. Some people will find this difficult.
- Series/Standalone: stand alone within an interconnected series
- Cliffhanger: no
- HEA: yes with epilogue
Books by Charis Michaels, Lisa Kleypas, Elizabeth Hoyt...then you will probably like The Day of the Duchess!
See full review on The Book Disciple