To Marry the Duke

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful New Avon Author
Review: A wonderful new author for Avon. There is a twist to this story of an heiress from America taking the Ton by storm.

She goes after the black duke who everyone is sure has either no heart or a black one. But Sophia falls madly in love with him. She agrees to marry him and they have a wonderful honeymoon but when they get to the estate the Duke is afraid that he can't control the family terrors within him if he loves his bride so he basically ignores her.

She is devastated and is constantly at odds with the Dowager Duchess. But, James's sister Lily is a peach and helps out Sophia.

Will James find out his wife is his key to his heart before he drives her away?

I hope Lily's story is next..

Rating:
Summary: Sophia's passionate devotion - why?
Review: American heiress Sophia Wilson will not allow herself to be presented like a raspberry custard. A pudding on a platter, for all the English gentlemen to sniff and taste, just to see if they relish the flavor. No, she will not - despite her mother's wishes. Hence begins Julianne MacLean's tale "To Marry the Duke."

Lively Sophia is a rarity among the haughty, reserved Victorian society. This beautiful young woman totes great American wealth and she perks the interest of the blue-blooded males. However, Sophia positively resents being a display piece, but her mother wants the key to unlock society's lofty acceptance and Sophia will get that key. Yet, Sophia plans to hold out for love.

James Langdon, the Duke of Wentworth has Mrs. Wilson's key -- a well-established noble title. He also has a poverty-stricken dukedom. When the Duke of Wentworth views the lovely sultry Sophia, he views through lustful eyes heavily encased in dollars signs. This aloof man also totes enough emotional baggage to give the lovable Sophia her own key -- to Bedlam. And so Julianne MacLean establishes the matrimonial journey of sweet Sophia Wilson and the obscure Duke of Wentworth.

Nevertheless, it is Ms. MacLean's writing style that saves this book, for her stereotyped characters are burdensome. Sophia is too happy, too forgiving, and far too understanding when dealing with the bewilderment of her marriage. James Langdon is too remote, too brisk, and far too unconvincing when recalling his traumatic childhood. Yet, MacLean wants us to believe these two people still managed to have a field day in the marriage bed. Whatever! Sorry, this illogicality did not win me over. Nonetheless, Julianne MacLean's writing form is still smooth and clean.

A bonus, at the end of the book, the author explains the migration wealthy American women followed at the close of the nineteenth century. These affluent women crossed the Atlantic, arrived on English soil, and were ready to marry into the British upperclass. This gratifying historical note defined the story nicely.

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.

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Summary: Watch this author.......she is getting better and better!
Review: I am so excited...I loved her western ADAM'S PROMISE and now she has written a wonderful Victorian.
I would compare her westerns to Cheryl St. John and Carolyn Davidson.
Her Victorican book to Julia London, Nicole Jordan, & Adele Ashworth.

Sophia is an American heiress, her mother wants her to have a London season and puts her into the Marriage Market. Sophia is determined to pick her husband, not for his title but because they are in love. One look across a crowded ballroom at the duke and Sophia heart pounds, when their eyes meet she knows she has found her soul mate.
When James, the duke finds out the amount of Sophia dowry he knows he must have her. It wouldn't be a hardship because Sophia is beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful companion. But James fears his dark side will smother out Sophia light, still he proposes and she accepts.
After the honeymoon Sophia and James travel to his castle in northern England but James isn't the same man she met, fell in love with and married when they arrive, his demons had been waiting for them.

Do miss this book and if you haven't read ADAM'S PROMISE added it to the wish list.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time
Review: I had high hopes for this novel after reading such great reviews. However, this and the sequel, AN AFFAIR MOST WICKED, were absolutely ridiculous. I only read the sequel because I was hoping that TO MARRY THE DUKE was an anomaly. What's so bad about it? Let's see . . . In both novels, the heroines are more like sexually aggressive 21st century women than women of the novel's era. Maybe it's just me, but I like a romance where the hero pursues the heroine or they both at least have equal interest in each other. In this novel, the hero kept coldly pushing the heroine away, yet she keeps groveling at this feet. I couldn't stand her after a while.

Don't even get me started with AN AFFAIR MOST WICKED. The heroine is actually more aggressive in that one. It's completely ridiculous! I know the author is trying to show a contrast between the ladies (and I use that term loosely for the characters in this novel) from America and those from England, but her portrayal of these women is simply historically inaccurate. No woman of that era, save a prostitute, would so openly chase a man.


Rating:
Summary: Solid 4-stars here
Review: I liked this novel; could not put it down, in fact! Read it through in one night & have begun to read it again. The historical period is one of my favorites (Victorian England, late 1800's, "Gilded-era" marriages) so I enjoyed this. Although the character development and the plotting toward the end was just a little shaky (I don't know how else to describe it, and maybe the conclusion felt a little rushed) I'm giving it a solid 4 stars & recommend it. The author has done her homework on the era, so if Sophia seemed a tad too modern to me in her manners, I was able to accept it. The hero was wonderful; complex & yet loveable!

Rating:
Summary: Solid 4-stars here
Review: I liked this novel; could not put it down, in fact! Read it through in one night & have begun to read it again. The historical period is one of my favorites (Victorian England, late 1800's, "Gilded-era" marriages) so I enjoyed this. Although the character development and the plotting toward the end was just a little shaky (I don't know how else to describe it, and maybe the conclusion felt a little rushed) I'm giving it a solid 4 stars & recommend it. The author has done her homework on the era, so if Sophia seemed a tad too modern to me in her manners, I was able to accept it. The hero was wonderful; complex & yet loveable!

Rating:
Summary: Passing fair read
Review: I recently re-read this book because the moment I read "The End", I forgot everything that happened in the book.

My initial purchase of To Marry the Duke was based upon the lush, sensual cover and the fact that it was based on one of my favorite historical eras; the Gilded Age of America.

Based upon my re-reading of this romance, I was disappointed. MacLean has a clean, coherent prose and dialogue that had it's shiny moments, but the shoddy plotting and the one-dimensional characters overtook it most of the time.

I would have believed Sophia's instant infatuation with James if his (false) courtship had been a contrast to the cool treatment she recieved from the English society. Consequently, once James has married, bedded and ignored her, she accepts his trickery of her as though she deserved it. Sophia is supposed to be a spunky, warm American to blow some heat into James' heart, but she came across as a doormat who would do anything for a man who had betrayed her trust.

James' tortured past was very vaguely alluded to, leading me to be very skeptical of his behavior as well as his falling for Sophia at the end of the book. His one-dimensional character, combined with the fact that most of the book was in Sophia's point of view kept me at an emotional distance from him.

James' family was cardboard as well and the "mystery" surrounding them with the French courtesan was sloppily done and read as though it was put into the story to make Sophia look like a hero and open James' eyes to how wonderful she was.

All in all, this was a passable read. Sophia's doormat perfectness and James' vague aloofness, combined with hither and there plotting made what started off a somewhat sparkling and stand-out historical romance into a read I forgot as soon as the pages were closed.

Rating:
Summary: Another fabulous book
Review: I've read all of Ms Maclean's books, and this one is among her best. The tight plotting, sensual prose and believable characters make this book a keeper in my mind. Sophia is incredibly likable, real even, and James is the kind of dark hero that can melt any heart, though not without a fantastic story in between!
Ms Maclean has written stories in a lot of different eras, but this one is my favourite. Treat yourself today to this book. you deserve it!

Rating:
Summary: Sensuous, lush and interesting
Review: If you've read Edith Wharton's "The Buccaneers" or seen the TV version on Masterpiece Theater this story will be familiar territory. During the late Victorian era the aristocracy was in danger of decline from lack of cash. The traditional estate farming system no longer profitable and investing and making money being vile and common, marrying for money (somehow not vile and common) was the preferred way to keep up their estates and lifestyles. Into this world came many American heiresses whose families were nouveau riche having made boatloads of money (before there was such a thing as income taxes!) investing and in manufacturing, making the most of the Industrial Age. Winston Churchill's mother was one such heiress from Virginia. Marrying a title was a way of gaining acceptance from the older American money and gaining the regard of the likes of the famed Mrs. Astor.

Sophia Wilson's father is a self-made man and incredibly wealthy, but her grandparents were entirely common. A titled husband of the British aristocracy would elevate the family in New York society, but Sophia longs to marry for love. When she meets James Langdon, the Duke of Wentworth, she wonders if she can have both. He's handsome and charming but also has an aura of danger about him that makes Sophia wary. She knows that word of her hefty dowry has gotten out and worries about James' motives. But he must be sincere - the way he looks at her and kisses her surely must be for real, yes it must be love!

James had no immediate interest in marrying, but Sophia is truly beautiful and unique and has many admirers clamoring for her attention (if not for her money). It won't be long before someone snatches her up and, being a duke, he surely would jump to the top of her list - if he was interested that is. But he finds to his surprise that he is, indeed interested, and the money would come in handy as there are many repairs needed on his Yorkshire estate. He decides to pursue her and marry her as a strictly business arrangement - he'll get his much-needed infusion of cash and she'll get her title. But he'll have to charm and woo her first, which causes him some measure of unease, for he has no intention of loving her and unleashing the strong passions and reckless emotions he inherited from his abusive father. He's worked too long and hard to control that aspect of his nature. But he finds himself extremely attracted to her and wants her so badly he can barely wait for the wedding night. What's gotten into him? It wasn't supposed to be like this - this was to be strictly business!

And so they marry and share a wonderful honeymoon in Italy, but once home in Yorkshire, James turns as chilly as the weather. And his mother is no help at all having never approved of the marriage. These people seem so cold and emotionless, so unlike her own warm, and close family that she is missing dreadfully. Sophia feels completely out of her element and must face the awful truth - is her marriage a sham? Did James marry her for her money? But no, she couldn't have been so wrong about him, couldn't have made the biggest mistake of her life. Though heartbroken, she refuses to be beaten down and is determined to be a duchess he can be proud of and, just maybe, in the process thaw that cold heart and get back the man she fell in love with!

I found James' character believable in that cool, repressed British way, but some might find Sophia a little too perfect. And Ms MacLean creates a very palpable sensual chemistry between them. Pet peeve - the color of James' eyes goes from green on page 6 "His green eyes were catlike . . ." to blue on page 335 "His piercing, blue-eyed gaze met hers. . ." Hey, pick a color and go with it! That aside this is an enjoyable and recommended read!

Rating:
Summary: A good debut
Review: In 1881 at the urging of her mother nouveau riche American heiress Sophia Wilson comes to London to marry a title. Sophia hates shopping for a spouse as she has rejected proposals back home because she wants to marry for love. She believes she may have found her love when she meets the "unacceptable Duke" James Langdon.

Needing money, James is also attracted to Sophia, so he courts her. However, he vows to himself to never fall in love with her for fear he would become as out of control and abusive as his father was. James and Sophia marry and share a wonderful honeymoon. However when they reach his estate, James turns into a prim and proper aristocrat, who deserts his wife when he is not mistreating her with cold scorn. Still Sophia thinks she can reach her spouse that she loves.

When the tale focuses on the lead characters' relationship, even with James' incredulous alteration from avoidance to near worship, fans obtain a strong late Victorian romance. When the story line switches to continental suspense, it loses some of its "American invasion" momentum. In her debut, Julianne MacLean keeps her plot fresh due to the antics of the dysfunctional Langdon family that bewilder the heroine.

Harriet Klausner