DD was my first book by Julia Templeton and I was very disappointed. She tells a story very well but there were numerous problems that just kept adding up until I was thoroughly disgusted with it. I had heard such good things about it too *sigh*. First strike against it was the age difference between the hero and heroine. DD is a ward/guardian story; she is 17 and he is 33! From the very first scenes Dominic's mental lusting for Arlie just gave me the creeps. Dominic is a rake determined never to marry so he sets out to launch her in society and find her a husband. He provides her with lessons in deportment, etiquette and a new wardrobe. But this was Regency England and no mention is made of a FEMALE chaperon. I never thought I was a stickler for historical accuracy but this just set off the alarm bells in my head. I have read hundreds of regency romances from Heyer to Balogh and this premise was not right. For a young female to live under the same roof with a non-relative bachelor would cause a huge scandal in London society but in DD society didn't blink an eye. There were other scenes that creeped me out too, like Arlie catching Dominic and his mistress together. And for a virgin, Arlie was way too knowledgeable about sex.

Gradually, Dominic's lust gets away from him and he seduces Arlie, they have lots of hot sex. Then he convinces her to become his mistress and he sets her up in a house. She sits around waiting for him to 'visit' her. She was a real doormat even allowing for her age. He's determined never to marry until the very end when he finds out she's pregnant (duh!) then he marries her. The End. I can't believe I finished it. Lots of hot sex scenes but I couldn't care less. Blech! Templeton's writing style has potential but I think that if she wants to write in the regency era she needs to do more research because there were numerous scenes that just didn't seem to fit the attitudes of the time. I'm not that picky about historical accuracy but this book just seemed way off and it pissed me off. (Grade: D) ( )