Another book for my "bad akward sex" shelf list. Not rape or anything like that mind you. Just...bad sex,fumbling around


Helene,Countess Godwin has been married for 10 years after eloping with Rees Holland,Earl Godwin.They had seemed perfect for each other intially,both passionate about music and each other.

Then after a disastrous wedding night it all got ruined culminating with Helene being kicked out of the house after a year of marriage. Since then she has tried in vain to persuade Rees to get a divorce. He seems to take a bit of pleasure refusing her in fact.

At their last confrontation Helene reveals that she really wants is a child. Rees dismisses this as another of her follies.
Angrily she makes up her mind that if he wont give her a divorce or a child she will take a lover who will get her pregnant.Enough with being prude!

So she takes help from her glamorous and freespirited friend Esme to attract men.This isnt as easy as it sounds as she doesnt have a lot of attractions (read flatchested) but after a visit to the modiste she acquires a gown that shows off the attractions she does have.

Rees learns of her goal to take a lover and arrives in the nick of time to prevent her seduction,instead he proposes that it would be much more convenient if he fathered the child. Helene agrees to this even though she and Rees knows that their relations has hardly been sucesses before.

And from there on it goes...

I liked this and found it quite funny,not perfect but there was plenty of humorous situations.

A case of the hero and heroine not seeing whats in front of them and quite a lot of misunderstandings in the past and present.

Rees was quite boorish and crude despite being a very artistic type who wrote operas and Helene was a bit sensitive but yet able to get angry at him when he teased her. (he enjoyed scattering her prim and proper attitude)

They were not perfect but maybe perfect for each other :)

The supporting characters were just that ....characters with their own quirks and motivations. Helenes friends were especially a hoot to read about.

A character I had problem with was Lina the heros mistress (though he has not slept with her for months)who was quite the wet blanket.It was a good thing of the author not to depict her as completely bad person and giving her,her own love story but really I just wish she would have the sense to go away.

Wich she does eventually.

If you are looking for a light read with a flawed hero and heroine this is the one.


( )

I liked the novella, but otherwise this series has been right on the line for me of wether I'm receiving more joy or annoyance (from its ridiculous drama). And also the hero of this one seemed undesirable going in. I even considered coming back for this last book at some later point in the future, but decided to push through and finish it out. And it ended up being much better than I had expected! There were several opportunities to start really piling on the drama, and I would start to brace for it, but then Eloisa James pretty commendably resisted. There is obviously still drama, but not to the farcical extent of the others. ( )

Cried uncle at 189. Rhys is such a terrible character I wanted no HEA for him, I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to wish him anything other than out of my sight. And Helene, God what a bore! When the best character is "the other woman" you know you are in trouble. (Frankly, she wasn't much either, but at least a tiny bit interesting.) I love so much Eloisa James, but this is just terrible. Also, stop using the word rakehell! It must be in here 30 times at least. So irritating. ( )

I was afraid I wouldn't like this book because I didn't like Reese at all in the other books in this series, but I was pleasantly surprised. ( )

Fun conclusion to the Duchess Quartet. After mainlining all four books, I'm thinking I need to take a break before I run out of James' titles. It's been nice to take a break from my regular reading and discover a new author to love, but my pile of library books keeps getting bigger. The Essex Sisters series just may be calling my name, however.... ( )