HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Hazards of Hunting a Duke

by Julia London

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Desperate Debutantes (Book 1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
376767,232 (3.58)3
USA Today bestselling author Julia London, "a gifted and versatile author" (Publishers Weekly), introduces a sexy, wildly romantic and emotionally charged new trilogy in which three aristocratic young ladies, upon discovering they are destitute, resort to desperate means to keep up appearances...and find the husbands of their dreams. When the young ladies of the Fairchild family learn that their stepfather has absconded with their late mother's fortune, Ava, the eldest, hunts down the notoriously wealthy rakehell Jared Broderick, the Marquis of Middleton and heir to a dukedom. Much to her shock and delight, the marquis sweeps her into a whirlwind romance and proposes marriage. But after their passionate wedding night, Ava discovers Jared has ulterior motives of his own. Not only does he expect her to deliver an heir while he continues to enjoy a rogue's life, but Ava also suspects she is a pawn in her husband's quest for revenge. Marriages of convenience work for some, but for Ava a loveless bond won't do. So she devises a bold plan to confront her husband's demons so that he might be free to choose to give her his heart for the right reason: because she is the only woman he will ever truly desire.… (more)
None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 3 mentions

English (6)  Spanish (1)  All languages (7)
Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
I liked it. ( )
  aeryn0 | Jul 23, 2023 |
The Hazards of Hunting a Duke is the first book of Julia London’s Desperate Debutantes series. After the untimely death of her mother, Ava’s stepfather cuts off her entire allowance, including for servants, and has vowed to see her married to any eligible suitor who comes along as soon as he returns from a trip to Paris. Likewise, Jared’s father is pressuring him to marry and insists it must be the one woman who bores him to tears. Ava and Jared had met a year earlier when she mistook his carriage for her that of her chaperone’s, which led to a searing stolen kiss. For Jared, Ava is not only beautiful but someone who would likely never bore him, and she views him as someone who’s not only attractive, but a man who could provide for her sister and cousin so they don’t have to feel pressured into marrying any old yahoo who comes along. The pair make their bargain and enter into a hasty wedding so that their parents can’t stop them. However, an unexpectedly passionate and enjoyable wedding night stirs unfamiliar feelings in both of them. Jared finds himself conflicted and reluctant to give his heart to anyone, while Ava pretty quickly realizes she’s fallen in love. When Ava intercepts some love letters to Jared from his mistress, she believes he’s still seeing the other woman and can’t bear the thought, so with the help of her lady’s maid, she sets about trying to woo her new husband. But when Jared continues to hold himself at arm’s length and rumors of the mistress still persist, it may spell the end of their marriage before it’s really gotten a chance to get started.

Ava’s mother had always indulged her desire to wait for the right man to come along, and as a result, she’s nearly on the shelf. When her mother dies unexpectedly, her stepfather takes her mother’s fortune and hares off to Paris, basically leaving Ava, her sister, Phoebe, and cousin Greer destitute. The three get by on Phoebe’s seamstress skills, which not only provides them with fresh new-looking dresses but also earns a bit of coin, and also persuading people from the workhouse to act as servants in exchange for nothing but a roof over their heads and meals. Ava’s stepfather has also vowed to see the lot of them married as soon as he gets back, so Ava puts a plan into motion to find a man she can live with before he returns. The man she sets her sights on is none other than Jared, the Marquis of Middleton, who will one day become a duke. The two are definitely attracted to one another and get on well enough, so when Jared proposes, Ava eagerly accepts. She thinks it’s only going to be a marriage of convenience, but their passionate wedding night stirs her emotions until she soon realizes she’s fallen in love with her new husband. However, between the love letters that arrive from Jared’s mistress and London gossip, Ava believes that he’s still pursuing the other woman, something that Ava finds she cannot abide. At first, she sets about trying to seduce him so that he won’t want to be in any one else’s bed, but when he still can’t seem to give her his heart, she feels defeated.

Initially I rather admired Ava for getting by on her ingenuity when her stepfather cut off their funds and for falling on the proverbial sword, willingly entering into a marriage of convenience to save her sister and cousin from the same fate. However, as the story progressed I became a little annoyed with her. As Jared keeps reminding her, she knew what she was getting into and agreed before they wed. While I understand that her feelings changed and she couldn’t help falling in love with him, I felt like she was going about winning Jared’s heart all wrong. First she engages in seduction, which in some ways was fun and steamy, but in other ways, felt more like a game. She doesn’t really communicate her feelings until late in the story, and although I understood her being hurt when Jared seemingly couldn’t return them, she then turns rather sulky. I couldn’t help feeling like she was practically badgering Jared into loving her, and when he needs more time, she just simply leaves him. Even when he comes to make peace with her and finally tell her he loves her, she won’t hear him out and just yells at him. I don’t want to make it sound like she’s all bad or anything, because there was a lot of evidence pointing to the idea that Jared was still seeing his mistress, something that I wouldn’t have been able to handle either. But I just felt like Ava could have dealt with it in a different way that didn’t lead to so much arguing and conflict.

Jared’s father is a stubborn, difficult man, who like Ava’s stepfather is pressuring him to marry. His father has chosen a woman who Jared finds unattractive and boring, so he’s mostly just ignoring the man’s demands until it turns into an ultimatum involving a bit of blackmail. He’d never really forgotten the kiss with Ava, so after seeing her a few more times and sharing a few more passionate interludes, he proposes. However, he plans to simply impregnate her with an heir and then return to his life as normal. After their steamy wedding night, though, unfamiliar feelings begin to prick his cold heart. He tries to ignore them, but they persist, leaving him conflicted. He’d never planned to give his heart to anyone, but Ava turns out to be the one person who just might be worth the risk. But when she begins to argue with him about it and then leaves him, he worries it may be too late to win her back. I couldn’t help feeling that Jared’s characterization was a bit uneven. He begins the story as a magnetic, devil-may-care rake who never has a shortage of female attention and who wins Ava with his seductive charm. Then after they marry and he starts to have feelings for her, he turns brooding. The way he’s always riding hell-for-leather and fighting his emotions, I thought for certain we’d learn of something dark in his past, such as a woman who spurned him or someone he’d loved deeply who died, but nothing of that nature really surfaces. As it turns out there was one person in his past who he seems to have cared for, but he then questions whether it was actually love. So I never fully understood why he was so reluctant to give in to his feelings for Ava. Even he seems confused as to why, which didn’t really work for me. I just saw a missed opportunity to deepen Jared’s characterization that didn’t materialize.

Upon finishing The Hazards of Hunting a Duke, I was conflicted on how to rate it. Overall, I still generally liked the book, but after thinking about it for a while, I decided that it just had too many weaknesses to warrant a four-star rating, so I dropped it to 3.5. In addition to the issues I had with the characterizations, I thought the plot didn’t entirely flow well either. The story begins with two strangers getting to know each other a little and sharing a few steamy kisses that leads to a marriage of convenience for them both, but after that magical wedding night, everything changes. It’s almost like Jared and Ava become two different people. At first, I thought it was going to become about her trying to seduce him into leaving his mistress. (For those who might be concerned, he isn’t actually cheating on her.) Then I thought we were going to learn something profound about Jared. There were bits and pieces of each of these things, but ultimately it just devolved into them arguing all the time, her turning a bit shrewish, and them eventually separating. After things getting so bad between them, I thought there would be a spectacular reunion with lots of groveling and apologies on both sides, but that didn’t really happen either. So I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in the trajectory of the story. All’s well that ends well, though, and I did feel like they’d—hopefully—put their differences to rest once and for all, so it wasn’t a bad ending per se. Another small quibble I had with it, though, is the author's use of marquis for Jared’s title, which is the French spelling. She really should have used the anglicized version of marquess, which would have been a super-basic thing to discover through research. This was my first read by Julia London, and although she might not have wowed me with this initial foray into her work, it was good enough to leave me open to continuing the series. From what I saw of them, I liked Ava’s cousin, Greer, and sister, Phoebe, who become the heroines of the next two books, which makes me interested in seeing what’s in store for them. ( )
  mom2lnb | Apr 9, 2023 |
I have to say that I enjoyed this book much more than I did the last book I read by this author. There are some very funny parts and some very sad parts to this story. I would keep tissues handy just in case. This is the first book in a new series, well new for me at least. The series has been out for a several years. The premise for the series is that two daughters and a niece are left penniless by an unscrupulous stepfather after their mother and aunt die. The stepfather threatens to marry the girls off to the first bidder when he returns from France. The girls take matters into their own hands and set out to find husbands they can tolerate. The first is Ava Fairchild. She is the oldest and the most determined to secure a husband that will provide for her sister Phoebe and her cousin Greer. Ave finds that salivation in the Marquis Middleton or at least she thinks that she does. Jared Broderick, the Marquis Middleton, is being threatened by his father if he doesn't marry. The woman that his father has picked for him is not to his liking first because she is his father’s choice and secondly Middleton is not attracted to her. He finds a suitable candidate in Ava. He enjoys her company and he is attracted to her. So after a hasty wedding they start their life together.

Jared really would like to be able to live his life as he wishes. He is quite happy and doesn't care if society talks about him and his exploits. He is at odds with his father, who has always been very disapproving. There are things in Jared’s past that are very sad. I think that he was very saddened by the death of his mother. His father is very stern and not very loving and he is very manipulative. There is one very sad incident that I can’t detail here because it is so much a part of the story but it is the saddest of all the things that have happened to Jared. Jared tries very hard to understand what is happening to him and emotions where Ava is concerned. He thinks himself incapable of being able to love so he doesn't recognize it when it rears its head. It is both very sad and very funny at times. It takes almost losing Ava to get him to see what needs to be fixed. I was very proud of Jared when he stood up to his father and he finally told Ava that he loved her.

Ava has been spoiled, in many ways, by her mother and late father. She has waltzed through two seasons not settling on any one man. She has had some offers of marriage but either she or her mother didn't think the men were suitable. Ave has found Middleton very attractive but his rakish ways have turned her off. There is an attraction there and when she runs into Middleton after her mother’s death she realizes that he might be her deliverance. I understand that Ava is naive, she is a virgin after all, but she knows how society operates in this time period. So I was very disappointed that she was so upset that Middleton didn't fall sappy in love with her from the very beginning. He never once told her he loved her. He made it clear that the marriage would be one of convenience. I was also disappointed that she was such a harridan at times. She almost loses Middleton before she pulls her head out of the clouds and makes things work.

I liked the characters in this story even the secondary characters were engaging. I loved the mystery of where Greer has gotten off to and who she is traveling with. Phoebe is very creative and in some ways braver than Ava. I am looking forward to her story. Over all this is a good story with an appealing plot and characters that you want to find their happy ending. I like Julia London’s writing for the most part and this books shows that talent off wonderfully. ( )
  LadyIsis | Mar 8, 2015 |
There are some books that you remember because they were either awful or spectacular, and then there are some books that you forget a week after reading them because they had no effect on you either way. This is one of the latter. This book is forgettable, and rather dull. I also want to know exactly what she means when she says that Jared earned his title (he's a marquess, and heir to a dukedom) by himself. What amazing thing did he do to be granted a marquisite? I think she's probably just mistaken and doesn't realize that the fact he's a marquess is most likely just a courtesy title he got from his father...just another one of the annoying things from this book. I don't reccomend. ( )
  sammii507 | Aug 19, 2014 |
Ava Fairchild, her sister and cousin are in shock after the untimely death of her mother and her stepfather's departure with their money. He promises to marry them off when he returns so Ava decides to take matters into her own hands and set's her sights on the Marquis of Middleton. He has family obligations and needs a wife and heir so they marry and then the fun begins. This is a normal historical romance and #1 in the series. ( )
  slvoight | Mar 31, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Julia Londonprimary authorall editionscalculated
Busnel, AnneTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
For the Whine Sisters, who help me rise and whine without fail every day.
First words
The Marquis of Middleton, who was the sole heir to the powerful Redford duchy, had an air about him, a palpable energy that exuded power and wealth.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

USA Today bestselling author Julia London, "a gifted and versatile author" (Publishers Weekly), introduces a sexy, wildly romantic and emotionally charged new trilogy in which three aristocratic young ladies, upon discovering they are destitute, resort to desperate means to keep up appearances...and find the husbands of their dreams. When the young ladies of the Fairchild family learn that their stepfather has absconded with their late mother's fortune, Ava, the eldest, hunts down the notoriously wealthy rakehell Jared Broderick, the Marquis of Middleton and heir to a dukedom. Much to her shock and delight, the marquis sweeps her into a whirlwind romance and proposes marriage. But after their passionate wedding night, Ava discovers Jared has ulterior motives of his own. Not only does he expect her to deliver an heir while he continues to enjoy a rogue's life, but Ava also suspects she is a pawn in her husband's quest for revenge. Marriages of convenience work for some, but for Ava a loveless bond won't do. So she devises a bold plan to confront her husband's demons so that he might be free to choose to give her his heart for the right reason: because she is the only woman he will ever truly desire.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.58)
0.5 1
1 3
1.5
2 2
2.5 1
3 24
3.5 11
4 30
4.5
5 12

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,657,765 books! | Top bar: Always visible