Eloisa James

If you want me to swoon, include witty banter in your book. It doesn't matter what kind of book it is, just include the banter. Of course, it certainly helps romances in particular when there's an intelligent, strong heroine but sometimes creating such a woman can be hard while still staying true to historical realities. But Eloisa James always manages to create worthwhile heroines in her Regency set historical romances like Seven Minutes in Heaven, the latest in the Desperate Duchesses show more series.

Eugenia Snowe is a widow. Although she is the daughter of a marquis, after the death of her beloved young husband Andrew 7 years prior, she turned to work to keep herself busy. Eugenia runs the exclusive and discreet Snowe's Registry Office for Select Governesses and her governesses are highly sought after in all the best homes. She herself is businesslike and circumspect and she has a real knack for business, pairing each family on her books with the perfect governess. Somehow she has not managed to land on the right governess for Edward Reeve's half sister and brother though. Ward is trying to keep guardianship of his young half siblings away from his tyrannical, unpleasant grandmother and having the proper governess working with the children would certainly go some way to taking one of her arguments away from her. When the latest Snowe-provided governess quits, Ward determines that Eugenia herself would be the perfect governess and "kidnaps" her (she goes most willingly so it's hardly a kidnapping). Ward, a rich inventor, is the illegitimate son of an earl and is cognizant of what society will expect of his half-siblings so although he is incredibly attracted to Eugenia, he guards against a real attachment, believing her to not be a member of the nobility. Meanwhile, Eugenia is falling in love with Lizzie and Otis, the children in question, and she is feeling a sexual attraction for the first time in 7 years even as she finds it hard to accept this sign that she is moving on from the grief and loneliness that has colored her world for so long.

Eugenia and Ward sizzle when they are together. They flirt and spar almost from the first moment they meet and their quick intelligence is great fun. The misunderstanding that keeps them apart, ie Ward's belief that Eugenia is not noble, is a bit far fetched given that everyone else and their grandmother knows her whole history but without the misunderstanding, there's no reason for them to ever be apart. While Ward was illegitimate, both of his parents were noble themselves so he would have had a similar understanding of who was noble as his contemporaries do and would surely have known of Eugenia's family. If he didn't hear of her husband's drowning at the time, he would have heard of it once he looked to Snowe's Registry for the children. The children, with their odd quirks and strange interests, Lizzie wearing mourning and dissecting rabbits and Otis with his quick mathematical mind and his pet rat Jarvis, are delightful and much more entertaining than children in novels generally are and it is easy to see how Eugenia warms to them and wants them to have love and stability in their lives. Although Ward, with his occasional bouts of condescension and priggishness, is not nearly as likable as Eugenia, they are still a well-matched couple and James once again delivers for her readers. show less

It's so odd that I have spent the day absorbed in this story, and I am finding that I don't have much to say about it other than... I loved it. [a:Eloisa James|86778|Eloisa James|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1375996000p2/86778.jpg] is a master at her craft, and I really need to work my way through the rest of her published works. I haven't read one that I didn't like so far. Hopefully I can work my way through the Desperate Duchesses and Essex Sisters this year.

I will start with the show more heroine, Merry Pelford who is known in America as Mary Mary Quite Contrary for her seemingly fickle nature with betrothals. After her second failed engagement, Merry's aunt and uncle spirit her off to London for a season in the hopes of finding a husband that might stick. But all those snotty nobs in London look on America with disdain. The members of the bon ton are constantly putting down her country, and/or delivering veiled insults to and about Merry and her family. I really liked this heroine. Merry didn't put on airs and treated everyone cordially and with respect no matter their station in society. She was plain-speaking and intelligent. I loved her random factoids about any and everything.

The hero, Octavius Mortimer John Allardyce, Sixth Duke of Trent, was a closed-off fellow. He doesn't believe in romantic love as he sees it as fickle and fleeting. After the death of his parents in a drunk phaeton driving accident, he despairs over the habitual imbibing of his twin brother, Cedric. In the first encounter between Trent and Merry, there is an instant spark between them. They converse and flirt with ease, and Trent likes Merry for all of the ways she is unlike other English ladies.

One of the things I liked best about this book is how the romance was laid out. Don't get me wrong, I like stories where the whole book is about the build-up and the couple gets their HEA and it's The End. However, I always wonder what happens to those couples once their lives have joined together. In [b:My American Duchess|25817386|My American Duchess|Eloisa James|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438663336s/25817386.jpg|43190270], you get the best of both worlds. You have the build up of the relationship for the first half of the book, but then you have married life in the last half. I loved that. I liked seeing Merry and Trent draw closer together in their relationship and work through marital issues. It was also great to see Merry as a duchess and how she won over the duchy tenants with her un-duchess-like behavior. I had a great emotional connection to her character, and may have even shed a few tears on Merry's behalf when she thought her husband may not be capable of love.

My American Duchess starts out as a forbidden attraction, moves on to a bittersweet romance, and ends as a heartwarming love story. I received an advanced copy of this book from Avon via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars / 3 flames. show less

Having lost her mother to cancer and then beaten breast cancer herself, romance author and Shakespeare professor Eloisa James (the pen name of Mary Bly) wanted a chance to live out a dream. So she and her Italian husband, Alessandro, a fellow professor, and their two children set about winnowing down their possessions, put their suburban home on the market, took sabbaticals from their respective universities, and moved to Paris for a year. During the course of that French year, James updated show more her Facebook status and Tweeted about their experience living as ex-pats and it is these snippets, slightly expanded, plus a few longer vignettes that have been collected into this light memoir of their year abroad.


James offers brief snapshots of ordinary life in Paris. She's captured the way they all meet life in this foreign culture. There's the kids' adjustment to their Italian school, the challenge and struggle of learning all their subjects in another language (despite the fact that they know Italian thanks to their father), and the negotiation of the social ins and outs of a new school. She offers minute descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells around their charming neighborhood. She rhapsodizes about the shopping and the food so readily available to them and their endless parade of welcome guests. She tells of trips to Italy to see her mother-in-law, Marina, and Milo, the dog masquerading as a furry speed bump who once belonged to the family but now lives in Italy permanently, growing ever fatter off of delicious table scraps, and she tells of Marina's visit to them in Paris. She captures the daily existence, complete with humorous moments, thoughtful pauses, frustrations, and joys of raising a family while having the flexibility of writing and researching from anywhere in the world. That these moments are in Paris rather than in the US makes them seem slightly exotic but aside from setting, in many ways they are really universal.


Arranged chronologically, the brief paragraphs of the memoir provide a nice amuse bouche of a book. But the very nature of the frothy and delectable brief bits means there is a skimming, superficial feel to the memoir. It comes across as fleeting and insubstantial, lacking a narrative cohesiveness and feeling sketched, unfinished in some way. I imagine that it was beyond delightful to be on the receiving end of the status updates and tweets but I just don't know that the format works in favor of a completed memoir. James is a beautiful writer though and what she has captured and describes in the short paragraphs is very much the essence of each moment. Perhaps this is better as a book to dip into and out of over a long span of time rather than reading it in one sitting. It is a tiny confection and must be approached as such. show less

A little different form standard Regency fare — leans into Gothic, and I loved it. The combination of a Bluebeard retelling and Gothic storytelling works really well. The characters are compelling and I just adored that the main points of conflict are so clearly kindness vs cruelty. Also, let’s hear it for a heroine who really doesn’t have any interest in physical affection except in specific circumstances. Feels modern in some ways, but mostly I put that down to emotional complexity show more and the setting that feels like a space outside of time. Really enjoyed it.

Advanced Readers Copy provided by edelweiss show less