The Lost Duke of Wyndham, Julia Quinn

Julia Quinn is reliably charming; most of the time I like her books just fine, and every now and then I really love or hate them. This one was "just fine." I should have loved the hero; he's a scoundrel! And a charmer! But mostly we are told how charming he is, while he comes off as obnoxious. (Loretta Chase writes much better "funny" dialogue; I get tired of being TOLD how funny someone is being. Make me laugh, writers, or stop it.) And the heroine mostly... Well. She stood around and put up with stuff. She wasn't sweet or tempermental or anything, as near as I can tell. She was pretty, and she disliked her job. 

My incredulity was strained from the first scene; on her way home, Our Heroine is stopped by a highway robber (Our Hero) who is wearing a mask and robbing her employer, and yet somehow Our Heroine knows that he is a) handsome, b) charming, c) sexy. She doesn't try to run away, or yell at him, or do anything, and he kisses her -- ewww, it's pretty non-consensual considering he's holding a gun to her back -- and then they are in LURVE, so when he turns out to be the missing duke and TROUBLED INSIDE they can have sex. 

Perfectly enjoyable very fast read. I will not remember a damn thing that happened in it next week.

Grade: C

Originally posted 2008