A Duchess in Name
A Victorian Historical Romance
-
-
2.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $13.99
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
After graduating from British finishing school, an American heiress fulfills her duty and weds a destitute earl. A lie brought them together, but will it also tear them apart? Find out in this can't-miss Victorian marriage-of-convenience story from a compelling new voice in historical romance.
Victoria Carson never expected love. An American heiress and graduate of Lady Grantham's finishing school, she's been groomed since birth to marry an English title—the grander the better. So when the man chosen for her, the forbidding Earl of Dunnley, seems to hate her on sight, she understands that it can't matter. Love can have no place in this arrangement.
Andrew Hargrave has little use for his title and even less for his cold, disinterested parents. Determined to make his own way, he's devoted to his life in Italy working as an archaeologist. Until the collapse of his family's fortune drags him back to England to a marriage he never wanted and a woman he doesn't care to know.
Wild attraction is an unwanted complication for them both, though it forms the most fragile of bonds. Their marriage of convenience isn't so intolerable after all—but it may not be enough when the deception that bound them is finally revealed.
Book one of The Grantham Girls
Amelia Wheeler is the next Grantham Girl to rebel against family obligation in A COMMON SCANDAL.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A dutiful heiress and a bankrupt earl marry as strangers but become ardent lovers in this passionate launch of the Grantham Girls late Victorian series, the first historical from contemporary romance author Weaver. In 1891 London, Victoria Carson is responsible and well prepared for her wifely duties. Love is not part of her arranged marriage to Andrew Hargrave, but Victoria needs to be free of her social-climbing mother. Andrew, Earl of Dunnley, is heir to a vast, insolvent estate and a title he despises; he wants only to continue his archeological work in Italy with his mistress. Their fathers force the marriage as part of a secret wager. After the wedding night, Andrew leaves for Italy, leaving Victoria feeling shocked, lonely, and rejected. Over time, as they confront secrets, lies, family travails, and loss, Victoria and Andrew struggle to trust each other and leave behind their unhappy childhoods. Weaver's picturesque period settings and attention to the nuances of the class system enhance the patina of her well-written, pleasingly British romance.
Customer Reviews
A bit meh - spoilers
While it was a decent story, the romance was severely lacking. The ‘hero’ was an idiot who believed something about his wife without confronting her about it. And then when his side piece (who he put before his wife time and again) leaves him, he decides his wife will do, so goes back to her. How....romantic??!
Probably won’t read this author again if this is her idea of romance.