The Irish Duke

Charming

Night Owl Reviews Website

I truly enjoyed this story. Lady Lu and James were an entertaining, lovable pair -- I especially liked how although there's definitely some tension between them on Lu's part, it never devolves into the unrealistic, nasty sort of rude sniping that seems to pass for character and relationship building in so many stories nowadays. Although, to a certain extent, I would have liked it if Lu's initial aversion to James was a bit better fleshed out.

Part of the charm of this book is seeing the various family dynamics that go on, especially between Lu's parents, the tutor, and the siblings. I thought that Georgy and Lu's relationship was particularly moving and true to life, however, I did wonder where Georgy got her particular brand of thinking from. I felt that Georgy was a bit anachronistically forward, especially in terms of how she handled herself with other men. The story could have benefited a great deal from exploring her mind set further, since her mind set and the actions stemming from it was what a large driving force in the story.

The flash-forwards, so to speak, didn't add anything to the story, I thought. The last one, in particular, was unwelcome because I usually would rather the story end with the usual happily ever after. In my opinion, the story would have been fine, if not a bit better without the distraction of the snippets of the "present". However, your mileage may vary.

This book whets my appetite for more of Virginia Henley's stories, and what's rare is that she portrays other characters in such a way that I'm interested in the stories of the "parent generation". I'll definitely be keeping any eye for for Henley in the future.