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Ahhhh, a Milan at her enthralling and witty best. The Duke of Lansing has a problem, Miss Fong by name ....but she’s not really the problem Jeremy etc etc etc is just a little unknowing ...read it and see what he learns 😁I promise you’ll love it , or at least I did and I’m sure you will too.
It would be an easy trap to fall into, when writing about BIPOC in Victorian England, to focus on the struggles they must have faced. Courtney Milan doesn’t shy away from noting that neither Jeremy - the half-Chinese Duke of Lansing - and Chloe Fong, his full-Chinese heroine - escape racist psersecution, but they do have an escape from it in Wedgeford, the village of amazing diversity Jeremy’s father accidentally created by being a neglectful landlord (he literally forgot to collect rents).
There’s an absolutely amazing subversion of the Big Secret trope in this book. Jeremy has been hiding his true identity from the people of Wedgeford for years, so long he doesn’t have the first idea how to come clean about it - but if he wants any chance at a future with Chloe, who he’s always been desperately in love with, he has to. And so often when a Big Secret is set up in a romance, it leads to a Black Moment, but here… well, I won’t spoil it for you, but what happened was not only realistic but actually hilarious, too. I laughed so many times during this book; Jeremy is such a sunshine character, able to laugh at himself and bringing out Chloe’s lighter side, too.
The only thing that really threw me was the sauce Chloe’s father was working on perfecting. As an ‘Unnamed Brown English Sauce’ for much of the book, the only two sauces I could think of were Worcestershire (which has an anchovy base, which this one doesn’t) or HP Brown sauce… which I can’t imagine would taste good with pork bao, so my taste buds were tingling in utter confusion much of the time!
In Wedgeford, Milan has created a fascinating and diverse small community which some gorgeously English quirks; I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where she takes the rest of this series. Five stars.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 September 2020
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Some of Milan's early books are among my most re-read so it's disappointing that her recent work has been stinker, after stinker. The main characters in this novel are dull as dishwater and the story plods. It's really quite something when the author's notes are more interesting than the HEA itself. Don't waste your cash - revisit the Brothers Sinister Series instead.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 September 2020
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I struggled through 5 chapters, and if it hadn’t been written by CM I wouldn’t have made it past chapter 2. The part I did read was very repetitive, how he’s not being honest about his identity, how she likes lists, and more references to sauce than in Mr Sauces encyclopaedia of Sauces. Neither H nor h were likeable - maybe they improve as the story progresses but I couldn’t face anymore of this one. I’ve loved so many of CM’s books - many of hers are my absolute favourites but this just felt like it was written by someone else.
4.0 out of 5 starsThe Duke who didn't is the perfect 2020 Comfort Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2020
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A lovely read that had me smirking and giggling every few pages. Just perfect to escape into this year. And so chocca full of food it had to be written during Lockdown!
Chloe & Jeremy might be misfits in a misfit village, but their quirks compliment each other so well. He's impulsive, she plans the spontaneity out of everything with her lists. The things that should be his greatest assets - title and fortune - he sees as the reasons most likely to stop everyone liking him.
Nothing in this book is quite like you expect it to be, from the romance to the obstacles to the culture, and it's all the more satisfying for it, coming from the world of historical romance which is too often formulaic.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 December 2020
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Lovely community feel, very gentle romance with interesting details. I would have liked it to be a bit longer so there was more time to explore the couple's relatives' history (and the details of the local game - possibly more planned for later books), and I did think that the hero's constant cheeriness could get me down after a while - would have been good to hear about more about his plans for his life other than marriage. But generally, just lovely.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 September 2020
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This is not your run of the mill Duke book. It's delightfully light and frothy, except when it isn't. I very much enjoyed the fact that Duke-loves-villager didn't end in the traditional manner, with all differences of station being ignored by the author.