Review: A Duke Worth Fighting For

A Duke Worth Fighting For by Christina Britton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.7 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

“Mrs. Kitteridge, are you proposing I hire you on as my...matchmaker?” 

Third in the Isle of Synne series, A Duke Worth Fighting For brings together Margery, we meet her in book one as she's friends with the heroine, and newcomer Daniel, the Duke of Carlisle. I think you could comfortably start here, there's some time devoted to bringing back previous main couples and giving the reader glimpses into their continuing happily ever afters, but this was Margery and Daniel's story. 

How did she do it? How did she put him at ease when by all rights he should be riddled with anxiety? 

Margery is a widow who lost her husband in Waterloo four years ago and refuses to entertain the idea of love or marriage again because she sees it as a betrayal to their love. Daniel is severely scarred and walks with a limp because of injuries sustained at Waterloo, he was also a second son until his brother died three years ago and has some social anxiety and insecurity due to his appearance. The two are brought together by some conniving by Margery's grandmother and Daniel's mother and a recent attempt to blackmail Margery. Margery receives a letter claiming that her husband died fleeing the battle in Waterloo and if she doesn't pay up 100 pounds, the letter writer will sell the story to the papers. Margery has duke cousins and nobility in the family galore but she was cut-off from her father and had to elope with her husband because he came from simple origins; she doesn't want to have to beg for money. So, when Daniel admits he needs to find a wife but is socially inept, she offers to be his helper in Synne society and help him find a wife before he has to go to London, for the price of 100 pounds. 

For one glorious moment he thought he saw a reflection of his own potent desire for her mirrored in her eyes. 

With the story parameters set early on, it's only left to the characters to draw the reader in and I struggled with feeling any connections to them. Margery and Daniel felt like Regency paper dolls, they were mixed and matched with the very typical Regency dressing, especially Daniel. Daniel is a duke but this title was window dressing, he gets called “Your Grace” a couple times but any flushing out of responsibilities or powers with it are non-existent. The same with his PTSD from Waterloo and being a former soldier, he has some PTSD episodes but, window dressing. He also comes off very ineffectual, there's quiet, shy, and awkward but for a captain in the army who fought in Waterloo, he came off almost too unsure and bumbling. The only time I thought he showed any signs of life was when he stuck up for himself against his cousin Gregory, who bullied him as a child and now into adulthood and why Daniel wants to marry so Gregory can't inherit. 

And then she did the last thing he ever thought she would do: she wound her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. 

Margery was, fine as a character but still that Regency paper doll. Her storyline of being attracted to Daniel, not wanting to entertain ideas of marrying him because it would be a betrayal to her former husband, but then philosophizing that a short affair would be ok, was, fine. The ending, around 80%, focuses on Margery spending time with her husband's family and dealing with her father, issues I would have liked to have been dealt with much earlier so the ending could focus on her and Daniel. I think there was about 35 pages left when Daniel and Margery reunite but the focus still isn't fully on them when more time is taken up by negating a previous revelation, that was supposed to knock some emotion into the story, and thus, by negating it, I'm left to wonder, what was the point of it. 

“Stay with me.” 

He dragged in a ragged breath. “You need your rest.” 

“I need you.” 

Around 35% Daniel is already contemplating marrying Margery, by 50% they've started their affair, around 80% has more focus on Margery working through loving again and her grief over her husband, and then the very ending has a sex scene where Margery finally fully sees Daniels scars, I guess solidifying their love. Margery and especially Daniel he was a late 20s virgin but again, I'm not sure it fit and felt like window dressing were Regency paper dolls where personality traits and elements of their characters were just covered in window dressing. Where was the story, the complexities, the romance? This is the second recent newly published Regency where I found myself searching for anything to take notes on. As I've said, I've read a lot of this sub-genre, so if you're new to Regency and a fan of this series (even though I don't think there was much to the setting of the outside world), then you might enjoy this more than me and like the glimpse of former main couples playing with their children.

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