The Duke Gets Desperate by Diana QuincyMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review
“Her Grace left the castle to a Miss Raya Darwish of New York City.”
The first in the Sirens of Silk series, this opens up with Anthony Carey, Duke of Strickland, learning that after the death of his stepmother, she went against her promise to him and willed his family home to her cousin from America. Anthony originally lost Castle Tremayne when his father let the entailment run out and willed the Castle, but not the lands surrounding it, to his new wife Deena. Anthony wasn't the biggest fan of Deena and even less so when she inherits his childhood home. Deena's death comes two years after his father's and as she fell to her death from exploring ruins on his land, some think Anthony might have pushed her to her death.
She blinked. What was happening? How could such a disagreeable man have this kind of effect on her?
On her way to visit the cousin she has never meet but has conversed with through letters, Raya is shocked not only about Deena's death but that she willed her Castle Tremayne. However, this couldn't come at a better time, after her Baba's death, her and her brother inherited their family business, manufacturing, embroidered linens, and the like, but her brother has recently pushed her out of the business. Raya poured her soul in the business and feels deeply betrayed by her brother and mother, who want her to just settle down and marry and not be involved in the business. With dwindling funds, Raya sees the castle as a lifeline for her and her aunt who is traveling with her. Anthony has some news for her though, the castle is going bankrupt. With Raya's business know-how, she has plans to change up the system and get the castle and estate making money again but she'll need Anthony's cooperation with the surrounding land.
“It is my intention to set things to rights by making you my duchess.”
The Duke Gets Desperate felt a little like when characters are written to fit a trope, enemies-to-lovers, and not a story. These two had dialogue like:
He kissed her neck. “We've lost our minds.”
“Clearly.” She lifted her chin to give him better access.
“I don't even like you.” He nipped her neck.
Pleasure shivered through her. “I detest you.”
Which is typically by-play I really enjoy but I could never feel the emotion behind it; the relationship depth and development was just never there for me. Without feeling the emotion, all the second half sexy scenes stage read like Anthony was Raya's pizza delivery boy. These two do get hot and heavy, with Anthony and then later Raya explicitly vocal for what they want, so if you've been missing that in your historical romance, this has more than one scene for you to enjoy.
“Don't be thick blooded.” Auntie made a moue of distaste. “Nobody likes a girl with a big head.”
“What you mean is that nobody likes a girl who knows her worth.”
I thought the first 30% read more streamlined and put together than the last half, this was 371 pages long and I really felt it in the 40-70%. The big battle between these two was Raya owning the castle and then wanting to implement money making ideas that went against Anthony's Regency old school views; taking money for tours of the castle, gift shop, etc. But Anthony gets on board fairly soon when he sees that it will save his home and when him and Raya get caught in a sort of compromising position by her aunt, Anthony takes the opportunity to get Raya betrothed to him.
She glanced over in his direction and his heart jumped a little.
There's some battling within Raya not feeling she can trust Anthony, some news Anthony kept from her comes to light around 70% but it all felt like shuffling feet around and really slowed the pace. There were some tiny little side-threads, the mystery of who stole Anthony's Anglo-Saxon metal works (Anthony is an amateur archaeologist), truth of what happened to Deena, mention of series baiting friends of Anthony, a railroad tycoon trying to build on Anthony's land, Raya's issues with her brother, and a could be shady town-person character. Little additives that could have enhanced the story but not much was done with some of them and definitely got lost in a page count that needed some editing.
She was home at last.
The ending gave us a Scooby Doo reveal of some of the little mysteries I mentioned and left the last 10% for Anthony to prove to Raya that he really loved her, he does some little actions earlier, like remembering her favorite food and flower, but not much in the ending and the last four pages just have Raya realizing the castle is now in her blood and deciding to stay with Anthony for their HEA. The words were there between these two but I couldn't feel the emotion behind them and missing that depth and development in the relationship, unfortunately had me not satisfied with the romance.
