The real Duchesses of London! A fun, silly novella that is the start of a great new ereader collection.

I must admit that when I first started this novella I was not thrilled with the concept. I am not a “Real Housewives” fan and I expected myself to be bored to death with a load of junk not worth reading. I was mistaken in my impression in many ways and found this first edition in the series to be fun and witty even if it was a little pointless.

Don’t get me wrong, the written word has great value if it can teach us something, make us feel any myriad of emotions, or just plain take us to another time and place. This novella does evoke some emotion – I found myself laughing many times – but as a romance I am not so sure that it founds its mark.

Kathryn, Duchess of Harrington, may have everything a Duchess can expect to have in life; riches, powerful friends, and a handsome husband. Too bad the riches can’t keep her warm at night since her sexy husband has been seriously neglecting his duties. After the loss of their unborn child, both Robert and Kathryn have turned away from their marriage. But Kathryn is determined to not only renew the spark in her marriage but gain her husbands love as well. She turns to her close friend Linette for help in seducing her husband back to her bed. Little does she know her friend may be just the right person to answer all her questions and hurt her irreparably in the process.

Amidst all the talk of husbands and beds, the story mostly revolves around a collection of five women – not all official duchesses – who gather together to solve the mystery of a broadsheet drawing series of the women portraying them in some scandalous and not so truthful ways… or is there some truth to the sly secrets the drawings portend?  Hurtful secrets are revealed and cast a shadow on the happiness that Kathryn is trying to achieve but love conquers all as usual, even if I had a hard time buying into the love story.

I dislike novellas strictly on their length. I find most authors can’t tie their readers into the story enough for me to really care about the characters or their love story. Unfortunately that is true with this novella. I did like Robert and Kathryn’s story but I found the lack of serious character development took away from the romance. But, are you really meant to care all that much about a story that is under 100 pages in length? Instead I look at this novella strictly for its entertainment factor and not as a romance on its own. It made me laugh, it made me sigh, and it gave me a little touch of goose bumps during the main love scene. Job done. I anticipate the next installment with Linette as the star in a few short weeks.

~ Danielle