Ah, the final book in a romance series. A well written series has been building excitement and expectation for the last book, and Once Upon A Dukedom didn’t disappoint. I’ve been looking forward to reading Marcus’s story since he was introduced in book one.
I found a number of things in this series that stretched my suspension of disbelief. Marcus must be an exceptionally quick learner, the ton more forgiving than they’re usually written, and women regarded as not only more than just property, but actually useful.
I know romance novels aren’t entirely historically accurate. When an author writes a leading woman who disregards social norms or is considered head-strong, it’s just as inaccurate as a society woman being given a role of responsibility and respect outside the household or childcare. I just find the misalignment of roles to be less plausible and it takes me out of the story.
This was a variation on the standard Victorian romance novel, I found it kept my attention and I wasn’t sure where it was going to go next. I wasn’t too attached to Esme at first, but she did grow on me by the end.
In this third book, there were references to other characters and their backstories that weren’t introduced in this series. I assume there’s some cross over between series and I didn’t read the books in the correct chronological order. I am going to look for that other series, as soon as I finish the highlights/lowlights.
Highlights:
– new twist on a familiar genre
– final book in the series did live up to expectations set in earlier books
– Pretty good character depth
Lowlights:
– even more implausible than the usual historical fiction
– the familiar predictability of the genre