The Runaway Duchess (Duke Undone, #2)
Joanna Lowell
A runaway bride dumps a duke and rewrites her own love story in this enchanting Victorian historical romance from the author of The Duke Undone. Pretty and pampered, Lavinia Yardley always dreamed of becoming a duchess. But family disgrace forces her into marriage with the most vile duke in England, and she finds herself desperate for a way out. When a rustic stranger mistakes her for globe-trotting botanist Muriel Pendrake at a train station, Lavinia has a split second to decide whether to submit to her fate or steal someone else's. Neal Traymayne spent his youth traveling the world as Varnham Nursery's most daring plant hunter. Now he runs the nursery and is ready to settle down with a like-minded wife who'll fit right in with his large, happy, down-to-earth family. His correspondence with Muriel Pendrake proved they're the perfect match. Odd that the woman in the flesh seems more like a society belle than a scientist. As they tramp the Cornish moors together, Lavinia and Neal discover a wild and rare desire. But this blossoming love is rooted in lies, and when the real Muriel Pendrake shows up, they can't hide from who they are. The truth may wither their hopes of happiness, or it may bloom into the sweetest love of all.
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DNF @ 18%
Thank you so much to Berkley and Netgalley for providing an e-arc copy. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.
Unfortunately this historical romance just did not work for me in any capacity. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, The Duke Undone, and I know going into this that this would probably have a similar, serious tone. But for me, this was missing any of the charm book 1 had.
This follows the ex-fiancé of the hero from book 1. And I found her such a difficult heroine to read from and root for. In fact I found her to be quite insufferable (hence the dnf). Lavinia is going through a lot and has suffered a lot of trauma so I tried giving her a chance. Not only has she experienced an emotionally abusive relationship, but also the death of her first fiancé. Her father recently went to prison and with him went her entire livelihood. On top of all of that, she feels pressured into a marriage with a man who treats her terribly.
But despite all of that, I could not listen to Lavinia complain and place blame for her life on other people for another page. Lavinia takes absolutely zero responsibility for her life and circumstances. She lets things happen and then complains about it without putting forth an iota of effort. I just found being in her head to be beyond frustrating and made it not a fun reading experience.
On top of that, while I like this premise in theory, I was struggling with the fact that both characters were consciously lying to each other. Not just in the way of keeping their real identities from each other, but fabricating entire backstories to maintain the lies. As well as hiding their actual intentions for each other. And the more they chose to lie, the more I struggled to connect to the idea of their romance (since nothing about it would be based on who they actually were).
In the end, I just wasn't enjoying the reading experience for this one and decided it wasn't for me. And despite enjoying book 1, I don't think I'll be picking up anything else in this series.
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