At the Duke's Pleasureby Tracy Anne Warrenreviewed by Valarie PelisseroJanuary 2010, 384 pages, Publisher: Avon, ISBN: 0061673420 Back Cover Blurb: Edward Byron, Duke of Clybourne, has everything a man in Society needs…except a wife. Duty requires he wed, so he decides that a long-standing arranged marriage will do nicely. He knows his bride is beautiful, biddable and bright enough to run his household and nursery. He expects his betrothed, Lady Claire Marsden, will be thrilled with his decision - unfortunately, she's not!
Claire has longed for Edward since she was sixteen, but how can he expect her to agree to his proposal when he barely knows her and doesn't love her? Nothing will convince her to accept a loveless marriage. And so she begins a battle of outrageous resistance, forcing Edward to learn that he must lose his heart in order to win his bride.
I hate to say this but Tracy Anne Warren is now officially a “hit and miss” author for me. Her last two books were great and showed that she could break down those romance stereotypes we have read to death, and still give readers a great story. Unfortunately, At the Duke's Pleasure was just another basic “heroine refusing to marry the hero” story, which I have read all too many of recently. I was so bored by the antics of “Claire the Dare,” a name that Lady Claire Marsden receives because she would take and make any dare in her attempt to get Edward to break their engagement.
The things Claire did to force Edward's hand when she knew perfectly well that once she said “yes” and the papers were signed she was as good as married, just angered me to no end, especially since all she had to do was say “no” in the first place. Had she said no and forced Edward's hand in different ways this might have been a much better book for me. Claire's reasons for saying yes made absolutely no sense to me considering her antics afterward. Claire courted scandal on every page of the book by smoking cigars with men she just met, shooting, gambling, racing against a known courtesan in a rowboat (well, men were rowing while the ladies shouted instructions), racing Edward's curricle in the park, dancing three times at the same ball with a notorious rake, and two-thirds of the way through the book Claire actually enlists the aid of Edward's twin brothers to sneak her into Brook's club dressed as a man. Once in that hallowed establishment, the three of them engage in a card game with a card-sharp and then Claire proceeds to announce to everyone her gender. When Edward finally threatens to paddle her ass Claire is just stupid enough to dare him to. At the first swat of his hand on her rump, I cheered loudly because it was about damn time! But, after a couple of swats it was all "oh, I'm sorry, please forgive me," and they practically have sex on his desk. Pardon me while I gag again. Don't get me wrong, I am not an advocate of any man beating a woman, but a few light swats on the butt does not constitute a beating, especially since Edward didn't hit her hard and he definitely didn't hurt her. Quite frankly, he should have paddled that spoiled little brat weeks ago.
After the gambling incident Edward banishes the twins back to the country until they return to University and Claire is publicly snubbed by most of the ton, but does that stop her? Oh no, not Claire the Dare. She figures she just hasn't been scandalous enough yet, and her reasons for trying to get Edward to break the engagement? The standard, overused, and still nauseating excuse of “I can't marry a man who doesn't love me because I love him too much to have a one-sided marriage” argument. What century are you living in Claire? Yes, I know it is a romance and it will have a happy ending, but DAMN, just get over yourself Claire! The thing Claire does that finally forces Edward's hand, although not in the way she wanted, was one of the stupidest, most hare-brained things a TSTL heroine has ever done.
There is nothing I hate more than TSTL heroines, but Claire wasn't just TSTL, she was over the top, and she was so annoying that she just grated on my nerves on every single page. I really hated having to pick this book back up and continue reading. Maybe if I hadn't recently read so many other books with this same basic storyline I might have been more tolerant of Claire's actions, but the market seems to be getting flooded with this stale storyline and this one pushed me beyond my limit.
Edward was still the same Duke of Clybourne that I had met in his brother's books, and while I liked him, he was still controlled, still honor and duty bound and the only time the reader saw his control slip was when he was lusting after Claire. Really? He couldn't have had a bit more personality to make him more likeable? Even in his anger with Claire Edward is completely in control which made him seem like an emotionless automaton.
The final few chapters vacillated between Claire's insecurities about Edward's feelings, whether or not he is having an affair which grew quite tedious, even the mystery part of the book failed to keep my interest, and the ending was completely trite. Knowing what I know of Tracy Anne Warren's writing, I think this could have been another great novel if Edward was paired with a different heroine. Unfortunately he got saddled with Claire. At the Duke's Pleasure just fell flat for me, on all levels.
Reviewed by Valarie Pelissero
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