The Accidental Duchess (Fairbourne Quartet #4) by Madeline Hunter
Publication date: June 3, 2014
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
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~~Reviewed by Bonnie~~
Clayton Galbraith, the Duke of Penthurst, has slowly gained back the friendship of his three comrades, who initially held him to blame for the death of their friend, Baron Lakewood, in a duel years ago. As more facts become known to all of them, it seems that while Penthurst intended to fire wide, Lakewood intentionally walked into the bullet. There are things Lakewood was involved in that made him prefer death to discovery.
One person who hasn’t forgiven Penthurst, though, is Lydia Alfreton. Lakewood was the object of her first love, though no one else knew this, including her brother, who was one of his friends. Before their relationship progressed any further than a kiss, he was killed. Lydia became a shadow of herself, known for her vacant stare and lifelessness. She only appears to come alive now when she is gambling, and she gambles a lot.
Lydia is also being blackmailed. Penthurst happens upon Lydia struggling with her blackmaileras he is attempting to abduct her. He rescues her, but in a very public forum, which will cause a huge scandal if they don’t marry. So, a quick marriage takes place, a marriage that neither wanted. Although there is no immediate love between Lydia and Penthurst, there is a strong attraction, and the physical side of their marriage is strong.
Penthurst is protective and honorable and easy to like. Lydia, on the other hand, took some time for me to warm up to. There was a coldness, even a cruelty about her at times. But as I began to imagine the story from her point of view, I became more sympathetic as to why she acted the way she did. Also, Madeline Hunter did an excellent job of letting us see Lydia come to realize the the truth about her first love and herself a little at a time. We get to see her become stronger and better, and ready for the real love of her life. This is a satisfying end to the Fairbourne Quartet series, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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I am looking forward to reading the rest of this series! I've only gotten to the first book, so far, and it was really good!
ReplyDeleteOh I enjoyed this one too! I reviewed it on my blog this last week and agree with Lydia. She could be hard but I had that same thought of what it would be like being her and could really understand her more after that.
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