This Duchess of Mine (Desperate Duchesses Series #5)

Response to a little confused

the characters have appeared before in other eloisa james novels. they are all part of a series so i doubt you actually did read this story before. gemma and villiers have had minor side plots in her other novels.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Elijah I Forgive You!

When I began the series of the Desperate Duchesses and was introduced to Elijah and Jemma's story I thought, "Oh God what a jerk". Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Mrs. James would write a story about them but I must say I am so glad she did. I cried a few times and Eloisa did a brilliant job of explaining Elijah's background and flaws that there was no way the man couldn't redeem himself in my eyes. I have been a faithful fan throughout the series and glad that I was. Can't wait for Villier's story. His character has been interesting throughtout the series and I am his number one fan. :)

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Disappointed

This book was disappointing. It was long and boring and the whole thing was about her freaking out because her husband was dying....not exactly romantic as much depressing.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love all of her books

I just think she writes great books and anxiously await every one. I thoroughly enjoyed this one too.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Another great book!!!

As usual Eloisa James does not dissapoints. I waited for this book for a long time and read it in one day. Yes, I am done already... I love it, great story and great fun.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

incredibly disappointed..

I have been reading all of the Desperate Duchesses series and I must say that of all the books, this should have been the most captivating and climatic of all. Yet to my utter disappointment, it was so flat. I agree with another review that the way Elijah's upcoming demise and the way it was handled was totally depressing. In words I cannot fully express how unsatisfied I am in this of the series. I can only say I wish I could get a refund. Alas, it cannot be. I must say that the book following this one is AMAZING! I loved it.

Very Good!!!

I red just #3 and #4 before this book in this serie and this is far better than the others, although, still a little slow for me, but still very good romance, worthy read.

What Happened??!!

Eliosa James was once one of my FAVORITE AUTHORS but her Desperate Duchesses Series is barely readable. What a shame!

Jemma finally gets everything!

I had to read 4 books before this one to get to Jemma's story. And this is my fav. I love Jemma. I do believe that she is my favorite romantic heroine, out of all the books that I've read. Elijah is a very good opposite for her. And I loved how their story continued from the first book to their book. You got to learn a lot more about these two characters than you would from just reading this one book. All the struggles and the evasiveness really pays off. Well written and if you have read the 4 before this one you must read this book!

it was fine, nothing else

this book lack substance, whenever you thought something good was going to happen, it turned out to be something simple.

Eloisa James - This Duchess of Mine - has an eye catching title and book cover.

The story was in line with the title and book cover. Gets a bit confusing at first, but then the plot and the outcome make sense at the end.

Delightful

No other romance writer is as good as Eloisa James. A reader becomes totally captivated by her characters. I have finished her Desperate Duchesses series now and almost feel like I'm in mourning because I don't have another one to look forward to.

Love it!

All of Eloisa James Desperate Duchesses books are great. Can't wait for the next one!

A True Love Story

I happy Jemma finally got the love that she deserved from Elijah. This book made me cry alot. When Elijah calls Jemma to come back home to London, it's supposed to be so he can get an heir, but little does he know that the young girl he married years ago has turned into a full on dutiful duchess. Jemma still loves Elijah and will do anything to prove that he can love her too. She decides to do a game of wooing. In the end Elijah loses only one thing and it's his heart! :]

I wanted more substance in the story. I definitely liked the whole heart deficiency aspect of it. :]
My all time favorite of the series is DUCHESS BY NIGHT, but this one was really good too. (definitely recommend!) Now Bring on A DUKE OF HER OWN!

Best of the Duchess Books! Great read

This is my favorite of the Duchess books. This is definately a home run.

Buy this!

Not the best of the series but good. Looking forward to the next book about the Duke of Villiers. That is the one I've been waiting for. It comes out in August.

This Duchess Of Mine

The marriage between Jemma and Elijah, Duke and Duchess of Beaumont, had been an arranged one. When Jemma caught Elijah with his mistress on his desk, she fled to France, where she became the Queen of the Queen's court. Now Jemma is home and she wants to woo her husband, she wants to give him an heir. Elijah wants to woo his beautiful wife and make it so she doesn't want to leave him. But Elijah has a medical problem that Jemma doesn't know about, he has an irregular heart, the same thing that killed his father. While Jemma and Elijah are getting to know one another, The Duke of Villiers is wanting to find all his illegitimate children, and he knows he needs to find a wife.
I loved this book and I have loved this series. I'm sad to see it end with next months book. Ms. James really knows how to make a person fall in love with her characters. I wanted to cry several times while reading Jemma's book. I loved the description of the clothes that the Georgian's wore, and the Panniers... But so far Poppy's book is still my favorite.

Great Book!

I was so glad to see Jemma and Elijah FINALLY have a happy ending! I cannot not wait for Villiers story!

Finally Jemma's novel

I feel like James had been WAITING to write Jemma's novel all long. Her hints in the rest of the serie' books made you really want to see how she would work it out. I've known of foxglove before so I had a feeling of how they would fix the duke...I wasn't terrified that she'd actually off him. Jemma is more sympathetic in this book in some ways...and still really annoying in others. You understand how they got to this point but I never really pitied them in the way that James seemed to want me to.
I like most of James seduction scenes but the Roman bath didn't do it for me...I never felt the sizzle between the characters before and then the bath seemed a little too artistic and clever.
And Jemma has been in love with her duke for so long, knows that he is soon going to die and has already promised to provide and heir...and then balks for selfish reasons (keeping her heart safe.) It seemed silly since Jemma is someone who flies in the face of society, thinks about everything pragmatically now.
Her pride still wasn't salvaged after her affairs and I stood with the duke on that one. He betrayed her, she betrayed him...they were even (though I don't approve of anyone betraying). And she purposefully tried to humiliate him for years. She wasn't always likable. He was inflexible and too focused...she could be spiteful, manipulative, and too proud. I guess that was the point but it didn't make me love them, be their friend, or wish them well.
All in all, I'm wondering about the next novel. Villiers isn't very likable either and the period costumes always seem too dandified to be romantic. Lace never is equatable with passionate, heterosexual men to me. I'm still loving her other series more than this one...a great writer, excellent research and imagery but I'm too picky about my characters, I guess.

Thwarted love between the Duchess and Duke of Beaumont has been threaded through all of the preceding Duchess books.

We know the story of their estrangement, of Elijah's request that Jemma return from Paris to give him an heir, of their friendship and chess rivalry with the Duke de Villiers, and of Elijah's fainting spells. This 5th book gives its full attention to mending their broken hearts, to resolving past misgivings, to learning about each other, and to falling in love again. That Elijah is dying of family heart problems and doesn't know how long he has to live, pushes the need to set things straight. But Jemma - and de Villiers, too - won't accept the inevitable; they find out about experiments with digitalis and take the risk of trying it. A powerful love story of two very interesting and appealing protagonists: the inventive, brilliant Jemma (she has an idea to protect the eyes of glass workers) and the honorable, humane Elijah and his work in parliament for the oppressed.