Romance Books Reviews & Treats

22yo duchess can’t believe her estranged husband of 3 years would show any interest in her now. The day after what she thought was a love-matched wedding Hero coldly informed her that he married her only to seek revenge against her brother and then left her for his mistress. Heroine has tried her best to push him to grant the divorce she wants by acting scandalously. Hero realized that he wanted his wife after all 6 months ago and tried to woo her but to no avail. So he kidnaps her to their country estate and devised a plan to make her jealous while promising her to grant her a divorce if she teaches him to be the perfect husband to his future wife. It works but also makes her feel betrayed once again. How will Hero succeed in making her trust him with her love?

Started out strong in emotional tone, sexual chemistry, and character development. Hero and heroine were playing an emotional one-upmanship with each other. Their mind games were intricate and made their reunion a great challenge. It also gave an added excitement to their sexual tension. Their r/s dynamics continued to build through 2/3 of the book. But after that it tapered off when H & h confessed their love for each other yet h was betrayed yet again by H’s manipulations. Things became awkward and anti-climactic after that. I was hoping for a really good end with H groveling or at least clearly showing how he was truly in love and faithfully devoted to h. But H became kinda hopeless and showed his love for her secretly/passively by buying off all her nude paintings and renouncing his dukedom. He couldn’t let go of his pride and didn’t want to humiliate himself with her even more (I didn’t think he humiliated or better yet humbled himself for her well enough) so he did things for her in a hidden manner. It was heroine who ultimately humbled herself and chase him down and tell him she’ll couldn’t live without him. He was going to just let her go. And I don’t like that in my Heroes. I like my Heroes who’ll fight to his last breath to get heroine back when he knows she still cares for him and it is his fault that she left him. This Hero didn’t fight for her enough.

Recommended with some limits -- 3.5 stars.