Book Review of When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James

When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James

I must confess that I am a huge fan of Eloisa James' historical fiction books. It was probably a year ago that I first discovered her and her Pleasures trilogy. From there I went right on to the Essex Sisters quartet and then found her Desperate Duchesses delicious! With When the Duke Returns we are treated to book four of the sextet.

When the Duke Returns begins with Isadore, the Duchess of Conway, at a house party awaiting her husband. However, for Isadore, the meeting of the Duke of Conway will be the first time she has met him. Betrothed as children, the two never had a formal church wedding since they were married by proxy while he was away. Simeon, the wayward Duke, returns to England because Isadore has decided it was high time that she her husband of 11 years... and she was quite tired of being a virgin. She hatches a plan to force his hand by attending one of Lord Strange's infamous house parties, knowing that word would reach her husband and he would rush to collect her to avoid scandal.

Simeon immediately realizes that Isadore is no wall flower. No, she is quite the opposite of the docile and biddable wife that his mother had written him numerous letters about while he was off chasing the source of the Nile. Instead, Simeon returns home to saucy wife, a dilapidated family pile that stinks to high Heaven, not to mention a pile of his father's unpaid bills. Simeon, too, isn't what Isadore expected. Sure, he's drop dead gorgeous, but she finds his old-fashioned notions of being the decision maker in the household almost too much to bear. She's been on her own for 11 years and is quite used to being her own boss. Realizing they'll never mesh properly, Simeon offers Isadore a solution: an annulment.

However, Isadore wants to make the marriage work and hatches a new plan to lure him to bed since you can't annul a marriage once it has been consummated.

Weaved in between the story line of Isadore and Simeon is more of the running story line of Jemma, the Duchess of Beaumont, Elijah (her duke) and Villiers. As you may remember, Jemma was involved in a high stake game of chess between the two men, that is until Villiers was nearly mortally wounded by her own brother. In this book, we see Villiers moderately recovered and learn of a new twist in the saga. Jemma, incidentally, will be the subject of the fifth book due out later in 2009.

Overall, I was not disappointed in this book at all. The idea of two polar opposites coming together (along with the revelation that though married 11 years, they are still both virgins!) makes When the Duke Returns a very interesting and enjoyable read.