Duke In Disguise (The Stafford Sisters #1)

One can only assume that either this book was not edited or that the person who did edit it was incompetent. Sentence fragments appeared literally everywhere. (Fragments can be an effective mechanism for emphasis, used sparingly. But everywhere and often? And yes I know I just did that.)

Improper punctuation was also a frequent problem, especially when extended dialogue was involved. And several incorrect words were used, but because they were spelled correctly, they didnt get caught. Using made for maid was one incident I remember.

I thought the story started out well, but deteriorated rapidly after the wedding. The problem for me (Spoiler Alert) was that the Duke changed character completely, and not just from his Daniel disguise. He simply wasnt portrayed as stuffy before the incognito trip as he was portrayed after the wedding.

And Ann, (Spoiler Alert) who starts out as a wonderfully competent and smart young woman apparently becomes a ninny as soon as she discovers shes pregnant. She knows it is dangerous for a woman of such wealth to be out alone, and promises the Duke she wont do it again. Nevertheless she does, having forgotten her promise, and gets kidnapped.

Good attributes include a fast paced story, engaging characters (at least initially), and witty dialogue. Too bad the lack of good editing was so distracting.

This book had potential for a good story, but if i had to hear that he didn’t love her one more time my head would have exploded. A story editor could have pointed out the redundancies.
And please authors, if you cannot afford an editor at least ask your smartest friend, one who likes to read, to please read the book and point out the mistakes. It is so distracting when you just want to be editing throughout the book.

I am not deducting stars because of editing problems, I was able to figure it out without being lost. I found the story endearing and somewhat unique. I enjoyed the strength and love of the h and how she carried that over in caring for her sister’s.

I understood the appeal the Duke had in helping his friend and hiding his identity. It wasn’t to make a fool of the h, but to find out if his friend was being cheated. What I didn’t understand is why the girl at the party turned the Duke and the h in? If she set her cap for him, she ruined her own chances – that didn’t make sense to me.

I thought I knew what was going to happen when the Duke made a trip without the h. But, nope I was thrown a curve ball and enjoyed being surprised. We have villains, that shocked me too, kept the story interesting.

We have mildly described lovemaking, within marriage, heat level maybe 4 out of 5. I personally didn’t find it vulgar or erotic, but I read some reviewer’s did. We have no cheating, no cliffhanger and interesting character’s, especially the sister’s and will be reading their stories. We are treated to romance that builds slowly, HEA and an epilogue about 1 year in the future.

I can’t improve on the blurb, so not attempting, just what you may get out of reading this story. (ljb)

Daniel and Ann are delightful characters. The plot is engaging, not fast paced. The ride from poor country girl to duchess certainly has more bumps than were in the story. What’s the situation with Lady Clarice? Is the ton accepting her? Does she find a purpose for her life?

Stand alone HEA, with hints of further books to come. I especially look forward to Isobel’s.

Contains sex scenes, few swear words (mostly the Lord’s name in vain), and violence (kidnapping).

I liked the way the author led the characters to the desired “happily ever after”, passing through a few tribulations in a believable way.
There was, however, the negative fact that the book (and the synopsis of the next one) should have been better edited. The punctuation is rather terrible, there are many sentences with a period when a comma should have been used, and also a few misspelled words. Grammar correctnes is very important to fill that fifth star in reviews, that is why I only gave it four stars.
It is, nevertheless, a very pleasant story.

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