TEST
The Duke Effect – the latest romance from Sophie Jordan – follows Nora Langley, a young woman impersonating her deceased father – a medical man – in correspondence, and Constantine Sinclair, who uncovers her ruse. Nora lives with her older sister, and her husband, a black sheep of a duke. Constantine is serving in the army overseas, the distant heir to a dukedom. Their love story is certainly charming, but there is little to appeal to the discerning reader beyond the steamy scenes.
In the five years since Nora’s father died, she has taken over his duties as the local physician, dispensing medical advice in their small town. She also, instead of publicising her father’s demise, sends her advice (using his name) to his many acquaintances. Unlike her besotted sisters, Nora has no desire to settle down and marry; she does not begrudge them their domestic bliss, but she has found herself immune to the charms of men, at least so far. She even communicates with an army colonel abroad, one Constantine Sinclair, who consults with her under the impression he’s corresponding with Dr. Langley, not Ms. Nora Langley.
Constantine is forced to leave his career in the army behind when he unexpectedly becomes heir to the Duke of Birchwood. Though he finds it an unwelcome obligation, Constantine does his duty, returning to England in order to marry and sire an heir. Upon his return, Constantine seeks out Dr. Langley for a remedy, only to discover Nora’s deception. Nora promises to help Constantine with his aunt’s mysterious ailment on her honor as a healer. They are instantly attracted to each other, but both know that any relationship would be impossible. No matter how good-looking Constantine is, Nora knows that he is too honorable to engage in only an affair with her; and despite his attraction to Nora, Constantine has a duty to marry well, and an eccentric herbalist doesn’t fit the bill.
It’s a bit hard to understand why Nora doesn’t strike out on her own, rather than living with her sister and brother-in-law; given her skills and training, finding work as a midwife would, surely, have been easy enough. Nora is an agreeable person, independent, open-minded and generally likable. Her characterization is pretty consistent, although she occasionally comes across as fairly naive, especially for a character who has a lot of opinions, and presumably years of medical knowledge gained under her father’s tutelage.
Constantine is also very likable, an honorable and single-minded individual. When he becomes the heir to a ducal title, he immediately begins to try to shape himself into the ideal duke, following the instructions of his distant relative, the current duke, and his wife. Raised by the couple, but having experienced little affection, Constantine feels obligated to meet their expectations, marry the lady they choose, and live the life they prescribe for him. He has to decide if duty comes before happiness, and what a life he chooses for himself might look like.
While Constantine’s character isn’t explored as deeply, he and Nora have excellent chemistry. The obstacles to their union are considerable, and frankly, while their story is enjoyable, those obstacles aren’t dealt with very ably. Their communication is sporadic at best, and most of the attraction between them seems to stem from his interest in Nora’s unconventional way of thinking, and her admiration for his honor and kindness. They do not seem to have a great deal in common, or exchange more than a couple of sentences throughout the text. They share a lot of sexual chemistry, but there is one problematic moment when consent is definitely questionable between them.
The Duke Effect was an enjoyable read, and is very sexually charged, but not something I’d reread. I found Nora’s turnaround from confirmed spinsterhood a little too abrupt, and though I enjoyed her as a protagonist, I think the story would have been stronger with a little extra backstory on both of the main characters. Admittedly, I haven’t read the previous books in the series, which might have further information about Nora. The ending is certainly a plausible happily ever after, but it felt a little unearned, and might seem abrupt to some readers.
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Grade: C
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 29/10/20
Publication Date: 10/2020
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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If anyone wants to read about a heroine who serves as physician to her community while masquerading as a man, I recommend Eleanor Webster’s “A Debutante in Disguise”. It got an A grade here, and I agree, even though I don’t usually care for chicks-in-pants plots because I find it hard to believe she’s not discovered by page 50. The hero suffers from PTSD and is grieving the losses of those closest to him, so there is definitely angst, but the author managed to convey these emotions without having him wallow in them. His character arc works as we see him develop into exactly the hero the heroine deserves, and I found the resolution of the tension between the heroine’s dreams and the social constraints of the era to be believable.
Man, it’s been two years since we’ve given Jordan anything above a C. My impression that her plots keep getting more convoluted and this just supports my theory.
there is little to appeal to the discerning reader beyond the steamy scenes.
I think that’s true of a lot of the big-name, traditionally published HR coming out at the moment, sadly.
I don’t know. I’ve really enjoyed several recently:
Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase
My Last Duchess by Eloisa James
A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore
A Dangerous Kind of Lady by Mia Vincy
I’m not ready to consign HR to the dustbin yet.
I’m ready to consign dukes to the dustbin. We’ve talked about it before, and I know that dukes sell, but Eloisa James and Julia Quinn sell even when their books are about younger sons or lesser titles, and the Virginia Heath books praised here weren’t about dukes either. I’m old enough to remember when barons and earls were a big deal and considered sufficient to satisfy the wish for a rich, handsome aristocrat. It’s like the inflation from millionaire to billionaire in contemporary category romance. I now make an effort to actively avoid dukes (always avoided the billionaires because I worked in financial services and knew too much about how they made their money to be remotely attracted – there’s a sociopathic element to far too many of the Real Life billionaires). If all the dukes were suddenly demoted, would HR disappear?
P.S. To be honest, however, I must admit to waiting for Mia Vincy’s next book, which is about a duke – that one I will buy.
Nearly finished with My Last Duchess. Although Eloisa James is not a go-to writer for me, I took a chance on MLD and have really loved it. You just never know and it was the AAR review that sold it to me.
Yay! Glad you liked it. I really enjoyed it, it’s always great to be able to write a review that encourages people to pick a book up.
Yup, truly loved it! Just sorry that in purchasing this as a kindle book that (1) it’s really a long novella and (2) that I paid for a longish exerpt from something else I wasn’t interested in. Not sure I am inspired to read about their offspring, though, as it would be hard for further books to afford me the delight I had in this one. I can recall another book from the distant past about another very fertile duke: The Bedeviled Duke by Judith A Lansdowne wherein the duke in question had eight children comprised of four sets of twins!! It’s an old Zebra trad-regency from 1996 and it’s a comfort read for me. I think she is/was a very much over-looked author.
Those are just a small number of the HRs published this year though. (And the Vincy is self-pubbed.) The fact that those books are the ones
I’d choose, too (havent read the James though) shows that we are in agreement :)
I just don’t think HR is any weaker than any other genre.
It was so strong for a while though – which probably makes the drop in quality even more obvious.
I do think there are lots of slight HRs but that doesn’t make them bad.
Someone needs to turn off the bloody wind machine before Nora gets blown to kingdom come!! This cover is the worst I’ve seen this year.
My immediate thought was that it was going to take hours to drag a comb through that hair!
Also, her hands and feet are very weird looking, as though they have been randomly photoshopped in from a stock selection.
It’s a real 1980s throwback, isn’t it? I had to look twice to make sure I’d actually uploaded the right cover!