The AAR Good Time Book Club: Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran
Today we’re discussing Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran.
In her B+ review, Blythe said:
Fool Me Twice is easily my favorite Duran book of the last few years. After having loved a few of hers in the past, I struggled with the last three as they had themes that didn’t really resonate with me. Happily, her newest effort really worked, and I finished the book a happy reader.
What did you think? Did you like the leads? The plot? How does this compare to other Durans?
I have now reread both Bound by Your Touch and Written on Your Skin. And have to admit….
They are vastly superior to this book. The plot in both are deft and the love stories remarkably deep. I just can’t recommend Duran enough… just not this Duran.
Hi!
I had the discussion slotted for august 2, and made an effort to be fresh on the book then. I forgot a lot of detail by now, it did not capture me, and the characters did not make a deep impression.
I really liked how the characters and approaches to the problems remained in period. The Duke going crazy and locking himself away and basically nobody really interfering was very period. Servants managing a neglected household in certain ways was period. The bullying by servants which the heroine uses to get the hero to move was period. I liked all that.
I was lukewarm about the main couple, this is the second Duran with some mental illness (alcoholism in the scandalous summer was first) which I do not find romantic as she describes it ( points for realism, and some excellent care and support ideas implemented, just not romantic to me), and the heroine did not work well for me. Super strong in one way, yet constantly doubting herself, and much too soft in her forgiveness, I did not get a good connection to her, and did not warm. Liked the Duke, but still found him very needy and not fully recovered, so I did not get two strong happy people, at the end, just two walking wounded who will hopefully recover well with each other.
I have read a lot of good comments about Duran, so I tried this when it was chosen, as my second try after Scandalous Summer. And I do nor remember what I voted for, it was mostly choosing lesser evils, most books did not really interest me. So I may have chosen this.
I agree with a lot of your points. I find the hero really self absorbed.
I do have issues with how the household just fell apart. No self respecting servants who reached the heights of being valet, etc. to a Duke would likely act like that. Those were incredibly difficult and very well respected jobs- literally the top of the pyramid for people in service and there was such a strict code of behavior I just cannot imagine everyone in the household either hiding or running wild. The same way there was no other relative to get involved. With a title like that there would be lawyers, relatives and heaven knows who else likely to intervene. But then I guess there wouldn’t be a story,
Like you, I don’t find alcoholism or mental illness romantic and that took a good deal away from the story for me as well. It reminded me of the old school romances where if a hero had any kind of hurt or bad experience he could justify doing or saying anything and be forgiven in the end.
I am afraid you read what are probably my two least favorite Duran books. Her books both before and after these two IMHO are much better.
Chrisreader, your second paragraph reflects my thoughts as well, although I am certainly not an expert on that era. But after reading Flowers From the Storm and seeing how authentically Laura Kinsale handled a duke’s mental incapacity, Duran’s treatment really fell short for me. The dukedom is an asset and source of pride and power for the entire extended family, and it could be lost due to mental illness. They would not sit idly by and let it fall apart. Duran’s duke was a powerful part of the aristocracy, and it would be in many people’s interests to get him back on his feet, including his household staff’s. I just could not believe they would hire Olivia, give her the housekeeper job, and let her rule over them and their duke without checking her references thoroughly.
The Duke was still the Duke so I could believe that people would not interfere, like with crazy Kings. You had a real problem as the position was not based on any merit or capability, just on blood, so you could do little unless special circumstances allowed it. Many of the crazy eccentrics were just borne, coddled and condescended too and probably many had mental health issues. So the non interference made sense to me.
on the household going to bits – I concede. Though a lot of bullying by servants, stealing and cutting corners, was happening all the time, and actual household management (not just agreeing menus with cook, as described in most current historicals) was a lot of ongoing work, a true management task, in those time, and things went to shambles very fast if that was missing. As servants could be dismissed and destroyed in moments, they felt only some commitment/ involvement unless controlled all the time.
I will concede, too, and acknowledge that I am not knowledgable about how a duke’s derangement would play out. Perhaps Duran could have done a better job convincing me that this was something that could really happen? Ah well, it seems this was no one’s favorite, for a variety of reasons, but I am learning some things from you, Lieselotte!
Thanks Becky!!
Thanks Becky!! Lovely to consider this with you, we both do not really know, but worth thinking on it.
I think that was my problem that the management just all fell apart at once.
I have read some books on how aristocratic households work/worked and even on shows like Downton Abbey which kind of showed the hierarchy and the tight rule the upper servants had over the order of the household even those shows drastically underestimate the number of servants in a household.
I think a better example is Gosford Park (also by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellows) which shows many more servants and how the cook and housekeeper each had their own (often rival) spheres and people in their circle. Let alone the Valet, Butler, under butler, footmen etc. Parlormaids had to be very attractive and commanded more money and had more clout than scullery maids and other maids. Footmen were supposed to be tall and handsome and the wealthier more prestigious houses had first crack at the best ones.
As Becky mentions Kinsale (while also not 100% accurate I am sure) did a wonderful job showing the sheer wealth and power of a Dukedom and the many, many lives and livelihoods that depended on it.
Those titles aren’t seen as personal property by the family but as a lifetime duty the title holder needed to fulfill. There is always someone waiting in the wings when Dukedoms and money are concerned to make sure everything relating to what is entailed is being handled properly.
As Becky said, Duran didn’t sell me on the idea this could have logically happened and so quickly. I’m sure it’s possible under some circumstances but so very many people had to be incompetent or just uncaring for this to snowball so quickly.
It has now been long enough since I read That Scandalous Summer and Fool Me Twice that I can’t be sure, but I think the period of decline is more than a year. FMT starts many months after the duke retreats from the world.
Sounds reasonable- I just do not know enough.
I do not remember that the business of the dukedom was also going to pieces, shows how much I skimmed due to lack of interest, but what you say makes sense.
It would also be easier to imagine neglect and carelessness at his country seat, than in the middle of London, thinking about it.
Anyway, I was more irritated by other things, but can see why this was grating, too , when thinking it over with you.
Duran is usually very good with her research so I think that’s also why it’s particularly irksome to me.
Also to be honest, the whole story just didn’t appeal that much to me. I admit I can accept some goofy stuff from other authors as well if I like the storyline.
I understand perfectly well that a half Romani hero wouldn’t just marry an aristocrat’s sister in 19th century England but Lisa Kleypas makes me like the characters so I’m more forgiving and just go with it.
There were some inconsistencies in Duran’s books “Lady Be Good” and “Luck Be A Lady” but I really liked them so it was easier to overlook them.
I think these are my two least favorite as well.
I think Duran did alcoholism beautifully in Bound By Your Touch and does opium addiction smartly in Written on Your Skin, so I don’t have a problem with a hero–in her hands–with substance issues. Liam has serious PTSD in The Sins of Lord Lockwood, so I also think she can do mental illness well.
I suspect the real issue is not that the hero has the problems but rather than the cause of them is weak and self-absorbed AND that he’s too much of an pissy whiner for too much of the book.
Yes, I will agree with all this, he really is a “pissy whiner”.
Do you think it’s everything that has happened in the last year or so, COVID etc. or just everyone’s growing awareness of privilege that makes this guy just seem so selfish and egregious?
Oh yes.
I guess it would bother me less pre-COVID.
though I must admit that his wife using sex to destroy him politically by sleeping with many of his colleagues to influence them is a horrible humiliation. Imagine if all your work peers and colleagues might be people your partner had slept with. Not out of actual conviction (= sexual interest), but specifically to block your efforts and target you. As revenge against you. I would want to hide and/or emigrate. He had good reasons, really. It is legitimate trauma. Also how he discovered it all was brutal. It was all not really shown to me in a way that was making me care for him. Maybe because MD did not want to emasculate him on the page. But that backfired for me, I did not engage with him enough.
I think your last sentence sums it up perfectly for me as well- I did not engage with him enough.
Interesting. Where are all the folks who voted to read this for discussion?
Since most of the five or six Duran titles I’ve read have been okay but “nothing special” reads, I didn’t bother to read this one. But I was expecting a lively conversation given the seemingly overwhelming votes for this.
I was wondering the same thing!
I’m partially guilty as work has been unexpectedly horrific this week and normally I make some time to hop in. I’m still at work but I wanted to come and discuss a little bit.
I can’t remember if I voted for this one or not over the other but I had read it before so it’s possible.
I think my reason for voting for this one was that I remembered disliking the hero and wondered how others reacted to him. I think I’ve been answered!
LOL
Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. Neither of the leads appealed to me. And the whole scenario felt too contrived, from Olivia’s getting hired as a housekeeper in order to steal from her boss, to her browbeating the duke, to the depressed and betrayed duke finding his shrewish and insubordinate housekeeper attractive…. I just didn’t get it. I bailed at 40%.
I agree with Mark who wrote that reading That Scandalous Summer helped.
Yes, some context might have helped. The heroine kept referring to Bertram being the cause of her problems and blamed him for her lying and stealing scheme, but Duran had not given a good explanation of Bertram’s doings at the 40% mark, so it made it hard to understand and feel in sympathy with Olivia. And I didn’t vote for this, but I read it anyway. Maybe you showrunners should pick the next one!
I think I might!
To be fair to you Dabney, I distinctly recalling you selecting books that were very reasonably priced for people to choose from (which was very thoughtful) so that kind of winnowed the choices.
I think some of us saw “Duran” and jumped, and until I did a re-read I forgot exactly what irked me about it.
Reposting from the Agora:
Where is the line between tortured and self-pitying? The term psychotic break kept coming to mind because I read a book a few days before FMT where psychotic breaks were a major plot point (Cliff’s Descent by Dianne Duvall). Both protagonists of FMT were a bit prone to over-reaction. With the heroine is was the self-talk about what a horrible criminal she was. This was also a book where reading the immediate prequel (That Scandalous Summer) helped a lot in understanding the story—if I hadn’t read TSS recently enough to remember, I would not have understood the hero of FMT. I thought the heroine’s actions at the end were a bit too forgiving.
I have to finish my re-read of this before I can intelligent comment at length (I read it before but I forgot what the character’s motivations were) but so far the hero is really getting on my nerves.
He’s just wallowing and maybe he has good reason but I haven’t found it yet.
This is not my favorite Duran and the first time I read it, I wasn’t crazy about it. However, on this read, I liked it much better. The power balance works well here, despite what it looks like on the surface, and I loved the hero’s journey to becoming the man Olivia needs him to be.
This is my least favorite Duran, and my problem was the hero. As far as I could see, he wallowed in self-pity far too deeply and far too long. I couldn’t even manage to feel sorry for him.