Lawson’s review of Love Letters From a Duke (The Bachelor Chronicles, Book 3) by Elizabeth Boyle
Historical Romance released by Avon 27 Aug 07

Felicity Langley has always had one goal in mind: to be a duchess. She’s very near her goal, being in London when her almost-betrothed comes at last. And she’s in luck, since she’s been writing him letters for many years and she feels she knows and loves him. Felicity and her sister Tally are staying just around the corner from the London house of the Duke of Hollindrake, and they are waiting for him to come to town for his investiture since his grandfather has recently died and her almost-betrothed is the new duke.

But Felicity and her sister have a problem. A big problem involving the fact that their solicitor won’t release their funds to finance a season, or even some decent new clothes. So being the resourceful (and rather forceful) girl she is, Felicity is able to maintain appearances by bartering, bullying and some B and E. Sort of. And she’s got to guarantee that she really is betrothed to Hollindrake, since she wrote him a letter years before and proposed to him.

So, of course, one of the things one must have to keep appearances up is a footman, and when a Mr. Thatcher arrives on her doorstep, in desperation Felicity hires him. Though she’s attracted to him, she thinks he won’t realize that they don’t have money to pay his wages, but by that time Hollindrake will have come up to stuff and she’ll be set for life. What she doesn’t realize is her new footman is actually her almost betrothed, Aubrey Michael Thomas Sterling, former Marquess of Standon, now Duke of Hollindrake.

Aubrey had shown up to break off the engagement and tell Felicity that she’d been writing letters to his grandfather all these years and he’d had no knowledge of any betrothal since he’s been in Spain for the last decade with the army and escaping the machinations of his meddlesome grandfather and disinterested family. Soon though Aubrey realizes that Felicity is a gem and he wants to do what he can to win his love for himself and not her Hollindrake.

Felicity has not been an endearing character to me. When she appeared in This Rake of Mine she was overly meddlesome and stubborn. And she needed to learn that life doesn’t always go her way and she doesn’t get what she wants. So when I heard this was her love story, I admit there were some reservations, but I was hoping for the best.

So did I miraculously do an about face and like Felicity and her pushy ways? Eh. I understand where she’s coming from, she’s very resourceful, she’s got some fine qualities, but I still just don’t like her. Now if I ran across her in the street would I treat her like her nemesis, boorish American heiress Sarah Browne? No, I’ve got some class, thank you, but I don’t think I’d want to be friends with Felicity.

Aubrey is another story. Noble, overcoming a reckless youth and a fish out of water in his new circumstances (he didn’t stand to inherit, he’s the third son of a third son, but it happened) he handles himself admirably and finally realizes that being ducal is about who he is not who he’s supposed to be. And he is obviously dynamite in the sack.

The fact that Aubrey is trying Felicity to give up her dream of being a duchess and marry for love instead to her footman is probably the best part of the story. Felicity’s reaction to the truth and her manipulations detract from the story. Especially since she’s so single minded for most of the book to not have fun and be someone she’s obviously not. Why Aubrey thinks she’s really worth all the effort is a little beyond me, since he seems much more mature and prepared to handle life’s problems than she is.

I do love Boyle’s books and Aubrey is a great hero. There’s fun secondary characters like Tally and Pippin, Felicity’s overly romantic sister and cousin, Jamilla, one of her father’s former mistresses, Aunt Minty the not so good chaperon, and appearances from Temple and Jack, but Felicity is too much to take in.

Aubrey and some of Felicity’s better qualities (I do admire the fact she’s fluent in four languages) do tend to outweigh Felicity overall, she’s just not a character I really like and I think she’s better off now with her story over and she can be a secondary character again. As long as she doesn’t meddle too much.

Grade: C

Summary:

He’s at her service . . .

Though she can’t afford the coal to heat her drafty Mayfair mansion, Felicity Langley still clings to her dream of marrying a duke-one she’s had since her very first curtsy. After all, she’s been promised to the very lofty Duke of Hollindrake for the last four years. Now all she has to do is meet him. But what Felicity doesn’t realize is that she has met her duke-he’s the altogether too handsome man who Felicity has just mistaken . . . for her new footman!

By rights, Thatcher should immediately set this presumptuous chit straight and tell her he has no intention of honoring the arranged betrothal. But he’s quickly smitten by Felicity’s delightful determination, her irrepressible charm . . . and her breathtaking sensuality. Yes, she’d wed him in an instant were his true identity revealed-but Thatcher’s vowed to marry only for love. So begins his deception and his conquest of this uncommon woman who doesn’t believe in romance, but is about to find her heart and passion set aflame by the unlikely man she’s sworn to resist.

Read an excerpt.