Sandy M’s review of The Making of a Duchess (Sons of the Revolution, Book 1) by Shana Galen
Historical Romance published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 1 Jun 10

This is my first book by Ms. Galen. I have plenty of her books in the TBR pile, but I just haven’t gotten to them yet. But I’m certainly glad I was able to read this first book in her new series. I enjoyed it from beginning to end, love the characters, and definitely look forward to other books in the series.

Sarah is happily doing her job as a governess when her employer requests to see her. Suddenly her life is thrown into chaos. She’s asked to become a spy with only a few days to memorize scads of information to make her mission look and feel real. She’s as nervous as can be as she enters the Valere home to find proof the duc is a traitor, but her only other alternative is to end up homeless, the threat her boss uses to guarantee her cooperation.

Having lived in England the past 12 years after French peasants destroyed their home during the revolution, captured his father, and killed his twin brothers, Julien Harcourt is a self-made man, title and lands once again intact. He believes his youngest brother is still alive and has made several trips to France following tips to locate Armand, all unsuccessful. He is determined to have revenge against his betrayers, and what better way than to marry and carry on his family name. The Harcourt line will continue despite the French bastards’ best efforts.

When Serafina Artois, the only child of old family friends, comes to visit, Julien is prepared to propose to the woman to begin a new life. Little does he know he proposes to an impostor. Sarah does her best, but being a servant all her life, she’s ill prepared to be treated like nobility. It seems her contacts left out vital information before sending her on this mission, but she does her best and does get quite far in her spying on Julien before he catches her red handed.

There is an attraction between them from the start, and that helps when all is revealed, Sarah deciding to tell Julien the truth about herself and why the Foreign Office sent her. Knowing she won’t be safe in London while Julien makes his latest trip to France to search for his brother again, she talks him into taking her along. Their journey is fraught with danger but also pleasure, once they are married aboard ship. I like Julien always reminding Sarah the French make love much differently than the English…

The goings-on in France are nonstop. Julien learns what happened in the aftermath of his and his mother’s escape years earlier. He does find his brother, which breaks his heart. But getting Armand home will help him recover. I look forward to Armand’s book. It has the potential to be a very emotional read due to his captivity for so many years and now he has to learn to live among people again.

Julien and Sarah’s story is a terrific beginning to the series. There is plenty of banter between them, and I enjoyed watching Sarah grow from a timid governess to a confident duchess, as did Julien. He’s the kind of man who can instill confidence and a host of other things in a woman.

Grade: A

Summary:

A very dangerous attraction…
Julien Harcourt, duc de Valère, is more than willing to marry the lovely young lady his mother has chosen. Little does he know, she’s been sent to prove him a spy and a traitor.

And an even more dangerous secret…
Sarah Smith’s mission is to find out whether the duc’s trips to the Continent are as innocent as he claims, but the way he looks at her is far from innocent…

Their risky game of cat and mouse propels them from the ballrooms of London to the prisons of Paris, and into a fragile love that may not survive their deceptions…

Read an excerpt.