From Duchess to Dowager Duchess in a split second!

The Duchess (The Scandalous Ladies of London #2) by Sophie Jordan     

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Valencia, the Duchess Dedham, was relieved when her husband fell down the stairs and died. No loss as the man she’d married was very different after his accident, often brutally so. She’d waited eleven months as the grieving widow and was looking forward to being out and about in society. Unconcerned at that moment that the family solicitors had finally found an heir—in remote Wales. 

Valencia ignored this fact, determined to put of her bereavement clothes and enjoy life, beginning with an attendance at Vauxhall. Floating down the river on her father’s yacht ended in disaster when she went overboard. Rescued by a stranger on a passing barge full of revellers, all male, was both a relief and discomforting, especially with regard to her rescuer, and her dampened dress. Never mind, she’d never see them again.

Imagine Valencia’s shock when the very next day the new Duke’s mother and a gaggle of six sisters descended upon her, informed her of her new status as Dowager Duchess, and took over her household without a by your leave. Bedlam descended, all without the Duke.

The Duke, arriving later, annoyed with his family, took one look at Valencia and realized she was the lady he’d rescued from the Thames, and lusted after. In a fit of pique, he asked her to leave. He threw her out of her home. Valencia has nowhere to go but the dowager house in the remote wilds of Yorkshire, far from everything and everyone she knows. Valencia is stunned.

Valencia understands that the Duke’s sisters will have a hard time being accepted by the ton. Their dreams would come to nothing. No Duke from Wales would be able to stop their disappointment. The heartlessness of the ton was well known. Rhain realizes his sisters will be eaten up by the ton. They will be ignored and laughed at. He has to do something. He asks Valencia to bring them up to scratch. In return he will buy a house in London for her and increase her stipend.

Then there was the Rhain’s cousin, the affable Dewey (also from the barge!) Valencia was suspicious of him. Something was off. She was even more wary when she discovered him in a room with her maid. This was the man Rhain intended to oversee his properties while he went back to Wales.

I really enjoyed the first three quarters of the book, then it all went awry in the last quarter. Too many surprises revealed. The characters just felt all over the place and disconnected. What was a pleasing buildup fell away. The inclusion of her father stepmother at the end might be setting up for the next book, but it was a slightly offsetting note.

I liked Valencia. I liked Rhain, the new duke and his siblings. I appreciated Valencia’s terror at the hands of her husband. I understand her fear of the house party and her encounter with the dastardly Lord Burton.

Much to recommend in this intriguing “enemies to lovers” plot, and parts to puzzle over.

I must say I was rather drawn to the cover.

An Avon and Harper Voyager ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.