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A review by luluwoohoo
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (audiobook narrated by Rosalyn Landor)
☀️☀️⛅
A relatively enjoyable historical romance that had all of the elements to be a solid read, but spoiled it with yucky, unacceptable behaviour.
This isn't objectively bad. In fact, I enjoyed quite a lot of the story. It's cheesy and tropey and doesn't take itself seriously which I appreciated, but there was one too many major icks involved for me to rate this any higher. Coercion and rape do not belong in HEA romance, especially not one as popular as this. There wasn't nearly enough actual discussion after the fact, and despite me disagreeing with Simon's stance on children, he was perfectly within his right to hold his ground and should not have forgiven Daphne her gross transgression.
The characters weren't developed significantly enough for me to really like or dislike them, though I'm most charmed by Violet and overall disappointed by the general portrayal of masculinity. Is it historically accurate? Probably. I just don't enjoy the heavy reliance on stereotypical masculinity when there are so many prevalent male characters to add variety to.
The writing is fine but is reliant on over-explaining everything to irritating degrees - letting readers think for themselves occasionally would significantly improve the overall quality of the book.
I'm not sure if I'll continue the series based on my concerns within this book. I take issue with an author romanticizing toxic behaviours and still delivering a HEA despite them, so I'm not sure if this series is the one for me.
☀️☀️⛅
A relatively enjoyable historical romance that had all of the elements to be a solid read, but spoiled it with yucky, unacceptable behaviour.
This isn't objectively bad. In fact, I enjoyed quite a lot of the story. It's cheesy and tropey and doesn't take itself seriously which I appreciated, but there was one too many major icks involved for me to rate this any higher. Coercion and rape do not belong in HEA romance, especially not one as popular as this. There wasn't nearly enough actual discussion after the fact, and despite me disagreeing with Simon's stance on children, he was perfectly within his right to hold his ground and should not have forgiven Daphne her gross transgression.
The characters weren't developed significantly enough for me to really like or dislike them, though I'm most charmed by Violet and overall disappointed by the general portrayal of masculinity. Is it historically accurate? Probably. I just don't enjoy the heavy reliance on stereotypical masculinity when there are so many prevalent male characters to add variety to.
The writing is fine but is reliant on over-explaining everything to irritating degrees - letting readers think for themselves occasionally would significantly improve the overall quality of the book.
I'm not sure if I'll continue the series based on my concerns within this book. I take issue with an author romanticizing toxic behaviours and still delivering a HEA despite them, so I'm not sure if this series is the one for me.
"'I don't like your tone,' was Violet's standard answer when one of her children was winning an argument."