Publication Date: 19th Nov 2024
Genre: Historical Romance (Victorian Era)
2.7 Stars
One Liner: Okayish
1896, London
William Margrave, the Duke of Ellis, tried his best to be a duke since he unexpectedly got the title a decade ago. He planned it all and his sight set on a perfect Lady to become his Duchess.
Phoebe Atkinson is the middle daughter of a self-made businessman. While she, her older sister Alex, and younger sister Winnie were friends with Will before the dukedom, things have changed. Phoebe is now a school teacher the working class girls and has no time for society.
However, when one of Phoebe’s pupils goes missing, she needs Will to help her out. As they search across the city to find the missing girl, Phoebe and Will realize a few things about themselves.
The story comes in Phoebe and Will’s third-person POVs.
My Thoughts:
The premise guarantees some drama and entertainment, right? We do get some of both but not to the extent I hoped.
The beginning was good. I liked Phoebe’s spunk in the beginning. Will presented his dilemma about taking the ducal rules too seriously and how it affected his life.
The mystery is decent though we cannot call it that. There’s some intrigue and a showcasing of the hypocrisy and evil side of those with power but it doesn’t overpower the plot.
However, soon, things started to dim. Phoebe turned into a self-righteous martyr activist who thinks giving up the comforts of her home and living in a cramped flat to teach poor girls Homer and Shakespeare made her an award-winning activist. She judged everyone left, right, and center. Yeah, she sometimes accepts she is judgmental but continues to do the same.
Then Will the Duke. He goes on and on and on about how Phoebe is not duchess material and how important it is for him to marry someone who fits the checklist. Even when he is made to realize how stupid it is, he continues to harp on it. They deserve each other, IMO.
Now, the main characters, unfortunately, didn’t make a positive impact. But hey, the side characters were cool. Alex is my favorite. I can’t wait to read her book. She has a good head and knows how to use her privilege and position to help others. Freddie seemed interesting too with her sparkling personality that hides a sense of restlessness.
I think something went a bit wrong in planning the characters and executing them. They shouldn’t have been like this but act realistically and show some flaws. Sadly, I couldn’t empathize with either of them.
The romance wasn’t great either. There’s some spice but even that didn’t really make a difference. It could also be that I read a couple of books with similar ‘not duchess material’ trope this year and those were much better in terms of characterization and development.
Luckily, it is a quick read and things get settled without much drama. Some of it is left for the next books, and the epilogue provides a definite lead. You bet I’m more curious about that one.
To summarize, Duchess Material is a moderately spicy romance novel if you want something light and fluffy to read. I will read the next book since I already like the other two characters.
Thank you, NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), for eARC.
#NetGalley #DuchessMaterial
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