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Why Dukes Say I Do (2013)

by Manda Collins(Favorite Author)

3.65 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1250023831 (ISBN13: 9781250023834)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

St. Martin's Paperbacks

series

Wicked Widows

review 1: Reviewed by AllisonBook provided by the publisher for reviewReview originally posted at Romancing the BookRemember the movie “I Know What You Did Last Summer”? Add a Duke, a Lady, and subtract several hundred years, and you have the plot for Why Dukes Say I Do. The story opens when Lady Isabella Wharton is trying to save her younger sister from the clutches of her knife-wielding abusive husband. Having suffered abuse of her own by her (now deceased) husband, she is desperate to save her sister. Another friend is there with her gun, and somehow the Duke of Ormond is shot and falls on his knife, killing him instantly. Fast forward a year, and the dead duke’s grandmother is blackmailing Isabella into traveling to the countryside to fetch her other grandson Trevor, ... morethe new Duke of Ormond. Isabella reluctantly travels there to convince Trevor to take up his position in London, but along the way, accidents begin to happen.Trevor does not want to leave his home and travel to London – he is needed at his country estate by all the people depending on his leadership. So he sets out to convince Isabella that he is right where he should be. But the accidents keep happening, and now Isabella is receiving threats telling her someone knows what happened last season. Trevor finally finds out Isabella is being threatened and blackmailed and he vows to protect her.I enjoyed this story, although it took quite a while for Isabella and Trevor to fall in love, and even longer for them to kiss. I understand why, however, as Isabella only knew abuse and hatred from her previous husband, and it takes her a long time to trust another man. She grows to see Trevor is good, kind, and is doing the best he can to raise his two sisters.Trevor has his own reasons for not wanting the dukedom – his father was cut off for marrying a commoner, and banished from London to the country. He has quite a bit of anger toward his grandmother, and refuses to budge from his beloved country home. With Isabella’s help, he begins to see that he can fulfill his duties from both places.The author has a great voice, and her stories are always easy to read. She reaches out and grabs my attention right away, and keeps me interested through the whole story. Her point of view changes are always clear, and it’s easy to follow whose viewpoint we are seeing the story through.This is the first book in her “Wicked Widows” trilogy, and the ending has a definite hook – the mystery as to who is really behind the threats continues into the next book.
review 2: Excellent beginning to the series. Isabella, her sister Perdita, and their friend Georgiana, start the book by being present at a death. Perdita's husband, the Duke, is an abusive man and is holding a knife at her throat. Isabella and Georgiana are trying to get him to stop. Georgiana shoots him in the shoulder and he falls on the knife. He's dead and they don't know if it was the bullet or the knife that did it, so the death could be accidental or murder.Isabella gets stuck going to Yorkshire to try to talk her godmother's grandson, the new Duke, into coming to London. The godmother knows what happened that night and uses that knowledge to force Isabella's cooperation. Trevor has no interest in doing as his grandmother wishes. His father was disowned by his parents when he married "beneath" him and he has no intention of doing what she wants.The first meeting between the two doesn't go very well. Isabella's carriage has broken down and Trevor is the one who happens along. He sees Isabella as a social climber or someone who wants something from the duke. She sees him as a country farmer who is neglecting his responsibilities. Because it will take at least a week for the repairs to her carriage they come to an agreement about her stay. She will spend time with Trevor as he goes about his activities so she can see his point that he needs to be where he is. In return he will go to London for a short time to settle things with his grandmother.Almost immediately both Isabella and Trevor discover that the other isn't quite what they thought. Isabella discovers that Trevor is a man who loves his sisters and is devoted to doing his best for his lands and his people. In spite of the misery of her marriage and her bad experiences with her father, she senses that Trevor is a man she can trust. As she goes around his lands with him, Trevor gets to know Isabella and realizes that she is a woman with a soft heart who has learned to hide it. He's impressed with the way she handles his sisters and the intelligence she shows in everything from land management to politics. The romance that develops between them is slow growing but once it starts to take off it is intense. That heat that sparks also pushes them into a marriage that they hadn't planned but both were satisfied with. Though neither admits to love at the time, it is obvious that the feelings are there.When Trevor finds out that Isabella is receiving threatening notes and then there are two attempts on her life, his protective instincts take over. He is determined that nothing happen to her while she is under his care. I enjoyed seeing the way that he took charge but still gave Isabella the freedom that she needed. There were some interesting twists and turns to the mystery of who was behind the threats. I did figure that out before the end, but there is still some question as to who else is involved. As the other two ladies still need to have their stories told, I expect that there will be more trouble ahead.Besides the romance and the mystery, there are parts of the book that are just plain fun. Trevor is a man who loves his two sisters, but he is also at something of a loss at how to deal with them at times. The oldest sister is seventeen but he doesn't want to admit that she is growing up. It was great fun to see his reaction to her in a more adult dress. There are some wonderful interactions between him and the two girls. His friend Lucien Blakemore also has some great parts where he gives Trevor a hard time about his feelings for Isabella. I also enjoyed seeing Isabella school Trevor on just what it is like to be a woman in their society. One of my favorite parts was their arrival in London and breaking the news to the grandmother and others that they are married. I did wonder about the extreme reaction that the grandmother had and wonder if she's more involved in the trouble than I thought at first. I am looking forward to the other two books to see how it all turns out. less

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