Sincerely, the Duke

February 15, 2024
Needing an heir, a duke picks a woman at random to be his bride, not knowing she has her own secret reasons for entering a marriage of convenience. Until now, Roderick "Rick" Cosworth, the Duke of Stonerick, has not prioritized getting married, despite his maman's wishes. However, recent recurring illnesses have made him aware of his own mortality, so, in a feverish haze, he selects a name from a list of suitable ladies and writes a brief proposal letter. Miss Edwina Fine recently traveled from York to London to find a husband, so she accepts the duke's odd proposal under the stipulation that he help find husbands for her two sisters before the end of the season, per her father's last wishes. She doesn't reveal that the trio are triplets. Because of their unique birth as well as their red hair and green eyes, their father hid them away, afraid that society would shun them as oddities. Rick and Edwina feel instant attraction, but their secrets and fears stand in the way of their developing love. This breezy, low-stakes historical romance has a fun setup but becomes repetitive as it goes along. Rick and Edwina are likable and realistically flawed, but their stubbornness--particularly Edwina's insistence on finding husbands for her uninterested sisters--becomes laborious and starts to strain credulity. While the core story is appealing and the couple makes a charming pair, there's too much padding and extended conflict, seemingly just to fill the page count. A pleasant love story that becomes overly drawn out.

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