The Duke's Holiday - Maggie Fenton

[secretadmire]

My aunt recommended this book to my mom as a comedy, and my mom passed it to me first since I was looking for something to read. So yes, my mother literally handed me erotica.

However-

Though it's a solid romance with some very steamy scenes, the book feels more like a Hollywood rom-com set in the English countryside during the 1800's. The protagonist, Astrid Honeywell, is a stubborn chic who runs a beer brewery on her property, keeps a giant pig for a pet, and tries her best to raise her younger sisters, who are still children, after her father's death. She's not at all a proper English lady and would never fit into society. And she doesn't care.
The other protagonist, The Duke of Montford, is OCD, all business and equally stubborn, and hates the Honeywell family. So when he finds out that Aloysius Honeywell has passed away, and worse, the letters he's been getting from "A. Honeywell" have been from one of Aloysius' many daughters. The Duke goes to the Honeywell estate to reclaim it.

The two characters suffer through Nora Ephron's "I hate you I hate you I love you" syndrome as The Duke tries to take over the estate and Astrid makes his life hell for it. The Duke is forced to loosen up, for example, by participating in a hilarious drunken footrace in an effort to win the estate. Astrid learns not to immediately judge people, as she finds the soft and sensitive side of Montford.

The book is packed with physical comedy and witty banter between the two smart protagonists, who refuse to admit their sexual attraction until they are forced to work together when someone else makes a play for the estate.

Anyways, I'd love to know if anyone else enjoyed the book as much as I did, and your thoughts on the rest of the trilogy.

[OvErBookeD]

I will have to pick it up! I enjoy lighthearted historical romances!

Thanks for the review!

[secretadmire]

Then you will love this! Glad to point you to it!