Reviews

The Truth About Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden

Only show reviews with written explanations

anggia's review

Go to review page

emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

agrippinaes's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This was a lot of fun! The romance was so good: it’s romantic but it made me feel emotional at points. The contrast in personalities between Jane and Harrison worked very well - I liked how she fought back against his attempts to put her on a pedestal and there was a lovely sense of humour running through it. I particularly enjoyed the scene where she tries to seduce him - it was so cute and mischievous.

I liked Jane a lot, but Harrison was a really fun character too - very starchy and always convinced he knows best, and it was a delight to see that conviction fall apart. I also found his obsession with her hands really funny -

Spoiler

the part where he accuses his friend of looking at her hands made me laugh out loud.

. The chemistry between them was really good. The sex scenes were hot and very sensual.

I did have some issues with it - there’s the odd anachronism in the writing that I found jarring, and I wasn’t sure about some of the way Jane’s fatness was treated in the text. This relates to descriptions of Jane’s body outside of people being actually antagonistic; some of them felt a bit negative. I also thought the opening was very slow - it started well, in the middle of action, but then went back a few weeks to explain how they got there. I saw why you would do this, but it didn’t work for me - it felt like it took ages for the actual concept of the book to get going.

Still, I had fun reading it - it was very dramatic, a bit over the top, the angst was good and the romance was sexy and sweet.

Content Notes: Marriage of convenience, wallflower FMC, forced proximity, best friend’s brother.

Warnings:

Spoiler

Violence, death of a parent (in past), emotional child abuse (in past), fatphobia / fat shaming, kidnap, references to murder.

Other:

Spoiler

On-page sex, virgin FMC, mild OW drama

Spoiler

The OW everyone thought the MMC was going to marry is the sister of one of his closest friends. She comes to stay with the FMC and MMC after they’re married and is unpleasant towards the FMC. The FMC is jealous.

winemakerssister's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Jane Huxley is much more interested in reading at home, but when Colin Lacey asks her for a big favor she ends up dressing up in men's clothing and breaking into a house to retrieve Lacey's mother's necklace. But it was all a setup for a bet, and Jane is now ruined.

Colin's older brother Harrison, the duke of Blackmoor does the honorable thing and marries Jane to save her from ruin. Jane thinks he's the coldest man she's ever met and he thinks she's immature. Neither expect to fall in love.

Jane's favorite book is Pride & Prejudice and this book has some elements from it. It's not technically a re-telling, but is definitely influenced by it. Blackmoor is cold and respectable to a fault - the perfect Darcy. And his brother Colin initially appears to be similar to Mr Wickham.

Cover: The covers in this series are pretty awful. This one isn't quite as bad as some of the others, but still has that posed/fake drama that permeates all of them.
Narration: A little less of the narrator's Welsh accent, but every once in a while you hear it.
Hogwarts Sorting Hat: I think Blackmoor is a Slytherin and Jane is definitely a Ravenclaw.

Themes: London, ruin, society, zoftig heroine, family, respectability, bluestocking

saynabreadsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Loved this book
The hero and this book were great
it had everything you want in a book
Wonderful characters, great dialogue
The H and h were fabulous

A great read
Highly recommended
GREAT HEA