A review by taisie22
A Diamond for a Duke by Collette Cameron

3.0

Jules, Duke of Danridge, is trying to escape a party when he stumbles across a friend from his childhood, Jemmah Dament. Jemmah is the mistreated younger sister who slaves for her mother and older sister, only occasionally allowed out to a party. Their meeting leads to more as Jules decides Jemmah is the one for him.
This is a fairly short read, loosely based on an old fairy tale, Diamonds and Frogs, by Charles Perrault who also wrote Cinderella. The stories are somewhat similar.
This wasn't a bad story, but I didn't think it was good either. I didn't find the numerous odd similes humorous or realistic. That Jules is kissing and falling in love with Jemmah within five minutes of meeting her after ignoring her for long years was unbelievable. I felt the same about Jemmah's mistreatment - why didn't her aunt rescue her sooner if she had control of Jemmah's mother's finances? Why didn't we ever meet Jule's niece who is discussed a lot? I know this was a short story, but surely more time could have been spent on some development and made this a better story in the long run. I did like the author's explanations of how she chose the names for each character in the notes at the end.